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JANUARY 2003
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Source: Music Street Journal
http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/wakemaninterview.htm
Interview With Rick Wakeman
By Gary Hill and Steve Alspach - conducted by email
Music Street Journal: When I spoke with Steve Howe he said that you are
back in the band for the long term and that there are plans to do a new
studio album. What is your word on this?
Rick Wakeman: Absolutely correct. I am thoroughly enjoying myself and am
loving every minute of being back with the guys. It was always a big
balls-up as to why I was not around after the Keys to Ascension period, but
that's all water under the bridge as they say, and I have no intention of
going anywhere whilst Yes are still up and running and moving forward,
which they certainly are now. All the guys are playing really well and the
atmosphere is tremendous. The rapport both musically that I have with the
guys is truly wonderful and Steve and I have always had this sort of
telepathic thing musically between us which is very special. I have enjoyed
the live work and am really looking forward to seeing what we can conjure
up in the studio.
Music Street Journal: He also gave me his take on your return to Yes, what
do you have to say about it?
Rick Wakeman: Pretty much said it all in the previous answer, but I feel
that we really are a unit and the five of us together have always produced
some special music. We have all made mistakes in the past, myself more than
most, but hopefully I won't make any more and am back to stay.... unless of
course I'm replaced by Bobby Crush or Sooty.
Music Street Journal: Do you have any plans for future solo works?
Rick Wakeman: I had just finished a prog rock album, when I rejoined and,
in fact, the release date was originally July of last year. I just thought
that it would look bad and be wrong to keep to that release date and so I
moved it to February 2003. It took a long time to make, is called OUT THERE
and is a sort of continuation of No Earthly Connection. The band I have
played exceptionally well on it and preview reviews have been nothing short
of excellent, which is really pleasing I can tell you! In January we are
recording the studio DVD which involves a lot of animation, space ships and
quite amazing effects. The DVD will be released in April just before the
start of my UK solo tour.
I have also recently released an album of just myself on piano and the
English Chamber Choir. This is a pretty classically based work called The
Wizard and the Forest of all Dreams. The exciting news for me as regards
this is that there is an excellent chance that it will be turned into a
ballet sometime later next year. I will not be dancing though.
Music Street Journal: In the past you have worked with a wide variety of
musicians. Anyone out there you are still hoping to get the chance to work
with?
Rick Wakeman: There are many I would like to have the opportunity to play
with, off the top of my head there's Pete Townsend, Paul McCartney and
Pavarotti.
Music Street Journal: What have you been listening to lately?
Rick Wakeman: I'm boring...Prokovief features heavily, as always, plus a
load of South American prog rock stuff that I picked up last year. I tend
to just pull something out and put it on without looking at what it is. If
I like it, it stays in the CD player, if not it comes out and gets filed in
the basement ...(never to be seen again except as use as a coffee mat). One
of the reasons I don't read the labels is that my eyesight is so bad I
can't read anything without my glasses and I can never find them. (Need my
glasses to see to find my glasses).
Music Street Journal: I understand you have a distaste for jazz.
Rick Wakeman: I love traditional jazz and Dixieland jazz. I had a
traditional jazz band of my own years ago. Modern Jazz I'm afraid is not
for me. I'm not criticizing it; it's just my own musical taste. I would, to
be honest, rather be subjected to living in a basement with no windows
suffering the results of air being pumped in from certain orifices of my
road crew after they have eaten 45 vindaloo curries than listen to a modern
jazz track.
Music Street Journal: What about the last concert you had the chance to
see…well, other than Yes?
Rick Wakeman: Atomic Kitten in Ipswich....and they were fabulous! My son
Adam was actually in their band at the time and the band really rocked. The
girls sang live and very well. Good harmonies and I was impressed. They
even did Martha and the Vandella tracks! No flash staging, just a great
show. Highly recommended if you don't mind sitting amongst 80 of the
audience 12 and under and the other 20% 60 and over wearing rather dubious
raincoats.
Music Street Journal: Apparently you, and progressive music, are really big
in Argentina. Why Argentina, of all places?
Rick Wakeman: Everywhere in South America to be honest. I have always done
very well there, and I love the people dearly. They are really so kind and
they love their music. I first went down there in 1975 when nobody would go
there. The friendship started then and has continued ever since. I
absolutely love going there. They like music for what it is. On their radio
you can here Zeppelin played straight after a Latin American track and then
Sinatra. Great music, great people with no blinkers when it comes to music.
Music Street Journal: When Yes came to tour Chicago in July, the radio ads
made it quite clear that you had re-joined. Was this just a shameful ploy
to capitalize on Yes' past, or is there something special that you bring to
the band?
Rick Wakeman: I suppose if somebody rejoins it's stupid not to mention it
in ads for shows. There is certainly something special about the five of us
together and so I don't object to the advertising. I would have felt the
same had it been Steve who had just rejoined.
Music Street Journal: It sounded as though your schedule kept you from
joining Yes in times past. How did you manage to juggle your schedule to
allow yourself to re-join?
Rick Wakeman: We kept in careful contact and had a cut off point of last
June where I took no work after that date and Yes made their scheduling so
that it fitted that I could rejoin. The previous balls-ups were mainly
managerial creations and there are a few people about, (no longer anything
to do with Yes now), that I would happily place in that same basement that
I was willing to go in rather than listen to the jazz track.
Music Street Journal: In addition to that, I seem to remember an
announcement a year or two back that you were cutting down on touring due
to health problems. Do I remember that correctly? If so, what changed? How
are you holding up health-wise with the rigorous touring.
Rick Wakeman: Three years ago I was pretty ill and in fact I was given 48
hours to live and afterwards it took me 6 months to get any sort of
strength back because of damaged lungs due to the pleurisy and double
pneumonia. I walked a lot (up to ten miles a day), in order to build myself
back up and this paid off and I am now pretty fit. I have pretty regular
checks and listen to my body as much as possible and if it tells me it
needs a rest....then I try to have one!!!!! Things were really good until
just before the second leg of the last tour when I had a multi car high
speed car crash in England and have really suffered since. The first two
weeks of the tour were agony!
Overall though, I'm as healthy as the next man.... (I am sitting in a
coffee shop in Milan with the laptop but the man next to me actually looks
quite ill, so I'll change that to the man at the table behind. He is about
26 and is built like a brick sh**house. All muscles ......that's me).
Music Street Journal: You said that in the "old days," there were limits to
technology that forced you to try to "do the impossible." Are there any
limits now?
Rick Wakeman: No, none at all. Technology is now ahead of the musician. As
long as you remember to rule the technology and not let it rule you, then
all is fine.
Music Street Journal: Then, how do you break any new ground musically?
Rick Wakeman: No idea - I just write and play and never question from
whence it comes! I fear if I try to look for the source, it will be the end.
Music Street Journal: Elton John has come out strongly against a lot of the
new music. What is your take on it. Has production and sampling and such
cut the life out of music?
Rick Wakeman: Absolutely. I agree with much that Elton has said. There are
advantages, though. These techno people are not musicians and therefore
their lives will be short lived. Elton will always be around because he is
a musician and has talent. There is room for everything. If I don't like
what I am listening to on the radio, it's simple...I turn it off...
My radio is off most of the time these days.
Music Street Journal: How did you figure out how to play the orchestral
arrangements from the songs off of "Magnification"?
Rick Wakeman: I took the orchestral scores and made what is called a short
score to perform on the keyboards .As the tour progressed I started making
changes, as to be honest the scoring was not to my taste and not what I
would have done given the chance to orchestrate for these pieces. Again,
it's just a matter of taste. I like the two songs we do very much and have
tried to add more light and shade than was on the recording for the live
performances.
Music Street Journal: Has Jon Anderson learned to paint anything other than
flowers?
Rick Wakeman: An exaggerated story as you can well imagine for stage
purposes. Jon's artistic talent is pretty endless. He never ceases to amaze
me. He's quite a philosopher as well. We spent many hours together driving
on the last tour and the journey's just raced by as we talked non-stop. I
class Jon as one of my closest and dearest friends ...and I still have the
flowers he painted back on the Isle of Man!
Music Street Journal: You seem keen on trying new keyboards and new
technology. What has been the best finds for you?
Rick Wakeman: Undoubtedly the Pro Mega, which is an Italian keyboard made
by General Music plus Korg and Roland continue to make tremendous keyboards
all the time.
Music Street Journal: What, besides the Birotron that you kicked off stage,
have been the less-than-stellar finds?
Rick Wakeman: Don't know where you got this story from, I loved my
Birotrons and certainly never even smacked them, let alone kicked them!
To be honest, if I try something I don't like, I don't play it. There's a
lot of stuff around I don't like, but again it's all down to personal taste.
Music Street Journal: Yes has been notorious for in-house squabbles. Do you
find, as the band members get older, that the edges are softening a bit?
Rick Wakeman: The press always made a meal of this...and we let them. We
had and still have heated discussions about what we should or shouldn't do
just like any other band. The Internet with the World Wide Web now tells
even more wild stories about us and some of the chat rooms should have the
same anal gas pumped into them that the road crew produced for the mythical
basement! I have actually gone into a chat room and found myself already
there! And Jon as well, when I know he can't possibly be. I then read piles
of crap and it is really upsetting. It's an actual fact that this sort of
thing did an awful lot of harm and had such things not have happened then
100% we would have been back together much earlier. I love the WWW but
would like to see all chat rooms banned. I now say to people that if you
don't read it on my site or the official Yes site, then it probably isn't
true.
Music Street Journal: You have a nice little cottage industry on the side
producing "new age" albums as well as Christian works. How is that going?
Rick Wakeman: I stopped making New Age albums in about 1992 and the last
Christian recording was in 1994 - I think. I have two record labels Ambient
Records and Hope Records and both are flourishing pretty nicely.
Music Street Journal: One of the bands you had on your label was Ajalon. I
had the opportunity to chat with Randy George, and he had nothing but the
best of things to say about you. Do you still keep in touch with them?
Rick Wakeman: Very much so. A great band and lovely guys. Unfortunately I
just didn't have the financial resources to promote them as much as I would
have liked. We speak regularly, and in fact I'm doing some guest playing on
their forthcoming album. They deserve to do well.
Music Street Journal: What has been your biggest Spinal Tap moment?
Rick Wakeman: Too many to recount. They happen every day. I'm thinking of
writing another book and filling it full of them!
Music Street Journal: You're locked in an empty room with Liam Gallagher.
What's the first thing you do? Note: one of my writers sent this question
to me.
Rick Wakeman: Interestingly enough we both support the same soccer team
...Manchester City ...and so I don't think we would have any communication
problems at all! I like a lot of what Oasis have done but think they have
been badly handled ...again that's just a personal opinion. .... to be
honest, I'm not very fond of any managements!
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