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Home , Bass Communion, Blackfield, Deadwing, Fear of a Blank Planet, Murcof, Signify

No Fear of a blank interview

By Uwe Häberle And Claudia Richter, Photos/Layout: Claudia Richter

During the „“ autumn tour 2007 was ready to answer the questions of the editors from www.Voyage-PT.de on 13th Novem- ber 2007 at the „LKA“ in Stuttgart, despite the fact that there is no massive promotion effect for the band to be expected from a fan website as e.g. from re- spective music magazines or radio stations. Mr. Wilson presented himself as a deeply grateful conversational partner. And if he enjoyed the questions than the coverage of his answers exceeded the questions many times over. Steven allo- wed fascinating insights into his intellectual world, which significantly influences his creativity. And en passant he proved that he still is a down-to-earth person.

There is probably nothing a blank planet“ tour in au- take several pictures. Our Well prepared we came on better for a diehard Porcu- tumn 2007 we retried our main goal was to conduct the dot to the „LKA“ to fire pine Tree fan (beside the miss out chance again and an interview that steps be- our questions at Steven. live events of course ) as to started a new inquiry at the yond the usual questions Not an easy undertaking, ask Steven Wilson exactly „Roadrunner“. and that addresses as- as it all causes a great those questions that you „Roadrunner“ arranged pects on which Steven, in excitement on ourselves always wanted to ask. Du- an interview appointment our humble opinion, never that we had to keep under ring the tour in on the 13th of November commented on. We didn‘t control during the inter- February 2007 we already 2007 at the „LKA“ in Stutt- want a boring, cookie-cut- view. But Steven with his got the offer to interview gart where the band should ter interview; we wanted open minded and friendly Steven in Bochum, but due perform at the same eve- to engage Steven into an nature made it very easy to the circumstances of ning. We obtained a 30 inspiring talk. We wanted for us right from the start. the time we couldn‘t rea- minutes time frame to dis- that he also has fun with Our worries had vanished lize it. During the „Fear of pose our questions and to the interview. and we could focus on the

Page 1 /// www.Voyage-PT.de - This Trip IS Really Necessary! /// interview. And Steven was And I.E.M. Any plans for a very talkative. Finally we new release? handed over a Voyage PT T-shirt to him which was SW: No, I´ve done anything specially designed for this with that for a long time. occasion and which he ac- No plans for that, but new cepted joyfully. things.

And our most important ex- Can you give us some de- perience on this afternoon tails? was: if Steven has to have a say than in all detailed- SW: My first solo is ness and at full length. For- the main thing I´m gonna tunately we were allowed work on in the new year. to record the whole thing I´ve got a lot of songs on a MP3 device becau- which I´ve not been able to se we were not be able to place with any of the other projects over the last four, write everything down fast five years. Some of which enough as the answers you can hear if you go to bluster out of Steven. And my MySpace Page, e.g. we gained a lot of thrilling Collecting space. And so fi- answers. Answers that we nally I´m gonna put all tho- didn‘t expected in such a se together probably on a way. Answers that reve- double CD and that will be aled us further facets of my major project for early the person Steven Wilson. next year. Along with a new Answers those were worth No-Man record which is to be read ... about half way written and Tim and myself will finish that off as well over the V-PT: You can choose your first part of 2008. It´s lots first question: envelope 1 happening, I´m not slackly. or envelope 2? I love both. And it´s like And the other projects Don‘t worry! trying to pick one of your from you, e.g. Com- SW: Oh, wow, all the que- favourite children. In a way munion? The new album Okay, because we´ve heard stions are in that envelo- you can‘t. I guess I love all was delayed to January? some rumours that you will pes, aren´t they? Are the- animals. But I have a parti- make a rest, that you want se your questions? Where cular fondness for dogs be- SW: Yes, it all has to do to relax next year? are these questions from? cause I grew up with dogs. with packaging because From fans? that album was finished SW: Well I do. My idea of We heard some rumours in July of last year. I delivered relaxing is not the same as We both developed this in- the fan community about this the record company everyone elses´s. The main terview together. a new live but it has taken us so long thing is to take a break album from the “Fear of a to get the packaging rights. from touring because tou- SW: Ah, okay, so these are blank planet”-Tour. It‘s quite a special little pa- ring is kind of the most dis- all surprises! ckage and finally I believe ruptive thing to a personal SW: We are recording vari- they came back from the life because your not home. No, only the first question. ous shows across the tour factory this week. So, they I can´t write songs on the You can choose only the and we are hoping to put gonna be released official- road. I´ve tried, it´s very first one. together quite a nice pa- ly in the first part of Janu- hard, it´s not a very inspi- ckage next year as a basic ary 2008. ring context to write songs. SW opens an envelope and representation, as a docu- In order to write songs, to reads the question loud: ment of this tour. It might have a personal life, to do What is your favourite ani- even still yet end up being a all those things, to make mal? DVD, but if not a DVD than I cant´t write my music and to meet at the very least an audio people I have to be home. Well, that´s a very hard album. We haven´t filmed songs on the The main thing next years question to answer becau- any shows. It was still tal- is pretty much no touring. se I´m vegetarian, I love king about filming maybe road We probably do a trip to Ja- all animals really and I´m on one of the shows on this pan, to in spring an animal lover. I grew up tour. So, some kind of live because we haven´t been with cats and with dogs. document of this tour, yes. there at this tour. But apart

Page 2 /// www.Voyage-PT.de - This Trip IS Really Necessary! /// from that you won´t see us step for me. It took me on the road the next year. many years really to ac- cept that I was a singer. Could you describe a typi- Somebody said to me: “Oh cal Steven Wilson working you´re a singer” - I ans- day when you record an al- wered “No, I write songs, bum? Do you have a tight I‘m not a singer” - “But you schedule? sing” - “Yeah but I´m not a singer.” The same thing is SW: No. I´m very relaxed true with the thing really, I don´t, because my as well. When people talk working method in terms about me as a guitar pla- of writing and recording is yer, I´m not a guitar pla- now the same. Apart from yer. Porcupine Tree, because it´s a band, there is no di- I love your guitar playing! stinction between the wri- ting and the recording when SW: I appreciate that but it´s just my own music, like I´m not a guitar player, I´m , IEM or a songwriter, producer that my solo project. I´m in the plays the guitar and sings studio, I´m writing and as as part of the process. I´m I´m writing I´m putting the a songwriter, producer that recording down. It´s all part uses guitar and voice as of the same process. two of the tools in order to achieve that vision of ma- I still have a studio at my king records. Recently I´m parents house which is just beginning to comes to about 30 Miles away from terms with that I have got where I live in . something special about Each day I wake up the late my voice and my guitar morning usually and I drive playing. Maybe I should to my studio and I start And then suddenly on day On the “Fear of a blank pla- give myself a little bit more work at 1 or 2 o´clock in 15 or whatever something net” album and the new credit and confidence for the afternoon and I don´t will click and a song come “Nil Recurring” album we being a singer. work incredibly long hours. and another song come. have noticed that you have I´m not one of these peo- developed your voice, we ple that works all night and That´s my typical day think you have further de- looses track of the time. probably from about one veloped your voice. I use guitar o´clock till eight o´clock in the evening just working SW: I hope so. and voice as I´m still in the little room I´ve been working in pretty much sin- Was it a normal process or two of the tools working in my ce I was a teenager. It´s do you have a vocal coach the same room I made all or is it an improved self- little teenager my early Porcupine Tree confidence? tapes in. The equipment is studio a bit more advanced now SW: I don´t have any coach. Before “” it´s ano- but the environment is the I think the whole history of ther kind of music it´s same. I just feel very com- my has been a gra- more instrumental. At the fortable, I´m very relaxed dual gaining of confidence time of “Signify” the vocal I work 6 or 7 hours a day and still very inspired. and gaining of perhaps starts to become much and I work very quickly. strength. We toured a lot more part of the sound. I think people are quite And to this day I´ve real- for “” and I think “Signify” is the first album astonished when they work ly only ever written here. singing a two hours show you can really say that´s with me how quickly this Another place I´ve written every night it does make now more vocal orientated music is recorded. It´s qui- songs: I had an apartment your voice stronger and it than instrumental orien- te quick. But sometimes it in for a while. I wro- does give you more confi- tated. In order to achieve can take a long time before te most of „Fear of a blank dence. that I started to use a lot something will click. I can planet“ there but otherwise of harmony voices, multi- be going up to studio eve- everything still is made in When I started singing live, tracking vocals, because I ryday for two weeks produ- that room at my parents in 1994 or whatever it was, didn´t have the confidence cing nothing as any good. place. that was a very, very big to just one single voice.

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I was using many many we were only 20 or 30 ther song, we tune up, we You were very successful techniques, using special people and during the announce. We play to give with Porcupine Tree the effects on the processing “” and “Stu- the same kind of feeling of last years. How do you ma- on the voice, multilayering pid Dream” tour you did a musical journey. nage to keep both feet on voices and all those kind a lot of announcements the ground? Do you have of things. And all of those between the songs. You friends outside the music techniques which people told some anecdotes business? Which role does really love about Porcupi- that I thought they are The shows your family play? ne Tree, the harmony vo- really funny and I think cals, and the special, the you reduced that. should be a SW: I have my mum, my telephone voice. They are dad and my brother. I don´t all techniques really deve- SW: Yes! musical journey have my own family. I have loped because I didn´t re- my feet on the ground? I ally have much confidence Was it intentionally? don´t do that consciously. as a singer. I never wanted to make If I had a voice like Jeff SW: There was a point in music for any other reason Buckley or Thom Yorke I time around about the end And obviously the film star- and I love to make music. probably would never have of the “” tour or ted to come into the show developed those tech- maybe at the beginning of as well and the audience is niques. the “Deadwing” tour when bigger and the shows were It´s very hard we decided we wanted the less intimate. And actually music to flow more as a it´s very hard to speak inti- to speak I didn´t really continuum and we wanted mately to a big audience. If the idea of the live show. If you got 30 people it´s re- intimately to a have much you listen to the Porcupine ally easy to speak to them Tree , they are all and have a connection. If big audience confidence conceived as continuous you got a thousand peo- musical journeys. And I ple it´s very hard. You´re as a singer think at some point we felt talking to something quite like it will be nice to try to intangible. A lot of people, not menti- give the same kind of im- So there are at least two on any nose, but there are pression in a live context. reasons. But the main re- some people obvious in When I attended my first So rather than we play a ason was that really we the music industry who get Porcupine Tree show in song, we kind of tune up, wanted the show to flow a into it because they want 1999 in Munich when we announce, we play ano- little bit more like the al- to be as a star. I wanted to bums almost like a musi- make music and I never cal journey, a continuum felt competitive with other of music and that´s felt bands. But that´s not true good. Particularly when sometimes there is a little we are going out and do- bit a rivalry. But generally ing “Fear of a blank pla- speaking it wasn´t like a net” as the whole of the competition to me. I loved first half of the show, I the music and I loved the only spoke once just to whole kind of aura. explain what we are do- ing. And apart from that In the meantime, you have we just played the album. a lot of female fans that I liked that kind of effect are coming to the con- it can be more intense. certs …

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SW: More and more, yeah. When you listen to music are you only interested in … and that are posting in the musical/technical part your guestbook. Do you or is it also important for read your guestbook regu- you that the music and/or larly? artist is political correct? For example we saw in SW: I wouldn‘t say regular- your „Metal Playlist“ an ar- ly, but occasionally. tist called …

And some of the guestbook SW: Burzum. entries could be described as some love letters to We had some discussion you. Do you feel flattered in the Voyage PT mailing or are you afraid of it? And list about that because do you already have to pro- your playlist has a strong tect yourself from some influence on the fan base. obtrusive fans? in a way because I used to must be like if you are People buy albums becau- correspond directly. or to have that se they appear on your SW: Do I feel flattered or whole kind of phenomena playlist. do I feel threatened? Both! A long time ago my email magnified a 100 times. All I´ve had things which I address was on my web- these people that think SW: There is your answer. felt a little bit scary. The site. Then there was a pe- they have a relationship Unfortunately or fortunate- problem is it is very flat- riod where I used to have with you. And stalkers, ly, I don‘t believe the power tery obviously that people questions for the band I don‘t have things like of music is connected to think that they know you on the forum. After a whi- that. how nice or politically cor- because they like your mu- le we had to abolish that rect or otherwise the per- sic. And in a sense they are and then we had to even I have to be very careful son who makes it is. There right because the music is, abolish the forum com- who I respond to. If you are plenty of people who‘ve certainly lyrically, a reflec- pletely. There is no forum go to my MySpace page made extraordinary music tion of who I am. on the Porcupine Tree you‘ll see there are some that were very, very dubi- website. I know there are people on there that write ous, politically, personally, various fan websites with comments as if they‘re philosophically. I have various forums which I don‘t have having a conversation anything to do with those. with me. I‘m not. I‘m not people now I don‘t know what goes on responding. They got this them. I don‘t read them, I imaginary conversation. There are some between me and don‘t hear about them. In So I think people read that that sense it‘s sad, but on and think I‘m responding, eccentric people the fan base the other hand it became and I‘m not. There are essential because as the some eccentric people out there band became more popu- out there. But of course at lar, the kind of obsessive the end of the day, it‘s flat- So in a sense, when peo- fandom increases and so tering to know that people ple think they know me does some of the resent- love what you do so much, then in a way they do. But ment of success. that they kind of extend And Burzum‘s music is ex- they don‘t know me, they their passion to their idea tremely powerful, I think. know a version of me and The most unpleasant mes- of you as a person, too. It‘s got something. I love usually they complete the sages which have come picture themselves with through to me have been their imagination and so- from people who believe metimes that‘s scary. I‘ve I‘m somehow turning my had a couple that were a back on them, because I‘m bit scary. I‘ve never had to now successful or some- be protected physically. thing. Very twisted. Or peo- ple who have met me once But put it this way, I‘ve got backstage, and I‘ve been to the stage now where I very courteous and sign have to be very careful who stuff from them and talk I respond to directly. And I to them and suddenly they have various people now think we have a relation- between me and the fan ship. A very small minority. base. It sounds very sad I can only imagine what it

Page 5 /// www.Voyage-PT.de - This Trip IS Really Necessary! /// very dark and very twisted lag“ who apparently one music. Burzum‘s music of the guys killed his own has got something, either parents. When you hear despite or because of the music that it‘s made by kind of person he is. An genuine disturbed indivi- extreme nihilistic power duals very often you can which maybe directly con- hear there is got an extra nected to the fact that he level of intensity. There‘s is an extremely unpleasant been great art made by individual. Unfortunately I artists who‘re in mental can not deny that because hospitals, because they‘re of that his music, in terms extremely twisted. of Black Metal, has got a lot more intensity and I also believe the whole power and fantisity than Charlie Manson kind of most of the Black Metal thing. There‘s a very thin I‘ve heard which sounds line between an artist like school kids playing and a serial killer. Now let around. His music doesn‘t. me explain that because It‘s got something really that‘s a very, very distur- sick and evil about it. bing thing to say. Most well adjusted human beings are not inclined Music of to create extraordinary art and neither are they disturbed inclined to kill people. There‘s something slightly people is often disturbing about people who create extraordina- very intense ry music. It‘s almost like were you tapping into part of their mind which other people don‘t tap into. This Unfortunately ever since I is my theory. the verge of insanity, on tivity. I guess that there is heard the first Black Sab- the verge of being extre- a very thin line between bath album, when I was a So there is a very thin line, mely disturbed, psychopa- channelling them in cre- teenager, I‘ve loved sick if you look at the great ar- thic people. But in a way ativity and destruction. and evil music. I also love tists, someone like Picas- they‘ve chosen to channel Does that make any sense these guys called „Sta- so or Mozart. They are on those impulses into crea- at all?

There is a very thin line between an artist and a serial killer

There are many, many, many serial killers, Charlie Manson being the most fa- mous example, who were also artists. Or would be artist, wanted to be artist. Charles Manson wanted to be a musician. What he have done with Wilson of the Beach Boys. He wrote songs for the Beach Boys. This is a guy that could

Page 6 /// www.Voyage-PT.de - This Trip IS Really Necessary! /// have gone either way, and something in his mind was twisted that could have been used in a posi- tive way or negative way. Now for whatever reason he used it in a negative way.

I´m not including myself in the category of artistic geniuses

Burzum is another exam- ple. Varg Vikernes, give me his real name, he‘s someone that obviously the way. I‘m talking about How many unfinished reer I was listening to Disco had incredible, something the real intense artists, songs and demos are on music, at the same time I was twisted in his mind. the Picassos and the Mo- your computer? Would it was listening to , And the same impulse zarts of this world. The ge- be worthwhile for a PT fan to Country music, to Drone that let him to create such niuses. to get his hands on your music and to Industrial mu- intense music was also laptop? sic. And very few times in the impulse that made There‘s something about my history have I‘ve been him into such a fuck-up these people that‘s in- SW: Oh, yeah. I was writing able to express all of those as a person. And I guess sane. They could just as and recording songs even interests. Recently it‘s be- what I‘m saying is that I easily end up being kil- in the mid eighties. In my coming easier. Now I have think that there is a very lers as they could end up archive that goes back so many projects that I‘m thin line between artistic being great artists. Con- to like even the mid eigh- able to express most of genius. I‘m not including troversial, I know, but this ties there are hundreds, those musical identities. myself in this category, by is one of my theories. hundreds of songs. One day I probably will do a some kind of like In my archives of XTC. He recently did this 8CD series called „Fuzzy there are Warbles“ where you trawl through all his archived de- hundreds mos, unfinished songs. I‘d like to do something like of songs that one day.

Some of these songs I‘m actually gonna be doing on But in the early years I had this solo projects. Songs No-Man. That was all I had that been around probably to begin with. At the same for about 5 years, that were time I‘m still making am- written during the „In Ab- bient music and industrial sentia“ period, that didn‘t music and I still writing make the album and songs Progressive and Psyche- written in the period since delic and and then. But there are songs Krautrock inspired music. going way back to the mid And a lot like stuff kind I eighties that for whatever got left in the archive. Later reason didn‘t. I‘ve always on I had IEM for the Kraut- been interested in many, rock and Bass Communion many different kinds of mu- for the Drone. But there‘s sic. At every stage of my ca- a lot of music still in the

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archive. So the answer to be a terrible interviewer. I the question is hundreds. wouldn‘t know what to ask. I couldn‘t tell you myself. It must be hard coming out Hundreds. with questions. And thin- king of questions that you What question(s) would imagine that person hasn‘t Steven Wilson asks him- been asked a million times self in an interview? before.

SW: What question would Steven Wilson ask himself I think in an interview? I think I‘ve been asked most of them I would be right now. I probably think of something in like a week a terrible from now, haha. There are so many things you can ask interviewer out there. It‘s funny I got re- cently invited if I would to do an interview. I‘m writing a little bit for the Rolling When we sat down, we tried Stones magazine in Mexi- to compile questions … co. I‘ve written a review of the new Radiohead album SW: I can see that. And it for and the must be hard. Because other day they asked me if I when you interview some- wanted to interview the ar- one like Bob Dylan, how tist called . Murcof, can you ask Bob Dylan it‘s Electronic, I‘m a big fan anything that he hasn’t‘ of the artist Murcof. And been asked before and not you know what a fan is. be conscious of that fact? They rung me up and asked So I imagine it must be me, if I wanted to interview very hard. I don‘t know is Murcof. I though about it the answer. and I said ‚No‘ in the end, because I think I would Thank you very much!

3 Andi Photos: Richter

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