Subject: Level 42 Digest, #273 ===================== * LEVEL 42 DIGEST * ===================== Digest 273 Tuesday, 01/10/95 107 subscribers Today's messages: Re: Level 42 Digest, #272 Level Crossing , and Interview with Mark King (LONG) HI! Gould brothers MK Interview (part 3...oops can't count:) Mark King Interview (Part 1 of 2 ..as it's v.long) MK Interview (part 2) ------------------------------ From: dcrowson @ amoco.com Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 12:09:37 +0000 Subject: Re: Level 42 Digest, #272 > From: balcott @ prairienet.org (Bobby Alcott) > Hi... Hello > Although I've been a big fan for YEARS now, I don't hear anything > about the band lately. I don't know if everyone has been over this > before (I need to get a hold of the archive), but did they not > release a European album "Forever Now" or something like that? No, but it's on the cards apparently > Can I get my hands on this somehow? Will they ever tour here again? No, never ever again, as they split up after the last tour. The last ever gig they played was on the 14/10/94 in London. BTW The interview from guitarist '91 is almost complete, should be posting it sometime this week (hopefully) ------------------------------ From: dcrowson @ amoco.com (David Crowson) Date: Mon, 9 Jan 95 15:43:28 GMT Subject: Level Crossing , and Interview with Mark King (LONG) [ BTW, I put this in the anonymous ftp directory on enterprise - EJH ] LEVEL CROSSING, An Interview with Mark King (Guitar Sept. '91 , repro.without permission:) "It's showtime; I look out before we go on and the drapes are across the back of the second row!. The management are saying, 'We've had to put the curtains up, Mark, because there's no-one in.." Interview by Gibson Keddie "That's one of the problems with music; it's not 9-5 work, there's no obvious cut-off point; it's with you 24-hours a day and that manifests itself in some funny ways.." continues Level 42's be-thumbed bass slinger. "Prior to tours, I always get the same nightmare and they're always gig-related. That one is the obvious one where no-one comes to see us - even those first two rows are thin on the ground; it's horrible!. The other one is that I'm at a Mahavishnu Orchestra concert and it's the classic situation that everyone dreams about:'The bass players ill, is there anyone in the house who can play ?' And I leap up to play with my heroes and they hand me this bass guitar that's so wide I can't get arm over it, and the counting has started. The counting lasts forever but I can't reach the strings..." GK: Your way of playing is very distinctive, with your arm hooked over the wide Alembic body,forearm parallel to the strings. Are you consciously aware of your style ? MK: Well, I've been using Alembics since '87, and occasionally I use a Matrix Bass; it's horses for courses. In terms of general bass playing, I'm not much of a perfectionist. I don't really like doing clinics or specialist interviews because I don't think I've got any answers for anything. I'm not very precious about the instrument itself and that's a double-edged sword in a way, because I like to be able to plug it in and sound good. There are always fellows rushing up to say 'Have a go with this', and I plug it in and maybe just because it's different, I think 'Oh Wow, that's great'. and then I plug something else in which sounds good and I'll want to use that.But I think it would be limiting to have only one instrument that was like, your baby; perhaps it's more crucial with guitarists. GK: Perhaps, but in your position, where a certain amount is expected of you, one way to stay fresh is to try something different MK: Yes, new gear...I had good fun mucking about with an MB4, a Wal bass fitted with an Australian MIDI device. I used it on one track on the album, which is good because it allowed me to have a completely different sound. On another track I played a fretless, which I've never played before but felt that the song I'd been working on needed a different approach, and I could 'hear' a fretless bass on it. So I did the old thing of just hooking some frets out of the bass, shoving in wood filler and - viola!- fretless bass - not a particularly great one, but it wouldn't make any difference to me, because it's so different. Then Mike (Lindup) had a song that we rattled Down and I used the MB4 on that, finding that the combination of the Wal plus a triggered TX802 gave a nice sustainy sound. It wasn't actually any kind of bass sound, per se; it was one of those hybrid sounds, but using it with an octaver it had a very convincing fretless sound. so I had ,the best of both worlds because while I feel more comfortable on a fretted instrument, it sounds like a fretless bass doing it. and in that respect,even a bit of MIDI lag helps because if you think of fretless bass sounds, they're always a bit lazy and fluid, as if you're toeing it along, which is nice. I admire good fretless bass players a lot... GK: do you slow it down to allow yourself a softer, more expressive approach in terms of , say, fretless finger vibrato? MK: Yes, more control in that respect would be good. I use really light gauge strings because they give me a degree of bendabililty that you couldn't get if you were using regular 40's or 45's. I use a 30,50,70 and 90. GK: Do you ever Dabble in Upright Bass ? MK: Not as such. I was a late starter on Bass - originally I was a drummer, the bass was just something I had to do because Phil Gould was better suited to the drumming gig in the original Level42. We were best pals from way back and used to get together and talk drummers and do everything that drummers do - arrived everywhere late, very untogethor... GK: Yes, sure - and very moody... MK: Very moody, all of that cobblers. so I went on to bass, although from the age of about nine I really had a desire to play cello, because it's a fantastic instrument. If I'd had the opportunity, it would have been a logical step to maybe have wanted to go on to double bass. But, typical of the great British educational system, at our school they had four cellos which were allotted to brainy kids! I was far too thick for that, written off, good for cannon fodder..! I think my attraction to the cello was that there's something about female cello players - not that I want to be a woman, I hasten to add - the way they sit there straddling the instrument. I think it's tremendously sexy, and all the female cellists in the Isle of Wight Youth Orchestra seemed to be incredibly horny... GK: cultured and good-looking - can't be bad MK: Well, they were sexy compared to the birds that played the euphonium; they looked like a cross between the euphonium and Hattie Jacques! But I have leanings toward any kind of musical instrument; I think they are fantastic things. The only instrument I really have a problem with , mainly because I don't stick at it and have a real block, is the piano; I'm absolutely crap on that And I find it incredibly frustrating because most instruments you can pick up and start getting sounds out of. When you work with sound, with your ears, you can relate to most things, and it's such an expressive instrument in the right hands, but I can't seem to do anything with the damned thing. It seems cold and unforgiving and hard, whereas stringed instruments are much more user-friendly, all bendy and supple! Drums are great, and brass instruments...you can pick up an sax and make it sounds really round... GK: When you picked up the bass, after having been a drummer, presumably you took on board a whole new set of influences? MK: I liked funk music. I mean, I very much liked Return To Forever ;Chick Corea was a great hero of mine and so I obviously got a lot of exposure to Stanley Clarke. I always thought he was Chicks's best foil and the very first album 'Light as a Feather' was just terrific, with Stanley playing upright bass. He had a harmonic approach that seemed to sit with me much better than other jazz upright bass players, who I just found boring. When I listen to Pederson and all these guys they're wonderful now but the arrogance of youth makes you shy away from things that seem fuddy duddy. And there was something incredible fresh and inspiring about Stanley Clarke, but only as another musician. I didn't covet the bass, or want tot be a bass player; I just used to marvel at him. The same with John McLaughlin - such a hero of mine! I used to try and read any snippets of information about him. I loved it when people like Larry Coryell said that being gin the same room as him was like being in the same room as Jesus Christ. It absolutely fitted my idea of this guy who was larger than life and just did impossible things. Herbie Hancock I thought was great, then chasing that through, and finding out about Miles Davis...There was always a funky element in their music which I found very attractive. At the time I worked in London in Macari's music shop. as ever, it's a big problem for musicians,needing the time to dedicate themselves to what they want to do and yet at the same time having to hold down a job a make a living. Having a job in a music shop you'd think that would give you a bit of time to twat around with all the customers and go away and play...Well, it would have been great if it had been sounds, or Rose Morris - somewhere that had drums - but Macari's didn't stock any! At that time I was getting into James Brown too, and loved the groove, but was still listening to it with a drummers ear. As Macari's had shit loads of keyboards everywhere, which I hate, the only other instrument I could relate to was bass, and so I listened to what a rhythm section was doing, the groove with the bass and the drums - so bass it was!. GK: Amongst others, I always felt that you were a Bernard Edwards man.. MK: The Chic thing? Yeah, the stuff he did was great. What I love about American bass players is their economy in playing. with me it's all excessive - it's all or nothing. I find it very hard to play something like the line in 'The Sun Goes Down' - there are so many holes in it - I start twitching and get all self-conscious. I'd rather fill it up, but I can't, because the song goes like that. Maybe in a past life I was a stand-up comedian, because in Vaudeville, apparently, the worst thing that could happen to a comedian was silence. that's why you get all these old school comedians who do all that 'so I said-and then she said' stuff. Hence all those silly catchphrases. and that's basically what I do on the bass, fill in the silence because of my own fears... GK: You're the catch-phrasers of bass guitarists, then ?! MK: Yeah; it's all cobblers ! In a three hundred bar song you're getting about fifty bars of relevance , and tow hundred and fifty bars of cobblers. GK: One of the things that made everyone sit up and take notice of early Level 42 was your tightness for such a young band. How did you make that come about ? MK: We were certainly no better than any other young musicians , and I don't say that out of false modesty. there are some fantastic players around. I heard a young bloke recently and he's a terrific player, as are his mates..but in their bedrooms! But being a bedroom virtuoso is no good to anybody. Music is a tremendous communicator so you've got to get out to people and that's when the tightness comes.We just used to schlep around, playing club after club. we did so many live shows; some were great some weren't , but it was all a tremendous learning thing. By just playing together all the time you learn to listen and respond to other people, and when the shit hits the fan, you keep going...that's how you get tight, and that's what we did.! GK: I believe you were so nervous in those days that you used to play sideways on the stage, and not face the audience..! MK: Yeah, we were just terrified! In fact, we really got our comeuppance one day. In '81 we got our first chance of major exposure, a support slot with 'The Police'. We thought 'This is it, our ship has come in!' Until that time , we'd been doing the White Hart, the Zero Six, Gold Diggers and all of these little clubs and that was fine, it didn't matter if you stood sideways. But going into a sports hall with eight to ten thousand people, we needed to be different. We thought we were prepared for it, and decided that the best thing was to look the part, and we all nipped out and bought all this poncy gear...anyway, our first show was in Stuttgart but we got there late for the soundcheck, plus we also didn't know that the posters just advertised the Police - they didn't even say 'plus special Guests'. Come show-time the hall was heaving,all waiting to see Sting, Stewart and Andy come out and burst into 'Roxanne' or something. the lights went down, the place went berserk and we toddled out...and I think they thought they'd been had. we went on stage and straight away the place just stopped dead. So we huddled together as best we could, sideways on, and launched into the first instrumental, finishing to deafening silence. I shuffled up tot the mike and said 'thanks very much', and we went into the next song,then this hail of pfennigs started coming down on stage, plus someone threw a choc-ice which hit Boon (gould), stuck on his head, and started melting, under the red lights it looked like he was bleeding! But then he started moving , and suddenly he looked liked Wilko Johnson, he was firing around the stage, dodging the missiles! I'd gone up to the mike to sing the only vocal we had in the set at the time, and someone threw a firecracker! I generally have a crooked arm when I'm playing, and the firecracker landed right in the crook at the elbow and went off - BANG - I swear to God I thought I'd been shot! you've got to remember , we'd never done anything like this, so we didn't know whether being shot at was normal or not ! So I started thinking, 'Must keep playing, the British spirit, remember the Titanic'. but it was absolutely terrifying and we got booed off. We went backstage and had a good grizzle about it but then said 'Fuck this for a lark. bin the clothes, and even if they don't like us at least we can play well as a band' we did, and it worked a treat, just going on as we turned up, like today, and getting a far morefavourable reaction. You can't bullshit audiences. Americans are good at it, but for some reason English people have this famous restraint. I don't say it's a bad thing, but Americans seem to have the showbiz thing off much more pat. I can say 'Thanks very much' and ' Are you having a good time' because they're general things, but no way can I say 'We love you, you're a wonderful audience , and thanks for turning out' ; because I think it's all cobblers [Note from Dave; S'funny how things change...this is exactly the sort of thing he said on the last tour...that he loved us etc. ] GK : Billy Sheehan reckons the two reasons that make him move about are 1) If there are girls in the audience 2) avoiding missiles! So it's obviously all part of the experience. MK: Well the Yanks are good at that. Take someone like Prince; He's great at presentation and such a talented player as well. GK: Good bass player, too. MK: Does he do the bass parts ? GK: Yeah, his bass player, Levi Seacer Jnr. says he couldn't do what Prince does on Bass; he doesn't need anybody. MK: He does on stage ! GK: That's true. But there's Joe Satriani too...apparently, if he could clone himself he wouldn't need anyone on stage at all. In a reverse way do you play guitar on group material ? MK: Yes, I do. It's not very good, really, but I'm enjoy doing it. In fact, I do quite a bit of guitar on the albums - a lot of picking stuff, for instance. I've got my own 48-track studio, which is a real bonus because if I start to work on an idea it doesn't have to be a demo, it can be the real thing. Then , when the fellas get together, we'll keep the good bits, and the crap bits they can re-do. from my point of view, if Joe Satriani did clone himself it probably wouldn't be a very good band at all, because it would all sound like Joe doing it, and that's not what a band is. I would never tell Mike what he should be doing keyboard-wise, and it would be ridiculous to say to Gary (Husband) or Phil, or any other drummer, 'Do it like this' . that would be insulting to a musician of any worth. When they hear what I've done , they're good enough musicians to say ' I like this pattern you use here. I'll develop that'. they do it and make their own version of it, which is hopefully better. GK: Have you always been able to play complex rhythmic bass lines while singing over the top of them ? MK: Oh yes, but it's always been a case of having to do it. When we started off, there was no great game plan. I just did it. with regard to 'complex', I think I probably made most musical progress in 1908-81, and I really haven't moved very far from that at all. GK: That's the problem when you're working hard, isn't it ? ; It's difficult to find the time to progress - you do it , only more gradually MK: Well, I don't necessarily hold with the idea of teachers and clinics, because they never showed me anything that I wanted to know. I think that to be able to pick it up and go for it is the best way, because you can cut out a lot of crap. I mean, what's the point of me teaching someone what I do ? there's no point , because I'm already doing it. Let's move on, develop. Besides, there are so many bad things in my playing that would be terrible to genetically pass down the line. you'd end up with a load of bass players like the mountain people in 'deliverance'; mental retards with everybody's bad habits. That's not to say that you don't pick up things from other players, because you do...There's more than a smattering of Stanley Clarke in my playing , but it wasn't a conscious thing of 'How does he do that' It just hit the right note with me, and in that respect you could say that I learned something from him. GK: Is it true to say that your slap playing peaked in the mid-80's, and you've become more of a finger style player these days ? MK: I tend to play more finger style when we're making a record, but then when we go live, to make it loud, and punch it out a bit more, I to play the finger style thumbwise, and so my progress is bolloxed again. GK: Your finger style reminds me of what McCartney could have been twenty years on, with that fluid, smooth rolling style.. MK: Thanks, I didn't think I was quite as impressive as that! McCartney did some things that were really ahead of his time. It took me 15 years after the event to realise what he was doing, because I was too young to really appreciate the Beatles for what they were. And I certainly wasn't listening to Beatles bass lines then; I much preferred the Rolling Stones because I liked Brian Jones haircut. GK : Ah ,a good musically valid reason MK: And those wild Vox peardrop guitars, the whole image GK: The beatles showed such shear musical inventiveness, especially in those bass lines MK: They had such a wonderful sound as well; it's like, what possible thing could I do on a Beatles song that could ever improve it ? I did a cover version of 'I feel free' once, and it was crap. There was nothing I could do to the song that I felt justified in doing., I did it because it's one of my favourite songs. Jack Bruce was great; he used to do ludicrous things like throwing in these Bach-type pedal things - like , if they stopped on an E, he would be playing a B at the last chord, and you think 'bloody hell, he's such a great singer as well. What a voice' GK: You haven't got such a bad voice yourself MK: God, that's another thing entirely. We'll keep right off that topic I only do it because I have to; the smaller you keep the band the lower the overheads on the road! Plus , if you're tied to the mike, you don't have to do all these wild MC Hammer type moves. Mind you,it would be great to be able to do that and keep it all a lark.Charisma is so special and so rare though - so few people really have it. One of the most charismatic people id Miles Davis. To scare the shit out of you when he walks on stage and then turns his back on you...what a great idea. If I did it, it wouldn't be the same thing ,would it? I like to see people like MC Hammer doing his thing, but much prefer to see James Brown doing it. GK: Level 42 were like a British weather report in the early eighties.... MK: It's funny you should say that, but that's the sort of thing we were aiming for, and trying to be. But you can't deny or ignore your roots and where you grow up; it affects how you relate to something, how you feel about it and what comes into your music.Mike's from Wimbledon, I grew up in Gurnard, Isle of Wight - doesn't have the same ring as Laurel Canyon or Sunset Boulevard, though that's not to say you can't come from these places and be great, because everybody has to come from somewhere But as a kid , what were my musical surroundings? . The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Small Faces - that sort of thing. despite the fact that I desperately wanted to be involved in the pop scene, they best thing to happen to me was switching over a TV channel when I was about 13 and tuning in to 'In Concert' with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Until then the most radical thing I'd heard was the Archies, or Billy Cotton on drums or something - drone drone - and suddenly there was this guy with a double-necked guitar; another guy with a perspex drumkit,two bass drums and all these drums around him; and this psychopathectic looking guy on a Fender, Rhodes with the top torn off it; and this freaky violinist as well. It was fantastic I just sat there gobsmacked. so much that the very next week, with the pocket money I'd saved up to buy Kevin Keegan football boots, I went out and bought a Mahavishnu Orchestra album. I even took an album of John McLaughlin's into the hairdressers and said that I wanted my hair cut just like that. Unfortunately there was a picture of Sri Chinmoy on it as well,with his shaven head. so the guy gave me that one by mistake and I ended up looking like on of the cast of 'Scum' GK : Level 42 have never really had their troubles to seek have they? For instance, record company hassle has seemed to have dogged you throughout your career MK:It's always a bit of a battle. We're on RCA records now, but in the past, every time we delivered a record there were hold ups. Part of the songwriting process for us has been that we had to like what we were doing. Around 1985 we changed direction, because we wanted to reach a wider audience, and that caused problems within the band which caused to the fracture of Level 42 in 1987. We were becoming more and more successful and yet at the same time it was getting harder giving records to the record companies because the more successful you become, the more they wanted you to be like that one successful thing. We turned in Hot Water in '84 and they said 'Fantastic' and then you turn in 'Something about You' and go 'Hmmmmmm don't know; do something more like Hot Water'. but 'Something about You' suddenly goes tope ten in the USA and the next thing you deliver is Lessons in Love and they say 'Oh dear no,can we have something more like Something About You' And this is where we are now;Lessons in Love was successful. As a musician you must be true to yourself and not pander , because you're putting your destiny in someone else's hands if you start saying ' what do you think? what should we be?' Ostensibly we haven't changed; we write our music and we do what we like to do. Sometimes we run into fans from the Level42 of 1980 and they go 'Why don't you do instrumentals anymore ?' and they're shocked when you say 'Because we don't really want to; we like what we're doing now' True enough, if you compare the latest album to the first one , they're worlds apart, though listening chronologically there's only been gradual development, with no major change - with the possible exception of 'World Machine' where we tried to focus it a bit more and have hit records. And that's never an easy one because what is a hit record, anyway?. I mean , if the material was 90% of whatever it is that makes hits, then I'd say ' I don't want any part of that' because so much of it is crap. But a hit's a hit, so what do I know ? I don't mean to sound cynical, but it's as if no-one ever looks at the band, sees that it's successful, and thinks 'They're successful, he must know what he's on about...' And although the band gets bigger you' think that would change, but it never does. GK: When Boon left he said he was exhausted with the workload. Was it the same with Phil ? MK: Well, we didn't stop. We kept going round and round the world. There are so many 'territories', as they call them, that if a record suddenly becomes successful in a territory , you go and do your promotion and exploit it. But at the same time, there's still that other territory on the other side of the world that you're still trying to nurture.In America it's a lot easier if you can pick up a good support gig with someone. So instead of doing what we did in 1980, playing to 400 people in a club, you could go out in front of perhaps 80 000 people at a Madonna show. now it stands to reason that the Madonna fans aren't going to go absolutely nuts over everything that you do, but at the same time there's going to be a much bigger proportion of people who say 'I like that' But to get back to Phil, we were such tremendous friends when we were young; when we were 21 we had real empathy for each other. It's the same as when I married my wife, we had a lot in common, but time passes and from 21 to 30 you change very much as a person. You don't have to change for the worse, but you do change and it's impossible for everybody to change in exactly the same way Mike will agree; within the group there was just a real growing apart. I could see something in Level 42 that could become a vehicle for everything I ever wanted to do, and Phil didn't see it that way. It's a shame that has to happen, but it has to happen. I'm more upset that the marriage didn't work. I grew apart from my wife and I found that 8 years later we were like strangers; it was almost like the convenience of being together became a replacement for the real love of doing it. And it's exactly the same with a band, which is why when we're working with people now it doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, or even that they're the most astonishing player you've ever heard; it's that you like them as people and hopefully you see eye to eye for a while. GK: Alan Murphy was such a good find for the band. you must miss somebody with that level of ability and creativity MK: We really do; he was a tremendous player and on top of that he was a tremendous person. In the 18 months that we were friends I learned so much from him about everything; about being cool; about how life's too short - an ironic phrase to use in this circumstance- to get an ulcer over everything. It was really good for us when Alan came in, because we'd had the fracture with Boon and Phil, and that had shaken the hell out of Mike and me. And as I said, the band is nothing to do with me on my own, or mike on his own, or Boon and Phil, it was a composite of all these people. So when Al came in he helped restore our confidence; it felt like a band again.and he had something to say, musically, and changed the band for the better. In that respect I always think Boon was underrated - in fact, he underrated himself very much as a player , because he was unique. but Alan came in with a different way of playing, and lent a whole more guitarry feeling to the band, which wasn't a bad thing. that's also why I'm so thrilled we found Gary husband, because he fitted in very well. When we made the new record, working with Allan Holdsworth was terrific too, because he'd been such a hero of ours, and doubly good because he was Alan Murphy's hero. It felt right the guy who filled Alan Murphy's shoes was the guy that Al Murphy always thought was the dog's bollocks. GK: It's much to your credit that the band didn't go straight for the Alan Murphy clone... MK: It was very different from finding yourself in the position when someone leaves the band. Okay, they leave, we replace them and carry on. But if somebody dies..........No way did we expect that, and suddenly it left a gaping hole again, and we didn't say 'Oh dear..alright next...' No way! So Mike wanted to do his album Changes, I wanted to get the studio stuff finished and the marriage sorted, so we took a break because none of us felt like working at that time. It's not a production line and you can't just say 'Next..' GK: Was Holdsworth inclusion looked on as a temporary thing; just to get the wheels turning again? MK: Yes, he did us a big favour. I never thought he'd lower himself to come and play with us, but the guy was fantastic. We did the record, and that was great, but we had shows booked at Hammersmith and didn't want to let the fans down and I thought 'Christ, we need someone to play guitar'. and Allan stuck his hand up and said 'I'd love to do it.' And it was the same thing finding Jakko (Jakszyk), too... GK: How did that come about ? MK: Jakko sent us a tape ages ago. But funnily enough I was watching the James Whale radio show one night, and he was on with Tom Robinson. I was really impressed with what he did and how he played because I understand what it's like playing live on TV, and to sound so good was a credit to him. so I called him up and he said 'I'd love to do it..' GK: Did you actually have a shortlist of possibilities, or was it very much off the cuff? MK: It's funny, because the assumption is that you know stacks of people. I don't know anyone and it's pretty much a crap shoot, saying 'Right, who are you going to get then ?' you may have noticed my blanks looks when you where naming other bass players you'd expect me to know; unfortunately I don't. I'm not a great listener to other things and I'm not a great one for going out and keeping tabs on things, so I wouldn't know who's hot and who isn't. But if you see something that sticks in your mind, like Jakko on TV...... GK: I thought your solo album 'Influences' was excellent - even more so because you did the drumming on it. MK: Well, I had to try and lay that ghost to rest.I couldn't bullshit my way from 9 yrs old, telling everyone I was going got be the greatest thing on rums, without trying to do something about it. I've always had the feeling that I'd bump into someone on the Isle from Wight one day, and instead of them saying 'Hey, you did well for yourself' saying ';See, I said you were a wanker; you told me you were the world's greatest drummer and what happened; you never did anything on drums' And they'd have a point. So at least I did the drums on that album! That said it made me remember how much hard work drumming is - it hurts. GK: What are the plans for Level42 now that you've got Jakko in and you're getting on the road again. ? MK: Having had this time off, Mike and I are looking forward to another long period of work again. It was necessary to take a break and we've done that now. You can get very weary at times - all work and no play etc- but so many shitty things happened during the break that I never want to take one again! GK: Do you think it's to the detriment of the band that you've had this instability of personal and professional life ? MK: In one way, obviously - anything that stops the band playing, writing , developing as a unit is detrimental. but because music is an emotional thing, is you want to be a musician whilst experiencing life as a person, that's got to come out in your music somehow.and if it turns out that you can be more compassionate, or not so hot-headed,or a better person, it must come out in the music, because that's what music is.So there's a greater worldliness to it now, for better or worse. That's how it is,beaches you change all the time - although' we're looking forward to getting back out so must that we'd really appreciate it if our situation stayed the same ...for a little while at least Transcribed by Dave Crowson 1995.(A Loyal fan since '81=%^) ------------------------------ From: TMFlash @ aol.com Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 15:40:51 -0500 Subject: HI! Hello to all you Level 42 fans out there. This is my introduction. I have been a fan of Level 42 since "Something About You" was released. It became my favorite song of 1986 and I quickly purchased everything I could get my hands on by the group. Level 42 is one of my favorite groups because the band has consistently put out great music. As I went back and purchased earlier titles it became apparent that this was a group who had many influences and were all very talented musicians. I was very sad to hear of the break-up of the band last year. Every album from "Level 42" to "Guaranteed" was delightful to listen to from beginning to end and represents a catalogue of music that although not well received in the U.S., is easily as innovative and creative as any available. My favorite album is "Staring At The Sun". I thought that with the departure of the Gould bros. after the very excellent "Running In The Family" (a very close second), the band would fall apart. But the first time I heard "Heaven In My Hands" I knew they were as together as ever. Anyway, I'm happy to be a part of this group and look forward to developing a relationship with all. BYE ------------------------------ From: Peter Hadley Date: Mon, 9 Jan 1995 20:43:27 -0500 (EST) Subject: Gould brothers Here's an Americans, uninformed knowings of the Goulds After leaving Level after there most sucsessful doings, Phil wanted to pursue windsurfing ( or was it just surfing ? ) and Boon wanted to write a book. Boon is STILL working on that book, and is wrapping up a solo album. He also gets " special thanks " on the first post-Gould album _Staring at the Sun_, probably for co-writing 6 of the 10 released tunes. Phil has been doing god knows what, until his wonderful apperance on _Forever Now_. Peter ------------------------------ From: dcrowson @ amoco.com (David Crowson) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 10:36:44 GMT Subject: MK Interview (part 3...oops can't count:) GK: When Boon left he said he was exhausted with the workload. Was it the same with Phil ? MK: Well, we didn't stop. We kept going round and round the world. There are so many 'territories', as they call them, that if a record suddenly becomes successful in a territory , you go and do your promotion and exploit it. But at the same time, there's still that other territory on the other side of the world that you're still trying to nurture.In America it's a lot easier if you can pick up a good support gig with someone. So instead of doing what we did in 1980, playing to 400 people in a club, you could go out in front of perhaps 80 000 people at a Madonna show. now it stands to reason that the Madonna fans aren't going to go absolutely nuts over everything that you do, but at the same time there's going to be a much bigger proportion of people who say 'I like that' But to get back to Phil, we were such tremendous friends when we were young; when we were 21 we had real empathy for each other. It's have to change for the worse, but you do change and it's impossible for everybody to change in exactly the same way Mike will agree; within the group there was just a real growing apart. I could see something in Level 42 that could become a vehicle for everything I ever wanted to do, and Phil didn't see it that way. It's a shame that has to happen, but it has to happen. I'm more upset that the marriage didn't work. I grew apart from my wife and I found that 8 years later we were like strangers; it was almost like the convenience of being together became a replacement for the real love of doing it. And it's exactly the same with a band, which is why when we're working with people now it doesn't matter who they are, what they look like, or even that they're the most astonishing player you've ever heard; it's that you like them as people and hopefully you see eye to eye for a while. GK: Alan Murphy was such a good find for the band. you must miss somebody with that level of ability and creativity MK: We really do; he was a tremendous player and on top of that he was a tremendous person. In the 18 months that we were friends I learned so much from him about everything; about being cool; about how life's too short - an ironic phrase to use in this circumstance- to get an ulcer over everything. It was really good for us when Alan came in, because we'd had the fracture with Boon and Phil, and that had shaken the hell out of Mike and me. And as I said, the band is nothing to do with me on my own, or mike on his own, or Boon and Phil, it was a composite of all these people. So when Al came in he helped restore our confidence; it felt like a band again.and he had something to say, musically, and changed the band for the better. In that respect I always think Boon was underrated - in fact, he underrated himself very much as a player , because he was unique. but Alan came in with a different way of playing, and lent a whole more guitarry feeling to the band, which wasn't a bad thing. that's also why I'm so thrilled we found Gary husband, because he fitted in very well. When we made the new record, working with Allan Holdsworth was terrific too, because he'd been such a hero of ours, and doubly good because he was Alan Murphy's hero. It felt right the guy who filled Alan Murphy's shoes was the guy that Al Murphy always thought was the dog's bollocks. GK: It's much to your credit that the band didn't go straight for the Alan Murphy clone... MK: It was very different from finding yourself in the position when someone leaves the band. Okay, they leave, we replace them and carry on. But if somebody dies..........No way did we expect that, and suddenly it left a gaping hole again, and we didn't say 'Oh dear..alright next...' No way! So Mike wanted to do his album Changes, I wanted to get the studio stuff finished and the marriage sorted, so we took a break because none of us felt like working at that time. It's not a production line and you can't just say 'Next..' GK: Was Holdsworth inclusion looked on as a temporary thing; just to get the wheels turning again? MK: Yes, he did us a big favour. I never thought he'd lower himself to come and play with us, but the guy was fantastic. We did the record, and that was great, but we had shows booked at Hammersmith and didn't want to let the fans down and I thought 'Christ, we need someone to play guitar'. and Allan stuck his hand up and said 'I'd love to do it.' And it was the same thing finding Jakko (Jakszyk), too... GK: How did that come about ? MK: Jakko sent us a tape ages ago. But funnily enough I was watching the James Whale radio show one night, and he was on with Tom Robinson. I was really impressed with what he did and how he played because I understand what it's like playing live on TV, and to sound so good was a credit to him. so I called him up and he said 'I'd love to do it..' GK: Did you actually have a shortlist of possibilities, or was it very much off the cuff? MK: It's funny, because the assumption is that you know stacks of people. I don't know anyone and it's pretty much a crap shoot, saying 'Right, who are you going to get then ?' you may have noticed my blanks looks when you where naming other bass players you'd expect me to know; unfortunately I don't. I'm not a great listener to other things and I'm not a great one for going out and keeping tabs on things, so I wouldn't know who's hot and who isn't. But if you see something that sticks in your mind, like Jakko on TV...... GK: I thought your solo album 'Influences' was excellent - even more so because you did the drumming on it. MK: Well, I had to try and lay that ghost to rest.I couldn't bullshit my way from 9 yrs old, telling everyone I was going got be the greatest thing on rums, without trying to do something about it. I've always had the feeling that I'd bump into someone on the Isle from Wight one day, and instead of them saying 'Hey, you did well for yourself' saying ';See, I said you were a wanker; you told me you were the world's greatest drummer and what happened; you never did anything on drums' And they'd have a point. So at least I did the drums on that album! That said it made me remember how much hard work drumming is - it hurts. GK: What are the plans for Level42 now that you've got Jakko in and you're getting on the road again. ? MK: Having had this time off, Mike and I are looking forward to another long period of work again. It was necessary to take a break and we've done that now. You can get very weary at times - all work and no play etc- but so many shitty things happened during the break that I never want to take one again! GK: Do you think it's to the detriment of the band that you've had this instability of personal and professional life ? MK: In one way, obviously - anything that stops the band playing, writing , developing as a unit is detrimental. but because music is an emotional thing, is you want to be a musician whilst experiencing life as a person, that's got to come out in your music somehow.and if it turns out that you can be more compassionate, or not so hot-headed,or a better person, it must come out in the music, because that's what music is.So there's a greater worldliness to it now, for better or worse. That's how it is,beaches you change all the time - although' we're looking forward to getting back out so must that we'd really appreciate it if our situation stayed the same ...for a little while at least Transcribed by Dave Crowson 1995.(A Loyal fan since '81=%^) ------------------------------ From: dcrowson @ amoco.com (David Crowson) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 10:35:01 GMT Subject: Mark King Interview (Part 1 of 2 ..as it's v.long) LEVEL CROSSING, An Interview with Mark King (Guitar Sept. '91 , repro.without permission:) "It's showtime; I look out before we go on and the drapes are across the back of the second row!. The management are saying, 'We've had to put the curtains up, Mark, because there's no-one in.." Interview by Gibson Keddie "That's one of the problems with music; it's not 9-5 work, there's no obvious cut-off point; it's with you 24-hours a day and that manifests itself in some funny ways.." continues Level 42's be-thumbed bass slinger. "Prior to tours, I always get the same nightmare and they're always gig-related. That one is the obvious one where no-one comes to see us - even those first two rows are thin on the ground; it's horrible!. The other one is that I'm at a Mahavishnu Orchestra concert and it's the classic situation that everyone dreams about:'The bass players ill, is there anyone in the house who can play ?' And I leap up to play with my heroes and they hand me this bass guitar that's so wide I can't get arm over it, and the counting has started. The counting lasts forever but I can't reach the strings..." GK: Your way of playing is very distinctive, with your arm hooked over the wide Alembic body,forearm parallel to the strings. Are you consciously aware of your style ? MK: Well, I've been using Alembics since '87, and occasionally I use a Matrix Bass; it's horses for courses. In terms of general bass playing, I'm not much of a perfectionist. I don't really like doing clinics or specialist interviews because I don't think I've got any answers for anything. I'm not very precious about the instrument itself and that's a double-edged sword in a way, because I like to be able to plug it in and sound good. There are always fellows rushing up to say 'Have a go with this', and I plug it in and maybe just because it's different, I think 'Oh Wow, that's great'. and then I plug something else in which sounds good and I'll want to use that.But I think it would be limiting to have only one instrument that was like, your baby; perhaps it's more crucial with guitarists. GK: Perhaps, but in your position, where a certain amount is expected of you, one way to stay fresh is to try something different MK: Yes, new gear...I had good fun mucking about with an MB4, a Wal bass fitted with an Australian MIDI device. I used it on one track on the album, which is good because it allowed me to have a completely different sound. On another track I played a fretless, which I've never played before but felt that the song I'd been working on needed a different approach, and I could 'hear' a fretless bass on it. So I did the old thing of just hooking some frets out of the bass, shoving in wood filler and - viola!- fretless bass - not a particularly great one, but it wouldn't make any difference to me, because it's so different. Then Mike (Lindup) had a song that we rattled Down and I used the MB4 on that, finding that the combination of the Wal plus a triggered TX802 gave a nice sustainy sound. It wasn't actually any kind of bass sound, per se; it was one of those hybrid sounds, but using it with an octaver it had a very convincing fretless sound. so I had ,the best of both worlds because while I feel more comfortable on a fretted instrument, it sounds like a fretless bass doing it. and in that respect,even a bit of MIDI lag helps because if you think of fretless bass sounds, they're always a bit lazy and fluid, as if you're toeing it along, which is nice. I admire good fretless bass players a lot... GK: do you slow it down to allow yourself a softer, more expressive approach in terms of , say, fretless finger vibrato? MK: Yes, more control in that respect would be good. I use really light gauge strings because they give me a degree of bendabililty that you couldn't get if you were using regular 40's or 45's. I use a 30,50,70 and 90. GK: Do you ever Dabble in Upright Bass ? MK: Not as such. I was a late starter on Bass - originally I was a drummer, the bass was just something I had to do because Phil Gould was better suited to the drumming gig in the original Level42. We were best pals from way back and used to get together and talk drummers and do everything that drummers do - arrived everywhere late, very untogethor... GK: Yes, sure - and very moody... MK: Very moody, all of that cobblers. so I went on to bass, although from the age of about nine I really had a desire to play cello, because it's a fantastic instrument. If I'd had the opportunity, it would have been a logical step to maybe have wanted to go on to double bass. But, typical of the great British educational system, at our school they had four cellos which were allotted to brainy kids! I was far too thick for that, written off, good for cannon fodder..! I think my attraction to the cello was that there's something about female cello players - not that I want to be a woman, I hasten to add - the way they sit there straddling the instrument. I think it's tremendously sexy, and all the female cellists in the Isle of Wight Youth Orchestra seemed to be incredibly horny... GK: cultured and good-looking - can't be bad MK: Well, they were sexy compared to the birds that played the euphonium; they looked like a cross between the euphonium and Hattie Jacques! But I have leanings toward any kind of musical instrument; I think they are fantastic things. The only instrument I really have a problem with , mainly because I don't stick at it and have a real block, is the piano; I'm absolutely crap on that And I find it incredibly frustrating because most instruments you can pick up and start getting sounds out of. When you work with sound, with your ears, you can relate to most things, and it's such an expressive instrument in the right hands, but I can't seem to do anything with the damned thing. It seems cold and unforgiving and hard, whereas stringed instruments are much more user-friendly, all bendy and supple! Drums are great, and brass instruments...you can pick up an sax and make it sounds really round... GK: When you picked up the bass, after having been a drummer, presumably you took on board a whole new set of influences? MK: I liked funk music. I mean, I very much liked Return To Forever ;Chick Corea was a great hero of mine and so I obviously got a lot of exposure to Stanley Clarke. I always thought he was Chicks's best foil and the very first album 'Light as a Feather' was just terrific, with Stanley playing upright bass. He had a harmonic approach that seemed to sit with me much better than other jazz upright bass players, who I just found boring. When I listen to Pederson and all these guys they're wonderful now but the arrogance of youth makes you shy away from things that seem fuddy duddy. And there was something incredible fresh and inspiring about Stanley Clarke, but only as another musician. I didn't covet the bass, or want tot be a bass player; I just used to marvel at him. The same with John McLaughlin - such a hero of mine! I used to try and read any snippets of information about him. I loved it when people like Larry Coryell said that being gin the same room as him was like being in the same room as Jesus Christ. It absolutely fitted my idea of this guy who was larger than life and just did impossible things. Herbie Hancock I thought was great, then chasing that through, and finding out about Miles Davis...There was always a funky element in their music which I found very attractive. At the time I worked in London in Macari's music shop. as ever, it's a big problem for musicians,needing the time to dedicate themselves to what they want to do and yet at the same time having to hold down a job a make a living. Having a job in a music shop you'd think that would give you a bit of time to twat around with all the customers and go away and play...Well, it would have been great if it had been sounds, or Rose Morris - somewhere that had drums - but Macari's didn't stock any! At that time I was getting into James Brown too, and loved the groove, but was still listening to it with a drummers ear. As Macari's had shit loads of keyboards everywhere, which I hate, the only other instrument I could relate to was bass, and so I listened to what a rhythm section was doing, the groove with the bass and the drums - so bass it was!. GK: Amongst others, I always felt that you were a Bernard Edwards man.. MK: The Chic thing? Yeah, the stuff he did was great. What I love about American bass players is their economy in playing. with me it's all excessive - it's all or nothing. I find it very hard to play something like the line in 'The Sun Goes Down' - there are so many holes in it - I start twitching and get all self-conscious. I'd rather fill it up, but I can't, because the song goes like that. Maybe in a past life I was a stand-up comedian, because in Vaudeville, apparently, the worst thing that could happen to a comedian was silence. that's why you get all these old school comedians who do all that 'so I said-and then she said' stuff. Hence all those silly catchphrases. and that's basically what I do on the bass, fill in the silence because of my own fears... GK: You're the catch-phrasers of bass guitarists, then ?! MK: Yeah; it's all cobblers ! In a three hundred bar song you're getting about fifty bars of relevance , and tow hundred and fifty bars of cobblers. ------------------------------ From: dcrowson @ amoco.com (David Crowson) Date: Tue, 10 Jan 95 10:35:54 GMT Subject: MK Interview (part 2) GK: One of the things that made everyone sit up and take notice of early Level 42 was your tightness for such a young band. How did you make that come about ? MK: We were certainly no better than any other young musicians , and I don't say that out of false modesty. there are some fantastic players around. I heard a young bloke recently and he's a terrific player, as are his mates..but in their bedrooms! But being a bedroom virtuoso is no good to anybody. Music is a tremendous communicator so you've got to get out to people and that's when the tightness comes.We just used to schlep around, playing club after club. we did so many live shows; some were great some weren't , but it was all a tremendous learning thing. By just playing together all the time you learn to listen and respond to other people, and when the shit hits the fan, you keep going...that's how you get tight, and that's what we did.! GK: I believe you were so nervous in those days that you used to play sideways on the stage, and not face the audience..! MK: Yeah, we were just terrified! In fact, we really got our comeuppance one day. In '81 we got our first chance of major exposure, a support slot with 'The Police'. We thought 'This is it, our ship has come in!' Until that time , we'd been doing the White Hart, the Zero Six, Gold Diggers and all of these little clubs and that was fine, it didn't matter if you stood sideways. But going into a sports hall with eight to ten thousand people, we needed to be different. We thought we were prepared for it, and decided that the best thing was to look the part, and we all nipped out and bought all this poncy gear...anyway, our first show was in Stuttgart but we got there late for the soundcheck, plus we also didn't know that the posters just advertised the Police - they didn't even say 'plus special Guests'. Come show-time the hall was heaving,all waiting to see Sting, Stewart and Andy come out and burst into 'Roxanne' or something. the lights went down, the place went berserk and we toddled out...and I think they thought they'd been had. we went on stage and straight away the place just stopped dead. So we huddled together as best we could, sideways on, and launched into the first instrumental, finishing to deafening silence. I shuffled up tot the mike and said 'thanks very much', and we went into the next song,then this hail of pfennigs started coming down on stage, plus someone threw a choc-ice which hit Boon (gould), stuck on his head, and started melting, under the red lights it looked like he was bleeding! But then he started moving , and suddenly he looked liked Wilko Johnson, he was firing around the stage, dodging the missiles! I'd gone up to the mike to sing the only vocal we had in the set at the time, and someone threw a firecracker! I generally have a crooked arm when I'm playing, and the firecracker landed right in the crook at the elbow and went off - BANG - I swear to God I thought I'd been shot! you've got to remember , we'd never done anything like this, so we didn't know whether being shot at was normal or not ! So I started thinking, 'Must keep playing, the British spirit, remember the Titanic'. but it was absolutely terrifying and we got booed off. We went backstage and had a good grizzle about it but then said 'Fuck this for a lark. bin the clothes, and even if they don't like us at least we can play well as a band' we did, and it worked a treat, just going on as we turned up, like today, and getting a far morefavourable reaction. You can't bullshit audiences. Americans are good at it, but for some reason English people have this famous restraint. I don't say it's a bad thing, but Americans seem to have the showbiz thing off much more pat. I can say 'Thanks very much' and ' Are you having a good time' because they're general things, but no way can I say 'We love you, you're a wonderful audience , and thanks for turning out' ; because I think it's all cobblers [Note from Dave; S'funny how things change...this is exactly the sort of thing he said on the last tour...that he loved us etc. ] GK : Billy Sheehan reckons the two reasons that make him move about are 1) If there are girls in the audience 2) avoiding missiles! So it's obviously all part of the experience. MK: Well the Yanks are good at that. Take someone like Prince; He's great at presentation and such a talented player as well. GK: Good bass player, too. MK: Does he do the bass parts ? GK: Yeah, his bass player, Levi Seacer Jnr. says he couldn't do what Prince does on Bass; he doesn't need anybody. MK: He does on stage ! GK: That's true. But there's Joe Satriani too...apparently, if he could clone himself he wouldn't need anyone on stage at all. In a reverse way do you play guitar on group material ? MK: Yes, I do. It's not very good, really, but I'm enjoy doing it. In fact, I do quite a bit of guitar on the albums - a lot of picking stuff, for instance. I've got my own 48-track studio, which is a real bonus because if I start to work on an idea it doesn't have to be a demo, it can be the real thing. Then , when the fellas get together, we'll keep the good bits, and the crap bits they can re-do. from my point of view, if Joe Satriani did clone himself it probably wouldn't be a very good band at all, because it would all sound like Joe doing it, and that's not what a band is. I would never tell Mike what he should be doing keyboard-wise, and it would be ridiculous to say to Gary (Husband) or Phil, or any other drummer, 'Do it like this' . that would be insulting to a musician of any worth. When they hear what I've done , they're good enough musicians to say ' I like this pattern you use here. I'll develop that'. they do it and make their own version of it, which is hopefully better. GK: Have you always been able to play complex rhythmic bass lines while singing over the top of them ? MK: Oh yes, but it's always been a case of having to do it. When we started off, there was no great game plan. I just did it. with regard to 'complex', I think I probably made most musical progress in 1908-81, and I really haven't moved very far from that at all. GK: That's the problem when you're working hard, isn't it ? ; It's difficult to find the time to progress - you do it , only more gradually MK: Well, I don't necessarily hold with the idea of teachers and clinics, because they never showed me anything that I wanted to know. I think that to be able to pick it up and go for it is the best way, because you can cut out a lot of crap. I mean, what's the point of me teaching someone what I do ? there's no point , because I'm already doing it. Let's move on, develop. Besides, there are so many bad things in my playing that would be terrible to genetically pass down the line. you'd end up with a load of bass players like the mountain people in 'deliverance'; mental retards with everybody's bad habits. That's not to say that you don't pick up things from other players, because you do...There's more than a smattering of Stanley Clarke in my playing , but it wasn't a conscious thing of 'How does he do that' It just hit the right note with me, and in that respect you could say that I learned something from him. GK: Is it true to say that your slap playing peaked in the mid-80's, and you've become more of a finger style player these days ? MK: I tend to play more finger style when we're making a record, but then when we go live, to make it loud, and punch it out a bit more, I to play the finger style thumbwise, and so my progress is bolloxed again. GK: Your finger style reminds me of what McCartney could have been twenty years on, with that fluid, smooth rolling style.. MK: Thanks, I didn't think I was quite as impressive as that! McCartney did some things that were really ahead of his time. It took me 15 years after the event to realise what he was doing, because I was too young to really appreciate the Beatles for what they were. And I certainly wasn't listening to Beatles bass lines then; I much preferred the Rolling Stones because I liked Brian Jones haircut. GK : Ah ,a good musically valid reason MK: And those wild Vox peardrop guitars, the whole image GK: The beatles showed such shear musical inventiveness, especially in those bass lines MK: They had such a wonderful sound as well; it's like, what possible thing could I do on a Beatles song that could ever improve it ? I did a cover version of 'I feel free' once, and it was crap. There was nothing I could do to the song that I felt justified in doing., I did it because it's one of my favourite songs. Jack Bruce was great; he used to do ludicrous things like throwing in these Bach-type pedal things - like , if they stopped on an E, he would be playing a B at the last chord, and you think 'bloody hell, he's such a great singer as well. What a voice' GK: You haven't got such a bad voice yourself MK: God, that's another thing entirely. We'll keep right off that topic I only do it because I have to; the smaller you keep the band the lower the overheads on the road! Plus , if you're tied to the mike, you don't have to do all these wild MC Hammer type moves. Mind you,it would be great to be able to do that and keep it all a lark.Charisma is so special and so rare though - so few people really have it. One of the most charismatic people id Miles Davis. To scare the shit out of you when he walks on stage and then turns his back on you...what a great idea. If I did it, it wouldn't be the same thing ,would it? I like to see people like MC Hammer doing his thing, but much prefer to see James Brown doing it. GK: Level 42 were like a British weather report in the early eighties.... MK: It's funny you should say that, but that's the sort of thing we were aiming for, and trying to be. But you can't deny or ignore your roots and where you grow up; it affects how you relate to something, how you feel about it and what comes into your music.Mike's from Wimbledon, I grew up in Gurnard, Isle of Wight - doesn't have the same ring as Laurel Canyon or Sunset Boulevard, though that's not to say you can't come from these places and be great, because everybody has to come from somewhere But as a kid , what were my musical surroundings? . The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Small Faces - that sort of thing. despite the fact that I desperately wanted to be involved in the pop scene, they best thing to happen to me was switching over a TV channel when I was about 13 and tuning in to 'In Concert' with the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Until then the most radical thing I'd heard was the Archies, or Billy Cotton on drums or something - drone drone - and suddenly there was this guy with a double-necked guitar; another guy with a perspex drumkit,two bass drums and all these drums around him; and this psychopathectic looking guy on a Fender, Rhodes with the top torn off it; and this freaky violinist as well. It was fantastic I just sat there gobsmacked. so much that the very next week, with the pocket money I'd saved up to buy Kevin Keegan football boots, I went out and bought a Mahavishnu Orchestra album. I even took an album of John McLaughlin's into the hairdressers and said that I wanted my hair cut just like that. Unfortunately there was a picture of Sri Chinmoy on it as well,with his shaven head. so the guy gave me that one by mistake and I ended up looking like on of the cast of 'Scum' GK : Level 42 have never really had their troubles to seek have they? For instance, record company hassle has seemed to have dogged you throughout your career MK:It's always a bit of a battle. We're on RCA records now, but in the past, every time we delivered a record there were hold ups. Part of the songwriting process for us has been that we had to like what we were doing. Around 1985 we changed direction, because we wanted to reach a wider audience, and that caused problems within the band which caused to the fracture of Level 42 in 1987. We were becoming more and more successful and yet at the same time it was getting harder giving records to the record companies because the more successful you become, the more they wanted you to be like that one successful thing. We turned in Hot Water in '84 and they said 'Fantastic' and then you turn in 'Something about You' and go 'Hmmmmmm don't know; do something more like Hot Water'. but 'Something about You' suddenly goes tope ten in the USA and the next thing you deliver is Lessons in Love and they say 'Oh dear no,can we have something more like Something About You' And this is where we are now;Lessons in Love was successful. As a musician you must be true to yourself and not pander , because you're putting your destiny in someone else's hands if you start saying ' what do you think? what should we be?' Ostensibly we haven't changed; we write our music and we do what we like to do. Sometimes we run into fans from the Level42 of 1980 and they go 'Why don't you do instrumentals anymore ?' and they're shocked when you say 'Because we don't really want to; we like what we're doing now' True enough, if you compare the latest album to the first one , they're worlds apart, though listening chronologically there's only been gradual development, with no major change - with the possible exception of 'World Machine' where we tried to focus it a bit more and have hit records. And that's never an easy one because what is a hit record, anyway?. I mean , if the material was 90% of whatever it is that makes hits, then I'd say ' I don't want any part of that' because so much of it is crap. But a hit's a hit, so what do I know ? I don't mean to sound cynical, but it's as if no-one ever looks at the band, sees that it's successful, and thinks 'They're successful, he must know what he's on about...' And although the band gets bigger you' think that would change, but it never does.