From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V96 #151 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 96 : Issue 151 347 subscribers Today's topics: Last Message Marcus Bone New Members Prashant Joshi wrholley Bio Daniel James Hey Julian. . . WJGreer The good, the bad, and the ugly! Zaphod Beeblebrox NYC Levelfest: I was there...in t-shirt! John Edward Martin Shuford Once you get started... Jacqulyn A Mark King interview Steve Robson Phil <---> Gary Mighty Maomoondog ------------------------------ Subject: Last Message From: Marcus Bone Organization: Kingston University (Science) Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 15:18:45 GMT0BST Oh well summers here - time to unsubscribe or I'll have the network superviser on my back next SEP. Thanks for the response to the pants request (not), have a good summer everyone and Ill see you in september!! P.S. I always thought alanis morisette looked like a bloke in one of her videos - but tattoo man - no way. Society Against Mail Signatures (Affiliated to the Ritual Humiliation Network) ------------------------------ Subject: New Members From: kidsdoc @ terraport.net (Prashant Joshi) Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 10:25:30 -0400 Welcome to the digest, Julian. I have no doubt that your choice of favourite song will bring a few opinions out of the closet (comments, Alex?)! For what it's worth, I like The Chinese Way also, especially the live versions. Sam, you do have good musical taste, so I'm sure you'll succeed at whatever you do! Don't feel you "must confess" to playing the trombone. I know a few guys from high school who were good brass players who have been letting their instruments and talent collect dust for the past fifteen years--shame. By the way, why don't you pick up a cheap second hand bass guitar (I did) and, as the slogan goes, just do it! Bye. ************************* * Prashant Joshi * ************************* kidsdoc @ terraport.net ------------------------------ Subject: From: wrholley @ burgoyne.com Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 22:02:50 -0600 This my first time here, so, be gentle and easy. I have been a mondo L42 fan since early '86 when I first heard 'Something About You' here in the states. I was a fanatic from the start. I began buying every thing of theirs I could find. I lived in England (Sunderland, Doncaster, Wakefield, Bradford, and Harrogate) for about two years--from '87 to '89. I was able to buy alot of the stuff not available in the states. I have a ton o' vinyl, cd's, videos, and one laserdisc and truely consider myself the biggest L42 fan living in the Mountain Time Zone! You want proof? I have purchased 'Forever Now' three times (1st RCA version; Japanese version; and the Griffin version). Anyone that disagrees must deal with me directly. And just for everyones info: my favorite single is "To be With You Again" and a close second is "Hot Water"; favorite b-side is "Three Words"; favorite album is "Staring at the Sun" with "Forever Now" and "Running in the Family" in a fight for second. My other music likes are: OMD, Pet Shop Boys, Enigma, a-ha, New Order, Lightening Seeds, and Wild Swans. Anyway, long live all Level 42ites!!! ------------------------------ Subject: Bio From: Daniel James Organization: Statistical Sciences Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 10:07:52 -0700 > > Also, I understand there a hard copy bio on the band floating around outhere > > somewhere. Can someone tell me how to get my hands on one? > > If you're referring to Elson's old FAQ, it's up on the homepage. Not only > that but the biographies are an amalgam of info from all the sources I've > ever seen on the Net for L42-info (again, mostly Elson's FAQ). I've > never seen another bio sheet on the band floating around, but if someone > knows differently please let me know. My guess is that he is talking about the definitive biography. This is a must-have book. You can get one from Loz Green (if his University account is still up and running) at lgreen @ pine.shu.ac.uk. ------------------------------ Subject: Hey Julian. . . From: WJGreer @ aol.com Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 20:09:12 -0400 > The very first track I heard was The Chinese Way which >remains my favourite You should be a real hit around here! ;) ------------------------------ Subject: The good, the bad, and the ugly! From: Zaphod Beeblebrox Organization: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Inc. Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 20:49:55 -0500 Hey everyone! OK, I'm hoping to finish taking CD-R orders by this weekend, so if you're interested in getting in on the CD-R purchase, please get with me soon! My distributor has assured me that I'll have the media in my hands next week, so, knock on wood, people will start receiving their CD-R's soon! This is the good list (I've received your money, and am set to get your CD-R's in the mail ASAP!). . . *** A.J. Figliolini Bruce Conrad Chris Williams Christopher Bowen Colin Campbell Daniel Shawn Hostetler Dave Hannam Dave Luker Evan Kenny Jay Tracy Jennifer Carman Jo-Anne Park Jodi Goldberg John Goodman John Shuford Julian Arnold Ken Meacham Lewis A. Bernstein Lisa Baylus Mark Parker Martin Ashby Matthew Blackmon Matthew J. Rush Mike Petty Peter Uchytil Richard Meacham Robert A. Campbell Rolf Vonderhiede Roxanne Moore Scott Dawson Sean Kane Steven Libenson Wendy Giddens *** This is the bad list (you've spoken to me, but I haven't received you money yet, although some of you have stuff in the mail). . . *** Alexander Thomas Benedict Poole Dana Hall Guy Davis Jerry Brown Jerry Rehn Maarten Gorter Marc Dupuis Mark Tweedale Nathaniel Lathrop Richard Smith Rob Steen Troy Sutton Tucker A. Hass Walter Franken *** And the ugly, *** Martin Ashley- you've just disappeared off the face planet! Where are you?!?!?!?! *** Later all! Matthew ------------------------------ Subject: NYC Levelfest: I was there...in t-shirt! From: John Edward Martin Shuford Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 19:17:25 -0700 (PDT) I was checking out the projects and outings section of the Mailing List page yesterday, and I noticed something deja vu. In the picture of Mike, Lolita, Winston, and Steve (?), where Mike is wearing the Level 42 shirt, there was something strangely familiar... I DESIGNED THAT T-SHIRT!!!! I thought to myself with pride. About four years ago, back when there was a clutch of us on Prodigy trying to talk 42 and stir up interest through a letter-writing and grass roots campaign, one of my cohorts and I did t-shirts. I did the design, he found the graphic artist for production. I must say that I wish Mike had shown off the other side of the shirt--it is much better! For those of you thinking "hey, I want a shirt too!" I have none to offer. We only ran about 4 dozen, and they sold quickly. We initially planned to send them to the members of L42, Crockford and Phillippa, and the powers that be at RCA/BMG (with whom some of us were in frequent contact for a time), as well as the people who were involved with this "groundswell" of support. I don't know that the former group ever received shirts (I wasn't in charge of distribution), but I do know that two years ago I sent Mark King one for his birthday, along with a letter about the "passing on" of L42. The shirts are fairly cool. Sky blue and neon pink lettering. The front, for those who haven't seen these photos or can't tell from looking at it, features a combination of the Staring at the Sun type with the Running in the Family logo (trying to draw on some older recognition). The circle around the number 42 says "america is calling me-the chant has begun". The back features the logo from the My Father's Shoes artwork, same color scheme, affixed at about a 30 degree angle and sorta ragged like a haphazard postal or passport stamp. The back logo is really the winner of the two (already said that, but had to say it again). By the way, I'm impressed with the cover art for AYGB. It's busy, but then again, so was L42 over those years. I like the multitude of things going on. It's a much better bit of work than what I've seen recently from the people putting out L42 albums of all kinds (Resurgence, RCA, Polydor, Backstage). Nice work, kids. John ------------------------------ Subject: Once you get started... From: Jacqulyn @ aol.com Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 23:06:11 -0400 Not one to beat a dead horse....But I finally got around to reading some of my old digests from about a month back, and I noted some pretty harsh comments regarding Mark's behavior on Fait Accompli. This prompted me to dig out and watch my old video this week end, and frankly I fail to understand what all the fuss is about. From the videos and interviews I've seen of the band, I've always thought Mark's 'Benny Hill-ish' humor was a rather endearing quality..certainly amusing. I didn't see that any of his antics were particularly disrepectful of women or that he behaved in any ungentlemanly fashion. Instead, I saw a bit of good natured ribbing....no harm done. Even so, let's be fair. If we expect our entertainers to be anything more than entertaining these days, aren't we are putting quite an unequitable burden on some of the more talented and innovative people in our society? Perhaps we read far too much into the tiny bits and pieces of lyrics, video and interviews that come our way once in a blue moon..certainly not enough to judge a man's character. In any case, shouldn't we really direct our respect and admiration of an artist where it belongs, on the talent? And finally, let me say (before I jump off and hang myself from this soap box) that as a woman I'd far rather share a taxi with Mark King than Axel Rose any day of the week. Guess it's all in your perspective. Jaqui ------------------------------ Subject: A Mark King interview From: steve @ redac.co.uk (Steve Robson) Date: Thu, 30 May 96 09:00:22 -0100 What ho! After much headphone-bashing and strange looks from my wife, I have finished transcribing one of two interviews I have, recorded off the radio some time ago. 'Yer 'tis. Steve Steve --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Steve Robson - Steve_Robson @ redac.co.uk Zuken-Redac (UK) Ltd., Unix Systems Support Engineer 66 Suttons Park Avenue, Tel: 0118 966 9955 (or) 0836 580066 Reading, Fax: 0118 935 2899 BERKSHIRE Web: http://www.redac.co.uk RG6 1AZ UK --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transcript of an interview between BBC Radio 1 disc-jockey Andy Peebles and Mark King, around the release time of the Level 42 album "Running in the Family". Broadcast date 28th Feb. 1987 Andy Peebles: Mark King, welcome to studio 5 at Maida Vale. We've brought you here to put you right on the spot and thank you very much indeed for bringing one of your beloved bass guitars. Mark King: Oh well you're welcome, Andy, it's nice to be here, thank you. AP: What are you playing? What's this particular guitar? MK: This bass guitar here it's a Status bass, it's an all graphite one and I don't use only this I do use wood bass guitars as well. They do have very different sounds but I thought that on the radio and just 'plugging straight in' this would sound as good as any. [plays riff] [riff runs into intro. of "Running in the Family"] MK: Oh here's a bit of luck, here's the track! [RITF fades in] AP: It's funny how we got the rest of the band along and you didn't notice! [plays along until vocals start] [track plays] AP: Level 42, Mark King and "Running in the Family" It really is good to have you here. We'll talk technically about the bass in just a moment, I have recollections of you coming up to me on that Monday night a few weeks ago at the BPI awards {British Phonographic Industry - SR} MK: Ah you remember do you? AP: I do! MK: You were under the table at the time! AP: I wasn't! I tell you, I wasn't too well that night but I thoroughly enjoyed it socially. One of the things I do remember was that next day was 'chart day' and it meant that the single was going to arrive, hopefully in a very promising position... MK: Oh right, yes AP: ...and it did, but you did give me a genuine impression of being fairly nervous that night. Do you worry about new records? MK: Very much, yeah, particularly as we haven't had a single out for such a long time. I think that, I know people tend to think that we have records out all the time but the last release we had was actually, oh, April of '86 and that was "Lessons in Love" which is also on this album but that's like a considerable gap, you know, a year out without doing anything and as we want to launch the album, the "Running in the Family" album in March, it's very important that this single gets off the ground well, so I really get tense on Monday nights which is like just before the charts come in Tuesday morning and it was just as well it was the BPI dinner that night because it meant I could have a drink with all good reason, you know, and get an early night. Yes, it's very important. AP: Well what we just heard there was you playing the bass and then we ran the track in but you wanted to make the point that what you were doing here in the studio is along way away from what happens on the record. MK: Right. Because a lot of people do say to me that I don't play the bass as much as I used to on the records, and I don't, and the reason is that when I used to play bass a lot on records, I couldn't get a rest in, you know, the records wouldn't be that successful and you have to do what's best for the song and give it it's best chance of being a hit. And that really means to sort of keep my thumb in my pocket and play sensibly and do only what the track demands. AP: That's an interesting comment and I don't want to patronise you but a lot of people regard you now as a near virtuoso of the bass guitar in popular music. Does that concern you, does it worry you that perhaps when you go in the studio people are going to say "Mark's being 'flash' again" because you have the ability, if you like, to be 'flash'? MK: Well it's something that is, it's a very strange situation for me because I didn't start out as a bass player and I'm not, sort of, overly precious as a bass player, I can say this now. I mean, it was me, actually... AP: No, you say what you like! MK: ...it was me, who did, at first say that I was the "saviour of the bass guitar" and everyone's sort of believed me and that's how I got the name of being a great bass guitarist, you see, was that I told people that. No! I don't know, Andy, I get very embarrassed about this sort of question. I'm very pleased that people like what I do. I didn't start out primarily as a bassist I wanted to be a drummer so I've never been overly concerned at keeping the idea of "being a great bass player" up. I'm much more concerned with writing what I think are "good songs" and hit records. That I find much more of a challenge. AP: And the other massive pressure in a live area of course is the vocals. Now I don't quite know how you feel about the combination of instrumentation and vocals but it isn't easy, is it, to do two things at once on stage? MK: Um, I think because I started singing and playing the bass at more or less the same time, I mean I didn't start singing then, I used to sing when I was a kid and stuff, but to sing professionally I started when I started playing the bass with the band which was in 1980 and it was a case of having to do it. The same with Mike Lindup, he had never done it before, either, so to actually sing and play at the same time, if you have to get on and do it, lo and behold you can do it! It's remarkable what you do when you have to do something. AP: This programme is about the new album ["Love Meeting Love" starts] it's also about reflections of your particular taste in the world of bass guitar and it's also about not just playing new material. "Love Meets Love" {yes, that's what he says - SR} what sort of memories does this hold for you in 1987? MK: Ah! "Love Meeting Love" was our very first single and it was released in 1980 and it was the record that actually, I suppose, gave us the direction for the future years. Up until we made "Love Meeting Love" we were primarily an instrumental band but a guy came along, Andy Sojka, who used to own Elite records and said "I really like this tune that you've got if you'd like to sing on it, or get a singer in" he suggested, I'll record it for you. Because we were friends we said no we'd do it ourselves so we all had a try and I ended up singing the song and that was how the band sort of set on it's course of making singles. [vocals start] [fades at end of first verse but still in the background] MK: It sounds so under-produced, I can't believe it! I stand by the tune and the lyrics and stuff, it was still a very nice song but you can really hear the inexperience of us as 'recording artists'. You know the whole thing was done on borrowed equipment at the time. In fact the only things that were owned were Phil's drums, they were his, but the bass guitar, I used an old 'Hayman' bass it was called and I remember the pickup, it didn't have any screws in the pickup, so if I leaned forward the magnets used to suck themselves onto the strings, so the song is punctuated every so often with a 'wup'. [faded completely by now] AP: You've got, I think, in this year of '87 a very distinctive sound. Did it take long to come up with what I see as a broadcaster and a disc- jockey when I play your records as a very distinctive sound? MK: Um, well thanks. Yes, well it's taken the seven years of the band really. Now it seems like a long time but in fact it's only eight albums and that's only eight albums worth of experience, 'cos if we all came up to London as youngsters and we had no experience well making eight records isn't the greatest experience there is. I mean we have done other things in the meantime but as the band and working together, the last album, "World Machine" and the new album, "Running in the Family" are the only ones that we've actually produced ourselves, so it's, I dunno, I'm glad that we do have a distinctive sound, I think that's probably the most important thing for any artist but it has taken sort of seven years to get there. AP: Let's, just for the uninitiated, have a little look, technically, at this 'machine' you have here. Um, in case you don't know, a bass guitar has four strings. What are they tuned to, Mark? I've put you on the spot now! MK: Let me just say, actually, it doesn't necessarily have to have four strings, there are five string basses, 'de rigeur', at the moment, and you can have, the string goes down to, if this is, [slaps a few 'E's] that's my 'E' string and that's the lowest, very often now you get it taken down to 'B', which is, er, [de-tunes 'E' string to 'B', using harmonics] which is right down there. so this is where the lowest bass string would be now and, er, I'm playing, of course, let me think, [plays a groove using the low 'B'], I'm rapidly trying to, ah, there we go anyway, so that's what happens when you take it right down, it's very low, um, what was the question again? [they both chuckle] AP: I'll ask you another one. You tend to use chords on a bass guitar which is a slightly modern invention. I mean my concept of bass players back in the sixties was that it was, sort of, one or two notes per bar, held, very 'pizzicato' style, in fact there were some real ham-fisted bass players in the pop groups in the sixties. Hope they're not listening, any of them. They know who they were! MK: There were some great ones too. Look at Jack Bruce. I mean.. AP: Oh, superb. MK: ..chords and stuff, I mean once again, it's not something that I started and certainly, I don't know, who does? You know, who has started it? Jack Bruce used to use chords I'm sure. It's very much a 'jazzy' thing but because you only have four strings it's very nice to give a harmonic accompaniment with yourself. As I said before, if this is [plays 'E'] the 'E' string I can perhaps give an [plays chord] like that and make like a 'E' major [plays chord sequence] so that you start making nice little tunes [plays another chord sequence] like that, sort of thing, you can just move around. AP: It goes without saying that you have a great love for the instrument.. How strong do you think the instrument could be a solo toy, because I mean if one thinks ahead perhaps, that you might sit down in ten years time and write a sort of bass guitar, I dunno, a bass guitar er, concerto? MK: A concerto or something? I doubt this very much but er, particularly with me, you know, "doh", one brain cell. AP: But do you think the instrument would stand for that? Because it seems to me.. MK: Oh sure! AP: ..that expertise and technology get together and enhance it. MK: Right, well I mean like, it's an instrument and it's limitations are only those of the person playing it or using it or something, you know, I think that if it's come on a little more in the eighties and particularly with slap and stuff then I mean there's obviously youngsters out there right now that are going to be able to take it much much further than I ever could, you know? AP: You've never played an electric string bass, I gather? Not an electric string bass, a double bass? MK: An acoustic? No I haven't, no I've never tried an acoustic bass, or a fretless bass come to that. Um, there are many fine players like that. You have Jaco Pastorius, Alfonso Johnson, Pino Palladino is very good. He plays with Paul Young. And it's a very different sounding bass but I use very light strings so [bends a few notes] so for sort of bending I can [bends a few more] I can just do that but by bending the strings, you know. And a fretted bass IS better for slap so, er, [slaps a riff] so I prefer doing that sort of thing. AP: We could have you doing this for hours! What I'd like to do now is play "It's Over" [track fades in] from the new album, "Running in the Family", any reflections on this as a song? MK: Oh, ta! Yes, this is my favorite song I think this is the best song that the band's written yet. Boon wrote the lyrics for this and they're sort of very heartfelt. It's a real tear-jerker, this song. [during instrumental break] AP: Would you risk putting that out as a single? Now there's a question, because you are known for records that make people's toes tap and get 'em up dancing but I wonder how much a ballad strikes fear into a band if the record company and so-called 'experts' suggest it might make a good single? MK: I think, um, that really, that the strength of the song should always sort of judge whether it should come out or not. I'm never in favour of, we drew the line on the last album "World Machine" at two singles released from that in this country and I'm glad we did that although, of course, to have released more would have meant the album would have sold more and stuff. I still think that singles should stand up on their own right, you know, and you say "Yeah, that's a really good track" and it's not just been put out just to keep the album turning over. On the new album we have what I would consider to be more singles, we have a lot more tracks and "It's Over", there, I would really like to think perhaps later down the line could come out as a single. Because, you know, there's always room for ballads somewhere along the line. AP: I hold a strange theory you know, Mark, that if the weather were better in this country consistently, a song like that would be a summer smash but of course we're never guaranteed a summer in this country! MK: I know what you mean! Yeah! Yes, it's very, when you go to California and you reflect there on the sort of songs that are written there and what is successful there it does have an awful lot to do with the weather, you know. You can imagine, it's too hot to do anything so people sort of like to flop about and take another beer... AP: Yeah I mean you wonder about the beginning of the Beach Boys I mean when they first heard "Surfing USA" people must have looked out the window and thought "I can relate to this".. MK: Mmmm AP: ..um, hard to do that if you live in, wherever. MK: That's right. It's a really nice thing to export too, if you think about it, sort of, the weather, to have it on a bit of vinyl is a very nice thing. AP: Now we're not just talking about bass guitars and your new album, we're talking about one or two of your influences and you've chosen a couple of tracks for us, which is good of you. Jan Hammer comes up now. MK: Yeah! This is great, I think I'd like to say that at one point when we were, "Something About You" was a hit for us a couple of years back, um, I actually met Jan Hammer doing a "Top of the Pops" appearance and he was on there with the "Miami Vice" theme, which is so ironic for me, because Jan Hammer was, back in 1970 I heard a band called, or 1972 I beg your pardon, called "The Mahavishnu Orchestra", um, they just completely turned my head around in terms of music. Jan Hammer was the keyboard player at the time and he still is, I think, probably, one of the greatest synthesiser players. He's tremendously dexterous. His ability, his fingers, I don't know how he does it! Anyway and there he was doing "Top of the Pops". I could have fallen through the floor! My jaw was on the table! And I met the guy, it was very nice [track starts] to meet him and the song that we're going to hear, "One to One" is off of a solo album that he did called "Oh yeah" and it's just, this is a great example of a tremendous verse, I think that the verse is one of the hippest things I've ever heard! He plays Moog bass on this incidentally, so it's a synthesised bass. [vocal starts] [track fades before it finishes] AP: Jam Hammer and "One to One", one of the choices from Mark King, our guest on this Saturday afternoon. You were telling me a fascinating story while that was playing. MK: Ah, what, I've got to say it again, have I? Ooh. well it wasn't my story but I was, when I did this "Top of the Pops" and I met Jan Hammer, his manager informed me that he'd actually been approached by Harvard University, or some other such University but by their sperm bank there and they wanted Jan to make a contribution because they considered his genius to be on par with that of Mozart and people like that. AP: Incredible! MK: No one ever asked me! AP: The Mahavishnu Orchestra also included that wonderful Yorkshire man John McLaughlin, fantastic lead guitarist.. MK: Yeah, my hero! AP: ..people will probably want me to ask you, who do you rate as lead guitar players? Who are the people you'd most like to play bass with, these days. I've asked you this before, I remember, when we did "My Top Ten" some years ago but any recent influences? MK: Well my hero still is John McLaughlin on the guitar. I've met him a couple of times since although I haven't wanted to go into too great a detail because I'm almost scared of, you sort of run into your heroes and very often they turn out to have clay feet! So I wouldn't like to think that he wasn't what I imagined him to be. I mean I'd like to think that he just floated four inches off the floor everywhere, you know and sort of didn't take the ferry he just glided over the water, so I'd rather not meet them anyway. AP" Let's come back to your new album "Running in the Family". We're going to play "Children Say". Reflections on this? MK: Um, yes. "Children Say" was [track starts] although the album's just about to come out in March ,as if you didn't know, it was actually written a year before and was recorded a year before. It was recorded the same time as we did "Love", er, "Lessons in Love" I beg your pardon. We did three songs then, "Children Say" and another one, "Freedom Someday" which is an extra track on the album and cassette. But "Children Say" is, er, it's a good track and it, ah here it is! [vocal starts] AP: Listening back to that, Mark, it kind of underlines what you were saying a little earlier in the programme about simplicity on record because you can, I've found with that track and that's about the sixth time I've heard it, I can listen to each individual performing on that track, rather than the collective, d'you know what I mean? MK: Right, there has to be 'space' for things. Once again, it's sort of what is best for the song. A song like that it really needs as much space as possible and when you have someone like Wally Badarou whose real talent is sort of, "good sounds" on the synthesiser, sounds that he actually makes up himself, and there are what we call 'pads'. That means that there are sort of sustained chords that go throughout the song, um, to get the texture of that you need the space, you know. And it works very nicely in a song like that, I'm pleased to say. AP: People are constantly baffled these days when they find out exactly what happens in a studio. Does the vocal come last when Level 42 record? The 'real' vocal. MK: Mainly, yes. I mean what happens is that I'll sing the song through about four times, completely, onto a reel of tape that I can have different tracks on, you see, and what happens is that Wally Badarou who co-produces with us then sits through and takes out, like, the best performance that I've done. AP: Do you know where your best performance is? I mean are you fairly emphatic with him and say: "Look take three was the best of the four"? MK: No. I know that there are people that do know, Aretha Franklin tends to walk in, does her bit and gets out. AP: One take wonder-girl! MK: Yeah, of course. Well obviously I'm a far better singer than she is! [AP laughs] What are you laughing at? So I sing it through four times, you see, and then go and have a little cry in the corner, while they get a good one out of it. AP: Does this all seem very distant now, listening back to a track like that? I mean how long ago was this actually recorded? When did you finish the sessions that made up this album? MK: Well, we actually finished this album off in December of '86 so the album was done in three stages. We went in February and March of '86 and we did the "Lessons in Love" track and that one, "Children Say" and another one called "Freedom Someday". We left it there and we went on tour and we went to America, yawn, then we came back.. AP: Why 'yawn'? MK: Oh well I'm a big fan of touring in the States, you know. America I don't mind so much, it's just being on the road in the States I find a yawn, you know, being away from home and stuff. I don't want to get into that one now anyway because I'll get all depressed. And ,er, anyway, back to where I was, yes, so then we went back in the studio about June, July, or was it? No it was August and September, anyway, and we did the bulk of the album. We were in for five weeks then. We did all the other tracks on and we'd more or less mixed it too and finished it, so then October, November, went back to the States again, yawn and came back December. It was cut in January and we'll have to see what happens with it in March. AP: Herbie Hancock. Why are we playing this? MK: Er, Herbie Hancock has been instrumental, I think, to a lot of musicians over the last twenty years certainly. When the band started, Level 42 began, he was someone that we held as one of the finest keyboard players around. And it's incredible that Herbie Hancock moved with the times, you know. Any musician, it doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't take tomorrow as another day and something else can happen and if technology comes along. If you don't embrace it you're gonna put yourself out on a limb, you know and before you know it, you'll be out of date and you won't be around, you know. You won't be what's happening. So, Herbie Hancock did and with things like "Rockit" he showed that he's quite able to come up, embrace the new technology and not only do it well but do it better than most people, you know. And the track that we're gonna play here "I Thought It Was You" was a single for him I can't think when, about '75, '76? {got to number 15 in August 1978 in the UK - SR} About then, it's a track that may be familiar to some people but we're gonna play the end of the extended version because you can hear [track starts] Herbie Hancock's artistry using a 'Vocoder', which is a synthesiser that he can sing through and the syncopation involved is, it makes my hair stand on end anyway! [track plays] [track finishes] AP: Herbie Hancock and "I thought it Was You" and I'm sat with Ken Dodd whose hair is stood on end at the moment! It does have that effect on you doesn't it? MK: How tickled I am, yes! AP: Let's come back to the bass guitar for just a moment, if we can. MK: If you must? AP: Well I'd like to. MK: Alright. AP: What you recommend to the young aspiring bass player, how do you start? Do you save money and buy something fairly simple to start with? MK: Um, no. If you can spend as much as you can on the instrument it's much better to do it because you'll sound better, it'll be a lot easier to play and it's very hard to sort of get your fingers going when you first start because you think, it all feels very alien and if anyone who's ever forgotten what it feels like who can play now has forgotten what it's like to start if you turn the bass upside down, or the guitar upside down and use your right arm on the neck, that's how it feels when you're starting again. It's very very strange. So buy a good instrument because if it all goes wrong and you never do play you can always get more money for it when you sell it, you see, whereas a cheaper instrument will depreciate a lot faster and won't be worth anything. AP: Here comes a real 'dumbo' question but people would want me to ask this 'cos this is radio and not television, thank goodness, why have you got some 'gaffa' tape wrapped round your thumb, Mr. King? MK: Ahhhh! Well this is, this was done out of necessity really, I began doing it when the band started playing because when I used to play with my thumb at a show and I used to play very hard, my thumb would split and.. AP: Literally split? MK: ..yes, well the skin split and it sort of, well it hurt like Hell and it wouldn't heal up and we'd have to sort of cancel some shows so I just put 'gaffa' tape around it and it does the trick. It also adds a kind of, um, a percussive hardness to the sound. [slaps five or six times] You can hear it sort of, whereas if I, if I, um.. AP: You're not plucking that string, are you? You're actually hitting it. MK: No, I.. Yeah, that's right. I'm just slapping it there. This is the slap with the thumb: [single slap] This is a pull with the finger: [single pull] And it's really between the two hands. On my, if that's my right hand that was doing that, my left hand is 'hammering on' occasionally [single hammer] like there [another single hammer] and it's also, more importantly I think, it's 'stopping' the notes at the right time, so if I go 'play' 'stop' [play stop] but without actually hitting a note, so I can go 'play' 'stop' [riff gently speeds up speed] so like that, see? Three, four, one. Ah, that sort of thing. AP: [In John Noakes voice] Well of course all those of you at home are able to that already, so we'll now move to lesson two! [drops voice] That's ludicrous! MK: Here's one I made earlier! AP: Absolutely ludicrous. [laughs] Yes and "down Shep!" as well, we'll get 'em all in while we're going. Fantastic instrument, you were saying that's made out of graphite earlier on.. MK: Yeah, this one is.. AP: ..the actual body of it? MK: yes it's a very hard thing and it's sort of supposed to be very "space-age" technology.. They use it in making aeroplanes and stuff but it goes to make a very good bass guitar. Like I say that wood is still I think my personal favourite, um, but I haven't got one here! AP: "The Sleepwalkers" we're going to play next. MK: Right, yes "Sleepwalkers". This is the last track on side two and it's a very strange tune because it came about by just a sequence I got together at home. I have, like, a little 8-track studio and I had all these harps going. I don't know what I was thinking about at the time but I had these masses of harps playing through and 'log' drum basses and Phil Gould was very taken with it and said that he'd like to go away and write some lyrics, which he did, and this was [track fades in] one of the few times that we didn't actually have a melody that Phil or Boon would write lyrics to, what we did was, we just sort of 'threw' the whole thing together. I'm not a great fan of doing that to be quite honest because I'd much rather know and not waste time by going into the studio, be prepared you know, know what you're gonna do and go in and do it. But this one it sort of worked itself out, um, very nicely in the studio. [vocal starts] AP: Level 42 from a new album "Running in the Family" and that's called "The Sleepwalkers". You are, what is it, left handed or right handed? MK: Well I am left handed, I suppose. I write left handed and I do most other things left handed but I do play right handed which was a product mainly of watching everybody on television play it this way. You know, I thought it was very neat that Jimi Hendrix had thought about turning the guitar upside down and playing it that way. But there were, you know, um, when I began playing bass in London, er, I told a little fib, actually, to get the job, because the, I worked in a shop called "Macari's" on Charing Cross Road and they didn't sell any drums and at the time I still wanted to be a drummer and, er, that was what I played, was drums, and I walked into this shop, 'cos I thought a good way to get into the music business would be to start in a music shop! And I got this, I went into Macari's and I asked if they had a position and they said "yes", and I sort of clocked on that they didn't have any drums here and they said "what do you do"? and I said "well I play bass" and they said "great! if you play bass and sweep up" and then I used to have to sort of show people bass guitars and stuff so that was how that worked and that was how I began playing bass, really. AP: How good a drummer are you these days? Do you often get behind a kit? MK: No! I haven't played drums since I did my solo album which was back in 1984, called "Influences", I played drums on that. AP: Hm. MK: And that's quite interesting to listen to because you can hear the drums start off really stiffly and by the end of the album I've sort of got back into playing it again. Um, no I haven't played drums for ages, I mean Phil's far too good and we're much too busy and I'm sort of quite happy playing bass guitar now. Everybody should have a grounding in drums because time is something that you can improve upon and independence of limbs is something that also is very important to any musician. Pianists make very good drummers, for some reason, er Jan Hammer.. AP: Well of course the piano is a percussion instrument in technical orchestral terms.. MK: ..yeah, right, Jan Hammer himself who we heard earlier with "One to One", he's a great drummer and, er, Herbie Hancock is always quoting drum type stories. So ,er, I dunno, drums are the best grounding I think for any instrumentalist. AP: And you can be left handed as Mr. P Collins esquire has proved fairly emphatically over the years. MK: Who's he? AP: Yes! Quite! Hello Philip! Now let's move.. MK: Oh, Phil! AP: Yeah, you know the man. MK: Oh him, yeah! AP: You know, that sort of jack-of-all-trades. MK: He thinks, he thinks I play bass like "Jerry Marsden". AP: Does he? Has he said that publicly? MK: Er no, no he didn't! He said it to me out the side of his mouth! AP: [laughs] "Return to Forever" which is a great name but has encompassed a collective of musicians really, hasn't it, to be fair, over the years. MK: Oh, not half, yeah. This is, er, oh "Not half" I sound like Fluff, don't I? and, er, yes, "Five Hundred Miles High" is the track that we're going to be hearing from "Return to Forever" and this, Chick Korea once again is a keyboard player, it's funny that it should be three keyboard players that I thought we should listen to here but Chick Korea is a fantastic, um, Rhodes player, Fender Rhodes that's a kind of electric piano and he began a band called "Return to Forever" with Stanley Clarke who was one of my favorite bass guitarists back in the '70s.. AP: You say "was", has he passed out of recognition now? MK: No not at all, er, it's, let me rephrase that, that when I first heard him playing, er, him [track starts] and Jack Bruce combined I thought were 'it' as far as bas playing was concerned. I really liked the aggression that Stanley Clarke used to play with and on this track he's playing an upright, a double bass, which is something that I couldn't do and he plays, oh, he's great, he just has a very melodic sense on double bass which is very rare I think. [track plays] AP: "Five Hundred Miles High", "Return to Forever" mmm, good stuff.. MK: Jazz! AP: How much improvisation goes on in your live gigs nowadays, Mark? MK: Well, as much as you can get away with, um, bearing in mind that you have a lighting guy who needs to follow cues, for the show to look good and the sound man who, if, for example the sax player's taking a solo then it wouldn't do for me to suddenly leap up and start screaming away as well, because the sound man up front wouldn't be ready and wouldn't have it up and running, you know. Um, you do as much as you can do and as much as you want to do, really, er, within the boundary of the show, you know and that is that, ok, we're singing here so, like if we're singing this song and the song once again it's important and you'll do what's best for that tune. However where there's just, um, we have like Krys Mach plays sax with us and Annie McCaig she sings backing vocal live with us, apart from that it's just the four of us again and apart from using a sequencer we don't use any tapes which means that for the four of us to make it sound like, um, the 24-track record which of course we've been able to, you've had the luxury of being able to over- dub and add track on and build it up, er, so naturally you have to play out a lot more, so I tend to play, er, it comes out as 'looking flasher' because I play more notes live, um so does Boon and so does Mike and that way it sort of fills in the hole by the fact that you can't over- dub. AP: Do you have a 'party-piece' on this particular machine of yours that you have? I mean most musicians have, sort of, a 'trick of the trade' or something that they play. MK: Well, the, I mean it's not so much a tune, it's just going as fast as I possibly can! That seems to be my party piece! People like it if I, um, go fast. I sort of, I've developed a thing which is, like, er, [plays slap/hammer riff] What it is, it's er, it's a combination of the two hand thing and if you can hear me going [plays slap/hammer riff again] and then I can roll it all together and go, er [launches into fast slap/hammer solo] AP: I'm sat here watching this, I wish other people could see it too! How much practice do you do these days, Mark? MK: Er, well I don't, I don't do any practice, Andy and that's not, I mean I'm not saying that everybody should "Ahhhh! Not practice it's really easy" it, um, because the band plays an awful lot so.. AP: Mmmm MK: ..or the band plays a lot, awfully, I can't remember which one it is, we do a lot of work and that means that I can keep my hands in ok, I mean the biggest concern for me, er, my callouses getting soft, that's lumps of skin on the end of my fingers because, um, they can really get it, you know, badly sometimes, you get bad blisters and things if you don't play and, er, washing is very bad, you know, so obviously you take a shower every day your fingers get soft, so I don't like to leave it more than sort of two or three days without picking up a bass but like I say, I don't, er, practice because for me that kills the excitement of picking up the bass when we all get together. AP: Do you have 'jam' sessions in the band when you're, sort of, in rehearsal. People always do something slightly different, I think, when they're warming up. MK: Yes, when we're doing, like, sound checks and things there can be, I mean we've got into the habit now of, it's funny, professionalism's a funny because professionalism goes hand in hand with having a slick show and it's like you get up, you arrive at a sound check, you know the songs that you're gonna do that give the monitor man, that's the man that does your sound on stage.. AP: Mmmm MK: ...and the out front sound man and the lighting guy, everyone the best possible chance of running through it in the shortest possible time and when you've done that, you've run through, like, snippets of each track that you do then, I dunno, something's got to happen and invariably you start sort of jamming around and all these little things that you do every day maybe something good comes up. For me, that's how the track "Children Say" came about because there was just a sequence [plays bassline of verse from "Children Say"] that riff which is the basis behind "Children Say" just came out of doing a sound check and stuff and these things all go away in your head and you bring them out when you need something. AP: Do you find almost every time you play that you find something new on that instrument in the way of sound that perhaps you haven't achieved before? MK: Well, it happens more often you know like I say, if I don't practice because if I sit down every day then I start running out of "neat things that happen" but, um, yes it's nice 'cos if I haven't played for ages, there was a thing that was in [plays chord sequence] just sequences like that of chords put together that, um, you just, I dunno, somehow your hand sort of naturally falls to it and before you know it you've got something really, really good going. There was a thing that came out of the, um, the Wembley shows that we did recently which was a little chordal thing that I was doing, er [strums chord sequence] Those sort of things turn out quite nicely. [track "To Be With You Again" starts] AP: We have time for one more track from the new album "Running in the Family" if it's alright with you I'd like to play "To Be With You Again". MK: I have a high expectation of this track, actually, it could well be the next single. [vocal starts] AP: "To Be With You Again" from a new Level 42 album "Running in the Family". It must be nice a variety of choices as potential singles, that's always a good feeling I would think? MK: Yes it is, it's, um, well, like I say, if they're worthwhile and if you feel confident enough that they're, that you want them to come out as singles, um, like I said I've never seen the point in releasing it just, just to keep the album afloat. It's a kind of, like, ripping off the audience but if there are, there are versions that you want to bring out that are different to the ones on the record then why not, you know, let's go ahead and do it. AP: [adopts John Noakes voice again] Now we're going to play a 12-bar blues now, at least Mark is, so for those of you at home who've already got your drum kit out, or your pretend guitar, or whatever you want to play, you can join in with us.. MK: [worse John Noakes impression] 12-bar? Well what I'll do is play a little sequence while you have a chat, right. This is a kind of [plays 'walking' bass line] this is, like, your 'walking' bass line, so, over to you, big boy. AP: [adopts American announcer's voice] You have been listening to, or have just missed, Mark King live from studio 5 in downtown Maida Vale, London, where we've been reviewing the new Level 42 album called "Running in the Family". MK: Hey! AP: This is "The Stereo Sequence", in a moment, Johnnie Walker. [walking bass line to end of show] Notes. This interview transcribed by Steve Robson (Steve_Robson @ redac.co.uk). Feel free to use it in whole or part but have the decency to credit me with the transcription. Please include these notes and if you do use it, let me know what you do with it! Having listened extremely closely through headphones to the interview, there are some very obvious edits, sometimes making nonsensical sentences. You can also hear Mark twisting the tape on his thumb each time he's going to play. I have included descriptions of sounds other than speech in square brackets and added some comments of my own in curly brackets, to attempt to clarify anything I felt might not be obvious to everybody. I have also included all the ums and ers, for two reasons. One, because I wanted to give as complete a transcription as I could, providing a true record of what was said and played. And two, because they provide punctuation and leaving them out would leave sentences that make even less sense than they do already. ------------------------------ Subject: Phil <---> Gary From: Mighty Maomoondog Organization: Industrial Design Engineering TUD Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 10:34:17 +0100 (CET) Hey kids! I was listening to 'Staring at the Sun' yesterday. normally I like Phil's drumming a little bit better than Gary's but yesterday I realised that Gary is a damn good drummer also. I was thinking, wouldn't it be interesting to hear what would happen if we could let Phil play drums on 'SatS' and 'Guaranteed'? Also, on the extended version of 'Tracie' Mark is 'rapping'. What is he saying? (Tracie - extended verion is EXCELLENT) Well that's all for now (I am the great cornholio! Are you threatening me?) (Settle down, Beavis!) "the code of love should never be broken the code of love - words remain unspoken" (c) 1983 Mr. Mister The Mighty Maomoondog (io814336 @ student.io.tudelft.nl) .... ..