Gary Husband on Allan Holdsworth: Difference between revisions
From Allan Holdsworth Information Center
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Source: http://community.fortunecity.ws/tinpan/orchestra/422/review9.html | Source: http://community.fortunecity.ws/tinpan/orchestra/422/review9.html | ||
==Gary Husband, Modern Drummer, June 1991== | |||
SG: It's interesting that Mark King invited you into Level 42 to be part of the creative team, despite the fact that you were known for playing quite a different style of music. He might have been expected to get somebody who would lay down a groove like Phil Gould, and otherwise just do things to order. | |||
GH: If Mark had said to me, "Look, we want you to sound as close to Phil as you can," I wouldn't have wanted to join. Because, although I am quite happy to recreate certain drum styles in the spirit of authenticating musical styles from the past, this isn't something from the past, it's Level 42 now. That's what I'll represent to the best of my ability. Mark seems to have the philosophy that he will approach musicians for the individual way they play. He has to make decisions that are compatible with the musical and business pressures on him, and I respect him greatly for that. He has a record company breathing down his neck, expecting him to come up with a product that is going to work in a "pop" way. He hired me over the phone, on the strength of what he had heard on Allan Holdsworth's albums, because he had the unshakable belief that it would work. He was right-it does work—but I wouldn't have known before we tried it. [laughs] | |||
SG: Don't you ever yearn for the oldfashioned method of just going into the studio and performing a number? | |||
GH: I've always been a great fan of Mitch Mitchell, who was with Jimi Hendrix, and just recently I've had the opportunity to get to know him. You hear about how in the '60s they used to make an album in an afternoon; it's quite incredible. In a funny way, some of those albums with Allan Holdsworth were like that. | |||
When we did Atavachron, I was suffering from jet lag. I got a cassette of the material a day before going into the studio. We went in, spent a day recording-plus maybe about half of the following day—and that was it. "Welcome to this new piece of music...Play it... Thank you and good night!" [laughs] | |||
SG: Allan Holdsworth plays guitar on Guaranteed. How did that come about? | |||
GH: Well, as you know, we lost Alan Murphy. That's been a great blow to all of us, because he was a great friend as well as a great player. We're still reeling from that sad loss. The very, very hard job that has been facing us is to replace him. | |||
It was Mark's idea to give Allan Holdsworth a call to see whether he would be interested, and I had to think very hard about whether Allan would be willing. He has a perfectionist's view of everything he does. If he were to play on a Level 42 album, he would have to be certain that everything he did would fit perfectly. Another thing worrying me was that I knew that when he performs a solo, he doesn't like other band members in the control room. But to my amazement, he came in with a basic setup, got a monstrous guitar sound, and started playing incredible things to our music. I wouldn't have thought it would have worked so well, but it did. He gave his strong personal magic to that music, but nothing was out of place. He heard the music for what it was. | |||
It was a strange experience listening to the playbacks. There was the sound of Allan's guitar and my drums together, which is something I am used to hearing. Then there was the sound of my playing with Mark and Mike, which is something else I'm used to. Now I was hearing the whole lot together! | |||
SG: I understand he will be touring with you as well. Does this mean that Allan Holdsworth is the Level 42 guitarist? | |||
GH: When it was discussed that he might play on the record, it wasn't even contemplated that he might do some live work as well—simply by virtue of his commitment to his own record label and his own schedule. Also, Level 42 obviously needs a guitarist who is highly rhythmic, which isn't Allan's area. So I wouldn't have thought that him touring with us would have come about at all—until Allan said to me one night, "You can tell Mark that if he can't find anybody, I'd love to give it a go." I was completely gobstruck! [laughs] | |||
Could you fill us in on what happened between the Atavachron period with Allan Holdsworth, and the invitation to join Level 42? | |||
GH: At the time I had been working more or less exclusively with Allan. When there was no recording or touring with him, I was left very much to my own devices. There wasn't much else happening, particularly in London, where I might have been able to work as a freelancer—which is why I was seriously contemplating staying in America. It was almost a case of having to do that, so that I could maintain a working situation in which I could work with Allan, and have the opportunity to do some other things as well. I was trying to make Allan's band come first, because I believed so much in the music—and still do. | |||
==Gary Husband, unpublished interview, August 1996== | ==Gary Husband, unpublished interview, August 1996== | ||
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Q: And you were still young when you were playing with the extraordinary jazz rock guitarist, Allan Holdsworth. How did you get to meet him? | Q: And you were still young when you were playing with the extraordinary jazz rock guitarist, Allan Holdsworth. How did you get to meet him? | ||
GH: "I was aware of Allan through his work with Tony Williams' Lifetime but I didn't meet him until about 1978. I had just been fired from Barbara Thompson's band (Paraphernalia) for playing too loud. I was doing my two weeks' notice at Ronnie Scott's club and during that time I met Jack Bruce and Allan who were playing together with the drummer Jon Hiseman. There was a certain poetry attached to the whole thing because Jon took my place when I got fired and so I started playing with Allan instead. And, funnily enough, both Jon and I are still in the same bands to this day. | |||
GH: "Those early days with Allan were quite frustrating. A lot of people were very excited about the prospect of him having a band but nobody was prepared to give the band any action. It was almost impossible to get a record deal and so few people came to the gigs that we had to pay the place at the end of the night for hiring the PA. So we were literally paying to play in those days! We used to just get in each other's cars at the end of each evening and drive away in total silence. | |||
GH: Allan ended up having to go over to the States to make something happen and our IOU album didn't come out until 1982. In fact the band was called IOU because we always owed everyone loads of money. | GH: Allan ended up having to go over to the States to make something happen and our IOU album didn't come out until 1982. In fact the band was called IOU because we always owed everyone loads of money. | ||
