Holdsworth & Co.

Allan Holdsworth (International Musician 1981)

In 1977 I joined Gong which was a potentially interesting writing situation, but they could never stop arguing long enough to orgnaise (sic) anything. We toured a little and then I left. Later that year I played on an album with Jean-Luc Ponty - ‘Enigmatic Ocean. In 1978 I played on Bill Bruford’s solo albums ‘Feels Good To Me’ and ‘One Of A Kind’. I joined U.K. in ‘78 which consisted of Bill, John Wetton, Eddie Jobson and myself, one album there. In 1979 I went to Paris with the new trio, and here we are two years later about to make another album. Ultimately I’d like the band to do a couple of albums and establish in the USA: I’m sure we’ll have more success over there.

Holdsworth & Co. A New Side Of Allan’s Music. (Guitar 1980)

Although he is known to most electric guitar fans, and regarded by many as one of the world’s best and most distinctive guitarists, Allan Holdsworth has never achieved a widespread popularity or success. The main reason is that apart from occasional gigs with the nebulous Allan Holdsworth Quartet, he has always played in other people’s bands, notably UK, Tony William’s Lifetime, the Bill Bruford Band and Soft Machine. This year sees the beginning of a new project which may do much to change that - a trio called Holdsworth & Co in which Allan will play guitar and sing, Gary Husband will play drums and piano, and the bassist will be a player whose name we cannot divulge for contractual reasons, but who is at present playing in another well known band. Allan is very excited about Holdsworth & Co, as he feels it will enable him to show a hitherto unknown side of his playing and music. He played us a demo tape recorded with Jack Bruce and Jon Hiseman of tunes the band will perform, numbers in which the balance of strong melody and instrumental ability is well maintained, and featuring some beautiful chordal work from Allan, as well as his unique ability to play fast legato passages. He says that Holdsworth & Co will sound different but certainly as good, and they commence a European and British tour in Hamburg on April 8. They will release an album later in the year, perhaps on ECM.

It’s very hard to describe music. I think it’s very original, and the guys I play with are fantastic.

Has it opened up new areas in your guitar playing?

Yes, it has. One of the reasons I wanted to play in a three-piece - not for ever obviously, because it has certain limitations - is because I wanted to use another side of my playing which no-one ever really gets a chance to hear. With this band I’m doing all the stuff that people normally never ask me to do. If I play on someone’s record they usually just ask me to play a solo and that’s all, but there are other things I really like to do which I never get the opportunity to do. I could have done it a bit more with Bill (Bruford) except for the fact that he seemed to prefer the sound of synthesizer to guitar anyway. There are certain tunes where I’d like to have played accompaniment parts, but for reasons known only to him he preferred the synth thing. That’s something I’ve got really tired of, that curtain of sound over everything all the time. You get this backwash and it never stops, everything is built onto this blanket of sound. There are occasions when it can be beautiful - there are a couple of tunes on Bill’s last album where it was nice - but l just wanted to break loose from all that and play the music that I’ve been working on for a long time. There’s more space in this music because it’s a three-piece, but I’m also working a lot harder than normal. It came about when I had a blow with Jack Bruce and Jon Hiseman, and we were toying with the idea of trying to get that team together, but it came unstuck because we all had different problems at the same time. We made a demo at a studio during a couple of evenings and turned out half an album. I enjoyed it so much, it triggered the idea of a three-piece, and I knew that’s what I’d like to do. It’s taken a long time to sort out, and we’re off now, hopefully.

What has happened to the Allan Holdsworth Quartet?

That was never a real group, because we only used to do one-off gigs, and there were different guys in the band every time. We never had a repertoire as such, and I got really sick of it, playing in front of people after working out tunes 10 minutes beforehand. I got tired of that and wanted to be more organised, and I think a three-piece is the most direct way to get to it, in the beginning anyway, even if we add to it later. It’s very direct, and definitely heading in a specific direction, although I couldn’t explain what that is. I feel that I’ve been living for it in a way.

Do you look upon it as a band which could make lots of albums?

I’d like to think so, and I’d like to augment it on record on certain tracks. I just want to be in control, and that’s as close as you can get, but you also have to take all the responsibilities as well. I’m not saying the others don’t have responsibilities, because the way they play is great, but the most important thing is that it’s an opportunity to play things nobody’s ever heard me play before.

Are you planning to use acoustic guitar with the trio?

Yes, I’d like to. I used to have one of those amplifiable Ovations, but I just didn’t like the sound of it when it was plugged in. There was something nasty in the sound, and I hear something of the same character in that Yamaha electric piano. It’s as though there’s no sag or give in the sound, it’s not elastic or woody . . . I don’t really know how to describe it. A very hard sound. It sounded quite nice when I mixed the electric sound and a microphone sound, but when I tried that live a couple of times with UK it never worked, simply because I hated the electric sound so much and couldn’t get the mike sound loud enough. With this band Gary will probably be using acoustic piano, so I won’t be competing with huge amounts of volume.