Acquitted by Mirrors, Issue 13

abm1301 HELLO and WELCOME to A.B.M. at long last:

As you must be aware it is almost a year since the last issue of this magazine....an unforgivable delay over which I have had no control due to circumstances hinted at in the various newsletters you should have received.

Whilst not wishing to delve too deeply into the 'whys and wherefores' of the situation (at this stage at least) I feel it necessary to say a few words regarding the problems I have been subjected to for quite some time now.

Those of you who have followed my career closely over the years will have been given a first hand example of how an honest purposeful talent can be thwarted by an insensitive and unimaginative music industry. At the risk of sounding boastful, I think it fair to say that I have always approached by work with the utmost integrity and sense of purpose. Alongside striving for technical excellence and an attention to detail, has been a struggle towards 'depth of content' and personal honesty' regardless of whether recording an album or writing an introduction such as this.

Whatever the commercial consideration, this has meant a constant effort on my part always to aim for the highest goals. It requires a total commitment of work and thought to attain these goals, and a very strong belief in the point of it all. Unfortunately my career seems to have become an endless toil for no reward. It has never been my intention to 'give up' in the face of adversity, but the last few months have caused me to sink to new depths of despair and financial hardship as a direct result of circumstances on the business side of my career. There have been many moments when it seemed pointless to continue.

Now some of you may think this a strange statement in view of the fact that I am signed to a 'major label', CBS. Whatever 'wonders' the machinery of a big record company can produce, in this instance there has been little manifestation of anything other than frustration and lethargy. Of course the blame for this is not to be placed entirely in one area. The responsibility has to be passed 'upstairs' or 'further down the line'. However you wish to look at it, I seem to be fuelling a train that no-one is driving. Whatever care, concern and attention to detail has gone into my work, it is fairly obvious to the casual observer that this has not been matched by the pedestrian and far too casual approach of the industry itself.

I have grown tired of trying to make gold from a few dirty pennies. I can see my contemporaries being able to afford both the time and facilities to develop their talent to their ultimate advantage. In contrast, my career seems to be riddled with doubt, insecurity and chaos. This must change. I will not relinquish my creative birthright to take my work onwards and upwards, nor my right to the fruits of my labour. If there are people who fight to take, then I must fight to take back, no matter how painful this might be.

To those of you who have supported my music over the years, I offer my eternal gratitude and the promise of better things to come. To those deluded souls who use the music business merely as an excuse for legalised vampirism, I can only sat that I, for one, am tired of sacrificing myself on the altars of cheap opportunism and hereby declare war on mediocrity. Here's to tomorrow.

Bill Nelson '86

The following is a question and answer session Bill did for an American press interview. It is jolly interesting - so read on:

You disbanded BeBop at the height of its success. Why?

I did disband it at the height of its success (for what it was worth) simply out of frustration and boredom I suppose. I felt we had become a product more than an ongoing creative process. It got to the stage where people expected certain things from us that had more to do with the past, than the present or the future. So just for my own peace of mind, I felt that the only honest thing to do was split the band and branch out to something new.

You recorded one album with Red Noise, why was it such a short lived venture?

Red Noise was so short lived on record as a result of us losing our deal with Capitol Records in the States. They just felt the music was too avant-garde for the USA at the time. I suppose it was ahead of its time although I had not intended it to be that way. I considered Sound on Sound to be quite light hearted. Also on the record company front, in England, EMI were about to be taken over by Thorn who were an electrical and lighting company. They completely reshuffled the A/R department - concentrating on more pop-oriented things to the detriment of bands like ourselves and Wire. So I found myself without a record deal and all these problems.

It seems with Sound on Sound you were trying to exorcise the lush melodic memory of BeBop

No I don't think I was trying at all - what came out on Sound on Sound was a natural progression of events from Drastic Plastic. But I was paring away some of the elements I had found to be cloying on me in some of the BeBop structures. Looking back it wasn't that harsh a sound, and I certainly could have taken it to further extremes.

Ian Nelson has regularly supported you since then. Is he your brother? What is he doing now?

Yes! Ian is my brother. He has been involved with local bands since he toured with me on the Practical Dreamers tour. In the UK he is most associated with Fiat Lux who have since broken up, although at the moment he is working with a band from Yorkshire called Seven Chinese Brothers as a sort of pick up saxophone player.

You seem to keep the amount of supporting musicians to a minimum, do you prefer working along?

Yes I do enjoy working alone - perhaps more than working with a fixed band. But I do like the opportunity to work with other musicians from time to time as they obviously bring in a fresh angle. But the idea of keeping a permanent band together, and the traumas attached to that idea, does not appeal any more I am afraid.

After Red Noise there was a considerable gap until the belated release of Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam. What accounted for this?

The three year gap was the result of having no record deal. Quit Dreaming was recorded as a followup album to Sound on Sound. The idea of Red Noise was that it would be a name covering various combinations of musicians over a long period of time; rather than a fixed band. So I recorded the Quit Dreaming album about three years before it was actually released, but it sat on the shelf for years until I signed to Phonogram and they bought it from EMI and released it.

What spurred your extensive home 4 & 8 track recordings that have included Sounding the Ritual Echo and the box set Trial by Intimacy?

The recordings done at home in a little studio which has developed over the years from 4 to 8 and now to 16 track, became the only means for me of making recordings for that 3 year period. I built up a library of a kind of experimental music which was for me a release, emotionally and creatively, without it guaranteeing any release in the market place. After putting together the Ritual Echo the possibilities of actually pressing stuff from the studio became much more apparent. So I started collecting together things - such as the theatre soundtracks I had done - and the pieces that became part of the four disc set.

Some people are disappointed because you don't feature your guitar playing much these days.

In earlier days of my breakaway from BeBop, there was a lot more pressure from people to keep that kind of Mega-guitar solos coming. It did not bother me then that I had this kind of pressure (well at least it only bothered me superficially). Now that the pressure isn't as bad or as heavy as it was, it bothers me even less. But in fact there is an awful lot of guitar on the last 2-3 albums. The Love That Whirls has a lot of guitar which to some people sounds like electronics or synths simply because I was using a device called an 'Energy Bow' or 'E-bow' which alters the tonality of the guitar; but in fact it is guitar playing all the same. The current LP has more orthodox guitar playing on it - indeed some of it is Blues guitar and people will recognize it as such. But certainly it does not bother me - the pressures to play guitar - it is something that needs to come when it is in its right place rather than be forced.

I feel your guitar playing is more subtle and integrated in your current music. In what way has your approach to playing changed?

I suppose my approach has changed over the years and it is still changing now. I am coming back towards the acoustic guitar again for some strange reason. I haven't really analyzed over much why, but I have felt a strong internal pull towards playing acoustic. This has surfaced on some of the things I have been working on with David Sylvian as well as some of the instrumental things I have been doing at home. Generally my approach to playing has changed for all kinds of outside influences, many of which may be non-musical. But all that might be too complex to go into here. I went through a whole thing of approaching the guitar in a textual rather than linear way. Also now I feel less embarrassed about falling back on some of my earlier guitar playing roots. Things such as Blues and Rhythm & Blues. I think it probably shows in tracks such as "Because of You'.

Keyboards and marimbas have also become an integral part of your music.

Yes, keyboards and marimbas are simply a strong pull in my music because of their possibilities textually. Guitars, whilst being the staple diet of Rock Music, when to this day have their place. Too much of it and they become monotonous. With keyboards, whilst I am not really a technical keyboard player, the possibilities of manipulating sound and textures and then building orchestral types of sound has had a very strong appeal to me in the past. But I don't think I've really had the technology to explore it fully. The kinds of synths I use are very much the bottom end of the market stuff. I've never really had the chance to work with sampling keyboards and computer sequencers, so I don't think I've ploughed the same furrow as a lot of other people.

Do you write out or score arrangements?

No, they tend to be constructed in the studio. With the Holy Ghost album, most of the basic tracks were recorded at my home studio on a 16 track. Then I would work out in my head the possible overdubs and that would be added later when we had transferred to 48 track.

In your notes to Beauty & The Beast you say your work relies on intuition rather than academic exploitation technique. Have you had any formal training?

No, and I can't even find Middle C on a keyboard. I was once told that Middle C is the note to the right or the left of the keyhole. But of course synthesisers do not have a keyhole or lid. I haven't got a clue what I'm doing half the time - I don't even know the names of the chords. It is purely instinctive. In fact it is also very embarrassing when you are working around people who know exactly what they are doing.

I feel your most interesting emotional work is your instrumental music. Are your more mainstream albums a concession to the market place?

They are sort of equal. My mainstream albums are an equal part of my work, but having said that they are shaped with the point of view that I have to earn a living from it, so that I can finance some of the more experimental or creative ideas if you like.

I understand you have had clashes with record labels you've signed to. Are there conflicts?

(laughs) Yes, I've had clashed with virtually every major label I've been signed to. Not in a violent sense, not in terms of rows or arguments or personal things - but simply my attitude towards making music is rather alien towards some of the mainstream record companies' attitude towards making money. They do try to push me back in certain directions that were successful in the past. But that tends to be the way most major labels work, they cannot innovate, only replicate.

Can you talk about Cocteau Records?

Cocteau is my own label, which I started out of sheer frustration of being without a major label deal for a while. Now it is limited by the fact that I am signed to CBS New York and they do not allow me to record my own music for the label. It does not really finance itself well enough to be able to sign lots and lots of other artists. We have actually had one or two people in the past who have then gone on to bigger things. At the moment it is in a state of limbo apart from a few re-releases.

Are there any plans to tour in the future?

I haven't done much touring in recent years, although a few years ago I came to the States and did major cities dates - East & West coast only. The difficulty with touring is that the kind of music I've been creating over the last few years has been so built around studio technique and overdubs. There are now a tremendous number of parts involved. It is quite difficult to find musicians who have the kind of approach necessary to be able to do all this. Besides the finding of musicians, there are also the financial considerations of mounting a tour as a kind of one off thing, when a band is not permanently kept together. We need financial input from the record company to make it viable; hopefully if the album does well enough in the States, they will feel committed enough to be able to finance a band. Once we have got the money to do it, I will be more than happy to go out on tour.

Do you consider the recording studio itself as much an instrument as the guitar or keyboard?

Yes, the tape recorder is as much an instrument for me. The amount of manipulation that is possible with tape editing technique, digital delay, reverb and so on really opens up much more than just tonal changes at the mixing desk. I regard it as part of the creative process rather than just as a means of putting it on tape.

You record in 'primitive' and 'hi-tech' studios, do you feel with the advancing technology we are approaching the point of diminishing returns?

I think that the only danger with the advances made in technological gadgets and gimmickry in the studio is that often people use them because they sound glamorous and interesting to the ear, but they often use them without actually having good reason or there being any content. I am all for technology provided it is not just used for its own ends. i.e.; I don't want to listen to a record that is just beautifully recorded - I would like to hear some beautifully created ideas as well.

I have ambivalent feelings about Getting the Holy Ghost Across. The mechanical rhythms seem to clash with the more flowing melodic musical content.

For myself, I don't see any clash between the kind of electronic rhythm patterns and the more flowing musical things. In fact one of the briefs I gave myself was to bring about a marriage of opposites in the music - which is an alchemical term and something which is regarded as quite a high thing to do. I realise I am bringing Mysticism into this, but there was a kind of union I was trying to find - a union of machines and angels.

The works of Brian Eno and YMO come to mind, have they influenced you a lot?

Well certainly I've been aware of Brian Eno & YMO. Although I didn't really like the earlier YMO things, and I've always been too aware of Brian Eno's sources to be completely bowled over by him. Don't get me wrong though, I like his music very much. But in fact there are many people working in similar areas to Eno who are equally worth listening to. I think I am aware of the same kind of thoughts that is aware of. Indeed way back in the Sixties, when I was at Art College, I was involved with projects using similar techniques, but with more primitive equipment than is available today. With YMO, I think especially with people like Yukihiro Takahashi, it has been more mutual admiration. I was asked to work with them by Yuki as a result of him being aware of my own work. So it has been a nice two way exchange.

You've lived in York for a long time, do you feel the environment influences your music? Do you consciously avoid London?

I actually live near York, not in York. The environment probably does influence my music in that my studio is at home and my home is cut off from all kinds of outside pressures. I don't mean financial pressures, I mean traffic noise, having to go from A to B to get to work. I actually just drift up here anytime I want to sketch - so in that sense it is an influence. Culturally there is little going on in Yorkshire, but certainly the landscape away from the cities here is very inspiring. I do consciously avoid London. Not that it is a bad place for me because there is so much in the way of bookshops and clothes shops that attract me. I always find it stimulating to spend some time there; but above all I am always glad to come back to the calm and the sort of centre of nature that seems to surround where I live at the moment. The traffic noise, the pressures of the crowd, and the time it takes to get from one place to another, I find very frustrating. Plus the superficiality of people who are trying to prove themselves in a materialistic way all the time - those kind of things I don't like too much.

You obviously have an affinity for Jean Cocteau. What do you admire in him?

Well when I first discovered Cocteau, the immediate impression was of a soul who was travelling on similar lines, but who had the power of expression in his favour. He articulated ideas and feelings which were deeply ingrained in me, but which had not found their true expression yet. So I found a means of encouragement in reading his work and his word generally. I admire his diversity; again he has a mystical attitude towards creativity; he understands the divinity in the artists. it is that facet of his work that I think draws me the most.

Getting All The Information Across

Sitting down with Bill after all the length of time this album has taken to make has been a strange experience. We figure that you probably all know so much about the pleasures and pains of the recording, that it is odd to try and start at the beginning and explain it all. But let's start at the beginning and see what we didn't tell you first time round.

Why is the album called Getting The Holy Ghost Across?

"I am going to be explaining an awful lot that I should not explain if I go into it in too much detail - because there are all kinds of hidden reasons; which may or may not be worthwhile explaining. The theme when I started pulling the songs together seemed to be about Mysticism and Sexuality. There is a particular operation in magic called The Mass of the Holy Ghost which involved a combination of sensuality and mysticism. Because the overall structure of the songs deal with this in a very superficial level and it seemed to be something that fitted the whole content. Although I will admit that I had the title a long time before I put all the songs together. The reason on the sleeve design that the H G A are stressed in part of this Mass; it is part of getting in touch with your own Holy Guardian Angel in evocations (That is a magical term for conjouring them up in front of you or inside you). So that was why it was stressed; H G A is the abbreviation."

What are the various scripts?

"The script on the right is called Malachim. It is a coded alphabet that was used in Grimoires and it goes back to the Middle Ages. On the left is Enochian, also a magical language. This one was developed by a Dr John Dee who was the Court Astrologer to Queen Elizabeth the First. He was one of the most learned men in Europe at that time and had his own huge private library down in Mortlake out to the west side of London. The house is sadly long since knocked down but the site is still there. Dee worked with a man called Edward Kelly who was a kind of medium; it is said the two of them were given this alphabet through the means of a crystal ball. It is an entire language - very complex - in fact it has been checked out by modern-day language experts and it has all the attributes, it has grammar, syntax and so on. It is used again in a kind of angelic magic; but on the sleeve what they both say is Getting The Holy Ghost Across.

The script on the back is Hebrew and that of course says the same thing. The reason I used these is because they are all part of the things I have been studying. The Enochian system is used by a magical order that in fact still exists today under the surface. It is called 'The Order of the Golden Dawn' to which the infamous Aleister Crowley once belonged. Well a big chunk of their teachings are hinged around the Enochian Theory, so it is obviously something I am quite aware of.

Malachim was one of several coded alphabets I could have used, there are loads of different coded alphabets to do with Magic Systems, but that was one of the nicer looking ones. Hebrew is used because as part of the things I practice there is a traditional Jewish system known as The Kabbalah. This examines abstract ideas by looking at the numeric equivalent of the Hebrew alphabet. There are no numerics in this alphabet, each letter has a numeric value, and each numeric value has ideas attached to it - an abstract or mystical content if you like. By actually analysing a sentence in Hebrew, analysing a sentence in Hebrew, analysing its numeric value; you can find words that have the same or equal numeric value which will then throw further light on the sentence. So for instance if you get a Hebrew bible and you find, say, a sentence there dealing with some facet of, say, creation in Genesis, by looking up Hebrew words with the same numeric value you will get a commentary on that sentence. It will explain it further, and in more depth. There are many things hidden within a seemingly innocuous sentence.

still incomplete

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Acquitted by Mirrors, Issue 13

The Cote D'Azur EP

The following is a question and answer session Bill did for an American press interview. It is jolly interesting - so read on:

Getting All The Information Across