Melody Maker Interview, June 11, 1983
He sits quietly in the sprawling riverside gardens of an old English inn. A thin, fragile figure, reflectively considering the vagaries of pop music. It seems an entirely appropriate setting.
Bill Nelson - looks at home here. He exudes the sort of wisdom that only comes with experience, and relaxing on the newly mown lawn of this Shepperton hotel - his hair newly bleached blond - he looks both healthy and at ease with the world.
At 34, he's gradually detached himself from the consuming opportunists of the music business and has been noticeably absent from the media glare recently, but don't be fooled into thinking that he's been inactive. He's busier than he's ever been in his life and he's currently in Shepperton working with an unlikely accomplice - Gary Numan. He's producing the new Numan album, and the alliance already seems certain to mark a startling departure far both of them.
"I went through a very jaded period about two years ago," be says, "questioning, my values and not believing what I was doing was worthwhile. But that's passed now - I think that part of the maturing process has been discovering even more facets to myself. I used to think ' that as I got older I'd be less inquisitive, but it's just been the opposite."
Exasperated by the continued misinterpretation of his work after Be Bop Deluxe, he chose to immerse himself in experimenting, not only with sound, but also through the vague areas of performance art, cinematography and visual communication.
Strengthened by it, he now feels revived; from feeling that he didn't want to participate in music's competitive arena any longer, his optimism and vitality are now back fully intact.
Nelson is one of those rare geniuses who cannot only make spectacular and highly imaginative music but can, just by his presence it seems, bring out the best in others. His importance has never been fully acknowledged except within the small coterie of musicians who stand apart as true creators rather than mere purveyors of mimicry and deception.
To bring you up to date, Bill has recently been working with "'The Yorkshire Actors", a theatre company, writing and performing the soundtracks to their work.. He's been consistently releasing work through his own Cocteau label, collaborating with a wide range of artists, and producing such diverse talents as A Flock Of Seagulls and Gary Numan.
Out of traction and back in action, he's just released a delightful mini-album,
"Chimera", which also features YMO's Yukihiro Takahashi and Mick Karn. As ever he's not content to simply have one cauldron on the boil and the list of upcoming projects is endless.
"I've been very pleased at the reaction to 'Chimera', he says. "I've worked with Yuki before and we thought it would be interesting to combine his rhythms and my music. The chimera is a symbolic creature - a legendary half woman half sphinx, a siren who lures men to their downfall - I liked that!
"I've been working a lot with YMO, I played guitar on their new album, which isn't out here yet, and I'm going to Japan in August to play with them. I'm hoping that Yuki and I will have a chance to go into the studio and actually write some songs together and collaborate on the production and singing, we'll just have to see how it goes."
"I enjoyed working with Mick Karn too, we've got a lot in common. We met by chance in a studio and sitting down for a chat we discovered that a lot of our influences are similar, in fact he played on three tracks, but only one went onto the album - the others are still in the can waiting to be mixed. I'm just doing so many different things that time is quite a rare commodity!"
Will you be working with him again?
"I hope so, I've got this other project up my sleeve, which should be next on my list! I've got this idea of doing a series of singles with a variety of different, but similar-minded artists, it'd be interesting to work with a selection of different people on each. So who've you got in mind? "Yuki for one, and Mick, and David Byrne of Talking Heads is very interested, and possibly, though nothing's been finalised, Bowie might get involved. He was going to play sax on 'Chimera', but I got a telex from him apologising that he couldn't make it, his film commitments were over running, but he's definitely interested in working with me on something.
"I believe there's a school of thought, a group of like. minded musicians who could advance their ideas if they could collaborate, exchange ideas and values, I think it's time for that now ~ it just needs a gentle push to set it in motion."
How did the Bowie/Byrne connection happen?
"Well I met David Byrne last year and he said he liked my 'Red Noise' LP. I asked him how he'd come to hear it, and apparently Bowie had recommended it to Eno, who'd passed it on to Byrne! He suggested that we should work together, and it mushroomed from there.
"I'm excited by the prospect of working with musicians who transcend the gross materialism that's within music nowadays - longevity doesn't seem to be important anymore. I want to work with musicians who realise that short-term gains are irrelevant. it's the value of the music that counts.'
Please don't get the idea that Bill's either boasting or arrogant - he's the most modest and understating musician I think I've ever met. Soft spoken and practical, his confidence doesn't have to be worn on his sleeve.
The enthusiasm he generates is like that of an energetic teenager, especially talking about his own label, Cocteau.
"The main problem with the label is that it has to pay for itself, I've got to recoup money from one release before I can begin another. The next release will be a really lavish production of instrumental work. I've just got so much material that I'd like to put it out together.
"There will probably be six LPs, including 'Sounding The Ritual Echo', which was given away free with my first Phonogram release. That was recorded at home, It's mainly ambient music.
"There's also the two soundtracks I did for the Yorkshire Actors - 'Cabinet Of Dr Caligari' and 'Beauty And The Beast'. There's an album's worth of material I used with the lnvisibility Exhibition, and another two instrumental LPs. I'll probably limit the boxed set to around 1000 copies, and put my own drawings and photos inside, make it a really attractive collector's item.
"Also I've been recording a lot of work at home, so that'll probably be released soon too, it just needs to be collated and sorted out."
Is there no end to this man's energy? Apparently not, because not content to immerse himself in his own work, he's been actively involved producing other artists, a role he enjoys.
"I find production a great challenge, and it gets me involved with other artists - I have a tendency to sometimes retreat into myself a bit. I'm going to New York soon to work with a really good San Fransisco band called The Units, who I've worked with before. It's a strange story. I picked up their first indie LP in York of all places, took it home and loved it. I contacted them and ended up in Frisco producing their second LP on a shoestring budget.
"One of the conditions was that I'd get release rights to it through Cocteau in Britain, because they couldn't afford to. pay me - but now they've been snapped up by Epic in the States, and there's some hassle over a few points. Anyway, I'm going over to work with them again soon.
How did the unlikely combination of you and Gary Numan come about?
"He just asked me to do it, and I thought it'd be a challenge. He was under pressure from his record company to use a producer, which he's never done before. He's at a real watershed in his career and I think he knows that this LP is really crucial. It's been very hard for him to relinquish control though, and I wouldn't say our working together has been entirely harmonious - I'm not used to someone who works in such an obsessive way, but we've passed the point of no return, and I think we're getting along together okay now.
"If I was temperamental I would probably have walked out by now. I mean, I don't have to do it, but I understand Gary's worried that if he does something too different it might alienate the hard core fans who've been with him all the way. He's aware that he needs to progress, not just for commercial reasons, but for himself - he's just got to take the gamble."
You produced Fiat Lux's first single too. In fact I didn't realise that initially it was just you and Steve Wright and the band proper was formed after the success of 'Feels like Winter Again'.
"That's right, I knew Steve from The Yorkshire Actors, and when he told me he had done some demos we sifted through them and recorded that single - in actual fact I played most of the instruments on it myself. But the band have taken it from there, they've got some really great songs, and Steve's voice is magnificent."
I'm almost afraid to ask, but what else is in the pipeline?
"Well I'm doing a series of photography exhibitions in Europe and I might bring that to Britain. I've dabbled in photography for ages, and I've mounted this multimedia exhibition. I've composed music to complement the pictures. I like that idea of things being taken on various levels. I've done a few videos, too. The Flaming Desire video has never been seen in England, I made it for MTV in the States. It's not really a video in the sense that it precisely matches the song, it's more a real film. Nicky Picasso who used to present 'Riverside' is putting together a new video programme. I've sent her a copy, so possibly you'll be able to see that soon.
"At the moment I'm preparing a lecture for Canterbury Art College about my work in relation to Jean Cocteau, how he's influenced both my music and other fields of interest. I have some ceramics he designs, and various videos and lithographs of his, so I'll put all that together in an audio-visual programme."
The staggering limits of this man's energy make Peter Powell look like a bedridden geriatric! Is there no end to his enthusiasm?
"No," he smiles with an en enigmatic twinkle. "I've rediscovered my delight in work, and I'm going to plumb that for all it's worth!"
"I suppose I've purposely distanced myself from the current music 'scene', the charts are just a reflection of this industry's manipulation - whoever buys the most radio play gets the most hits. I can't subscribe or conform to that way of thinking. I don't listen to the 'hits' anymore - mind you I liked the singles by New Order and Heaven 17. But I'd feel ungainly and foolish competing with these people, I'm happier just doing my own thing.
"To me the poetry of enigma is very important, I don't like things to be blatant. ... I've decided to be like my songs, very appealing on the surface, but the more you get to know me, the more devious I get!"
end of interview
note : Peter Powell reference is to a particularly over-enthusiastic DJ of the time.
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