Interview conducted by Remco Schoenmakers for DPRP, © 2000
First of all, thanks for granting us this interview, which we are
conducting via email. Do you use the Internet a lot professionally?
And, as a musician, are you as concerned as some of the
major record companies about mp3 and illegal copying?
You're quite welcome -- it is a pleasure for me to do the
interview as I am a reader of the DPRP myself. Regarding the internet, I
use it EVERY day, and usually for 3 or more hours at a time. It is more
important than my telephone and my television. I have so many friends and
associates thousands of miles away in different countries, it is an
essential part of my life now and I think that it would a great hardship
to live without it! Okay, I can even compare it to the invention of
electricity. Before electricity, people managed just fine, but after we
had light bulbs, powered appliances, automobiles and so forth, it is
difficult to imagine going back to a time without it.
Professionally, the internet is what has allowed my own company Think
Tank Media to succeed as an enterprise. We can promote our releases and
keep the listeners updated with constant news at very little expense.
Five or six years ago we used to do mailings which of course very
expensive and also quite slow. And now we can also do great things like
conduct *interviews* via email! As you say in Dutch ... "gaaf!"
The mp3 situation is in a dangerous state right now. Currently there is
no real regulation of it, so the possibility exists for someone to rip
our entire CD catalog into mp3 and then post it on a newsgroup or website
for free download and subsequently put us out of business. I don't think
that will happen, but the *possibility* still exists. I am very much
against censorship and regulation of the internet on a general level, but
this is really a piracy issue -- not a free speech issue -- and so I
think there some need of policing. I know that sounds Machiavellian, but
the artists do need to be protected somehow. If mp3 can evolve to a more
secure format, I will be much more excited about it. Now we do post one
song from each of our release in mp3 for free download
(http://www.thetank.com), but that's all. Our newer releases are
published in really low quality RealAudio format so that a listener can
hear the entire album's *music*, but of course not really benefit from
the great audio quality. Our idea of both mp3 and RealAudio is to use it
for auditioning purposes only, such as on the DPRP. We strongly
discourage any trading or retransmission of our material -- that quickly
becomes piracy.
Moving to music: you are portrayed with an impressive amount of synths and
keyboards (both modern and
antique). Do you actually own all these instruments? Which is your favorite?
And why use so many, isn't it enough
to just use a good master keyboard and plug different sound modules in it?
Those are some good questions. I do own all of the keyboards from
the 'Into the Sunset' photos, and these are the instruments that I used
to make the album. I get to look at all of this stuff everyday in my
studio, but up until now, unless you come visit me in my studio, no one
else sees them. Of course they sound great, but I think that they are
also quite nice to look at -- both aesthetically and from an historical
standpoint.
My favorite instrument has to be my Moog modular synthesizer (the big
black wall with all the knobs on it in the photos!). This instrument was
the first Moog synthesizer to be delivered to the American west coast,
and it was built in April of 1967 which is exactly three months before I
was born! It is quite a classic instrument, and I have even spoken with
its inventor Dr. Robert Moog about it on a few occasions. I have been
restoring this particular instrument for about five years now, and in
1999 it finally reached a playable state! I first played a Moog modular
synth back in 1994 -- it was Keith Emerson's Moog that I borrowed for
some sessions and some sampling work. Once I played this thing -- this
BEAST -- I knew that I had to get one for myself. It was the best
sounding synth I had ever heard. I compare it to a guitarist seeking out
the perfect 1957 Les Paul or the perfect pre-war Martin acoustic.
Another quite notable instrument of mine is my Hammond Model D organ.
This thing is even older than the Moog. It was built in 1939, so not only
is it older than me, it is older than my father as well! This instrument
pre-dates the Hammond B3 and C3 models, and I believe that it is a
superior instrument because it has two generators instead of one. I have
had modern percussion, spring reverb and preamp sections built into it
(quite a big project!), and now I can confidently say that it is the best
sounding Hammond I have ever heard. I proud of my baby! Like the Moog,
this was about a five year restoration project. I hope to tour with it in
2001, because previously I have always used a rented B3 for tours.
Okay, next you asked why I use so many keyboards instead of just one and
a MIDI controller. The reason for this is that these analog instruments
cannot be duplicated by digital technology -- at least not to my ear. I
worked for a digital synthesizer manufacturer for 7 years before working
full time on my music career, and I can honestly say that I have tried to
push digital technology to its limits. There are some great sounds you
can get with digital, but they are not the *same* sounds that you get
with analog. You can never get a digital sample or model of a Hammond
organ to sound like the real thing. The spit, the growl, the distortion
and all of the imperfections and irregularities are what make the Hammond
such a beautiful instrument -- again, like an electic guitar. The analog
synthesizers are also quite alive and changing at every moment. Sampling
technology only captures moments in time, so you end up playing those
same moments over and over again. Physical modeling technology is an
improvement over sampling with instruments like the Nord Lead, Roland
JP8000 and Yamaha AN1X, but it is still not there yet. Maybe one day it
will be, though. I think that all three of these companies are doing
great work in this area, and I am watching their progress!
Lastly, the reason why I don't just use one controller keyboard is that I
like to play multiple instruments at the same time. A typical situation
is where I will play Hammond chords with my left hand and then Moog leads
or melodies with my right hand. Alternatively, it could be Rhodes piano
chords and Mellotron lines. Yes, I could split up a big 88-note keyboard,
but often times I need the whole range of the instrument for each hand.
Also, the feel of a keyboard is important to me. A weighted hammer-action
keyboard is perfect for playing piano sounds, but horrible for playing
Hammond or Moog. The Hammond keyboard is perfect for playing ... well ...
Hammond sounds! And I prefer a lighter touch keyboard for the synth
leads. It all sounds decandent and excessive, I know, but it's really
quite a practical decision for me. Believe me, if I could travel on an
airplane with just one keyboard and a small rack of digital synths, I
would prefer it! But I just can't get the same sounds and the same feel.
Not YET, anyway!
On the new album Into the Sunset you work with a lot of people from the
"Ayreon-gang" and you've worked with
Arjen on the latest Ayreon albums as well. Aren't you afraid this album will
be considered as Ayreon pt. 3?
Yes, there are a lot of commonalities between Ayreon, Rocket
Scientists, Lana Lane and my solo album 'Into the Sunset'. But I truly
believe that each project has its own very characteristic sound and that
there is not much chance of confusing one for the other. For example, I
don't think that anyone would confuse a Lana Lane song with an Ayreon
song, even if Lana sang them both. Likewise, I think that Arjen Lucassen
and I arrange our music quite differently, so I further think that there
is a good distinction between 'Into the Sunset' and Ayreon. Even if
Edward Reekers and Robert Soeterboek (both *great* singers) sing on each
of our albums, the music and the production is clearly different. You can
recognize the guitar style of Arjen and the keyboard style of myself on
each different project, but again, I think the general sound of the
projects make them all quite unique.
One of the most beautiful tracks is Dreamcurrents, a very melancholic
almost classical piece. Did you have a
classical music education?
Dank je wel! I like this piece very much, too. I did have some
classical music education during my school years. I started on the piano
when I was 8 years old, and I continued on with classical and
"traditional" music education (jazz, contemporary, etc.) all through my
days in high school and at the university. I actually wrote the song
"Dreamcurrents" way back in 1986 when I was studying piano at UCLA, which
is a big university here in Los Angeles. I was supposed to be learning an
Erik Satie piece in a private practice room, but I got bored with it and
started writing my own song which became "Dreamcurrents". I have played
this piece over the years in live concerts with both Rocket Scientists
and with Lana Lane, but I have never recorded it until now on 'Into the
Sunset'.
On Rome is Burning you have Deep Purple's Glenn Hughes on vocals. How did
you meet him and why did you
do only one track with him?
I met Glenn Hughes through Keith Emerson, who is a mutual friend
of ours. Keith and Glenn were playing some gigs together here in Los
Angeles along with guitarists Marc Bonilla and Ronnie Montrose. Keith
invited me down to one of the shows where he introduced me to Glenn. I of
course knew Glenn's voice from Deep Purple and some other projects, but
this show really completely blew me away. Glenn sang "Tarkus", "A Whiter
Shade of Pale", "Rock Candy" and a few other classic songs all with this
incredible power, emotion and conviction. I met Glenn backstage and
really got along well with him -- he is quite a nice guy. Interestingly
enough, the first time Glenn and I worked together was on an ELP tribute
album done by the Magna Carta label. We recorded the song "Knife Edge"
along with drummer Simon Phillips, Marc Bonilla on guitar and Robert
Berry on bass (hey, that's quite a good band!). So Keith Emerson had
introduced Glenn and myself, and here we were recording an Emerson song
-- it was quite ironic! After I heard Glenn's voice on "Knife Edge", I
knew that I had to have him on 'Into the Sunset'. I phoned him up and
asked him about it, and he was quite enthusiastic. He really liked the
song "Rome is Burning". Honestly, I can't think of any other singer I
would have rather had on this piece. Glenn's performance is absolutely
brilliant. Why didn't Glenn sing on other tracks on the album? Hmmm. I
don't know. I had written all of the songs for the album with specific
voices in mind, but I also wanted to have Robert Soeterboek from Ayreon
sing a track ("Lines in the Sand"). That song would have been a good one
for Glenn as well, but I think that Robert did a fantastic job, and I am
quite happy and grateful to have his performance.
Of course we can again enjoy the beautiful voice of your wife, Lana Lane,
for instance on my favorite track Fly.
Both your lives revolve around progrock. Aren't there any artistic clashes
between you? And how do you keep
work and private life separated?
Lana and I have a very good working relationship. It is a bit
apart from our personal relationship, which sounds strange, I know. In
the music, it is really an artist/producer relationship. We have built up
a good mutual trust where each of us can express ourselves artistically
in the way that we want to, with the other supporting that expression and
then bringing even more out of it. Does that make sense? It is hard to
explain, of course. We have been together for over 13 years now, and this
relationship took a long time to reach this level. I can't imagine any
relationship like this -- musical or otherwise -- happening overnight.
The lyrics of Into the Sunset deal with time and dreams. Now I am really bad at
interpreting lyrics. Is there a
lyrical theme on the album (I can hear the musical theme though).
The lyrical themes vary from song to song, but there is one global
theme that goes throughout the whole album, and that is the theme of
self-reliance and self-exploration. When you are in a band situation, or
even when you are working with a producer, it is very much a
collaboration -- everybody helps out. But with a self-produced solo
project such as 'Into the Sunset', I am very much alone and have to rely
on myself for everything. That is a big challenge, but it is why I do
solo albums. I have great collaborations with lots of great musicians,
but sometimes I need to test my own limits and capabilities, and the solo
albums seem to be the best way to do that. This helps me to grow and to
evolve as an artist.
The title track "Into the Sunset" also has a double meaning. Of course,
on the surface it is about a lone man traveling off an finding himself,
his soul, his future. But on another level, it is a veiled metaphor for
me as an American musician. What? Okay, here's the story. I have many,
many friends and associates in Europe and Japan, and so quite often I
feel very conspicuously ... American. We tend to stick out for some
reason -- maybe it's our loud, nasal language or our overly
commercialized culture -- I don't know. Probably some combination of
both. So I wanted to come up with a really good stereotype for an
American. I thought "okay ... a cowboy -- now *that's* very American!".
Now if you think about the old western films, whether American or
Italian, at the end of the film after the hero has saved the girl and
saved the town, he always rides off alone ... into the sunset! So this
image was the basis for the song as well as for the album in general. Of
course I couldn't have a cowboy on the album cover because then it would
have looked like a country western album. So I have the prog metal
equivalent -- a knight on a rhinocerous. And there's a bit of humor in
that image as well!
The European version contains a rerecording of Neurosaur (which by the way
introduced me to your music when I first
heard it on a sampler CD). It's heavier than the original with Arjen's
guitar taking over some of the keyboard
tracks. Why did you decide to rerecord it?
My first solo album 'Threshold' from 1997 was an all-instrumental
album with no guitars. It was very much an experimental effort. I wanted
to see if I could make an interesting album without the two main elements
that make up rock music -- vocals and guitars. Now over the last 2-3
years I have been listening to a lot of progressive metal -- bands like
Symphony X, Angra, Luca Turilli's solo album and of course ... Ayreon!
This music has really inspired me because I find all of my influences in
it. When I was young, I listened to the classic prog bands Yes, ELP, King
Crimson, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Jethro Tull, etc., but I also listened
to hard rock and "proto" heavy metal bands such as Deep Purple, Black
Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. Furthermore, I liked the "production" bands
like ELO, The Alan Parsons Project and Supertramp. Now in the late 90s
and 00s, there is this growing new movement of progressive metal that
combines all of these influences. It is really fantastic, and I certainly
consider it to be the next stage in the evolution of progressive rock. I
wanted very much to make an album in this style, and so 'Into the Sunset'
was born. As to the song "Neurosaur", the main riff in this song is very
much a guitar riff, but for the 'Threshold' album I firmly decided
against using *any* guitars. This was the rule of the album. So now that
I was recording this much heavier album, 'Into the Sunset', I thought
that it would be great to explore this "Neurosaur" song again in a more
guitar-oriented environment. I think Arjen connected with the song very
well and did a great job on it. It now even reminds me a bit of the old
song "La Villa Strangiato" from the 'Rush - Hemispheres' album, which
both Arjen and I like a lot.
The Japanese version seems to contain a 17+ minutes bonustrack. How do we
European get it, and why use bonustracks anyway?
Well, the bonus track situation is quite a difficult one, and I
wish that it did not exist. It all started with Japan. Because CDs are so
expensive in Japan, the Japanese labels were (and are) afraid that the
Japanese shops will just buy the American or European import versions at
a cheaper price. To combat this situation, the Japanese labels started
asking (and then demanding) bonus tracks to protect their market. Then
the European labels started to suffer from Japanese imports with bonus
tracks, and so now the European labels include *different* bonus tracks!
This means that once I have recorded an entire album, I still have to
record two more songs to use as bonus tracks. It is really quite
frustrating for me as an artist because I know that there won't be any
one version will *all* of the tracks. So while I know that it is a
difficult situation for the listeners, please know that it is much more
difficult for me as an artist! As far as the various international
versions, my company Think Tank Media stocks every international version
of every title we have ever released (now over 20!). They can be ordered
over the internet directly our secure website (http://www.thetank.com),
and we ship to anywhere in the world. If someone in Holland *really*
wants the Japanese edition, they can order it from our website. Likewise,
if someone in Japan wants the Euro version, the same situation is
available. Of course we try to pick the best tracks for each territory.
The song "Neurosaur" really fits the style of the 'Into the Sunset' album
better. The Japanese bonus track "Alchemy and Astronomy" is quite nice
(and quite *long* of course!), but it is much more atmospheric and a
little bit outside of the concept of the album.
Any chance of seeing you live in Europe (preferable Holland) soon? You
could actually do a quadruple gig:
Lana Lane, Rocket Scientists, Ayreon and solo ;-).
I am really looking forward to playing in Europe again, and
especially in Holland. The last time we toured Europe was in 1997. That
was Rocket Scientists and Lana Lane, and the mix was a big success. We
have done that lineup here in the USA a few times, and it still works
well, so I think we will continue with it. While it is too late for us to
do a 2000 tour, I am trying to arrange a good European tour for the
summer of 2001 centered around Holland, Belgium and Germany. Please keep
a good thought for us and hopefully it will work out! During all Lana
Lane and Rocket Scientists tours, I always play at least one piece from
my solo work. Now that 'Into the Sunset' is receiving so much good
attention, it is a sure thing that we will play some music from this
album regardless of the "offical" name of the project. As far as Ayreon
goes, I would love to tour with this band. But I don't think that Arjen
will ever go for it. He has played so many live dates with Vengeance that
I think he has lost all interest in live performance. Well, if he ever
wants to join us, he has an open invitation to do it.
Having said that and looking at the enormous amount of projects you have
been involved in over the past
couple of years, do you ever take a holiday?
Lana and I had a nice vacation in Hawaii at the beginning of 1999,
and then later that year he had a brief holiday with our Japanese label
executives at a traditional Japanese ryokan resort down to the south of
Tokyo. We occasionally take a few days off to go to places like Las Vegas
or Palm Springs, which are quite close to Los Angeles. So far no big
vacation this year, but maybe around Christmas time we can do it.
Which artist would you like to work with on your next project, or is your
particular idol.
I would love to work with any of the members of Rush, Yes or Deep
Purple. It would also be great to do something with Keith Emerson. It
might be difficult since we are both keyboardists, but hopefully I can
think of some way to do it. I tried very hard to get Keith to play on the
new Ayreon albums, but he was too busy with another project. Arjen and I
were both really disappointed, but it did give me good motivation to play
"my" Hammond solo on the Ayreon song "Journey on the Waves of Time".
What will be your next big project?
Oh, I am tired just thinking about it! Well, now we are working on
'Lana Lane - Ballad Collection Volume Two' for release in Japan during
the Christmas season. Lana's first Ballad Collection was released there
in 1998 and was a big success -- the fans really liked it and appreciated
it. So now we think it's time to do another one. It is a nice format to
explore. We are also working on releasing the Lana Lane back catalog in
Europe, which would likely include these Ballad Collections and of course
Lana's first two albums. We are talking to a few labels about it, and
hopefully we have a good plan in place soon.
Anything you would like to tell our visitors, but I forgot to ask?
Well, of course I have to say a big "thank you" -- or make that
"bedankt!" -- for the great support of all of my projects including this
new 'Into the Sunset' album. Europe, and Holland in particular, is such a
beautiful and artistic place, and I really love to work there and visit
there. Holland has so many great musicians, and the Dutch people really
have a great understanding and appreciation of progressive music --
probably more than any other country in the world. One day I would like
to live in Holland, or at least have a home there. That would be a great
experience for me. If the albums continue to be successful, maybe it will
be possible.
Thank you, Erik Norlander, for taking the time to anwser all these questions extensively!