| Galahad
are : Stuart Nicholson on lead Vocals, Backing Vocals & Words Spencer Luckman on Drums and Percussion Neil Pepper on Bass Guitar and Pedals, Programming & Samples Dean Baker on Keyboards, Programming and Samples Roy Keyworth on Guitars and Effects How would you classify your music? STUART : These days I would say that we were just a creative modern band, sometimes it almost feels as if we are a collective! We have no set agenda on what kind of material to write. The current line up has pretty diverse influences, everything from Dance/Drum and Bass through to Heavy Rock to Folk to Classical to ambient and of course Progressive Rock from the Seventies, which is our original influence and which, I think, will always have an undercurrent within our music. Galahad 1998 is very different from Galahad 1985, especially as I am the only original member left from those early heady days!! I would say that when we started, we were definately very much a traditional Progressive Rock band as that was the kind of music that got all of the original members together in the first place. Then again many of the newer genres, especially within the Dance area of music, didn't actually exist when we started and couldn't have anyway as most of the technology that is available now was not available then. Now, however, I'm not so sure about our 'classification', although I feel that some of our ideas these days are quite 'Progressive' in the true sense as opposed to the traditional sense. We are certainly not just a 'rock' band, as songs like 'Ocean Blue'and 'Rejuvenation'are certainly not rock songs. Although, I think we still have a collective (Prog)Rock and Roll heart, man!! Do you all have day jobs and if so what do you do? Unfortunately yes. STUART - At one point I was able to go part time, but there just was not enough income coming in to sustain such a lifestyle. I am actually a Company Accountant for a paint manufacturer. I also run, along with my wife LIN, AVALON RECORDS our record label as well running the band, taking care of, amongst other things, all the band administration, the fan club & mailing list, distribution, advertsing & promotion,sales and credit control. Both SPENCER and ROY are Postmen. DEAN is a photographer and runs a photographic shop in Bournemouth. He also plays in a working covers band. NEIL runs his own commercial studio in Salisbury. CRAIG, our new guitarist, works for a charity which helps to rehabilitate people who have sustained head injuries, his job also includes acertain amount of music therapy. How did the band get together? STUART : The band got together in 1985, yes THIRTEEN years ago, following several advertisements in the local press, asking for musicians who were interested in forming a Progressive Rock band. The advert in the Bournemouth Advertiser to which I replied actually said the following: 'Progressive Rock band Galahad , a seven piece-piece outfit with gigs waiting, are looking for a new lead singer to compliment the two keyboards, two guitar set up. They play music by the likes of Marillion, Genesis and Twelfth Night. Contact Roy Keyworth.' So as you can see we are not a new band as many people who come across us for the first time seem to think, After all we have released eight albums on CD plus several more on cassette over the years!! In fact some of our songs date back well before Galahad even existed. 'Ghost of Durtal' was initially written by Roy as far back as 1983. I wrote 'Painted Lady' and 'Dreaming From the Inside' when I was Sixteen back in 1980! What are your musical backgrounds? STUART - The first scene I ever got in to was the Glam rock of the early Seventies when I bought singles by the likes of Sweet, Slade, Mud, David Bowie, Gary Glitter etc. The first bands I was really in to were the Beatles (no surprises there! and Queen, plus I hate to say it 'The Wurzels'!! The first album I bought was 'SHEER HEART ATTACK' by QUEEN. I then gradually started listening to the Prog bands of the time such as Genesis, Yes, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Camel, BJH, Focus, PFM etc and a few of the heavier bands such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rainbow etc. These had a great influence on me wanting to form or join a band and ultimately lead to me joining Galahad in 1985, after having played in NWBHM band called Sidewinder for three years. These days there is so much music to choose from. I think the scene is probably healthier now than it has been for a while, there is so much cross polination of styles and experimentataion which I think is a very healthy situation. Ironically, I would say that it is a bit like 'Prog' in the Seventies when bands did very much a similar thing by mixing and matching various musical forms such as classical, folk, ambient, jazz, avant garde etc within a rock format. 'Prog' may be ridiculed in some quarters by the mainstream press today, but I think it has had a much bigger influence, especially on some current bands, than jounalists and musicians a like care to admit! Of the newer bands I listen to bands such as Seahorses, Kula Shaker, Verve, Mansun, Superstar, Goldie, Manics, Space, Blur, Radiohead. Prog wise 'Spocks Beard' have to be the best around at the moment, in my opinion. Heavily influenced, they maybe, but their playig and arrangements are superb! I have been listening a lot to Pink Floyd's The Wall lately, another classic album. Steve Hacketts Tokyo Tapes is also a great album. John Wetton does a great job on vocals, especially on the Gabriel parts of 'Watcher of the Skies', again, classic stuff! DEAN : My first musical experiences were listening to the Beatles. My first real interest in synthezisers came about because of the 'synth pop' of the Human League, Visage, Ultravox, Depeche Mode and later on Howard Jones who was quite a large influence on me. What kind of music do you like to listen to when your not playing? All sorts (as long as it's not Country and Western, which I cannot stand!), see above for Stu. DEAN : Just recently I've been listening to Pink Floyd's 'Wish you were here' which I discovered (thanks to Stuart) about twenty years too late. I recently found an old box of cassettes and Japan have been played alot in my car recently. Listening to Japan now, I've noticed quite a 'progressive' type of music mixed in with their 'pop' style.Very interesting! Also I've just bought some tickets to see the Human League play in Bournemouth in December. What do you do to relax? STUART - I run the band with Lin and then eat and sleep, I don't have time to relax! No, seriously I play 5 a side football, Badminton, Squash, go to the pub and restaurants, I love food and drink! walking in the country , listening to the latest 'sounds' surprise, surprise and reading the monthly and weekly rock publications in order to wind myself up!! etc.. DEAN : If I'm feeling completely unsociable I like to spend time in my studio playing my synths just for the hell of it. I find that very relaxing. I also try and watch our local football team, AFC Bournemouth, as much as I can. Then I'll finish off my evening playing Formula One on my Playstation. What is the most satisfying thing about being in a band? STU : It is difficult to pin down one particular aspect. The songwriting process can be very satisfying, hearing an idea finally turn in to a fully fledged recorded track is a fantastic feeling as is the moment when you receive a finished album complete with all the artwork, packaging etc. Playing live can also be a great buzz, theres nothing quite like the reaction of a receptive and postive crowd, especially when they are singing along your songs and generally having a good time!! It does wonders for your ego!! DEAN : Hearing something that you had a part in become a finished track, I don't think you can beat that. Also playing live gives you a real buzz. The only trouble with playing live is that you often can't get to sleep afterwards because your mind is still bubbling away (and your ears are still ringing). What words would best describe you (as an individual)? STUART : Ambitious and driven, hungry and thirsty (in every sense!), restless, helpful, thoughtful, idealistic (most of the time), realistic (some of the time) and therefore a bit of a dreamer, stubborn, single minded, occasional drunkard. What things did you do differently on Following Ghosts compared to the last album? We all feel that FG is a very different album to Sleepers. FG is a far more contemporary sounding album which, in our opinion, contains a far greater diversity of music than Sleepers. We have experimented much more on FG with different styles and influences to create an album which twists and turns all over the place musically and hopefully will surprise and warm itself to listeners of various musical persuasions. A few die hard traditional proggies will probably be quite surprised by some of the songs on the album. Unlike with Sleepers we had complete control over FG as far as production and arrangements were concerned which has resulted in an album that we are far happier with than Sleepers. I think FG has a much warmer spirited quality about it than Sleepers. We certainly put more heart and soul into it. Sleepers was far more of a straight 'Prog/Rock' album apart from, perhaps, the Kraftwerk/Ozric-ish sequence at the end of Amaranth, which I suppose was a sign of things to come, whereas I think the same could not necessarily be said of FG as it is, I think, a far more eclectic collection which does have a Rock/Prog element to it, but that's only part of the story. It also contains elements of breakbeat inflected dance, delicate acoustic tracks, a couple of ballads and a completely orchestral/classical track which contains no electric guitars, drums or bass guitar, no rock band at all in fact!! Did Following Ghosts live up to your expectations? STUART : Yes, and some..... The general reaction so far has been very positive both from within the realms of Prog rock publications, radio and fans etc an even from more mainstream publications. Initially, some band members were a bit worried as to how it would be recrived by the fans in general as it is not strictly a 'Progressive Rock' release in the traditional sense. But, you have to have faith, which I have in bucket loads, and I said don't worry it will be okay, and, fingers crossed it has been so far. Inevitably, there will be a few diehards who will not be willing to embrace the album, but I have no time for such narrow minded Luddites. Ironically, a reaction from such people goes some way to vindicating what we have done musically on FG and proves, hopefully, that with FG we have released something a little different and moved on in terms of trying out new ideas and new directions, hopefully moving away from that dreaded 'neo-prog' tag, which I personally loathe!. Indeed one journalist who is not a fan of 'Progressive Rock' by any stretch of the imagination was raving about FG, amazing as he was not too keen on previous releases. So I think with FG we have proved that you can cross over to a wider audience and still retain Prog Roots. General fan reaction has been fantastic judging by some of the very positive letters we have received. There certainly seems to be much more passion about FG from fans of the band than there was for Sleepers. DEAN : For me it's a little different than for the rest of the band. I honestly didn't know what to expect. As the album was being recorded I started to panic as it sounded quite different compared to any of the previous albums. I was concerned that we could lose alot of Galahad's followers. Personally, I'm really happy with the way Following Ghosts sounds. It's also surprising how my views have changed regarding the songs. Last year I said in our newsletter that Karma for one was, for me, the most exiting track on the album. Now, Shine and Myopia are my main favourites followed very closely by Bugeye. We played a gig at Poole's Arts Centre in October and while playing Imago I just thought 'Wow! I remember writing this with Stuart and Roy in Roy's lounge. It turned out much better than I thought it would. Would you rather stay independant and do things your way or would you rather have a recording contract with a record company? STUART : We would quite happily negociate with any company, no matter how big or small, on a deal if we were offered one. It all depends on what is offered and whether or not, as a result of the deal, we are able maintain full artistic control, which in our case is a pre-requisite and non-negotiable. As we are very experienced and aware musicians we will not be manipulated in terms of our creative processes by any external forces. To me that negates the reason why the band exists in the first place, i.e to create it's own music! In the past we have been offered several album and singles deals, which have always been thoroughly discussed both amongst band members and with Lawyers and in one case an experieced band manager, who worked closely with Marillion and Fish for several years, before eventually being rejected on the grounds that they were not really of benefit to the band as a whole both artistically and financially. However, we did have a licencing deal in Japan for three albums plus we have a deal in Poland to release cassette versions of all our albums in several of the ex-eastern block countries, both of which have proved tremendously beneficial to the band. How do you get your CD into the marketplace?, How much hassle is it to finance and distribute your own album? STUART : It is always a struggle to finance your own projects, unless of course you have a rich beneficiary, which we don't. However, we have now reached a stage whereby the band is self financing and general makes a profit on each album released which we plough back in to recording the next one. Occasionally we give ourselves a little cash bonus!! Obviously, me being an accountant does help when it comes to the financial and admin side of the band! Getting the CD in to the market place is also quite a task, purely in terms of the amount of time and effort it takes to organise distributioin, promotion, updating the database of publications/radio stations/ distributors etc and ultimately sending out promos and press releases etc. In this respect the Internet and e-mail facility has been a godsend, especially for this album, as it is so easy to use and so quick and efficient. It's hard to find time to do and think of everything, but you have to have the resolve and determination to make it work. Some may see it as a drag but I see it as just another challenge. The harder it is the more determined I get. I can be a stubborn old git at times!! Do you have your own studio? If so, what equipment is in it? STUART : Not as such, well we didn't for 'Following Ghosts' we actually used a local 24 track 2 inch analogue equipped studio. However, as mentioned above, Neil has now got his own studio in Salisbury which is equipped with 2 ADATS plus various software suites such as cubase as well as mastering facilities, so we will probably record the next album there. We also have a lot of band gear between us. Dean has a lot of of keyboards & sequencing software at his house which is very useful for songwriting. Virtually all of 'Bug Eye' and 'Ocean Blue' for example was written on cubase sequencing software. DEAN : I have a small studio set up in my spare room at home. It's only a small room but I have all my gear set up in there. I'm always worried in case I get a visit by some local burgulars. If you had the chance to jam with any band, who would that be? STUART : Difficult to think of any one band, but I guess it would have to be a toss up between Genesis (Hackett/Collins/Banks/Rutherford line up) Pink Floyd or Queen. DEAN : Oasis : 'cos they can't play to well so I'd fit in fine. No, seriously, it's too big a question to ask. Off the top of my head I'd go for.........The Police. They were all such brilliant musicians, they still are. Because they're so good they could carry me along and it would sound good no matter what. What's the best thing that has ever happened to you? STUART : Getting married to Lin (I have to say that!), the Pink Floyd experience at Earls Court on the Pulse tour, awesome!! DEAN : 1: Getting married to Angie in fiji back in February '98. 2: Discovering Synths. What's the worst thing that has ever happened to you? STUART : Having Peritonitis when I was Sixteen, I can still remember the pain to this day,I'll never forget it, it almost killed me, literally! DEAN : Stuart NOT dying from Peritonitis when he was sixteen! No not really, how cruel I am. I don't really know but I didn't enjoy having nearly £1000 worth of equipment after a gig in May '98. Who writes the songs? STUART : We all have ideas. The songs are all composed in several different ways. There isn't one definate way in which we write, which I think is healthy as it means different songs have different feelings and atmospheres about them. For example I might have a lyrical idea or even perhaps a full set of lyrics and a title for a certain track, which I will then sing complete with my idea for a melody to either Dean or Roy/Craig, or sometimes to all of them!! They will then work out the notes and relevent chords and thus the music will take shape around my initial lyrical/melody idea. Or else they might say that its rubbish and we'll start all over again on another idea!! Some songs are initially worked out on the piano or acoustic guitar, though many of the newer songs have been written and recorded straight on to cubase which is a relatively new way of writing for me, but one which both Dean and I find very exciting and rewarding as you can literally write and record a song at the same time, gradually building it up layer by layer, rather like painting a picture or building a house. At the end of it you have a virtually complete song with only Guitar and Drums to add, plus maybe a bit of woodwind or electric bass, for example. Also using sequencing software such as Cubase it doesn't matter if you forget the song or the idea as it will still be there on your computer the next time you want to work on it, plus, of course, it allows you to change sounds and arrangements until you are happy with what you have written. It's also great for when we are in the studio recording an album as you can literally record your sequenced part straight on to tape with a minimum of fuss because, hopefully, all the arrangements and sounds have been worked out beforehand at home. This in turn saves valuable time and money, hopefully reducing studio recording costs, which are not cheap! But other songs will still come together as a result of the whole band jamming during a rehearsal, there still is nothing like writing with a live band for a great buzz!! With some songs the music comes first and I will sift through my considerably large file of lyrics to see if anything fits the mood of the music that the band, Dean or Roy (or whoever the guitarist will be!??) is playing to me. If I cannot find anything I will then listen to a recording of the musical idea time and time and time again until I get inspiraion and write a complete new set of words. Sometimes the music is very inspiring and I will think of something straight away, other times it can take weeks before I can come up with something. Every now and then I give up and we either scrap the idea, change it around or perhaps even work it out instrumentally in to another track. I have always written all the lyrics. It seems a bit bogus having to sing someone elses words as, in my opinion, it is much more difficult to put energy and feeling in to something especially when you do not always know what it is about. Everything I write about is generally an expression of my feelings or an observation about a certain subject, situation or being, obviously very subjective and thus very personal. Therefore I feel that I can generally put 100% heart and soul in to my singing, especially live. In general, I guess we must write songs in pretty much the same way as most other bands do. Where do you get your inspiration from? STUART : Everywhere and everything is the short answer. I'll write songs about anything that I feel strongly about.It may be something from the news on the TV or radio or from the press that is happening somewhere else in the World or it might be something closer to home to with friends or family situations that I or those around me may find themselves or ourselves in. ` Again, as with the style of songs/music that we write, there are no limits or taboos, I'll write about anything as long as I feel strongly about it. I'm not one for writing songs with false empty sentiments, I'll leave that for the jobbing songwriters of this World. That doesn't mean to say that everything is deadly serious, there is a certain amount of humour in some Galahad lyrics, although it's not always immediately obvious. On FG check out 'Myopia' for example!! Who thought of the band's name and how did you choose it? STUART : Well, Roy chose it. Sir Galahad is in fact a character from Arthurian Legend, he was the purest and most noble knight of all, or so legend has it. He was the son of Sir Lancelot and was one of only two Knights to actually 'achieve' the holy grail. In fact Sir Galahad was so overcome by the sight of the grail that he promptly expired! However, Roy did not know any of the above and certainly did not know that Sir Galahad was a Knight of the Round Table, not until I told him anyaway! 'Oh no I'm afriad that Galahad, the band, was actually named after a produce company, called 'Galahad Produce' the name of which Roy saw on an invoice when he too was working for a produce distribution company back in the early 1980's. Thus, the romantic reason for the name of Galahad was not to be I'm afraid. Yes we are named after a Produce company!! Which are you personal favorite songs and why? STUART : That is a very difficult question as there are so many. But I guess Pink Floyd's 'Comfortably Numb' has to be the one, that closing Gilmour solo just blows me away every time I hear it, I never tire of it. Live it was phenomenal, almost a religious experience. My favourite Galahad song has to be 'Bug Eye', with 'Richelieu's Prayer' and 'Room 801' following close behind. DEAN : Ghosts by Japan - Very clever and different at the time. I Am A Walrus by The Beatles - Cool song but what does it mean? Champagne Supernova by Oasis - Great feel. Hide & Seek by Howard Jones - It used to make me cry If I was feeling low. Do you play many gigs and if so where? STUART : We used to, although they have been a bit thin on the ground of late, mainly due to the line up problems that we have had in the last year or so. Once the band is fully rehearsed and tight again then we will organise some more dates. Perhaps a few local home town dates (Dorset, England) just to get back in to the swing of things followed, hopefully, by some dates in Europe next year. We would love to get over to America where we have been offered a few gigs in Canada, USA and Argentina. It all depends on logistics and costs, as we are not exactly Pink Floyd when it come s to the financial stakes!! What is you view of the music scene in Bournemouth? I'm not that au fait with the music scene in the area in which I live as we have little or nothing to do with the local scene, so impossible for me to make a reasonable comment. But on a national scale, I think there is a lot of good music happening these days. There seems to be a lot more experimentation and merging of different styles, as I've already mentioned, which can only be healthy, as 'Rock Music', I feel as a genre cannot really go any further in it's traditional standard format. However, it does amaze me, considering the amopunt of music that has been written and released over the years that there is still the occasional song that gets released that still becomes a 'classic'. However a lot of music these days just appears to be recycled from old musical styles and fashions from the sixties and seventies, perhaps that's why I like quite a lot of it?? It's just a shame that most of the major record companies will not spend time nurturing bands in order for them to reach their full potential. It seems that these days if a band does not generate a reasonably quick return then they are unceremoniously dropped. After all you are dealing with peoples/musicians livelyhood's and future prosperity here, a fact which seems lost amongst the money men and hard nosed business men who seem to run major labels these days. ` It seems to me that the future is not worth investing in according to these companies, which is a shame and very misguided and which could have dire consequences for the recording industry in the long run. Also, many companies only seem to be interested in releasing countless reissues of 'old' rock and pop music, there must be so many Greatest Hits packages that have been released in different packaging so many times. Again, it's just the thought of a quick and easy return that motivates such releases, it is indeed a sad situation. This takes investment away from newer more innovative bands and ultimately, I feel, adversely affect the music industry as the CD buying public will get bored of all these re-issues, but they will have little or nothing to replace the old bands due to lack of solid investment in new talent by the large record comapnies, who, generally speaking, seem to be motivated purely by greed these days and certainly not by music. What band/s would you say has had the most influence on you? STUART : As I said before I listen to an awful lot of music and although the original inspiration for me getting in to bands was the 'Progressive' and 'Heavy Rock' bands from the Seventies, I don't feel that I really have any real obvious influences these days. Although from a songwriting point of view I greatly admire Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush together with Freddie Mercury from a Vocals point of view. Perhaps they have a subconscoius effect on my songwritinmg ideas, who knows? DEAN : The Beatles for songwriting and Howard Jones for 101 things to do with a synthesizer. What are your plans for the future? STUART : To carry on creating, writing, playing and recording ad infinitum as thats what keeps me going in life. I know it's a cliche but I probably live for music, even if I don't make a great living out of it, that's not the point. I don't quite know what I'd do If I didn't have the band or at least some kind of musical outlet. From a wider perspective I just want for me and my family and friends to lead a happy and fulfilled existance, it's that simple. DEAN : To kill all the other guys in Galahad and conquer the world. Or maybe get on with some ideas for a new album with the rest of the band. On a recent newsletter it stated that you were remixing Following Ghosts, WHY? STUART : Because we want to. Again, it's another challenge. Hopefully this project will see the light of day in a few months time once we have received and compiled all the various tracks, finances permitting of course. The idea of 'De-Constructing Ghosts' as the title suggests is for various other DJ's, musicians etc to take samples of all the vocals plus guitars, keys, flute, clarinet and some bass from the original 'Following Ghosts' 'Mother' album tapes and re-construct new tracks from scratch, ie not necessarily remixing whole songs but actually creating new ones from samples, melodies etc from several different original tracks. The resulting tracks could be any kind of music, not necessarily just 'dance' re-mixes. It's quite an ambitious project which I hope will come off, we have already heard abour four newly re-construceted tracks which are very different from the originals. I find the idea of this project very exciting and one which I think will be quite unique in many ways. What appeals to me is the fact that we just do not know how the new tracks will sound, the idea of the unknown is actually quite a scary but very interesting prospect. Whereas, with 'Following Ghosts' proper we always had a pretty good idea how the final album was going to sound so there were not so many surprises. It may sound a bizarre project and it might work , it might not, I certainly do not expect that most straight 'Prog' fans will necessarily enjoy the results, although some of a more open minded persuasion might, it's really aimed at a different market, if there is one!! Yes, you could also say that it is very self indulgent, but then isn't that what making music is all about? It's all part of an ongoing creative process. At least we can't be accused of resting on our laurels and taking the easy, safe route! As long as we are always looking for alternatives and new ways to write and create music then I think the modern music scene in general will stay healthy. From a personal point of view, as soon as I feel that we are just treading old ground and that the music being created is not very interesting anymore, then I think that is the time to seriously consider giving up!! But that won't happen for a long time yet. Any last words or remarks? STUART : I'm sure that my eyes are going and I'm getting RSI after this mega interview!! Seriously, though I would just like to say a big, big thankyou to all those out there in the ether who have come to see us play over the years, bought our CD's and supported so strongly up to this point, let's hope it will continue for many years to some!! DEAN : If you haven't already got a copy of Following Ghosts then what are you playing at? Put on your coat, get down to your local record shop and buy a copy. Then come back home because they're out of stock and order your very own copy from our mail order address or Email us at : galahad@lds.co.uk |