{"id":578,"date":"2011-08-16T04:50:29","date_gmt":"2011-08-16T09:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2017-02-01T07:41:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-01T12:41:56","slug":"john-wetton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/16\/john-wetton\/","title":{"rendered":"John Wetton: (Not) Lost for Words, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Wetton has an impressive pedigree. Depending on what sort of musical style you\u2019re most fond of, you may know Wetton as the bass-playing vocalist\/frontman of Asia. If your tastes run more toward challenging progressive music, you may think of his groundbreaking work with what many consider the best lineup of King Crimson. If you were a headbanger in the 70s, you might have dug his work with Uriah Heep. You say that English folk-rock is your cup of tea? Family. Art-pop? Roxy Music. And that\u2019s only part of the man\u2019s pedigree. He\u2019s as busy as ever these days, and Wetton\u2019s most recent project is a new solo album called Raised in Captivity<\/em>. I asked him about that \u2013 and much more \u2013 in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/span><\/strong> Many tracks on the new album seem to take a production and arrangement cue from your Asia<\/strong> work, especially in the overdubbing of your voice multiple times to give it a “Wetton chorus” sort of feel. Was that a conscious decision, to sort of follow in that proven-effective style?<\/span><\/p>\n

John Wetton:<\/strong> It\u2019s something I did before Asia. It\u2019s something I did way<\/em> back in King Crimson<\/strong><\/a>, actually. Back through the sands of time; it started for me around 1972. And it\u2019s an effect I like, the chorus. Of course, \u201cchorus\u201d means to sing along, doesn\u2019t it? I kind of like multiple-layered harmonies. What attracted me to pop music in the first place — Beatles<\/strong>, Beach Boys<\/strong> \u2013 is that I\u2019m a big fan of harmony. And the block voices of a choir; that\u2019s where I came into music as well, through church music.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s what I do; it turns me on. If it happens to be what people identify as me with Asia, it\u2019s only [laughs] because Asia sold more records than King Crimson or my solo albums. It\u2019s something that I do; I don\u2019t even think about it. Funnily enough, you\u2019re the first person to mention that. But it\u2019s very rare that I do a vocal straight through without tracking in the chorus. It has been known to happen, but not often.<\/p>\n

Thank you for mentioning that, because it hadn\u2019t even dawned on me that I do that.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Was the album put together in a traditional studio setting, or was it more like Steve Hackett<\/strong>‘s album Out of the Tunnel\u2019s Mouth<\/em><\/a> (which you played on) built piece by piece on a computer console?<\/span><\/p>\n

JW:<\/strong> Well, we made it to sound like a live band. Which it does: it sounds like a group. But in fact it was just the two of us. Billy<\/strong> [Sherwood<\/strong>] played all of the drums and the guitars, and I played the bass and some acoustic guitars, the vocals and some keyboards. And somehow we managed to make it sound like it was being played by a band. Mainly that\u2019s because Billy does the drums in one take. So it\u2019s not sort of under the microscope. Unlike in the past where you analyze every kick drum, every fill; it wasn\u2019t done like that. It was done where Billy played it once through. And usually that was it.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I’ve long been a big, big fan of Robert Fripp<\/strong>\u2019s work. I have noticed, however, that often when he guests on others’ work, his contributions — though important — are sometimes subtle to the point of being almost inaudible. On the new album’s title track, however, his distinctive sound is front and center. How would you articulate what Fripp brings to your (and others’) work?<\/span><\/p>\n

JW:<\/strong> First of all, he\u2019s a really good friend. I\u2019ve known the guy for nearly fifty years now. And we actually get on better than we ever have done in the past. I think we have a relationship that\u2019s grown.<\/p>\n

But I would not<\/em> like to get any closer\u2026I wouldn\u2019t like to put our relationship under any further stress. A lot of people say, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you get King Crimson back together?\u201d He\u2019s retired, Bill Bruford<\/strong>\u2019s retired. I have a carpal tunnel in my right hand. So you\u2019re not looking at a full ticket, y\u2019know.<\/p>\n

So, Robert guesting on my album — which is what he\u2019s done on three of the albums \u2013 that\u2019s as close as I want to get. I love the guy, and I don\u2019t want to sacrifice our relationship. Because I know that if we worked in any closer organization, there would be a flash point.<\/p>\n

When he guests on a song, I think he likes it like that, that he\u2019s almost mixed out of the damn thing! [laughs] That\u2019s the way he prefers it. I remember when he was onstage with David Bowie<\/strong>; he was almost invisible. I think, in fact, at one point he was<\/em> invisible. He kind of likes that; he hides his light a little bit. And then, tells you afterward what he was playing.<\/p>\n

But I love the guy, and I love what he plays. But now he\u2019s retired; it\u2019s kind of an end of an era. I\u2019m glad to have some dear friends on this record.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Speaking of which, every track on Raised in Captivity<\/em> except the bonus track features a guest spot of some sort\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JW:<\/strong> Yeah, it does. We kind of engineered it like that. When I left England to go to California to record, I sort of had certain songs earmarked for certain people. These are people from throughout my career; usually the guitar players. I chose Allan Holdsworth<\/strong>, and when I got to California, I asked him if he would do the solo on \u201cThe Last Night of My Life.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said yes. But he said, \u201cI\u2019ve got a priority, a solo album. It\u2019s the first one I\u2019ve done for eleven years.\u201d And it got closer and closer and closer to the deadline — when we had to stop recording \u2013 and I still didn\u2019t have it. So I thought, \u201cI\u2019m not going to get this. And I don\u2019t want to be overdubbing it at the mastering session!\u201d [laughs] So, I called the guy that I was about go on tour with, Alex Machacek<\/span><\/strong>;<\/span> he\u2019s a good friend of Alan\u2019s. I didn\u2019t give him any brief; I just said, \u201cHere\u2019s the chord sequence; just play a modal solo, please.\u201d Which he did. And it sounds remarkably close to what Alan would have done. It\u2019s exactly<\/em> what I wanted. Alex did a great job, and I didn\u2019t have to wait for Alan to make up his mind whether he was going to do it or not.<\/p>\n

I love Alan \u2013 wish him all the best — but I just couldn\u2019t wait. We were running out of time. I had a record company barking at me, management barking at me. They were all saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to have a record. It\u2019s got to be wrapped up.\u201d And I still didn\u2019t have the solo. So Alex Machacek stepped in at the last minute and saved the day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from Alan, all of the other soloists were fine, and they knew what to do. I hardly had to ask them to do two takes. <\/span><\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> By my count the only bands not represented on your new record are Family<\/strong> and Wishbone Ash<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of people look at my track record, my history, my CV, and point out that I pop from band to band. And in fact that was [true] only in the early seventies. I have a fairly strong work ethic. Which I share with Carl Palmer<\/strong>, actually. We both think that if we\u2019re not working on a Saturday night, something is terribly wrong.<\/p>\n

So, what I did when I first went professional, I hopped from band to band just to keep myself in work. I went from Family to King Crimson. King Crimson ended before I wanted it to\u2026<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Me too!<\/span><\/p>\n

JW:<\/strong> I would have liked to have been in that band for twenty years; that would have been my ideal. But it didn\u2019t go like that. So when it ended, I was in the same office as Roxy Music<\/strong>. And they said, \u201cWe can\u2019t find anyone to do this tour. Will you step in and do it?\u201d So I did a UK tour with them, and it was great fun. They were at the height of their popularity, and there was some very<\/em> high-class underwear being thrown onstage.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re lovely guys, and I really enjoyed myself. But musically, it wasn\u2019t the be-all-and-end-all. So I moved on and went with Uriah Heep<\/strong>. And then after that, we formed UK<\/strong>. And that was all, really, in the first ten years of my professional existence.<\/p>\n

And if you look at Wishbone Ash, it was just a session. It was six weeks in Miami; a nice session, but it was not a career move for me. They didn\u2019t want all I had to offer. So when people say, \u201cYou did some hopping around,\u201d I say that I did, but it was some high-class<\/em> band hopping. That\u2019s what I did. And then as of 1978 when UK was formed, it\u2019s either been Asia or solo.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> One of the things that I especially like about the new album is that the guest spots aren’t gratuitous; they make sense within the context of the songs. Every one is better — brought more true to its core, you might say — by what the guest musician adds.<\/span><\/p>\n

JW: Absolutely correct.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> In particular, Eddie Jobson<\/strong>‘s violin work on \u201cThe Devil and the Opera House\u201d is a prime example. How did you approach the guest parts: did you give them demos and say \u201ccome up with something cool for this\u201d or did you give them more specific direction?<\/span><\/p>\n

JW:<\/strong> They got a demo, or they got a backing track, and they knew what the song was about. It had a guide vocal on it, and was pretty much a rough mix. They would overdub their solo onto that. In some cases I got a choice of two or three solos, but I\u2019d very often took the first one.<\/p>\n

They had a brief; so, on \u201cLost for Words,\u201d we — and I say we<\/em> because it was me and Billy \u2013 said that we really wanted a shredder on that one. Billy approached Steve Morse<\/strong>, and said, \u201cWe want a high-energy, street, go-for it solo.\u201d And that\u2019s what we got: a fantastic solo from Steve. And as you say, it adds to the track. In no way is it inappropriate. It doesn\u2019t sound like it suddenly wandered into the studio.<\/p>\n

Eddie Jobson, the same thing. When Richard Palmer-James<\/strong>, Billy and I wrote the song — it\u2019s about an actual place in the town where I live \u2013 when we thought of the Devil, the automatic thought was: fiddle. And there\u2019s only one person I can think of. The thought went: Devil, fiddle, Eddie Jobson. And he said, \u201cGod, am I playing the Devil again?\u201d [laughs] And he did exactly what was required. More, really.<\/p>\n

It seemed like there was a greater hand guiding what we were doing, at times. Everything worked out so well. There wasn\u2019t one, really, that we got stuck on. It was fairly plain sailing. And I\u2019m really pleased about that.<\/p>\n

Click here for Part Two\u2026<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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John Wetton has an impressive pedigree. Depending on what sort of musical style you\u2019re most fond of, you may know Wetton as the bass-playing vocalist\/frontman of Asia. If your tastes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12314,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578\/revisions\/12314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}