Project Description

INTERVIEW WITH

STEVEN WILSON

Interviewer: Yasmin Richards

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Arguably one of Britain’s most successful musicians in rock music, Steven Wilson has embarked on his ‘To The Bone’ World Tour following the triumphant release of his album of the same name. We had the privilege to speak to him about his Australian tour, his new album and his personal musical journey.

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You will be touring the East Coast soon and will be doing a three-hour set, including songs from Porcupine Tree. Has it been good re-visiting songs from Porcupine Tree?

There are songs that I’m really proud of and songs that I’m not so proud of. And that’s what I’m exploring now, some newer material. So that’s a consideration, trying to find lyrical subject matter that fits in with what I’m talking about now in ‘To The Bone’ songs. Some of those, what we call “Porcupine Tree songs” were solo songs. Those first three albums were solo albums, there’s no one else on them. Even some of the later ones just had me on them. So this whole notion that appears to the outside world that there’s Porcupine Tree, Steven Wilson, Blackfield…I don’t necessarily make them the same distinction and I suppose that keeps the fans more interested.

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You’ve been to Australia before. What are some your favourite memories from here and where are you looking forward to playing the most?

One of the things I love about coming to Australia and I’ve found this every time I’ve been there- and I think I’ve been there four, maybe five times now, one of the things I’ve always loved about it is how diverse the audience is. And that’s really special to me, that’s the best compliment of all. When we played in Melbourne there was a young kid in a Slayer t-shirt and then I’ll see an old hippie guy who’s from the ‘70s and then I’ll see a girl in a Radiohead shirt or a Muse t-shirt or Massive Attack t-shirt and then I’ll see someone in an ABBA t-shirt and I think that’s kind of a great compliment for me because I try to think outside of this idea that music is this generic classification and when I come to Australia I really feel that message gets across- the audience is very diverse, of all ages, both genders and all sorts of different musical preference and find something to connect with in my music. So that’s always something I’ve loved about Australia. The very first time I came here, which is certainly not always the case in every country, is in Australia they seem to be very open minded in terms of music.

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Is there anything else can we expect from your tour?

It’s a very elaborate show, I mean I think it’s more people coming and expecting to hear some musicians play some music; they’re going to be surprised. The show is really a package so I have a lot films, a lot of screens, a quadratic effect. It’s going to reach the audience. I like to think of it as a really immersive experience, I’d like to see it as inspiring and jaw dropping. There’s certainly a bit of triumph in bringing that full experience to Australian shows.

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That sounds wonderful. If only you were coming to Perth.

I know. Well, it’s such a long way but I’ll try to make it happen.

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You have stated before that ‘To The Bone’ represents a musical journey. Would you say it’s both a musical journey for the audience but also for yourself when reflecting on the albums preceding it?

One of the things I’ve always been interested in, right in the very beginning when I became a musician or even before that when I was just writing songs as a kid, I’ve always loved this idea of storytelling. So for me, I think it was partly due to the fact that I grew up loving movies and literature as much as I loved music. And I always thought the three things in a way could co-exist. So I was always excited by that idea of telling a story. And I like the idea that the album does take on a story and to me, when you asked about me personally; it feels like my whole career has been a musical journey. One of the things I love about my catalogues is that there isn’t really any album that sounds like any other album, but obviously there are certain trademarks that have been recognized as part of my musical personality…my musical vocabulary. But I think ultimately every album has a very distinctive character all the time and I love that. You know, I don’t see the point of making an album unless it’s going to have a reason to make the catalogues distinctive from any other record. I think bands sometimes have a hard time with that because they fall in love with a particular album and essentially keep making that record or variations of that record. It’s always kind of the opposite way I’ve gone about it. I’ve always been looking for how a record can begin, how can I confront the expectations of my message rather than just cater for it. So that in a sense has been a musical journey for me particularly in my solo career. I think it’s one of the reasons I became someone completely independent from a band and it’s so much easier to change your style on an album when you’re a solo artist. You don’t have to answer to anyone else. That’s been one of the most gratifying things about my music career.

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Your music is very thought provoking and interpretative. Are you often asked for the meaning behind your artistry?

Well you know, the funny thing is lyrics are something I work really hard on and I find some people are not that interested in them and some people are just interested in seeing the vocals and other parts of the music which is fair enough. But I do work very hard on the lyrics and I try to make them very engaging and meaningful. I find that probably if I’m doing interviews, like I’m doing with you now, I’d say probably only about 20% of them ever ask me about the lyrics and the subject matter…which is kind of disappointing in a way but at least that 20% think it’s very interesting. I find women are much more likely to ask about lyrics than guys, guys are more interested in the technical things and I find women are more likely to ask about the lyrics and their emotional content of the song. So yeah, but I certainly have put a lot of value in meaning in the words.

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Yeah. The reason I asked is that a lot of musicians do find that when they’re asked about their artistry it becomes very frustrating for them because they feel as though they need to disclose their thought processes and personal emotions might have to them with complete strangers.

Well that’s true. One of the beautiful things about music of course is that it is very much open to interpretation by the person. You can’t really say that so much about cinema and literature, everything is pretty much explained to you. You understand what the characters are going through and what they’re feeling through their thoughts and words- and I think with music, it’s a little bit more intangible, you don’t necessarily know exactly what the songwriter is trying to say to you but that means you can try to put yourself into the process and interpret it in a way. I mean I’ve had fans that say “oh this song you wrote…oh it means so much to me (this, this and this),” and I’m like “well no, but I’m glad you found something that was so deep for you in the lyrics.” That wasn’t actually what I intended at all but that doesn’t mean it’s any less valid. That’s what I’m saying, that’s one of the beautiful things about music. Maybe that’s why some are a little more reluctant to set things in stone of what a song is about. That kind of robs, in a way, listeners of being able to interpret it in their own life.

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You’ve said that Andy Partridge from XTC is one of your personal heroes. What was it like being able to work with someone you idolize and was it daunting at all?

Well I’ve known Andy for a while now; I’ve been very fortunate to meet a lot of people whose music I grew up with. It’s always very daunting when you first meet them because you obviously feel as though you’re meeting a legend rather than a person. I’ve been very fortunate to work with him. I’ve been working with Andy for about five or six years now and most of it has been on his own back catalogue, which it’s great because I’m a fan and obviously that’s a dream job. I’ve got to know him and of course now I just consider him someone who is a friend, but he is obviously someone who I see as the greatest songwriter, the greatest lyricist. So it was a massive privilege to be able to have him involved in that and he was very very engaged in it. Very very passionate about wanting to do the right thing and wanting to do what I wanted, wanting to produce something that I would be happy with and that’s fantastic. So that’s one of the beautiful things about achieving some level of respect I suppose, is you don’t only get the respect from your fans, you also get respect from people whose music you grew up with, if you’re doing the right thing anyway. So yeah, Andy, fantastic bloke to get along with and that’s something I never expected to be able to do.

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