0:09

Hi everybody, welcome to another Park Report

0:11

interview. We have the very important

0:13

and award-winning guitars from Solstice Andy

0:15

Glass with us. How you doing,

0:17

man? Really good. Really good, man.

0:19

Yeah, we're here to talk about

0:22

the new album, Clan, which comes

0:24

out on April 4th. And, you

0:26

know, for anybody sort of paying

0:28

attention, you and I were just

0:30

talking about it, talking about it

0:32

a little bit before I got

0:34

started here about how you guys

0:36

have won the Prague Reader's poll

0:38

in Prague magazine and you swept all

0:41

the awards, you got guitarists and best

0:43

band and all that stuff. And then

0:45

the Prague tracks, you guys won that

0:47

recently with Firefly, which I want to

0:49

talk about. But you know. Let's go

0:52

back a little bit, right? Because there

0:54

may be some people that are familiar

0:56

with the band, and you guys have

0:58

been around since the 80s, along

1:00

with bands that started then, you

1:02

know, Morillion and IQ and all

1:04

these bands from that era. And then

1:06

you sort of went away for a

1:08

little bit, and now there's this whole

1:11

big resurgence in the last few years

1:13

with these three albums leading up to

1:15

this one that have come about. You

1:17

talk a little bit about the history

1:19

and what led to this, if

1:21

you can. Sure. Well, it's a

1:24

lot, right? It's a lot of

1:26

history, man. I'll try and I'll

1:28

try and condense it right down.

1:30

Yeah, so we started the band.

1:32

I started the band with a

1:34

great fiddle player called Mark Elton

1:37

back in 1980. And I've been,

1:39

I've already been in a band

1:41

called Electric Gypsy with Mick Pointer

1:43

and Dougovan. who with a

1:45

singer called Alan King, they kicked

1:47

us out of that band because

1:49

we were, you know, me and

1:52

Alan, we were, I don't know,

1:54

we were hippies man, you know,

1:56

and we were living the whole

1:58

thing, you know, and Dagen and

2:00

Mick were very serious and... So

2:02

we were all buddies and when

2:04

me and Mark got solstice going

2:06

in, who did they get in?

2:08

Well ultimately, ultimately they replaced us

2:10

with Steve Rovary and Fish of

2:12

course, you know. And then that

2:14

became silver and then that became

2:16

meridian and that became meridian. So

2:18

we were all buddies and when

2:20

me and Mark got solstice going

2:22

in 1980, we didn't have any

2:24

agenda at all, you know, we

2:26

were just enjoying playing music and...

2:28

It came out of jamming together

2:30

for a long time, which we'd

2:32

done, and we just thought, hey,

2:34

let's get a band together. And

2:36

because we were mates, of course,

2:38

with Meridian, you know, once we

2:40

had that going, they said, oh,

2:42

come and support us, man, you

2:44

know. And of course, they were

2:46

just really hitting that trajectory, you

2:48

know, where they were taking off

2:50

and fish was like driving them

2:52

like a train, man, you know.

2:54

So we just kind of went...

2:56

along, climbed the ladder underneath them

2:58

and they took us with them,

3:00

you know. And then when they

3:02

hit the Markey Club, which became,

3:04

you know, the central thing for

3:06

what's now called the Neoprog movement,

3:08

we pretty soon got our own

3:11

gigs there and then, you know,

3:13

we gave Pen Drag and IQ

3:15

supports and they came and got

3:17

their own thing going on and

3:19

pretty soon there was this whole

3:21

scene, you know, which was... you

3:23

know that club was packed you

3:25

know with young people with you

3:27

know 18 19 year olds and

3:29

among them some people that are

3:31

kind of big in the big

3:33

names in the proxy now you

3:35

know I mean Jerry Ewing was

3:37

there Stephen Wilson was there Greg

3:39

Sport and was there you know

3:41

they were kids and so it

3:43

was a amazing scene and of

3:45

course it couldn't have been less

3:47

fashionable. You know, the media just

3:49

ripped into us all the time,

3:51

you know, because we were just

3:53

the most, you know, uncool thing

3:55

as far as they were concerned.

3:57

And even when they started... when

3:59

they started enjoying what we were

4:01

doing, you know, we knew they

4:03

were enjoying it, they were coming

4:05

to the gigs, you know, they

4:07

couldn't say that, you know, they'd

4:09

still, when they gave you coverage

4:11

in sounds or whatever it was,

4:13

you know, they'd have to rip

4:15

into you, you know, so, and

4:17

then of course we got the

4:19

guy who ran the Marquisso was

4:21

heavily involved in Reading Festival, so

4:24

a lot of the bands played

4:26

that, which was a big festival

4:28

at the time. And the thing

4:30

really kind of, you know, exploded

4:32

and we ended up getting, you

4:34

know, solstice ended up getting front

4:36

page of sounds, which was the

4:38

kind of big rock mag at

4:40

the time, you know, physical weekly

4:42

mag. So yeah, it was, it

4:44

was an exciting time, but we,

4:46

and we never, as like I

4:48

say, we never had an agenda,

4:50

we weren't interested in the industry,

4:52

you know, so whereas... Marie and

4:54

got their deal with EMI and

4:56

bands like Paris were you know

4:58

chasing that thing and 12th night

5:00

they were chasing that thing you

5:02

know we were like just not

5:04

interested you know so we were

5:06

like a free festival bands you

5:08

know when back in the days

5:10

when free festivals still existed that

5:12

was we loved doing that stuff

5:14

you know so and we were

5:16

very anti the whole kind of

5:18

music industry establishment thing. It wouldn't

5:20

matter anyway because you know in

5:22

84 our singer left and you

5:24

know we kind of replaced her

5:26

with someone else and but it

5:28

was over you know it was

5:30

over by 85. So we just

5:32

did that one album and then

5:35

we went off to do other

5:37

things and you know I did

5:39

sort of fell into session work

5:41

and played with some cool people

5:43

you know it was great and

5:45

then... In the mid-90s I was

5:47

friendly, very friendly with Clive Bunker

5:49

and some of those guys and

5:51

I was working for Jeff Rottile

5:53

as a sound guy and you

5:55

know... I just really wanted to

5:57

do some more solstice. So we

5:59

did an album and we did

6:01

some gigs and then that kind

6:03

of fell apart again. So it

6:05

was really in the noughties like

6:07

2006 when this kind of journey

6:09

started again. You know, by then,

6:11

you know, I had my children

6:13

actually were very young, but you

6:15

know, it was like I'd sort

6:17

of, sort of been through that

6:19

a little bit, you know, kind

6:21

of, I got married, we had

6:23

a family. and I just felt

6:25

like it was a little bit

6:27

of space in my life so

6:29

I wanted to do solstice again

6:31

but it was just a kind

6:33

of on-off few gigs a year

6:35

cup you know we did spirit

6:37

the spirit's album 2010 maybe prophecy

6:39

2013 and by the time we

6:41

got to 2019 the band were

6:44

like yeah yeah what are we

6:46

doing here you know what was

6:48

what are we doing? And what

6:50

we needed to do, I think

6:52

we all recognized what we needed

6:54

to do if we were going

6:56

to take it further was find

6:58

another singer, you know, because it

7:00

just wasn't kind of jelling anymore.

7:02

And then, okay, so I've been

7:04

working me and Jenny, the Philadelphia,

7:06

we've been working with Jess Holland

7:08

in another project, and Jenny said,

7:10

like, why don't you ask Jess,

7:12

you know? So Jess came up

7:14

and just to the studio here,

7:16

well, studio, it's this room, right?

7:18

And sang on a couple of

7:20

ideas I had and one of

7:22

the old songs. And man, it

7:24

just clicked immediately, right? So I

7:26

was like, this is, this could

7:28

go somewhere now. You know, I

7:30

felt, I could imagine the kind

7:32

of music that I could write

7:34

with Jess in mind. And also,

7:36

she... Whereas previous scenes haven't we

7:38

done this, she really bought a

7:40

lot to the table in terms

7:42

of creative ideas, you know, and

7:44

personality and character. So it's very

7:46

exciting. about that and thought yeah

7:48

this let's do something and then

7:50

we got locked down right this

7:52

is 2020 right right right right

7:55

and what a kick in the

7:57

pants that is ever I'm like

7:59

oh okay but you know what

8:01

what it did was it gave

8:03

me an opportunity that I never

8:05

had before you know which was

8:07

just to spend months in the

8:09

studio working on music you know

8:11

I could never have done that

8:13

before you know without a million

8:15

pound deal you know and so

8:17

we just worked on the music

8:19

remotely and everyone you know put

8:21

their put their stuff together based

8:23

on my demos you know and

8:25

I assembled all the files here

8:27

and I had a little bit

8:29

of stuff from Jess but she

8:31

recorded stuff at her place and

8:33

we just put the album together

8:35

like that like a lot of

8:37

people did. Yeah. And that was

8:39

the turning point, you know, that

8:41

I don't know if looked at

8:43

and hadn't happened, I don't know

8:45

if I'd be talking to you

8:47

now, probably not, you know, because

8:49

I didn't, I wasn't really setting

8:51

out at the beginning of that

8:53

session with Jess to make an

8:55

album. I just realized as time

8:57

went on that we could do

8:59

that, you know, and I kept

9:01

writing stuff and she kept going,

9:04

oh yeah, this is great, you

9:06

know, let's do this, let's do

9:08

that. And, and, you know, by

9:10

the end of the end of

9:12

the end of the end of

9:14

the end of the end of

9:16

the end of the end of

9:18

the end of the end of

9:20

the end of year, I hadn't,

9:22

I hadn't, I hadn't, I hadn't,

9:24

I hadn't, I hadn't, I hadn't,

9:26

I hadn't, I hadn't, I hadn't,

9:28

I hadn't, I hadn't, I hadn't,

9:30

I hadn't, I hadn't, I hadn't,

9:32

I hadn't, I You know, because

9:34

a lot of people were doing

9:36

it. When we'd write a song,

9:38

we'd get something sounding okay. We'd

9:40

do a little video, obviously remotely,

9:42

and then put it out. And

9:44

what we'd discover was that people

9:46

were going, this is great. You

9:48

know, we really like this. So

9:50

that was extremely motivating. Motivating. And

9:52

just working at it. Ever since

9:54

and here we are five years

9:56

later, I'm talking to you Roy,

9:58

which is great man Because I've

10:00

been trying to do that for

10:02

years Really, that's funny. Yeah, really

10:04

Yeah You know what, when you

10:06

explain the whole journey of the

10:08

band to that, it's really even

10:10

got to be more mind-blowing to

10:13

recently sweep the Prague Magazine Awards.

10:15

I mean, it's not like the

10:17

Oscars or anything, but like in

10:19

our little world, that's pretty big

10:21

deal. And that's got to be

10:23

mind-blowing, really. That's actually amazing. Congrats

10:25

on that. That's really cool. Thank

10:27

you. You know, I'm going to,

10:29

you know, I'm going to print

10:31

that thing off, I'm going to

10:33

frame it, and I'm going to

10:35

put it on my wall, man.

10:37

And if I never do anything

10:39

again, I'll have that. Yeah. You

10:41

know what, because you know you're

10:43

getting to the fans, and that's

10:45

really the number one thing, right?

10:47

I mean, that's it. That's exactly

10:49

what it is. It's not about

10:51

being the best guitar player in

10:53

the room. You know, I mean

10:55

when we're rehearsing right now for

10:57

the tour, and I don't know

10:59

if you've come across the Leone,

11:01

Jane Kennedy, but she's an incredible

11:03

artist, but she's joining us for

11:05

the first half of the tour,

11:07

to sing with the band because

11:09

Ebene is on tour in the

11:11

Netherlands, but Leone is a phenomenal

11:13

guitar player, you know. So we're

11:15

in the rehearsal room, I'm like,

11:17

yeah, I'm definitely not the best

11:19

guitar bonus, but it's not about

11:21

that, is it, is it, you

11:24

know? It's not about it. It's

11:26

about the music and it's about

11:28

a motivated fans, you know, as

11:30

we discussed before you did your

11:32

intro, you know, I mean, our

11:34

audience are just the best audience,

11:36

you know, you're ever going to

11:38

get. And a lot of them

11:40

have been there, I saw a

11:42

post, you know, from a solstice

11:44

82-O-G London clan, right, you know,

11:46

so there's this guy, like many

11:48

others that were there back in

11:50

82. Lots of them have been

11:52

with us all the way through,

11:54

like they have them really in

11:56

an IQ and for those other

11:58

hands. But also what's so gratifying

12:00

for me is... that gradually people

12:02

were getting on other people's radar

12:04

you know right people are discovering

12:06

all the time I get little

12:08

messages saying oh geez I never

12:10

knew you guys existed you know

12:12

I'm like I know same as

12:14

the rest of the world right

12:16

but actually we've been here for

12:18

45 years you know what it's

12:20

similar to big big train in

12:22

a way too you know that's

12:24

a ban from really most people

12:26

don't realize they started in the

12:28

90s you know and it took

12:30

them until I don't know late

12:33

2000s to finally start to get

12:35

on people's radar so and now

12:37

they're one of the bigger bands

12:39

around so it takes it's weird

12:41

it sometimes takes a minute you

12:43

know yeah it's but I think

12:45

you know the thing is it

12:47

means so much more now to

12:49

me you know when we were

12:51

in the 80s you know when

12:53

we found ourselves playing so you

12:55

know 20,000 people wherever it was

12:57

a redding it was incredible it

12:59

was incredible you know but when

13:01

as an older guy these things,

13:03

you know a gold dust, you

13:05

know, they mean so much more

13:07

and you want to save every

13:09

moment and you want to kind

13:11

of make as much of everything

13:13

that you're doing as you can.

13:15

So yeah, and I mean, Greg,

13:17

Greg's younger than me, obviously, but

13:19

not that much younger and he's,

13:21

he's, what he's done is, again,

13:23

it's like a shining light to

13:25

me because I followed what he's

13:27

done, you know, and he's. works

13:29

like other people but he's just

13:31

worked so hard he's he knows

13:33

what he's trying to do he

13:35

puts everything that he has into

13:37

it you know every penny he's

13:39

got you know every every ounce

13:41

of energy and and creativity and

13:44

and that's that's what you need

13:46

to do you know and now

13:48

it's paying off for him you

13:50

know then playing Chris to the

13:52

edge and everyone's going this is

13:54

the best fucking thing I've ever

13:56

heard you know Which is wonderful.

13:58

They set that place, Blaze, the

14:00

last, the last cruise. It was

14:02

the talk whole thing. It was

14:04

out of control. Yeah, it was

14:06

really something. I'm so happy for

14:08

it, man. Yeah, yeah, it was

14:10

really cool. We got to get

14:12

you guys on there. Oh man,

14:14

I'd love to. Yeah, we love

14:16

to. I've been trying that as

14:18

well. I mean, for the last

14:20

few years, I've been trying all

14:22

these channels. You know, and just

14:24

gradually you just break down the

14:26

wall slightly, you know, and someone

14:28

who knows someone. Yeah, you have

14:30

to keep bugging people, man, you

14:32

know, but people are good, they

14:34

have good hearts, and they have

14:36

good hearts, and they want to

14:38

help you know, and they want

14:40

to help you know, you know,

14:42

you know, you know. That's what

14:44

I found time and again with

14:46

the Prague audience, not just the

14:48

audience, but all these guys that

14:50

are running labels or they're putting

14:53

on concerts. You know, they're doing

14:55

it. They're all doing it because

14:57

they love it. You know, so,

14:59

you know, if you can make

15:01

a connection with them, they'll help

15:03

you if they can. You know,

15:05

so yeah, for sure. Why are

15:07

you watching this Larry? I want

15:09

to make sure we talk about

15:11

the new record, Clan, which comes

15:13

out very soon on April 4th.

15:15

Is there a story behind the

15:17

record at all? Like some kind

15:19

of theme or meaning behind it

15:21

for you or how the songs

15:23

came together? What can you tell

15:25

me about the record? Yeah, no,

15:27

it's not a conceptual or, you

15:29

know, it doesn't have any theme

15:31

other than the continuing, you know,

15:33

story of this particular band, you

15:35

know, line up. I mean, it

15:37

does feel like, even though we've

15:39

been around for you, it kind

15:41

of does feel like a new

15:43

band. We certainly, it certainly has

15:45

a new life and a new

15:47

energy that it's never had before,

15:49

you know. So, when we did

15:51

that first album, Shea, with, you

15:53

know, she'd never... She'd never done

15:55

anything like this before by the

15:57

way. She'd never listened to anything

15:59

kind of progressive. She knew about

16:02

solstice because we were friends and

16:04

you know I've known her since

16:06

she was like 13 or something

16:08

and uh... But she had, she

16:10

knew about the band, but she'd

16:12

never listened to her. You know,

16:14

this kind of music wasn't on

16:16

a radar at all. And also

16:18

she had never fronted a band

16:20

before. You know, she'd certainly never

16:22

saw on an album before. So

16:24

clearly, you know, that's a skill

16:26

that you develop over time, right?

16:28

And also building the confidence to

16:30

really, you know, project what you

16:32

can or believe that you can

16:34

be, what you can be, and

16:36

all those things. It takes time.

16:38

So when we made that first

16:40

down, I thought this is great,

16:42

you know, but it's going to

16:44

take a little time for us

16:46

to realize what we can do

16:48

here, you know, and for us

16:50

to realize, and for Jess to

16:52

grow into the singer and the

16:54

performer she can be. Incidentally, the

16:56

band didn't even meet until after

16:58

we recorded that album. I love

17:00

love love amazing, right? Yeah, didn't

17:02

even meet, man, you know, so

17:04

Jessa don't only knew me and

17:06

Jenny and Jenny from the band.

17:08

So I kind of got into

17:10

this whole trilogy thing. I think,

17:13

you know, I suppose it's from

17:15

when I was a kid, you

17:17

know, the third album would often

17:19

be the one where a band

17:21

kind of started breaking through and

17:23

really finding their sound and all

17:25

the rest of it. Maybe it's

17:27

part of that. But I just

17:29

felt that it would take a

17:31

few albums for us to get

17:33

there. So, but I told me

17:35

to light up, we're like two

17:37

years in and we've done a

17:39

lot of gigging. and I've just

17:41

seen Jess grow, you know, as

17:43

a singer, I really believe that

17:45

she was worthy of it and

17:47

she could front a band that

17:49

were this big band that are

17:51

making loads and noise, you know,

17:53

and she's an incredible live performer.

17:55

And on Light Up, I think,

17:57

you can really hear the way

17:59

she's developed as a singer and

18:01

also... the commitment coming from the

18:03

band which was never you know

18:05

more than anything for years you

18:07

know it was everyone was doing

18:09

kinds of stuff you know and

18:11

solstice was one of those things

18:13

you can hear the band committing

18:15

to it. So for me, Clan

18:17

is us getting to the point

18:19

where I've been striving for, you

18:22

know, in terms of the quality

18:24

of the music, but also, you

18:26

know, the production and the performance

18:28

is on there. The other thing,

18:30

I tried to make sure that

18:32

we played the whole album live.

18:34

you know, which is kind of

18:36

a something that is difficult to

18:38

do, you know, for a lot

18:40

of bands, and certainly we didn't

18:42

manage that, we were lined up,

18:44

but so Clan, we had actually

18:46

played everything live and we'd allowed

18:48

it to breathe and develop a

18:50

bit, and I think that that

18:52

is a really positive thing in

18:54

terms of what ends up on

18:56

record, right? Because everyone kind of...

18:58

that we've worked it together and

19:00

it's started to gel and we

19:02

know where we're trying to go.

19:04

Everyone's behind out the little things

19:06

or things that they want to

19:08

do and try. So that was

19:10

exciting. And then, and the thing,

19:12

the other thing for me, you

19:14

know, I mean, I'm not, you

19:16

know, I mix all the music

19:18

and I master it and I

19:20

record it and I've got experience

19:22

of that, but when I hear,

19:24

you know, what Stephen Wilson does,

19:26

I'm like, I know absolutely nothing,

19:28

man. You know, so for this

19:31

album, you know, that's, that was

19:33

my bar, you know, so I

19:35

was, this album, I got a

19:37

shot, I got to, I got

19:39

to learn more, you know, I

19:41

got to work harder. I got

19:43

to figure out how he does

19:45

that shit, man, you know, because

19:47

I've asked him, you know, he

19:49

doesn't know himself, you know, it's

19:51

a, it's a gift he has,

19:53

but also he's worked incredibly hard

19:55

for years and he knows. figured

19:57

out his own way around stuff,

19:59

you know, like me he's had

20:01

no training in it. So, you

20:03

know, I just spent a lot

20:05

of time listening to his production,

20:07

his music, you know, and how,

20:09

and what he's doing there. And

20:11

so when I was mixing this

20:13

one, that, the Harmony Codex was

20:15

my reference point, you know, I

20:17

like mixed something. and then I

20:19

go, well, how does that sound

20:21

compared to, you know, economy of

20:23

scales? And I'm like, okay, I

20:25

just need to do a bit

20:27

more. Really put in the bar

20:29

high there, you know? I know,

20:31

I know, but that's, you know,

20:33

I think that the music deserves

20:35

that attention, you know, and that

20:37

we should just do the best

20:39

work we possibly can. So I

20:42

locked myself in this room for

20:44

two months. I came out on

20:46

Christmas Day, you know, and the

20:48

rest of the time I was

20:50

just in here. I'm hoping that

20:52

the fact that we played it

20:54

live and that I've worked hard

20:56

on the production will play into

20:58

the result. And because the pre-orders

21:00

are starting to hit people, you

21:02

know, and I'm getting responses to

21:04

it, I couldn't be happy a

21:06

man with the way people are

21:08

responding. So when you say you

21:10

were trying to learn different things

21:12

for mixing, I'm just curious. How

21:14

what are we talking about detail

21:16

wise right so so you pick

21:18

a section of a song or

21:20

you pick an instrument and then

21:22

are you running it trying a

21:24

hundred different plugins and and different

21:26

settings and I mean how you

21:28

know a little bit of detail

21:30

like what what does that mean

21:32

for you to try and match

21:34

something? Yeah no it's more about

21:36

just listening to the overview you

21:38

know no pun intended and when

21:40

you listen to his staff right

21:42

The low end the low frequency

21:44

has all this space in it

21:46

You know the only thing occupying

21:48

Those low frequencies is like the

21:51

kick drum the base drum and

21:53

some of those kind of low-end

21:55

Sinthe since since parts which are

21:57

intended to be low-end So then

21:59

the guitars the vocals all that

22:01

mid-range stuff that just doesn't exist,

22:03

you know below 100 hertz or

22:05

150 hertz Which is something I

22:07

should know, but I mean I

22:09

know it now, you know, so

22:11

so I'm really thinking about how

22:13

you sculpt the sound to create

22:15

space. Okay, so you know, a

22:17

use of the stereo image, I

22:19

mean, I know that, I know

22:21

these principles, but it's like, it's

22:23

like learning how to apply them

22:25

and get the kind of results

22:27

that he manages to get. I

22:29

mean, his spatial thing is, you

22:31

know, on a stereo mix, the

22:33

spatial thing is just, you know,

22:35

it's just extraordinary. So. That's really

22:37

what I'm not talking about plug-ins

22:39

really or but I am talking

22:41

I suppose about EQ it's about

22:43

really focusing on creating the space

22:45

so nothing is fighting each other

22:47

you know and I just found

22:49

simply by putting what we call

22:51

a high-pass filter on everything except

22:53

the kick drum and the bass

22:55

drum and the bass guitar suddenly

22:57

there's this space you know and

22:59

things are breathing So it's that

23:02

kind of thing that... No, that's

23:04

cool. It's interesting. I mean, it

23:06

sometimes can make or break a

23:08

record, right? How how clean it

23:10

sounds and how much you have

23:12

of each instrument you can make

23:14

out. And you have a lot

23:16

of people playing, right? So it's

23:18

a lot of people fighting for

23:20

space. Yes, exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So

23:22

it's, yeah, you've got to take

23:24

care with it and think about

23:26

it. But I think it's, you

23:28

know. I mean, I think it's

23:30

the best sounding record we've made.

23:32

Well, it sounds incredible. Yeah, it

23:34

sounds wonderful. Yeah. The irony about

23:36

cleanness, by the way, is, and

23:38

this is something else I did

23:40

get from Steve. Yes, the irony

23:42

of kind of making everything clean

23:44

and digital, virtually every plug-in you

23:46

get now has a distortion thing

23:48

in it. Because what we love

23:50

about those old analog recordings, you

23:52

know, on tape and on record,

23:54

is actually the distortion. It's that

23:56

warmth that comes from it, you

23:58

know, that is psychologically we dig

24:00

that, right? So when you make

24:02

everything really clean, it just feels

24:04

cold. You know it just feels

24:06

cold so he actually recommended this

24:08

particular Plug-in which emulates a cassette

24:11

now. This is hilarious to me

24:13

because when we were you know

24:15

I remember getting cassettes going into

24:17

a studio sounded incredible You know

24:19

and then the engineer would put

24:21

on a cassette you take it

24:23

home. It would just sound shocking

24:25

and it would just sound so

24:27

bad and disappointed But this plug-in

24:29

is emulating that and weirdly it

24:31

will bring out that kind of

24:33

plug-in will bring things out in

24:35

the mix in a really cool

24:37

way you know that it will

24:39

make it and it will introduce

24:41

this warmth so a lot of

24:43

what you're doing is yes getting

24:45

separation and cleanness but also making

24:47

sure that you have warmth in

24:49

there you know which comes essentially

24:51

from distortion from over driving things

24:53

that's why guitars sound great man

24:55

because you're over driving this hot

24:57

valve in an amp, you know,

24:59

and has this beautiful warm tone

25:01

to it. But you're just breaking

25:03

things, really, you know? No, that's

25:05

cool stuff. I used to love

25:07

getting into that kind of stuff,

25:09

but man, the technology of all

25:11

of that has way past my

25:13

brain. I can't even make, can't

25:15

even wrap my head around some

25:17

of the stuff you hear these

25:20

days, you know? Then we're like,

25:22

how is that sounding like that?

25:24

I can't even imagine. It's some

25:26

of the stuff out there is

25:28

crazy. I want to ask you

25:30

about just, well, yeah, wow, we've

25:32

been really talking a little bit

25:34

here. You know, how do you

25:36

look at the scene now, right?

25:38

Because it sort of went through

25:40

a low, sort of late 80s,

25:42

90s, and then now, even now,

25:44

I mean, you have so many

25:46

bands playing progressive rock and doing

25:48

great stuff, and really, we always

25:50

talk, I fight this all the

25:52

time, right? Everybody just says. 70s

25:54

Prague, that's it. Those are, that's

25:56

where it stops and ends and

25:58

certainly... those are classics forever some

26:00

of the best stuff of all

26:02

time but man some of the

26:04

stuff coming out today is really

26:06

darn good and some of my

26:08

favorite albums how do you look

26:10

at it and having been in

26:12

it for some time well I

26:14

mean you know back in the

26:16

day you know you couldn't you

26:18

couldn't admit you like pro rock

26:20

you know what you couldn't even

26:22

admit it's fine it's a lot

26:24

aggressive music now so that's that's

26:26

that's that's different and I mean,

26:28

I work with a lot of

26:31

young people. I've worked with, I've

26:33

ran a rock school for 25

26:35

years, so I'm always kind of,

26:37

you know, engaging with young people.

26:39

And the funny thing is that

26:41

a lot of those young people

26:43

love the music from the 70s.

26:45

But the interesting thing for me

26:47

is that, you know, there's some

26:49

incredible young bands, brilliant young bands

26:51

coming through in what we would

26:53

call a progressive scene. And I

26:55

think mostly their dads are like

26:57

you and me. They heard this

26:59

music from their dad. That's, you

27:01

know, and they were, so here's

27:03

a classic case in point. Do

27:05

you know, exploring Bird's song? Sure,

27:07

yeah, they're great. You know, I

27:09

mean, obviously Lindsay Ward is one

27:11

of the great, you know, young

27:13

singers of our time, you know,

27:15

she's phenomenal. And, you know, she

27:17

grew up listening to her dad

27:19

playing... playing the pro-goat classics and

27:21

loves it, you know. And yeah,

27:23

there was never any issue. I

27:25

don't think there's any issue at

27:27

all with the kids about whether

27:29

it's cool or not, you know,

27:31

it's just a good musical or

27:33

it isn't, you know. And so

27:35

when I hear bands like exploring

27:37

birds, birds song, I think this

27:40

is a really healthy scene, you

27:42

know. really helps us. Yeah, no,

27:44

there's no shortage of music. I

27:46

mean, I could tell you for

27:48

the pro report, we cover so

27:50

many bands. We can't, I feel

27:52

bad a lot of the time

27:54

because you just can't get to

27:56

it all. It's just too many

27:58

bands. so much there and they

28:00

all deserve attention and they all

28:02

are worthy and some more than

28:04

others or popularity wise whatever it

28:06

is but it's tough I'm real

28:08

picky I'm real picky about what

28:10

I like it's not that there's

28:12

there's not many bands I like

28:14

actually you know but odd leaf

28:16

you come across them like a

28:18

new band odd leaf they're from

28:20

France yeah I know them sure

28:22

their last record was was great

28:24

yeah Exactly, you know. So there's

28:26

some great stuff coming through. And

28:28

you know, as you or in

28:30

other bands, you know, they haven't,

28:32

they put out an album last

28:34

year, they're a British band, you

28:36

know, they're just phenomenal, these musicians

28:38

and doing great stuff. So, you

28:40

know. It's a good scene. It's

28:42

a healthy scene. And I think

28:44

it's in a good place as

28:46

it's ever been. And there are

28:48

people like, you know, been around

28:51

for a long time, like us

28:53

and Big Big Trainer, I'm making

28:55

good fresh music, you know, right

28:57

now. So I get it, you

28:59

know, I mean, I love... You

29:01

know I love that those early

29:03

yes albums you know I mean

29:05

they were the first band I

29:07

ever saw I was 14 you

29:09

know I walked into this venue

29:11

it's a friend mine took me

29:13

and this band came on called

29:15

Griffin and I'm like what could

29:17

possibly be any better than this

29:19

you know and then yes came

29:21

on and just blew my mind

29:23

you know changed my life yeah

29:25

so I get it you know

29:27

we love that stuff of course

29:29

but yeah there's there's there's great

29:31

i mean i was completely i'd

29:33

be honest i was completely disconnected

29:35

with the proxy in between well

29:37

really to be honest from when

29:39

we split up in 85 to

29:41

like when i discovered prock magazine

29:43

in 2008 or something you know

29:45

i wasn't following any of that

29:47

stuff yeah that was i mean

29:49

there was no but that was

29:51

a period where it was really

29:53

kind of dipped like that you

29:55

had some bands there was always

29:57

a few bands but i mean

30:00

It was a quiet time. I even

30:02

you even had that was when yes

30:04

and Genesis were putting up you know

30:06

pop records You know that was sort

30:08

of like it was a very different

30:10

different different periods. I was aware of

30:13

that of course Yeah Yeah, no, but

30:15

it's cool man, and it's good that

30:17

you guys are a part of it

30:19

now and and and the record's great

30:21

And it's great to see the band

30:23

getting attention. It's awesome. I love seeing

30:25

that and and you know Couldn't happen

30:27

to a nicer guy So the solstice

30:29

album clan comes out in April 4th

30:31

and uh... please check it out the

30:33

track firefly uh... which one are our

30:35

our program or track of the month

30:37

for february is out now it's fantastic

30:40

single and uh... yeah congrats on all

30:42

the success man i hope uh... hope

30:44

it continues uh... great talking to you

30:46

uh... please give my regards to the

30:48

rest of the band and hopefully we'll

30:50

get to see you guys soon maybe

30:52

on cruise to the edge one day

30:54

or something like that it'll be it'll

30:56

be really cool thanks so much Roy

30:58

Hey, thanks for checking out the podcast.

31:00

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31:07

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31:09

Thanks.