By:
Richard Maw
Following
the recent review of “Infinite
Entanglement” and “Endure and Survive”,
I began thinking that it would be awesome to know a bit more about those albums
and Blaze Bayley's plans for album number three
in the cycle. The only problem... how to do it?! As it turns out, Blaze's management could not have been more accommodating.
An email exchange, a request to interview and then one Friday night I found
myself on Skype talking to Blaze himself! A metal
legend, live and direct in my kitchen, via the medium of modern technology!
What follows is a transcript of the interview, covering everything from
recording to quantum physics. Enjoy
Congratulations on the success of the latest instalment
of your Sci fi trilogy- “Endure and
Survive” That and “Infinite
Entanglement” are absolutely superb (“Endure
and Survive” is my album of the year so far) and I cannot wait for the
third and final part! Can you give us any idea of what is going to be on album
number three and what is going to be in store for us on the next record?
Well
the first one, “Infinite Entanglement”,
was the beginning of a journey of 1000 years and it was the realisation that
you are not in a specially designed
space suit; you are actually a machine! Your consciousness has been downloaded
into a machine body and the very question “are you human?” and to decide “are
you human?” is big. The second album, “Endure
and Survive”, is the end of the journey of 1000 years and the darkness of
that endurance the things that happened to understand that you are just a cog
in a machine, you were never meant to reach that new world. That new planet,
that fresh start was never meant for you. It was an absolute lie and a
seduction.
Part
three has to tie up that story. I can't say too much about it, but what I can
say is that I am in an absolute blind panic! I never expected anyone to like
the second album better than the first one- so that's made it very difficult. I
thought the first one was pretty good; I was only trying to make the second
one, thinking 'If I could just get it the same standard as the first one then I
would be happy....' then people were saying ' Oh, it's much better than part
one!' and I thought 'Oh No!' because now the expectations are so high, not only
from the fans but from me. My idea is
that you have a play list of the three albums and you can listen to the three
albums on one playlist start to finish in one story, just like you've listened
to a really great, long album. That's the idea, so it has to be interesting,
the story has to keep you, has to grip you, and you must be interested in
what's going to happen to these people and what's motivated them.
At
the moment we have, well, I'm looking at my wall and we have five titles that I
am confident will turn into full songs of a good standard, so I am six short of
what I really need. I have more musical ideas; we have bits and pieces we're
working on. I am just waiting for that three in the morning bit of inspiration
that catches you, or that thing that catches me when I am out shopping like
'What's that?! It's mine! I've got an idea and I've got to record it!' so
that's it. I know the story, I know where I am going with the story, but
musically the journey I want to take you on is different. It's a different path
and it will only make sense I think in the context of the three albums. When
you get to album three and you get to the end you will think 'oh well that was
different, but of course it had to be that way and it makes sense.' I am hoping
you will like it. It's a lot of work and it's a lot of nerves. We'll have to
see what happens.
Of course. Thanks for that expansive answer. For what
it's worth I do listen to the two albums back to back on my commute to work.
I'll stick on “Infinite Entanglement” and then “Endure and Survive..”.
That's
a long ride!
I live in Leeds (England) and it's a big city; the bus
can take a long time! Or I listen to one album on the way there and one on the
way back. It's really immersive as a listener to do that. Can you tell us a bit
about the studio you are using for these records and the production?
It
is a studio in Birmingham called Robanna's. It's
completely independent. It is run by Rob, Rob Hoffman, and his sister Anna, I
think. I started doing all my guest vocals there. It's a fully professional
studio, using pro tools which is the only software I like to use. I would never
go back to tape! I hate analogue and all of that. I like digital. In the modern
world of computers and the hard drives that we have and the speed of the processors,
you can actually make music and it sounds good and it can keep up with you-
which it never could in the early days of the eighties and tape. You had to
have so much patience and I just haven't got that! I started doing guest vocals
there; bands and singer songwriters from around the world ask me to do vocals
for them or feature on their album and I thought 'I've worked in a lot of studios, I've spent a lot of time
travelling, this is (without traffic) twenty minutes from my house- I'm gonna
record there!' And it makes so much sense: you get up, you go to work and at
the end of the day, you come back home.
It
just makes sense. When you spend perhaps six to nine months of the year away
from home, to be able to get up, go to work and come back home after work makes
sense. To meet a deadline, I'm not one of these arty farty types who say 'well
it will be finished when I feel it's right...' No! It'll be finished on time
because it will be right: because I call myself a singer, a songwriter a
producer and after thirty years if I can't meet a deadline which I set myself?
I shouldn't be doing it! So that's it. I
own the record company I am actually the only artist on the record company so I
am the boss telling myself what to do. If I can't meet it, I should be ashamed.
I'm a working class man, I come from a working class family. That's it for me:
the inspiration is important, the passion of the music is important.
The
real place that music is formed is in the rehearsal room with the band full
blast. We put these ideas together at home and then we take it into the
rehearsal room and we start feeling those rhythms, those runs on the bass, the
shapes of the chords and the rhythms in the riffs and that is when you know if
it is gonna live or if it is going to be cast aside, or if it is going to need
major surgery as it doesn't have a heart and you've got to give it one! That's what happens and that is how those
first two albums. “Infinite Entanglement”;
we had a lot more rehearsal time and a
lot more distance from the recording and “Endure
and Survive” was a lot more urgent but we had all the time that we needed
and we beat the deadline by two days! The next one? I just don't know. I'm very
nervous about it, but it's a studio that I like to go to because I know everybody
there. I've known everybody there for a long time. You walk in and you feel at
home.
Fantastic. Thank you very much. If we can keep with the
same records, they are very immersive in terms of the story and themes kind of
pull you in. What is it that makes physics and science fiction so appealing to
you as a songwriter
Well,
a lot of people have asked me this over the last few months...
Apologies!
I've
had a think about it and it goes back to... as a boy I watched science fiction
with my mother; Space 1999, Dr Who, Blake's Seven, Star Trek Original Series.
We watched them together. I also had an interest in how things worked. Any toy
that I had which had a battery or an electric motor, I used to take it to
pieces to try to learn how it worked. I liked to learn how to fix my bicycle
myself. My mother could take the gear box out of a transit van and fit it back
on! I had this kind of background.
Quantum
Physics, in the end, is how things work. When you look inside the engine of
your car, the spark, the small tiny spark is what keeps everything going. This
little explosion ignites the petrol. It goes down to something so small: how
does it all work?! That's the interest I have: how does it work? Why are we
even on this planet? How are we going through space so fast around this giant
ball of fire?! An invisible force
controls us- you can measure it but you can't see it, you can't touch it. You
are a part of it. It acts upon you. You don't act upon it. It is an invisible
force and it is the most amazing thing to have this thought in my mind.
That
leads me on to my belief in telepathy. Years ago in the eighties, in the
scientific community, if you said you were investigating and interested in the
merits of telepathy, you would be ostracised, man, you would never get a job.
Now, it's becoming almost a legitimate area for research as technology can get
rid of all the fake results, all the dummy results. In my story, “Infinite Entanglement”, telepathy plays a big part in that story
and it's coming down to this: if two electrons are paired, they always know-
instantaneously- what the other one is doing, where it is and how it is. If two
electrons can do that- and that is proved scientifically beyond doubt- then, if
we're made of electrons, why wouldn't you, telepathically, be connected to the
love of your life? Why wouldn''t you feel what that person you love intensely,
why wouldn't you know what they are doing. That is the entanglement of two
people far across the universe still being connected, entangled and the seeming
infinity that there will never be a way for those two people to be physically
close.
Fantastic and interesting stuff! A real quick question
for you now: will there be a vinyl release of Endure and Survive. If so, when?
Yes!
The test pressings have come back and they are all great. The mastering has
been done by Ade who did the Maiden remasters. He
has his own quirky way of doing things and he basically rebuilds the records
for mastering. He did this amazing job where he did this special master for the
vinyl. It's just awesome. Our first vinyl for “Infinite Entanglement”, there was a problem with the mastering so
by the time we had sorted it, they had so much work on- because vinyl is now
becoming more popular- we had missed
that Christmas thing, but this one, you
will be able to pre-order the “Endure and
Survive” Vinyl. It will be just the same as the “Infinite Entanglement” vinyl with two discs, all the art work, big
and beautiful! It's coming out very very soon. There will be an announcement by
or before October and everybody will, if they want it, will be able to get it
before Christmas. It'll be on my web shop.
Brilliant. I'm looking forward to it myself. I've got “Infinite Entanglement” on vinyl and I
want to complete the set.
On a more personal note this time: I think it is
fantastic that you play in places that are maybe more out of the ordinary for
touring bands. Specifically, I want to mention Grimsby. It's my home town and I
lived there until, well, I was old enough to move out! I ended up in Leeds, but
I have lived down South as well. When I was growing up in Grimsby, Humberside,
me and my friends that were into metal there would have found it absolutely
unbelievable that any metal band would play there at all. There were no gigs. I
know that now Grimsby has this venue, Yardbirds, can you tell me a bit about
what it is like to play at Yardbirds and similar venues and what your love for
it is?
Well,
this is the story of being independent really. Blaze Bayley Recordings
is independent. All the licences I did years ago have all come back to me. All
my CDs, everything I have done since Iron Maiden- apart from
one live album- I own. It's all on my web shop. My fans buy from me directly
and support me. Even though I am the record company, I'm tiny.
It's
the same with venues. Yardbirds is a completely independent venue run by
enthusiasts and they really don't care who you are: if they like you and you do
well, if you play well; they will have you back. That's the same story as all the independent
venues throughout the UK, the rest of Europe and the USA. Maybe 90% of the
places I play are independent. You will
almost never see Blaze Bayley at an O2 or somewhere
like that. I always go to independent places. We work in a kind of partnership;
we do our best. For me, there is absolutely no prestige attached to a
particular city or venue. For me all the prestige is attached to the fan who
bought the album and bought the ticket. Where are they? That's where I want to
go! I don't want to go to London and everyone has to travel to see me, I want
to go to where my fans are. Sometimes I go to London and play to my fans who
are from London, but that's it. It's not just about the capital cities and all
of that. I go to towns and if it's an independent venue run by independent
people then I try to support them as much as they support me by having me at
their venue.
Yardbirds
is one of the best venues in the UK, from an independent point of view. You
always get the most fantastic sound, great PA, great equipment and you are
always treated very, very well. They can really show one or two venues around
how it's done! We're always treated very well and I have been going there for
years. It's fantastic and I always look forward to going there, no matter what
day of the week it is. It will always be on my tour schedule; it's a phone call
' Can we come back?' 'Yep, OK what day do you want?' 'We're doing a tour...'
Bang, it's done! It might already even be booked for next year! It's the independent
venue for me; I really don't care about playing the Albert Hall. My goal- my
dream- is to sell out Yardbirds and be able to play two nights there. To me,
that is a huge success.
It is genuinely heart-warming to hear that, because not
too many people say they are looking forward to going to Grimsby! Next time you
play I will try to drive across and see you play there. I wanted to come in
March, but we have a daughter who was only three months old at the time (she is
six months now) and I couldn't get the time, the evening, to go. Next time I
will try to drive across and show a little home town pride!
Blaze we are actually past the twenty minute mark now,
have you got time for one more? (*Blaze's management allotted me twenty minutes
for the interview)
Yeah.
Yeah, you can have another couple!
In that case, I will cut to the chase: you are
headlining the tenth anniversary of the SOS Festival in Manchester on Saturday
15th July. I'm going, I'm very much looking forward to it. Can you
give us a glimmer of what to expect in the set list?
We're
going to have a lot of “Endure and
Survive” in the set list, a couple of Maiden ones and a Wolfsbane one as well. I'm really looking forward to the
gig. It's the second time they have had the festival in the new venue but it is
the first time I've been there. The acoustics and everything are loads better.
All the facilities, so they tell me- they just might be trying to get me
there!- but they tell me: the venue itself, the facilities, the acoustics are miles
ahead of the old venue. I am very
excited about it. It is gonna be one of the last UK gigs (this year). It's a
big day for me and we have been all around Europe. It's going to be a kind of
homecoming. We hope we play well and don't make too many mistakes.
There
is going to be a free meet and greet afterwards and we hope to be meeting
people and signing things. There has been the reissues of “The X Factor” and “Virtual XI”
on vinyl and I have been signing those. People say: “Are you OK signing it?”
Well, why not?! I sang on it and it's my songs which I sang on are on there and
both albums sold over a million copies! Why wouldn't I be proud as anything to
sign an album that I am on, that I wrote songs on and that has sold over a
million copies? So if you have bought those albums or bought that vinyl, bring
it and I'll sign it for you!
That's brilliant- no charging for meet and greets.
That's nice.
The
meet and greet is free. People have done enough. People have bought the ticket
and got away from the telly! I don't think you can ask any more. In this world,
I’m a tiny underground cult artist! In
the music business I don't sell thousands and thousands or millions of records.
I'm doing my own thing, I'm independent and I am very happy doing it! Why would
I need or want to say to somebody that you can meet me but it'll cost you £35.
It's not part of it for me, it's not me. It's not why I do it. For me, one of the reasons I am not part of
that big machine is because when I was in Wolfsbane and even sometimes
in Iron Maiden, I saw such a lack of respect
for the fans that supported the band and some of the things that they were
asked to buy as fans... their loyalty was put to the test again and again and
never rewarded. I thought 'if I ever get my own thing together, that's it: the
fan is number one.' That is what we try and do.
With
everything we do, we try to do the best quality that we possibly can. We try to
make our albums and our artwork just as good everybody else; as Disturbed, Iron Maiden, Sabaton... We do the best that we possibly can and give the
best value that we possibly can. We feel that if a fan has bought the album,
bought a ticket and come to the gig then you should be saying thank you and you
should be grateful that someone who had a choice about what music they listen
to has decided that your music is actually worthy of their support and that's
how I feel about my fans. I am lucky to have any support at all. People who
charge for their meet and greets- some give great value and you get a lot of
stuff and a proper photo and its right for them. For me, it's not.
It's a nice ethos and a nice way of going about things.
It's a great way of doing things and a great way to say thanks and for the fans
to get something signed. We have now gone to nearly half an hour so I won't
take up any more of your time! I really appreciate you doing the interview.
OK
mate, I hope to see you at SOS and all the best to your little daughter.
I can't wait- one week to go! Thanks for that Blaze. I
really appreciate it. All the best for
your next record. You are a gent.
BB:
Thanks for that Richard- good bye.
Band info: facebook
