| Interview exclusive 2007 |
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| Vendredi, 23 Avril 2010 08:06 |
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En septembre dernier 2007, un jeu concours organisé sur LiSting vous proposait de gagner Voici (en anglais) la transcription de cet entretien :
INTERVIEW DE SETON DAUNT
01/10/2007 Introduce yourself : My name’s Seton DAUNT, I play the guitar in a band called Fiction Plane. I was born in Hastings and I’ve been living in London since 15 years. What did you study at school ? I’ve been a student in Art for 10 years, But I did not like it. Why ? Because it’s been said I was made for this, that this was the best thing I could do. I was quite good at painting, but I did not like it anyway, it was boring. But your parents and school say it’s your way, you now... Do you still play football? No, no, I just wanted to play football to be normal, like the other kids. Now, I like surfing and skiing... Who’s Halima ? She’s my wife. Do you have projects together ? Yeah. With my brother, her and some friends it’s called the Daunting. It’s like desert folk music. Yeah, it’s just a nice thing to do ‘cause I listened to and I grew up with a lot of folk music. My father, my uncle played folk music. But in this band we play mostly rock music. I really like rock music. But sometimes when I’m at home I play a lot of acoustic guitar. So it’s a nice outlet. It’s good for everyone to do as much music as possible. Do you sing ? Yes a bit. Let’s talk about the Left Side of the Brain album, you became a threesome band. There’s more space to the guitar now… Definatelly, yeah, there’s more space and it’s more fun. It’s more a challenge as well because when Joe would play guitar and we would play together, it is easier to be a bit lazy…for both of us. Because you think I play this and you play that together, Whatever I play has to service the song in the right way. But you can’t just play boringly, it has to be interesting cause it’s the only guitar. But at the same time, it needs to be for the song, not for me. I think all of us play for the song not for the ego. There are moments when you know, they like Seton playing guitar solo or Pete playing drum solo but in some ways it’s like the band saying (??) to each other for this moment “shine”. This a good moment. It’s always been not egoistical. We try to.. you know …the song is the most important thing… So the star is the song itself ?? For example, the song ”Drink”, we played this song in many different ways, like electric, big drums, low instruments, the best way for the song is Joe with an acoustic guitar.as the main thing..so it is for the vocal, the lyric, the most important thing. I have no problem not playing very much. As Pete doesn’t play a whole song but that’s not a problem…We are happy because the song sounds good. I think. I played with other musicians before and when they don’t play, they’re like “I’m bored. I wanna play” you know ..and it’s different. The star is the song… The song is important.
We found out that in the “Left side of the brain album” there was a huge part to your guitar. This is better and it rocks quite well ! Thank you. I’m really glad you like it..
This album is very different from the “Everything will never be ok” one. It was more reserved. This 2nd album is more mature, more creative… Well, you know, also, we’ve been trying to make a record for 3 years. We were bored. Bored with politics of record companies, the industry of business. We wanted to make music so when we made this record, we didn’t know whether we’ve ever made a record again ! We don’t know, I don’t know what’s going to happen ?? What the Police tour is going to be like ???We don’t know whether we would be successful or not…who knows ?? (I certainly), when I made the record, I thought : this is the last record I make, I wanna play, I wanna play…I think Joe did the same and Pete did the same, I think we all thought we gonna do it the way WE want it to. Well before it’s more like, you have a record company saying : this song should be more like blah, blah, blah and the producer is saying this. With this one we were completely free. I love the producer Paul Corkett, he’s good friend of mine. He’s a brilliant producer. The record company had not interfered. The manager did not interfere. Even Paul, he’s just helpful, he would help us. He said : “make the record you really like”! We really love this album…It’s incredible how successful it becomes without any promotion ? I’m glad some people like it. We realized that even people who did not know you found out that your music was great in the Stade the France !! It’s fun, this is very special . It’s the best stadium audience by far..
Really ?? France is the best.
Are they so much differences between the audiences ? Big, big differences. What is the worst ? Los Angeles. Awful It’s the worst crowd in the world.…Because they’ve seen everything. They’re very arrogant in terms of they show up late they’re not really interested, they phone etc…… they have so many bands come to LA, everybody plays in L.A…So there’s nothing special. You know, we played in ARRHUS Denmark : Incredible ! 40 thousand people, they don’t get as many shows as London or Los Angeles do, so when you have a big show comes through, people become crazy… Paris was incredible. The big difference is that in Europe, there’s no seats in front of the stage. People stand ..so much better. In America & in England there are seats, it’s really boring ! It means that there’s no interaction between people, it’s like they’re physically closed. Because you have your space and your seat, everyone’s like very polite and reserved… When people stand, they spill beer, they laugh to each other, they meet each other… say hello, how long have you liked the Police ? What’s your favourite Police song ? Have you ever heard of Fiction Plane ? Where are you from ? They talk to each other…And they get excited about seeing the show.…. As last night there was an atmosphere like the football was about to start…there was an amazing atmosphere. And it is not definitely like that in some places ! So Paris was very good…very very good. What about the show of tonight ? We don’t know if anyone’s coming !! Really ?? I have no idea. If it’s full I’d be very happy. It might be. But we don’t know !
We found out that yesterday, before the 2nd Police show, you felt more comfortable than for the 1st one ?? The whole band…May be….I don’t know. I enjoyed both. We particularly liked the new song called “Sadr city blues ”..great song really… Glad you like it. Many people in the audience like it. It’s becoming a good song. We wrote it on this tour. Joe wrote the verse, the music and the vocal, just before we started recording Left side of the brain. And I wrote chorus with them. And then, Pete started playing right stuff. The middle section happened in America on the 1st part of the tour. And we started playing it. It’s kind of evolved. I think it is still involving a little bit. How do you create songs generally speaking ? They all change…As you know Joe writes all the lyrics...There are 3 songs on this album done with Dan (Brown) : ‘Presuppose’. It’s a lie ? It’s a lie, was very different. It had no chorus. Joe, Pete and me, we wrote it in Los Angeles just before Christmas (2006). We were playing the song and then the all chorus happened. The songs evolved in different ways : “2 sisters” & “Death machine”, Joe was by himself just over Christmas. The way of writing changes everytime. Joe wrote all the chords and merely the lyrics. The part he plays from bass in the middle section that was just that. And then you know we wrote the other parts, the guitar lines and stuff…it’s funny what happens somehow when Joe writes the songs and what we get put through when Fiction Plane felt it. We add different parts or change beats or whatever. “Anyone” was written altogether on the 1st day we’ve recorded “Left side of the Brain.” In the studio, we just started playing and it just sort of happened in one hour. There are so many different ways the songs process happens.
Does Joe need a peculiar state of mind for writing songs ? I think to write lyrics it had to be alone. Sure. He just does his own way. Which instrument does he use ? Most of the time acoustic guitar. In your songs don’t you think about adding some new instruments ? No not now because when we lost Dan...I don’t think it needs it. We mean in the future…..? It’s important 1st of all to play the songs live. And if there’s a song in the future & I decide it to play another instrument instead of guitar …then sure but if it means that we have to have someone else play the instrument for live probably not…3 piece we enjoyed the most ! it’s much better than being a 4 piece ! Why ? There’s much more freedom. You’re much more musically free. We thought it was the contrary ? When you have a 4 piece, you have 3 instruments which have cords. So when we improvised together it’s more difficult. Because one person has to leave the way. And then the other 2 people have to play with that person. When there’s only 2 instruments like for me and Joe, we bap to each other, I play that he follows, he plays that I follow ..we exchange, it’s much easier to have a musical conversation. ‘Cause it’s less people. Imagine, if you’re talking to the 3 of us, it’s easier to have a conversation than with 4 people. Let’s talk about the Police : were you surprised about the Police to reunite ?? Very surprised. I never thought it would happen. You know … the thing Sting said :” I would be mad, clinically insane if it ever happens”.. I was kind of used to it. I saw you last year in Carcassonne on stage, it was marvellous. We had fun. I was happy … I’m happy about the Police coming back together. We too... I bet ! Were you surprised too to do the 1st part of the Police tour ?? Yeah, I was very surprised to be offered. We were very lucky ‘cause Sting has been very supportive with our band. And you know very encouraging. When we listened to the beginning of “2 sisters”, (We like it very much) we thought it was very much like “the bed’s too big without you” Police song. It goes down and up… And what about “Presuppose”, you have U2 influences in it ?? Sorry I’m confused….What was the Q° ?? “2 sisters” sounds like “the bed’s too big without you” Police song. It was going Up not down… No I don’t agree...because “Bed’s too big” goes down in notes. Didididididi (Seton chante la mélodie). So it goes up, down, up. So you’re the professional ! I am ! “2 sisters” sounds like “2 sisters” down, up down… How did you decide to become a musician ? I was very lucky. I went to a school and there was 3 or 4 kids who played guitar. I was pretty shy at school. Not very sociable. And.. Who wasn’t ?? I remember I was thinking about..one was very confident at school..There was a kid who was knid a star be cause he played the guitar and I asked him to show me how to play some of guitar. And he showed me. Without telling anyone, I practiced, I practiced…I went home about months later and there was an old guitar that someone left at my mother’s house. And I started playing and my mother said “Oh my God, where did you learn to play the guitar ??” And that Christmas she gave me my 1st guitar. I was very lucky..so I practiced, practiced, practiced… Where did you meet Joe and Dan ? I met Dan 1st. I met Dan through a friend of his in University. We were 18 and I met Dan, I was looking for a band and Dan was looking for a band I mean Dan was starting a band and ….. Was it an ad ?? No only word of mouth...I was with Dan and …So all those bands rejoined together How long do you know Joe and Dan ? Thirteen years. And Pete five years. So you are good friends… We’re very good friends…we’re lucky, it’s really nice ! What are you going to plan in the future ? I read that you are going to make an LP about this tour… I think there is a lot of touring left for this album. , I mean we’ve got still next year you know I think our tour’s still going next year.. there’s Australia and Japan… South America with the Police ? No, we’re not doing South America. We’re going to do North America again by ourselves. We’ll do it when they’ll go to South America…I think we gonna tour a lot more and then see what happens…you know there’s …I think they want us to make another record but at the moment we only have one song for the new album : “Sadr’ city blues”… Oh yeah ! That’s the only song. I mean there’s lots of songs but I think it’s the only one that is really….That song is gonna be on the album What about the songs you have created between the albums ? I personally have let it go....I really want people to hear the songs. By then, I don’t know. It’s just how it is. I don’t like holding on to songs Sometimes you want to, and sometimes it’s ok but I think it’s better to just keep and try them. Olivier Garnier, their French manager arrives and tells us that we have to stop the interview …But we won’t let Seton go away without signing our tickets and telling that we will be at the Nouveau Casino to hear Fiction Plane play live !
INTERVIEW DE PETE WILHOIT
01/10/2007 Je m’appelle Pete Wilhoit. Je suis….
So you speak French too !!! I’d love to learn more and ..The more we come back and the more we learn...so that’s good So you have to practice I should try to practice. Any languages is.. I last learnt when I was in Amsterdam, the Deutch, it’s good.. I lived in Holland when I was 3 for 6 months, I have images in my head. How do you feel about the way the tour is now….. It’s been really good. It’s a very exciting tour to be on. There’s a lot of energy and excitement around every show even though the longer it goes the less mystery there is from our perspective, we know what is gonna happen, the stage is the same every night, the drums are the same every night ; but shows like Stade de France are amazing because a lot of the stadiums are so big there’s not an intimacy there. And you know, feel the energy back from the crowd. But in the Stade de France, there was so much energy...even before we go on stage. So it was great, it was quite a pleasant surprise. Both nights were the best stadium shows we’ve ever had by far, close second was Holland. We had the sensation that on the second show in the Stade de France, you had more confidence.. Did you feel that ? It’s very tough for me to know what is being portrayed from each audience member cause I think we hide things well too...like when something’s going really bad, you might not know it.. sometimes when something’s going really good…you might not know it. I think both shows, we had a lot of fun. (Cause any time you get...) For us, anytime as an opening band, you can get a crowd to get into you, even for brief moment, it’s quite special. Cause you know you’re the one more band with the supporting act and people are really there to see The Police understandingly and we have to steal them just for a moment to kind of take them away just for a little bit and it’s a great feeling. We were really excited for both shows.. What do you do before entering the stage ? Right before we play ?? Yes..to be cooler.. It depends Do you do something special ? Sport…do you lock all the doors…or Ah ah…it varies from gig to gig...The one I try to do is warm up. As a drummer it is very physical, it could be very hard on your tendons and your muscles. So depending on the temperature outside. I really have to warm up. Like yesterday it was not cold but not necessarily warm so about 45 mns of warm up. And you know, we’ve done that so many times that you don’t really focus on it until we’re behind the stage and when you think about what you’re about to do. You know, it’s all very positive ‘cause we’d done it so many times, so we’re prepared. So it’s exciting, you get energized and we give ourselves a big hug and say let’s go play and then you work out and then the crowd keeps cheering at the reunion….you’re performing at that point.. These first pre-shows rituals are .. sometimes I’d be eating, sometimes playing videogames, sudoku or talking to my wife on the internet…different stuffs…it varies. So this life is not easy for the family life …How do you deal with that ?? It’s not. I have a lovely wife. We’ve been together for 15 years, married for 6.. almost 6 in 2 weeks. It’s tricky. You really have to go extra-mile, going home when you can get home…When we have time together we really have to make the most of it. You know this is a special tour and it’s one you just couldn’t pass of ..and my wife knows this is what I do. We’re both away from each other as little as we can be but we just have to make the best of it. What did you do before Fiction Plane ? I was in a band for 11 years called “The Cutters”. And before that...What kind of studies did you do ?? I’ve always done music and lots of sports. I swam when I was younger, I played soccer, baseball, basketball, I little picked up football, tennis all sorts of things. We can see that ! Obviously.. And when I was 8 years old I also played drums with a friend, he played piano and I played drums, I played piano and he played drums and we sort of writing around songs…And then we played at school when it was raining, everyone would come inside in the band room where we played the songs. And then, they sort of singing, knowing our songs and I think it was the 1st time I was really like “whaouh, it’s fine to perform” and the reaction I get is really energizing, so that was how I really want to be a musician , so ever since then, really music is a big part in my life. And then I studied music in university. I learned a lot about music probably too much at times !! But it’s been music really. What are your hobbies ? I like to play cards, poker, I love watching movies, any kind of movie, I love a good comedy, I like science fiction too, I love all the “Star Wars”. I love going on vacation, funny as it seems, this is really what a holiday ..this seems like a vacation but in a way it is but my sense of vacation is like very family orientated. Going home to see my parents, my sister, my wife…It is necessary. Vital ? So that’s what I like to do. You were talking about “Fiction” what about the name Fiction Plane ? Originally it was a song. It was spelt differently : “Plain”. As in like a place, but in English language it can also mean “Boring” that’s why the band changed it into “Plane”. Which sounded more interesting. I did not choose the name for I wasn’t in the band, I joined the band after they chose the name. That’s what it means, a fictitious place where you can create what you want. I was born and raised in Indiana which is.. Hoosier state ?? Yeah, that’s very good.. I know ‘cause I love John Mellencamp I took lessons from his drummer Kenny Aronoff . Really ? Whaouh… He lives in Bloomington, Indiana where I am from... Kenny is really one of the reasons why I’m in the band. Kenny gives Shawn Pelton (ndlr : he is his friend and former teacher) who was also my teacher. Sean called me and said they are auditioning drummer for this band. So I listened to and loved the music. Drove 13 hours to NYC & went to rehearsal studio and played with the band. Really ? I wouldn’t have thought about that..I love Mellencamp for his rock’n’roll, you know, I like this guy… He seems to be an honest man. Just like your band… Yeah. Let’s talk about the song “Hate” : you’re probably the wrong man to talk about it but.. I did not help write it. I just played it a million times. My interpretation of the song from an outside standpoint it’s not for us to take the relay as the lyrics are a little odd ??? but for us it’s more of an ideology that hate something…When I listen to song, it seems like it could be a jab as for certain people it could be about the media, like everybody finds a way to hate somebody so their job is more interesting when you write something down…. when you got a war you have to decide you hate the other persons in order to kill them. Honestly, Joe would be a better guy to ask !! Let’s talk about the “throwing of your sticks”.. Well definitely in stadiums you have a lot more space. You can throw it higher and higher. It’s never something I’ve made a point of practice, It’s just sometimes I feel like doing it. At giant place to do, it’s just fun sometimes. It’s about 50% of the time I catch it. I saw videos where you missed it. Oh yeah. Totally ! So I caught them last night. I saw you were smiling… Yeahhhh. What do you think of the three-piece band ? It was a question mark for brief second. Because back again it has always been traditionally a four-piece. Do you agree with Seton that it’s better to be 3 than 4 ? I think so, in every sense of the word, it’s better. I played in jazz trios and it’s amazing how much more space you have as a trio. You can communicate like we are now a lot easier with 2 other people than 3..There’s more space for the actual voices to be heard. This is one mess instrument but a tunnel, plateform in music, so when Seton plays something you can easily hear, when Joe plays something is a lower registrated, when I play something you can hear it. It opened up the band and I think there is more tendancy for us to play more groove and rock type stuff. Do you think that the band will improve in another music register ? Are you going to another… Plane or something ? Yeah, another Fiction Plane ! I’m just kidding !!! No I mean in something totally different ? Yeah. I think so. But not totally different but the band has improved. I think it has improved by being a 3 piece. We realized it. The “left side of the brain” album is really different from the “everything will never be ok” one. Especially Seton’s guitar part ! It’s crazy.. It steps forward. It’s a bigger sound even though it’s a small round. Did you change your way of playing drums too ? I think it’s more a chance to say something. I guess as a drummer, it’s just more space like you know points when we’re doing very improvised thing. We have a common goal at the end but how we get there it’s different every night ! That’s great, that’s like a really pure form of playing that I really like. It’s gonna be different every night, how we get there, we’re not sure, could be great or could fall on its face. But when it’s great, it seems like it’s better than just playing things over and over. I like the 3 piece. So you agree ? “J’ai agree”.. Je suis d’accord. French is quite difficult, you know. Very.
So let’s talk about Drum solos : what do you think about it ? It’s kind of a fine thing that just started recently. I mean when I was … as a jazz drummer, I do quite a bit. The jazz language enables the drums to communicating in that fashion. With every instrument in fact Yeah exactly. Through Rock it’s rare that it makes sense to have a drum solo. So it was actually just in Boston we played, we did it and we were gonna do an ‘Encore’, we had a lot of time left .. so Joe liked us to do the drum solo. And I was like : alright I guess I’ll do a drum solo...and actually it worked very well ‘cause it gave way to another song and it was fun for everybody it was in the moment I think… and I think that’s slowly, truly becoming like something we do in our club shows. Like may be we’ll do it tonight, may be we won’t, it depends on how it goes…Sometimes it’s great and sometimes it falls on its face kind of like all improvised things. We’ll see. It’s something I enjoy sometimes and sometimes not. Let’s talk about Stewart Copeland and the fact that you are touring together ! It’s funny you deal with drums your whole life when you get with another drummer like that. Sometimes it’s the last thing you talk about. It’s like we both experienced the physics of kicking the drums but as a career with experience different things, like he has a whole life of experiences that he’s experienced I could never experience. Cool to have that in common and talk about it. But it’s nice to hear the stories that go with those experiences just from him. And that’s always interesting you know just to hear all these things that gone through. I remember the funny time when this happened or that happened. That’s great to hear I mean that stuff’s inspiring. You know, some day I … Did you try to play together ? That’ll be fun. But it’s kind of physically hard on this tour because everything’s so mapped out, the stage, his drums are behind underneath, mine on the raiser, when mine get moves, his come up and mine come out. So actually get us together on the same stage playing is kind of difficult. But it could be done. It could be done. It could be crazy… It’ll be fun...It’ll be great. I’d love having 2 drums at facing each other and playing with another drummer. Yeah, that’s a good idea ! I used to do that in school and when I used to teach other kids. It’s easier to learn if you can see me doing it and then to try it immediately. Maybe that’ll happened, I’ll suggest it. Let’s keep fingers crossed ! I think I’ll have to go now…Thanx.
THE END INTERVIEW DE SETON DAUNT
01/10/2007
Introduce yourself : My name’s Seton DAUNT, I play the guitar in a band called Fiction Plane. I was born in Hastings and I’ve been living in London since 15 years.
What did you study at school ? I’ve been a student in Art for 10 years, But I did not like it.
Why ? Because it’s been said I was made for this, that this was the best thing I could do. I was quite good at painting, but I did not like it anyway, it was boring. But your parents and school say it’s your way, you now...
Do you still play football? No, no, I just wanted to play football to be normal, like the other kids. Now, I like surfing and skiing...
Who’s Halima ? She’s my wife.
Do you have projects together ? Yeah. With my brother, her and some friends it’s called the Daunting. It’s like desert folk music. Yeah, it’s just a nice thing to do ‘cause I listened to and I grew up with a lot of folk music. My father, my uncle played folk music. But in this band we play mostly rock music. I really like rock music. But sometimes when I’m at home I play a lot of acoustic guitar. So it’s a nice outlet. It’s good for everyone to do as much music as possible.
Do you sing ? Yes a bit.
Let’s talk about the Left Side of the Brain album, you became a threesome band. There’s more space to the guitar now… Definatelly, yeah, there’s more space and it’s more fun. It’s more a challenge as well because when Joe would play guitar and we would play together, it is easier to be a bit lazy…for both of us. Because you think I play this and you play that together, Whatever I play has to service the song in the right way. But you can’t just play boringly, it has to be interesting cause it’s the only guitar. But at the same time, it needs to be for the song, not for me. I think all of us play for the song not for the ego. There are moments when you know, they like Seton playing guitar solo or Pete playing drum solo but in some ways it’s like the band saying (??) to each other for this moment “shine”. This a good moment. It’s always been not egoistical. We try to.. you know …the song is the most important thing…
So the star is the song itself ?? For example, the song ”Drink”, we played this song in many different ways, like electric, big drums, low instruments, the best way for the song is Joe with an acoustic guitar.as the main thing..so it is for the vocal, the lyric, the most important thing. I have no problem not playing very much. As Pete doesn’t play a whole song but that’s not a problem…We are happy because the song sounds good. I think. I played with other musicians before and when they don’t play, they’re like “I’m bored. I wanna play” you know ..and it’s different. The star is the song… The song is important.
We found out that in the “Left side of the brain album” there was a huge part to your guitar. This is better and it rocks quite well ! Thank you. I’m really glad you like it..
This album is very different from the “Everything will never be ok” one. It was more reserved. This 2nd album is more mature, more creative… Well, you know, also, we’ve been trying to make a record for 3 years. We were bored. Bored with politics of record companies, the industry of business. We wanted to make music so when we made this record, we didn’t know whether we’ve ever made a record again ! We don’t know, I don’t know what’s going to happen ?? What the Police tour is going to be like ???We don’t know whether we would be successful or not…who knows ?? (I certainly), when I made the record, I thought : this is the last record I make, I wanna play, I wanna play…I think Joe did the same and Pete did the same, I think we all thought we gonna do it the way WE want it to. Well before it’s more like, you have a record company saying : this song should be more like blah, blah, blah and the producer is saying this. With this one we were completely free. I love the producer Paul Corkett, he’s good friend of mine. He’s a brilliant producer. The record company had not interfered. The manager did not interfere. Even Paul, he’s just helpful, he would help us. He said : “make the record you really like”!
We really love this album…It’s incredible how successful it becomes without any promotion ? I’m glad some people like it.
We realized that even people who did not know you found out that your music was great in the Stade the France !! It’s fun, this is very special . It’s the best stadium audience by far..
Really ?? France is the best.
Are they so much differences between the audiences ? Big, big differences.
What is the worst ? Los Angeles. Awful It’s the worst crowd in the world.…Because they’ve seen everything. They’re very arrogant in terms of they show up late they’re not really interested, they phone etc…… they have so many bands come to LA, everybody plays in L.A…So there’s nothing special. You know, we played in ARRHUS Denmark : Incredible ! 40 thousand people, they don’t get as many shows as London or Los Angeles do, so when you have a big show comes through, people become crazy… Paris was incredible. The big difference is that in Europe, there’s no seats in front of the stage. People stand ..so much better. In America & in England there are seats, it’s really boring ! It means that there’s no interaction between people, it’s like they’re physically closed. Because you have your space and your seat, everyone’s like very polite and reserved… When people stand, they spill beer, they laugh to each other, they meet each other… say hello, how long have you liked the Police ? What’s your favourite Police song ? Have you ever heard of Fiction Plane ? Where are you from ? They talk to each other…And they get excited about seeing the show.…. As last night there was an atmosphere like the football was about to start…there was an amazing atmosphere. And it is not definitely like that in some places ! So Paris was very good…very very good.
What about the show of tonight ? We don’t know if anyone’s coming !!
Really ?? I have no idea. If it’s full I’d be very happy. It might be. But we don’t know !
We found out that yesterday, before the 2nd Police show, you felt more comfortable than for the 1st one ??
The whole band…May be….I don’t know. I enjoyed both.
We particularly liked the new song called “Sadr city blues ”..great song really… Glad you like it.
Many people in the audience like it. It’s becoming a good song. We wrote it on this tour. Joe wrote the verse, the music and the vocal, just before we started recording Left side of the brain. And I wrote chorus with them. And then, Pete started playing right stuff. The middle section happened in America on the 1st part of the tour. And we started playing it. It’s kind of evolved. I think it is still involving a little bit.
How do you create songs generally speaking ? They all change…As you know Joe writes all the lyrics...There are 3 songs on this album done with Dan (Brown) : ‘Presuppose’. It’s a lie ? It’s a lie, was very different. It had no chorus. Joe, Pete and me, we wrote it in Los Angeles just before Christmas (2006). We were playing the song and then the all chorus happened. The songs evolved in different ways : “2 sisters” & “Death machine”, Joe was by himself just over Christmas. The way of writing changes everytime. Joe wrote all the chords and merely the lyrics. The part he plays from bass in the middle section that was just that. And then you know we wrote the other parts, the guitar lines and stuff…it’s funny what happens somehow when Joe writes the songs and what we get put through when Fiction Plane felt it. We add different parts or change beats or whatever. “Anyone” was written altogether on the 1st day we’ve recorded “Left side of the Brain.” In the studio, we just started playing and it just sort of happened in one hour. There are so many different ways the songs process happens.
Does Joe need a peculiar state of mind for writing songs ? I think to write lyrics it had to be alone. Sure. He just does his own way.
Which instrument does he use ? Most of the time acoustic guitar.
In your songs don’t you think about adding some new instruments ? No not now because when we lost Dan...I don’t think it needs it.
We mean in the future…..? It’s important 1st of all to play the songs live. And if there’s a song in the future & I decide it to play another instrument instead of guitar …then sure but if it means that we have to have someone else play the instrument for live probably not…3 piece we enjoyed the most ! it’s much better than being a 4 piece !
Why ? There’s much more freedom. You’re much more musically free.
We thought it was the contrary ? When you have a 4 piece, you have 3 instruments which have cords. So when we improvised together it’s more difficult. Because one person has to leave the way. And then the other 2 people have to play with that person. When there’s only 2 instruments like for me and Joe, we bap to each other, I play that he follows, he plays that I follow ..we exchange, it’s much easier to have a musical conversation. ‘Cause it’s less people. Imagine, if you’re talking to the 3 of us, it’s easier to have a conversation than with 4 people.
Let’s talk about the Police : were you surprised about the Police to reunite ?? Very surprised. I never thought it would happen. You know … the thing Sting said :” I would be mad, clinically insane if it ever happens”.. I was kind of used to it.
I saw you last year in Carcassonne on stage, it was marvellous. We had fun. I was happy …
I’m happy about the Police coming back together.
We too... I bet !
Were you surprised too to do the 1st part of the Police tour ?? Yeah, I was very surprised to be offered. We were very lucky ‘cause Sting has been very supportive with our band. And you know very encouraging.
When we listened to the beginning of “2 sisters”, (We like it very much) we thought it was very much like “the bed’s too big without you” Police song. It goes down and up… And what about “Presuppose”, you have U2 influences in it ?? Sorry I’m confused….What was the Q° ??
“2 sisters” sounds like “the bed’s too big without you” Police song. It was going Up not down… No I don’t agree...because “Bed’s too big” goes down in notes. Didididididi (Seton chante la mélodie). So it goes up, down, up.
So you’re the professional ! I am ! “2 sisters” sounds like “2 sisters” down, up down…
How did you decide to become a musician ? I was very lucky. I went to a school and there was 3 or 4 kids who played guitar. I was pretty shy at school. Not very sociable. And..
Who wasn’t ?? I remember I was thinking about..one was very confident at school..There was a kid who was knid a star be cause he played the guitar and I asked him to show me how to play some of guitar. And he showed me. Without telling anyone, I practiced, I practiced…I went home about months later and there was an old guitar that someone left at my mother’s house. And I started playing and my mother said “Oh my God, where did you learn to play the guitar ??” And that Christmas she gave me my 1st guitar. I was very lucky..so I practiced, practiced, practiced…
Where did you meet Joe and Dan ? I met Dan 1st. I met Dan through a friend of his in University. We were 18 and I met Dan, I was looking for a band and Dan was looking for a band I mean Dan was starting a band and …..
Was it an ad ?? No only word of mouth...I was with Dan and …So all those bands rejoined together
How long do you know Joe and Dan ? Thirteen years. And Pete five years.
So you are good friends… We’re very good friends…we’re lucky, it’s really nice !
What are you going to plan in the future ? I read that you are going to make an LP about this tour… I think there is a lot of touring left for this album. , I mean we’ve got still next year you know I think our tour’s still going next year.. there’s Australia and Japan…
South America with the Police ? No, we’re not doing South America. We’re going to do North America again by ourselves. We’ll do it when they’ll go to South America…I think we gonna tour a lot more and then see what happens…you know there’s …I think they want us to make another record but at the moment we only have one song for the new album : “Sadr’ city blues”…
Oh yeah ! That’s the only song. I mean there’s lots of songs but I think it’s the only one that is really….That song is gonna be on the album
What about the songs you have created between the albums ? I personally have let it go....I really want people to hear the songs. By then, I don’t know. It’s just how it is. I don’t like holding on to songs Sometimes you want to, and sometimes it’s ok but I think it’s better to just keep and try them.
Olivier Garnier, their French manager arrives and tells us that we have to stop the interview …But we won’t let Seton go away without signing our tickets and telling that we will be at the Nouveau Casino to hear Fiction Plane play live !
INTERVIEW DE PETE WILHOIT
01/10/2007 Je m’appelle Pete Wilhoit. Je suis….
So you speak French too !!! I’d love to learn more and ..The more we come back and the more we learn...so that’s good
So you have to practice I should try to practice.
Any languages is..
I last learnt when I was in Amsterdam, the Deutch, it’s good.. I lived in Holland when I was 3 for 6 months, I have images in my head.
How do you feel about the way the tour is now….. It’s been really good. It’s a very exciting tour to be on. There’s a lot of energy and excitement around every show even though the longer it goes the less mystery there is from our perspective, we know what is gonna happen, the stage is the same every night, the drums are the same every night ; but shows like Stade de France are amazing because a lot of the stadiums are so big there’s not an intimacy there. And you know, feel the energy back from the crowd. But in the Stade de France, there was so much energy...even before we go on stage. So it was great, it was quite a pleasant surprise. Both nights were the best stadium shows we’ve ever had by far, close second was Holland.
We had the sensation that on the second show in the Stade de France, you had more confidence.. Did you feel that ? It’s very tough for me to know what is being portrayed from each audience member cause I think we hide things well too...like when something’s going really bad, you might not know it.. sometimes when something’s going really good…you might not know it. I think both shows, we had a lot of fun. (Cause any time you get...) For us, anytime as an opening band, you can get a crowd to get into you, even for brief moment, it’s quite special. Cause you know you’re the one more band with the supporting act and people are really there to see The Police understandingly and we have to steal them just for a moment to kind of take them away just for a little bit and it’s a great feeling. We were really excited for both shows.. What do you do before entering the stage ? Right before we play ??
Yes..to be cooler.. It depends
Do you do something special ? Sport…do you lock all the doors…or Ah ah…it varies from gig to gig...The one I try to do is warm up. As a drummer it is very physical, it could be very hard on your tendons and your muscles. So depending on the temperature outside. I really have to warm up. Like yesterday it was not cold but not necessarily warm so about 45 mns of warm up. And you know, we’ve done that so many times that you don’t really focus on it until we’re behind the stage and when you think about what you’re about to do. You know, it’s all very positive ‘cause we’d done it so many times, so we’re prepared. So it’s exciting, you get energized and we give ourselves a big hug and say let’s go play and then you work out and then the crowd keeps cheering at the reunion….you’re performing at that point.. These first pre-shows rituals are .. sometimes I’d be eating, sometimes playing videogames, sudoku or talking to my wife on the internet…different stuffs…it varies.
So this life is not easy for the family life …How do you deal with that ?? It’s not. I have a lovely wife. We’ve been together for 15 years, married for 6.. almost 6 in 2 weeks. It’s tricky. You really have to go extra-mile, going home when you can get home…When we have time together we really have to make the most of it. You know this is a special tour and it’s one you just couldn’t pass of ..and my wife knows this is what I do. We’re both away from each other as little as we can be but we just have to make the best of it.
What did you do before Fiction Plane ? I was in a band for 11 years called “The Cutters”.
And before that...What kind of studies did you do ?? I’ve always done music and lots of sports. I swam when I was younger, I played soccer, baseball, basketball, I little picked up football, tennis all sorts of things.
We can see that ! Obviously.. And when I was 8 years old I also played drums with a friend, he played piano and I played drums, I played piano and he played drums and we sort of writing around songs…And then we played at school when it was raining, everyone would come inside in the band room where we played the songs. And then, they sort of singing, knowing our songs and I think it was the 1st time I was really like “whaouh, it’s fine to perform” and the reaction I get is really energizing, so that was how I really want to be a musician , so ever since then, really music is a big part in my life. And then I studied music in university. I learned a lot about music probably too much at times !! But it’s been music really.
What are your hobbies ? I like to play cards, poker, I love watching movies, any kind of movie, I love a good comedy, I like science fiction too, I love all the “Star Wars”. I love going on vacation, funny as it seems, this is really what a holiday ..this seems like a vacation but in a way it is but my sense of vacation is like very family orientated. Going home to see my parents, my sister, my wife…It is necessary.
Vital ? So that’s what I like to do.
You were talking about “Fiction” what about the name Fiction Plane ? Originally it was a song. It was spelt differently : “Plain”. As in like a place, but in English language it can also mean “Boring” that’s why the band changed it into “Plane”. Which sounded more interesting. I did not choose the name for I wasn’t in the band, I joined the band after they chose the name. That’s what it means, a fictitious place where you can create what you want. I was born and raised in Indiana which is..
Hoosier state ?? Yeah, that’s very good..
I know ‘cause I love John Mellencamp I took lessons from his drummer Kenny Aronoff .
Really ? Whaouh… He lives in Bloomington, Indiana where I am from... Kenny is really one of the reasons why I’m in the band. Kenny gives Shawn Pelton (ndlr : he is his friend and former teacher) who was also my teacher. Sean called me and said they are auditioning drummer for this band. So I listened to and loved the music. Drove 13 hours to NYC & went to rehearsal studio and played with the band.
Really ? I wouldn’t have thought about that..I love Mellencamp for his rock’n’roll, you know, I like this guy… He seems to be an honest man.
Just like your band… Yeah.
Let’s talk about the song “Hate” : you’re probably the wrong man to talk about it but.. I did not help write it. I just played it a million times. My interpretation of the song from an outside standpoint it’s not for us to take the relay as the lyrics are a little odd ??? but for us it’s more of an ideology that hate something…When I listen to song, it seems like it could be a jab as for certain people it could be about the media, like everybody finds a way to hate somebody so their job is more interesting when you write something down…. when you got a war you have to decide you hate the other persons in order to kill them. Honestly, Joe would be a better guy to ask !!
Let’s talk about the “throwing of your sticks”.. Well definitely in stadiums you have a lot more space. You can throw it higher and higher. It’s never something I’ve made a point of practice, It’s just sometimes I feel like doing it. At giant place to do, it’s just fun sometimes. It’s about 50% of the time I catch it.
I saw videos where you missed it. Oh yeah. Totally ! So I caught them last night.
I saw you were smiling… Yeahhhh.
What do you think of the three-piece band ? It was a question mark for brief second. Because back again it has always been traditionally a four-piece.
Do you agree with Seton that it’s better to be 3 than 4 ? I think so, in every sense of the word, it’s better. I played in jazz trios and it’s amazing how much more space you have as a trio. You can communicate like we are now a lot easier with 2 other people than 3..There’s more space for the actual voices to be heard. This is one mess instrument but a tunnel, plateform in music, so when Seton plays something you can easily hear, when Joe plays something is a lower registrated, when I play something you can hear it. It opened up the band and I think there is more tendancy for us to play more groove and rock type stuff.
Do you think that the band will improve in another music register ? Are you going to another… Plane or something ? Yeah, another Fiction Plane ! I’m just kidding !!!
No I mean in something totally different ? Yeah. I think so. But not totally different but the band has improved. I think it has improved by being a 3 piece.
We realized it. The “left side of the brain” album is really different from the “everything will never be ok” one. Especially Seton’s guitar part ! It’s crazy.. It steps forward. It’s a bigger sound even though it’s a small round.
Did you change your way of playing drums too ? I think it’s more a chance to say something. I guess as a drummer, it’s just more space like you know points when we’re doing very improvised thing. We have a common goal at the end but how we get there it’s different every night ! That’s great, that’s like a really pure form of playing that I really like. It’s gonna be different every night, how we get there, we’re not sure, could be great or could fall on its face. But when it’s great, it seems like it’s better than just playing things over and over. I like the 3 piece.
So you agree ? “J’ai agree”..
Je suis d’accord. French is quite difficult, you know. Very.
So let’s talk about Drum solos : what do you think about it ? It’s kind of a fine thing that just started recently. I mean when I was … as a jazz drummer, I do quite a bit. The jazz language enables the drums to communicating in that fashion.
With every instrument in fact Yeah exactly. Through Rock it’s rare that it makes sense to have a drum solo. So it was actually just in Boston we played, we did it and we were gonna do an ‘Encore’, we had a lot of time left .. so Joe liked us to do the drum solo. And I was like : alright I guess I’ll do a drum solo...and actually it worked very well ‘cause it gave way to another song and it was fun for everybody it was in the moment I think… and I think that’s slowly, truly becoming like something we do in our club shows. Like may be we’ll do it tonight, may be we won’t, it depends on how it goes…Sometimes it’s great and sometimes it falls on its face kind of like all improvised things. We’ll see. It’s something I enjoy sometimes and sometimes not.
Let’s talk about Stewart Copeland and the fact that you are touring together ! It’s funny you deal with drums your whole life when you get with another drummer like that. Sometimes it’s the last thing you talk about. It’s like we both experienced the physics of kicking the drums but as a career with experience different things, like he has a whole life of experiences that he’s experienced I could never experience. Cool to have that in common and talk about it. But it’s nice to hear the stories that go with those experiences just from him. And that’s always interesting you know just to hear all these things that gone through. I remember the funny time when this happened or that happened. That’s great to hear I mean that stuff’s inspiring. You know, some day I …
Did you try to play together ? That’ll be fun. But it’s kind of physically hard on this tour because everything’s so mapped out, the stage, his drums are behind underneath, mine on the raiser, when mine get moves, his come up and mine come out. So actually get us together on the same stage playing is kind of difficult. But it could be done. It could be done.
It could be crazy… It’ll be fun...It’ll be great. I’d love having 2 drums at facing each other and playing with another drummer.
Yeah, that’s a good idea ! I used to do that in school and when I used to teach other kids. It’s easier to learn if you can see me doing it and then to try it immediately. Maybe that’ll happened, I’ll suggest it.
Let’s keep fingers crossed !
I think I’ll have to go now…Thanx.
THE END
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