Interview
(Progressive Newsletter Nr.53 09/05)
excerpts from an interview with Steve Babb (Keyboards, Bass, Vocals)
I am nearly certain that Lirazel was written first, and very nearly completed before the rest. I think I wrote it last July and had finished most of it by the fall. Fred wrote many pieces during August of last year, and shortly after that, we began to call in the singers to work their parts in. We continued writing throughout the fall and early winter. Several sessions with drummer Matt Mendians took place over the winter as well. So, most of the album was written by January of 2005. But I think we took a three or four month break on production due to a number of reasons. I had a bad accident and nearly crushed my wrist - but that is another story! March and April were devoted to completing the work, and we wrapped it up on May 1st. From beginning to end, it took around ten months to complete. It’s always a challenge, every album - just to get it done. This time around though, we began to write real scores for choir and orchestra. I suppose you might say that was a ‘main’ challenge, in so much as it was new to us, and something we could ill afford to do wrong. Scheduling all of the players around our own creativity, that’s pretty hard too. But all in all, I’d say we have no complaints. Making GH music is difficult, but a joy. Fred and I both consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to make this music with our friends.
Since “Chronometree” you’re following the 70s Progressive Rock path, was it just a logical step in truly 70s fashion to release a double-concept-album?
Well, I don’t know if it’s a 70’s thing or not. We had done the live album, and the DVD. It was time for a very big studio project. The way it happened was this: Fred and I wanted to do two different kinds of albums. One, a stripped down, raw, ‘not too produced’ CD that relied mostly on the guys - not the girls - and the classic prog-band set-up of bass, drums, guitar, Hammond, Moog and Mellotron. But we also wanted to stretch ourselves on a different kind of album, something more symphonic, with lots of strings and possibly a full orchestra and choir. The only question for us was - which should we do first? The answer was simple, lets do both at once! The Inconsolable Secret is not a double album of the same type of material. It’s really two completely different sounding discs, packaged together and tied together by one very large storyline.
Especially “The Lady” side of "The incsonsolable secret" is different to other Glass Hammer albums, having sometimes a kind of musical-like feeling. Was this intended to put more emphasis on the story and put the music a little bit in the background?
We really think of it as one very long song. It’s not really a musical, though certain voices speak for certain characters. It’s what writer Sam Karnick has called “a new step in the realm of popular music.” He actually thinks we’ve hit on something new, and truthfully that is what we hoped for. The combination of poetry, lyrics, allegory, concept, symphony and ‘high-prog’ - all working together to convey ideas and feelings, and to tell a tale. But there is more emphasis on music if you ask me. Disc two is where the orchestra steps in, and the choirs sing in ‘elvish’ and GH is joined by brass and heavy orchestral percussion. We dabble in prog, celtic, classical - we try to hit every nerve. Of course the story is there, told with the lyrics and the poem as well. But it is still just a part of the music.
With all the guest musicians, choir and orchestra, a cover-artwork by Roger Dean for “The inconsolable secret”, how is it possible for a non-commercial band to finance all this?
I have many years experience in the music business. I made a lot of mistakes early in my career, but when Glass Hammer was originally conceived, it was done so with a lot of forethought. Instead of signing GH to a large progressive rock label, I chose to form my own label and forge relationships with key distributors, websites and magazines. That means we aren’t splitting our profits with another company. Also, we built a recording studio around our band which eventually led to producing other groups and providing us with income. We can spend as much time as we need in the studio, and it only costs us time - not money. It still takes a lot of money to pull it all together with art, packaging and advertising. But GH sells a lot of albums these days, and our fan base is growing
While especially on “Chronometree” I could find some humorous approaches concerning the concept, this seems to be a little bit lost over the last albums. Do you take things more serious now or are the “lighter” ideas now more hidden in your music and lyrics?
Oh, I think the humor was there on “The Middle-earth Album”, though understandably, a lot of proggers didn’t really grasp it. “Run Lisette” from Shadowlands is also pretty humorous when you consider the subject matter - a man-killing horse in a Napoleonic battle! Okay, it’s funny when you know the whole story! - but Lex Rex and The Inconsolable Secret are very serious works, and there really isn’t any room for humor there. During our shows two years ago, we used the Lex Rex narrator’s voice to evoke some humor. You can hear folks laughing along on our “Live At NEARfest” album. We do have some farces planned for the future, some very funny ones. But I will admit that I prefer the serious storylines. When push comes to shove I’d rather be taken seriously than have GH become the comedians of prog. Every year or so, we spend months working on a project. I have one chance to say something that matters, and something my name will be tied to for years to come. I will most likely always give in to my serious side, though you should know we still do not take ourselves seriously as a band. We continually parody ourselves at rehearsal, and the band members are truly a bunch of clowns, even the girls
You’ve done several concept albums, visited the “Middle Earth”, worked together with choir and orchestra - are there still some musical dreams and visions left you’d like to fulfill?
Fred and I have no idea what is next. I have a list of things I’d like to do though, but I have an idea I’ll never get around to them. I think it will remain important to us that Glass Hammer remain our musical priority, and I can’t envision a time that we would derail our current success by changing our image or our sound. I think we will just keep pushing ahead, like we’ve done since Chronometree. No detours for GH, we’ll just keep trudging up the same road and see where it leads. I certainly don’t want our creativity to go stale, but I think we have much more to offer, and many more songs to write using the same formula that has worked for us in the recent past. Of course, we may continue to dabble with orchestras, or perhaps we will drop the ‘big’ sound and go for more of a three or four piece prog-ensemble. Either way, it will still be GH.
With an orchestra, a choir and all the symphonic and powerful arrangements, don’t you fear, that you ever could go musically a little bit over the top?
That is easy to answer. This is prog! It’s supposed to be over the top! If it isn’t a little pretentious and a lot bombastic, something is wrong! Believe me, we know we’re just a couple of goof-balls in a band full of goof-balls. We don’t sit around and talk about how great we are - well not all of the time. We are very proud of The Inconsolable Secret, and we truly are attempting to explore new territory - at last! - but we know who we are and what we are. We’re a rock band, trying to transcend rock. It’s like climbing mountains. How high can we go? Oh, that mountain is bigger - we’ll climb it next! You’ve got to remember that Fred and I were trained classically. We’re church musicians that jumped into rock bands at an early age. Our singers and string players are also classically trained and work mostly out of churches. It’s only natural that we would attempt to bridge both worlds, rock and classical. That is often what progressive rock really is - combining influences and styles. It’s just a matter of how hard you lean one way or another - rock or classical.
What’s the idea behind the “very special gift”, you receive when you register the new recording on the website and the exclusive contents on your website?
Well that is all about marketing really. Our fans can provide us their contact info, and we can let them know what to expect next. They get goodies in trade for information! We have a promotions company that handles all of that for us.
Can you tell a little bit more about the concert which will take place on the 5h of November in Nashville and will feature 120 choral singers?
Okay - talk about going ‘over the top’! We’re taking a 14 member band including our string section, all of our female vocalists, and even employing Carl Groves of Salem Hill as a second keyboardist. We’ll be doing a lot of material from The Inconsolable Secret, and to do that - you need a choir that can sing counterpoint melodies in Latin! We’ll have approximately 120 singers from The Belmont University Singers and The Belmont Women’s Choir. This will be the biggest show any of the new wave of prog bands has ever attempted - at least that I’m aware of. There are details linked from our website, but you can find out more at http://campus.belmont.edu/cslewis/. In short, this is a three day C. S. Lewis conference featuring scholars and Narnia fans from around the world. I think Disney is supposed have a presence there as well. This isn’t a sci-fi convention. It’s a serious, scholarly event sponsored by Belmont University - one of the most respected music colleges in the country - and its happening in “music city”, Nashville, TN. Glass Hammer will headline the entertainment, and will be joined by Salem Hill, and the Nashville Symphony and Choir performing The Lord of The Rings Symphony. It’s a big day of music, classical and prog! I know we have fans coming from all over the world. GH fans won’t want to miss this one!
Kristian Selm © Progressive Newsletter 2005