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This interview was given by Steve Walsh exclusively
to Erasure.ru in June 2006.
Steve
Walsh is a producer and multi-instrumentalist who has worked with
Erasure on the albums "Nightbird" and "Union Street". He has also
been on "Erasure Acoustic" tour with Andy and Vince in 2006.
- Hi Steve. Thanks for
sparing your time for this interview. First of all, tell us a bit
about yourself. So, what’s up in your life?
- First of all thank you for asking
me to do this interview! I'm a producer, songwriter, and guitar
player. I'm originally from Boston Massachusetts, I moved to New
York CIty in 1998 to continue pursuing music. And have just come to
my 1 year anniversary of living in Nashville, Tennessee. Currently I
spent my time writing and developing artists as well as performing
with various projects I'm involved with.
- What kind of music are you fond of? What are your favourite bands
/ solo artists?
- I have really diverse tastes, I love lot's of music. When I was
growing up I was into rock and heavy metal but was also drawn to
80's pop music because of the melodies. To this day Jimmy Page of
Led Zeppelin is one of my biggest inspirations because of the way he
put songs together as a player, producer and writer. When I was
about 17 I became very interested in Jazz and Blues. Around this
time I went to Berklee college of Music in Boston and immersed
myself in all sorts of music. But my biggest influences are the many
amazingly talented people I've been luck enough to "hang" around
with over the last 15 years!
- Tell us how you met Andy and Vince, how and when did it happen?
What was your first impression of them?
- I met the Vince and Andy a little over 3 years ago in New York.
Vince had just moved to the city and the "Other People's Songs"
album had just come out. When they asked me to play some radio promo
gigs with them acoustically my first impression of Vince was that he
was a very deep introspective musician who had a great deal of
intuition about what goes into a great song. Besides that he made a
nice cup of coffee! And Andy? What can you say about Andy, he sounds
like the famous guy with the beautiful voice I grew up listing to on
MTV!
- You performed
together with Erasure on various radioshows in the USA in 2003, when
“Other People’s Songs” was released. According to Andy, these radio
performances were successful, and as a result an idea to record a
fully acoustic album was born. Do you remember whose idea it was?
- Well I'm not too sure about how the idea originally came up. But I
went out to San Francisco to do some shows, when I got there they
sat me down and proposed the idea of the project with me producing!
I was shocked to say the least but was amazed they had such faith in
me without really being familiar with my work outside of the little
playing we'd done.
- Let’s talk about the “Union Street” album. How did you choose the
songs? Why did your preference go to the slow tracks of Erasure?
- The song choice was Vince and Andy's. They felt there were songs
that they really believed in that had never gotten the full
attention they deserved so they decided this would be a great
opportunity to reinvent them with and acoustic twist.
- During the recording of “Union Street”, how did you choose the
instruments to be used in the songs? For instance, we can hear
mandolin in “Alien” and “How Many Times?” was recorded to the
accompaniment of a guitar only…
- The instrumentation was decided in pre-production by me and Vince.
We took the original lead vocal track from the original recordings
of the song and began layering parts around that. When Andy arrived
we removed the old vocal and he sang to the new track. As far as
specific instrumentation goes we decided they would be no piano /
keyboard instruments and we would try find the "right" sound for the
emotion of the song. The core instruments are various acoustic
guitars, acoustic bass, banjo, mandolin, dobro, flutes, whistles,
percussion, and voice. The only "plugged in" instrument we used was
the pedal steel guitar.
- Do you have any special memories about that period – summer of
2003 – when you were recording “Union Street” together with Vince
and Andy? Who – Vince or Andy – was your favourite Erasure person,
the one you felt more comfortable with and why?
- The thing about Vince and Andy is that they are two of the
sweetest, most generous, and talented people I've ever met. You feel
it in their music and when you meet the fans you realize why they
are loved so much.
They're are a couple of funny memories from making the record that
always make me laugh besides Vince video taping everything that
moved. When we were recording the percussion tracks I had asked
percussionist Kenny Wollesen to bring the strangest instruments he
had. Kenny is an incredibly creative person and I knew Vince would
love him. So Kenny turns up with a few bags of odds and ends which
he proceeded to dump out on the floor and audition for us. This
included a Howitzer shell and a metal sculpture called the "bug"
which can be heard on "Alien". The other classic was the first day
of mixing we had that huge blackout of the summer of 2003. Everyone
was a bit freaked out at first because of 9/11. We were on a tight
schedule and to loose a day was rough, so the next thing you know
the engineer turns up at the studio after walking from midtown
Manhattan to the studio in Brooklyn with a pair of VU meters we
needed. He said he was being a diligent worker but we knew he
figured we'd have the only cold beer and hot dogs in Brooklyn!
- Erasure have another
studio album recorded in your studio - “Nightbird”. Was it difficult
after “Union Street” to record something completely different
musically?
- No. For "Nightbird" Andy had had a good experience working with me
and my wife Jill that I feel we picked up where we left off.
Besides, Vince had moved around the corner from me so they would
write in the morning then Andy would come in to sing while Vince was
doing the programming. I think it worked well for them and it was
interesting to see how the electric records are created.
- Were there any songs
recorded during “Nightbird” which were neither included on the album
nor released as b-sides?
- I can't remember of that but I do think there is one song that
didn't make the album.
- Jill, your wife, recorded backing vocals for both “Union Street”
and “Nightbird”. Which of the albums was more difficult for her to
work on and why?
- I think the beautiful vocal arrangement she did on "Rock Me
Gently" was challenging but really fun and creative at the same
time. On "Nightbird" I thing there was more time to experiment and
the music was so fresh that everyone found it inspiring.
- Let’s discuss the recent
“Erasure Acoustic” tour. What did you think of the idea of Vince and
Andy to go on tour with live musicians? They’ve never done it
before!
- I thought it was brave but a great idea! I think Andy has always
had interest in singing in front of a band that would be able to
interact with him. I also think it adds a certain credibility that
Erasure is a great band with great songs and that Vince and Andy are
incredible singer-songwriters.
- Tell us about the preparation for the tour. How did you select the
musicians?
- I put the band together. Vince and I played guitar. Smith Curry,
who lives in Nashville, played dobro, steel guitar, and banjo.
Richard Hammond played acoustic bass and Ben Wittman played
percussion. Both Richard and Ben are from NYC and played on "Union
Street". Jill Walsh and Val Chalmers sang background vocals. Jill
also played autoharp, and penny whistle.
- If we look at the box office for the tickets sold in Europe
and the States, the interest to Erasure acoustic was much bigger in
the USA. What do you think was the reason behind it?
- Well I think the interest was about the same. Most of the Europe
shows sold out by the night of the show or pretty close to sold out.
In America the venues were smaller so there weren't as many tickets
to go around. Everywhere we went it took a couple songs for the
audience to get their head around what was going on but by "Victim
Of Love" people were having a great time!
- Do share some experiences of the last tour with Erasure. Would you
like Erasure to have you onboard next time?
- I hope to work with Vince and Andy whenever I can be helpful to
them. As it stands the new record is going to be a hard hitting
electro record and it will be back to the classic Erasure lineup!
- What were the most and least successful moments of the tour?
- Being delayed from Denver Colorado to Chicago for 8 hours and
having to sit on the plane the whole time!
- The concert in Nashville on May 6 was recorded for a possible
release on DVD. Have you seen the film? Do you know if the DVD is
going to be released?
- I haven't seen any footage but I hear it is great!
- Did you like working with Vince and Andy during the tour?
- Absolutely!
- What do you think about
Erasure’s future?
- I think they have been building steam over the last 3 records and
this next one could be big.
- What are your current interests, aspirations, goals in life?
- I'm thinking about getting a dog!
- Steve, hoping it’s not something confidential, why did you move
from New York City to Nashville?
- I took a chance with Nashville and it turned out to be great! The
music scene is diverse and the lifestyle suits my personality! I
still go to New York and LA to work quite frequently so its the best
of both worlds!
- Are there any plans to
release an album recorded by Jill Walsh?
- Yes, Jill's record is done and will be coming out very soon, Sept
2006. It's a beautiful record of her songs. You can go to
www.jillwalsh.com
or
www.myspace.com/jillwalsh to find out more!
- We sincerely believe that Russia is a unique country and Moscow is
one of the most beautiful capitals of the world; have you ever
considered traveling to our country, for example, as a tourist?
- Yes! I'd love to visit, hopefully sooner than later!
- Is there anything you want to say to all Erasure fans?
- I'd like to say thank you to all the great Erasure fans we met in
Europe and the US for making us feel welcomed and responding so
positively the the acoustic tour. You really made it a memory of a
lifetime!
- Steve, thanks for your time and good luck in everything you do!
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