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MIKE SCOTT TALKS ABOUT KARMA TO BURN
This time we created an interview with a difference:
we asked members of the Waterboys Online Forum and Waterpeople email
list to submit questions about the new album for Mike's attention,
and this is the result. Thanks to everyone who contributed.
| Q |
Over the years we’ve witnessed
many great shows. Why release a live album now? |
| A |
I've always felt a live album has to be
great; not just a souvenir, but a classic statement in itself.
While the tours we've done have seen good shows, and fine bands,
only a few times have I felt the live sound was great enough
to justify a live album. The criteria for me are the interplay
or 'radar' between the musicians; the excitement or power created
onstage; and whether the sound we're making is what I would
call classic. The 1986 tour, represented on the unofficial Live
Adventures album, was one such time.
A few other tours came close, but it wasn't until Carlos Hercules
and Steve Walters started playing with us in 2003 that I felt
the band sounded right enough again to justify a live album.
Carlos and Steve give us a funkiness I was looking for, and
which grounds our sound in a beautiful way. After about ten
shows I asked our sound engineer Chris Madden to start recording
on multi-track. After the tour I listened back. The recordings
were strong, but I didn't hear a complete album. In 2004 we
concentrated on our acoustic shows and when I listened back
to the tapes of those I knew we had it. |
| Q |
How did you decide on the name of the
new album and what does it mean exactly ? |
| A |
Karma is an sanskrit word meaning the law
of cause and effect. This is a great universal law, known in
all cultures, and what it means basically is that whatever we
do rebounds upon us, or comes back to us. If we act out of love,
we get love back. If we act with meanness we get that back,
and so on. Perhaps not in the exact same form or expression,
but, over our life (or many lives if you believe in reincarnation),
in the exact same degree. 'As you sow, so shall you reap'. Or:
'In the end the love you take is equal to the love you make'.
Karma to burn means experiences yet to be undergone in order
to balance past actions. |
| Q |
There is a band in USA with the name
'Karma To Burn'. Is this just a coincidence? |
| A |
Yes. We found that out a few weeks ago!
It's a well-known phrase, so I'm not surprised it's been used
elsewhere. |
| Q |
When did you discover Toshifumi Tanabu,
who did the artwork? Is he familiar with the band or even a
fan himself? |
| A |
I spotted Toshifumi's work in a book of
contemporary graphic art called Romantik. His stuff stood out,
and I loved its detail and clarity. The book helpfully gave
his email address, and with the help of a Japanese lady in Findhorn
called Mie, who translated my emails into Japanese, I got in
touch with Toshifumi and we discussed the design. He'd heard
of The Waterboys but didn't know our music. There is a lot of
beautiful artwork on his website: www1.ttcn.ne.jp/~toshifumi/
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| Q |
I'd like to know your criteria when
choosing amongst so many live versions of songs: technical quality
of the performance or audio recordings, intensity of your vocal
or Steve and Richard's solos, interaction of the band members....?
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| A |
All of those, but most of all whether I
(and the punters) will enjoy listening to it over and over.
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| Q |
Who had the idea to play The Return
Of Jimi Hendrix with the acoustic trio? Was it difficult to
rehearse or did it just happen? |
| A |
My idea. I knew Steve Wickham could rise
to the challenge of playing lead fiddle on it and we did it
for the first time at the Findhorn shows last Summer. We rehearsed
it with both acoustic fiddle and with distorted fuzz fiddle.
I asked Chris Madden which was best and he said 'fuzz'. Steve
was set free to let rip and play it however he feels it. Richard
on the other hand plays two strictly structured 'systems' parts
which I wrote and played on the original recording - the two
note 'upside down' shifting bass-line, and the three note repeating
top-line piano motif. Comprising phrases of different numbers
of notes, they are therefore in different rhythms. Fortunately
he can play both at once - no mean feat. |
| Q |
So many classic live versions of The
Pan Within over the years. Why did you choose the one you chose? |
| A |
It has a guitar solo I like! |
| Q |
Tell us the story behind the two cover-versions
on the album: A Song For The Life and Come Live With Me. Where
did you discover the songs and who did you learn them from?
When did they become "real" Waterboys-songs? |
| A |
Come Live With Me was written by Felice
and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote the Everly Brothers' classic
Bye Bye Love and other hits of the '50s and '60s. We first heard
it on a Ray Charles album which Anto (Thistlethwaite) bought
in a record shop in Mill Valley, California, when we were in
the US recording during the Fisherman's Blues era. December
1986 it was. I fell in love with the song, and we recorded a
version a few days later back in Dublin at Windmill Lane, which
is when it became a 'real Waterboys song'. That version didn't go on
Fisherman's Blues but it was on a single 'b' side. I think I first sang it in
concert in the show Steve and I played as a duo in Sligo in 1999. Getting to a
definitive live version has been a long time coming. I look forward to playing
it with Carlos and Steve on the next tour.
I first used to hear A Song For The Life when I'd go and see
The Fleadh Cowboys play at late night shows in the Dublin Olympia
during 1987/8. One of their singers, Frankie Lane, did a version
of it. Another Irish singer called Niamh Parsons gave me the
words in the West of Ireland a year or so after that, and for
a while, when Sharon Shannon was in the band, we played it live
in The Waterboys. When Richard got sick during our Irish tour
last year, and Sharon stepped in to replace him, we had to change
the set round to suit the new guitar/fiddle/accordion line-up,
and A Song For The Life was a natural addition. The version
on the album is from one of those shows, Athlone actually. It's
a song I've always come back to - and always will. |
| Q |
What tracks are you sorry about having
to leave off this album? |
| A |
A few jump to mind - a version of Wild
Mountain Thyme, from Watford of all places, a cajun-flavoured
When Ye Go Away from the shows with Sharon, and just about any
version of Every Breath Is Yours, which grew tremendously from
the album version once we got it on stage. |
| Q |
You liked the full band version of
Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired (from the Universal Hall
album) enough to re-record it for a single. As the single never
appeared I thought it might turn up on a live album and was
surprised it wasn't on Karma To Burn. Was it considered? |
| A |
Yes it was considered, but there wasn't
a strong enough version. We tended to play it a little too fast,
and the few versions at a good tempo weren't particularly well
played. |
| Q |
Which do you prefer and why: a full
band line up who have gelled together over a period or an acoustic
line up? |
| A |
Both. Nothing beats a band, either full
electric or small acoustic, which has matured and gelled, as
you say, and achieves the level of rapport that creates magic.
That's what I'm always aiming for. |
| Q |
How do you choose whether to play song
acoustic or electric? Do you have any song that sounds better
to you than the original version? |
| A |
Before each tour I play lots of songs from
all Waterboys eras on my guitar or piano, imagine what the other
instruments will contribute, feel into the possibilities, choose
which mode they work in. Then I make the decisions that result
in the tour repertoire. That's then subjected to the process
of rehearsal, where some songs will drop out and others will
come in, sparked by jamming, or by suggestions from a band member
(usually Steve). Then when we get on stage the selection is
refined further, as we discover which songs work best for real
when we play them to an audience. And I reserve the right to
change the set and repertoire at any time, acording to the inspiration
that is upon me !
I tend to think most songs sound better live than on record,
because live performance allows a song to develop. There are
exceptions of course, a few never-surpassed recordings - at
least in my view. Then there are songs that work both acoustic
and full-band, and others that only work acoustic, or only with
the full band. |
| Q |
Is it true you record all shows you
do, and if so will we ever get to hear some great recordings
from the 1980s? |
| A |
All the shows are recorded, but most only
in stereo, direct from the sound desk, or as a blend of desk
and microphones. Of the hundreds of shows of the last 6 years,
only the 50 or so from which Karma To Burn was selected, and
a few odd ones like Glasgow Barrowlands 2001 which the BBC recorded,
were done in multi-track, and are therefore re-mixable.
In the '80s and '90s we recorded shows from the desk (or again,
with a mix of microphone sound added) to DAT or cassette, and
only very occasionally were there multi-track recordings made.
So there are only a few high quality recordings of vintage Waterboys
shows. Most were made by radio stations, and from a selection
of those came the Live Adventures album, which an archive label
released some years ago.
We made our own multi-track recordings only on a few occasions.
First was two shows in Toronto and Hollywood in 1984, from which
some tracks have appeared on 'b' sides or compilations. Ensign/Island
wanted to do a U2-style Under The Blood Red Sky live mini-album
but I didn't feel the sound of the band was sufficiently developed
to justify this. I also don't like doing something another band
has done first.
Then there were two shows at Glasgow Barrowlands in 1989 (more
'b' side/compilation tracks); my one-man show in San Francisco
in 1996 (ditto again), and that's it. Any other live tracks
that have snuck out over the years have been sound-desk recordings.
Perhaps one day, when we do a massive box-set, we'll include
some of these.
As an aside, I'd like to clarify about the Live Adventures Of
The Waterboys album. This came out on New Millenium Records,
who approached me about doing an album collecting together old
Waterboys radio sessions. I suggested the concert recordings
and selected the tracks, then New Millenium did the legwork
getting permission from radio stations, the BBC etc. The resulting
album came out in 1998 and very splendid it is too. All well
and good, but when NM stopped paying royalties to the band several
years ago, but kept selling copies of the album, it became effectively
a bootleg, which is why you won't see it advertised in our concert
programmes, or listed in the discography that appears on our
new albums. |
| Q |
As a musician, are you interested to
know what equipment is new in the shops these days? What kind
of equipment (brand/type) would you give a try when you bump
into a music store? |
| A |
I'm not exactly hanging on the edge of
my chair sweating and wondering what's out there, but I do like
a good root in a music shop, especially around Denmark Street
and Charing Cross Road in London. My favourite stuff is Electro
Harmonix effects pedals - phasers, fuzz, micro-synthesisers
etc. Their "Wiggler" tremelo/vibrato pedal is my current
favourite. |
| Q |
My favourite Waterboys' song is A Man
is in Love. What is yours ? |
| A |
I'm glad you like that one. My favourites
include Bring 'Em All In, Fisherman's Blues, The Stolen Child
and Universal Hall. |
| Q |
Will there be any 'hardcopy' singles
from this album released or maybe as a download, and what can
we expect of those (if any)? |
| A |
I suspect there won't be any 'hard-copy'
singles this time around, though there is a promo of 4 songs
going to radio (Long Way To The Light, Glastonbury Song, Come
Live With Me, Song For The Life). All the tracks from the album
will be available by download through whatever are the usual
channels of our distributor, Universal. |
| Q |
Will the upcoming tour be based purely
on the live album, or will we get to hear new songs, new versions
of older songs? |
| A |
It will centre around the live album, but
time and the music have moved on, so expect new songs, new versions
of other old songs, and different versions of Karma To Burn
songs too. In fact, expect the unexpected. It's easier that
way for all of us :-) |
| Q |
What we may expect from The Waterboys
in the near future? Acoustic, full electric or half-half shows?
What makes you decide? Do you just listen to your heart or do
the rest of the band or the demand of fans have an important
word on this? |
| A |
The January tour is a full-band show with
a support act. Only a single long set from us then, not the
two shorter sets of recent years. I like that the shape of the
show keeps changing. It keeps band and music (and audience?)
fresh. As for how I decide what it will be next....I try to
keep clearly aware of all the currents in the life of the music,
and that includes the songs I'm writing, the playing and spirit
of the band, any new fascinations coming onstream, as well as
the receptivity of the audience. With all that integrated, then
the music tells me what to do from inside, and I follow that. |
| Q |
What's your musical mood for the recording
future? |
| A |
Currently it could go in a few different
directions which haven't come into clarity yet. I have lots
of songs ready for recording, and I imagine I want to record
them as live performances in the studio, in the same way (though
not necessarily with the same sound) as we recorded during the
Fisherman's Blues era: always with a full ensemble, including
vocals and solo instruments. I like that method because it captures
the power of a group of players creating in the moment together
- which makes magic.
Then there's the case of the Fisherman's Blues re-mastering
project, planned for next Spring, for which I'm compiling a
full bonus CD of unreleased music - over 75 minutes of it. Even
after the Too Close To Heaven album which came out in 2001,
there is still a motherlode of great stuff waiting to be heard
from those sessions.
Lastly, I've been putting a number of Yeats' poems to music,
and that could be an album too. If so, it will be recorded quite
differently: possibly with a string quartet or even a small
orchestra, and utilising a layering process (like This Is The
Sea or A Rock In The Weary Land). Time - and the inner impulses
of the music - will tell. |
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