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Transcript from “Independent Musician” Fanzine – May 2003 I.M: What started “songwriting” for you?
GAV: Well, the whole thing was born of desperation really. I’d been in bands purely as a lead/2nd guitarist to a guitar playing frontman. With songwriting/vision coming only from that one person or another. I had been writing songs since maybe a year after I started playing, but never wrote for or gave songs to the bands I was in for the reasons mentioned before and maybe even confidence in my own ability haha I wrote and recorded an albums worth of material during downtime from a previous band I was in. I always wanted to write and record an album by myself like Michael Monroe/Prince/Blackie Lawless etc had done. Just a little ambition of mine.
How would you describe your songwriting?
There’s a part of me that’s against categorising music, although I appreciate it’s necessity in the music business. So in that respect, I’d say that I try and tell stories in the most honest and un-pretentious way as I can. Tales of experiences I’ve gone through was what “Born Of Fire” was all about. Telling these stories of optimism, love, resentment, joy and sadness. I am fortunate enough to have written and recorded these songs exactly as I heard them in my head. Trends and whatever is current is always the last thing on my mind.
Do you forsee any changes in the direction of your music in the future?
I looked objectively at the last album and noticed that it was mostly my personal feelings in the songs. Some of the new material will be a little more observational, things going on close to me and things about the world in general. There will still be some fun in there too,
Who do you admire in terms of songwriting?
Sooo many!!! Alice Cooper throughout his career is a huge influence! Jagger/Richards…. Their legacy speaks for itself! Blackie Lawless, Michael Monroe/Andy McCoy(separate or together, they’ve written amazing stuff!) Phil Lynott, Jim Steinman, James Hetfield, David Bowie, Tom Kiefer…. The list is endless! All grade A songwriters as far as I’m concerned!
How do you consider the songwriting and music in general of today compared to the 60’s/70’s/80’s/90’s?
Ouch! Tough one! Ask in another 20 years! Haha The music of 20-30-40 years ago has had all this time to stand the test of time, if that makes sense. A song can take you back to a certain moment in your life. I just wish that every manufactured boy/girl band would disappear! The whole Pop Idol thing makes we feel very ill. Where’s the sense of Rebellion in these people? Why are they trying to please a panel of judges? As far as I’m concerned, if I want to watch a puppet show I’ll watch “The Muppets” or “Labyrinth” haha What disappoints me is that sometimes I feel that my generation isn’t taking the chances and risks that people in the 60’s and 70’s were doing. Put on Rolling Stones “Satanic Majesties” or Alice Cooper’s “Billion Dollar Babies” and see what I mean. Strange production and writing ideas that make you think “Where the hell did that idea come from?!” and hardly anybody doing the same thing nowadays. That’s something I definitely want to try and do in the future.
The negative opinions out of the way, haha, I think that nowadays, with the internet, it’s a lot easier for musicians to promote themselves. There are a great deal of people out there that want to find music for themselves, rather than just accept that music ends outside of MTV and radio.
What do you think of the MP3 issue? Do you think music business’s days will be numbered?
I readily admit that I’ve downloaded a fair few mp3’s but will always buy wherever possible. It’s great for finding rare or out of print stuff. The days of searching second hand record shops for otherwise unavailable vinyl and CD’s were fun and still do it when I can. I haven’t read any statistics. Have sales fallen dramatically since file sharing programs became more widespread? I can’t really give a straight answer to that question.
List your favourite albums and a short line on each of what they mean to you.
(in no particular order) Alice Cooper - Billion Dollar Babies (The first album I ever owned and still my favourite. My dad gave it to me after showing an interest in Alice. Covers sex, death and money with flawless production!)
Pretty Boy Floyd – Leather Boys With Electric Toys (The most over the top glam rock n roll! Larger than life! Play it regularly and it never gets old.)
Rolling Stones – Hot Rocks (Too difficult to pin down to one album. Just a collection of truly great songs!)
Metallica – Master Of Puppets (One of the greatest heavy metal albums ever! The guitars still amaze me to this day. Little more to be said)
Hanoi Rocks – All Those Wasted Years (Again, hard to pick a best album so going with a live album that captured them perfectly)
David Bowie – Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust (An album that I remember fondly as a very young kid through my dad. “Warszawa” from Low, used to scare the shit outta me at 5 years old!)
Skid Row – Skid Row (Song’s like “18 & Life”, “Youth Gone Wild” and “I Remember You” were a soundtrack to growing up. Perfectly written songs!)
WASP – WASP (Underneath the blood and chainsaws, Blackie Lawless’ songs were perfectly written and well crafted. His voice is just unbelieveable! The most blood curdling scream I ever heard is in the final seconds of their cover of “Paint It Black””)
Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell (Another album I fondly remember as a young kid. The songs are a work of genius! Sonically it’s just huge!)
Guns N’ Roses – Appetite For Destruction (They really hit the nail on this album. It still sounds fresh today! Just great rock n roll!)
Slayer – Reign In Blood (In terms of terror and aggression, no Death Metal band has come close to beating this. Perfectly executed brutality and horror in 28 minutes! I never knew a guitar could sound like a chainsaw till I heard this!)
Although you appear to be more of a hard rock musician, what other types of music do you listen to?
All kinds of stuff, pending on the mood. There’s only 2 real kinds of music in the end, stuff you like and stuff you don’t. The only kind of music that I really can’t stand is most of the current Nu-Metal trend, it all sounds like 15 year old kids whining, and that kind of bland soul/jazz/funk that you hear in wine bars and restaurants haha Manufactured boy/girl groups manage to both depress and annoy me too.
Finally, on “Born Of Fire”, which songs do you believe are a true representation of you and which are you most proud of? I’m not sure on the representation question, I like my songs to be quite different to each other. Most proud of? I would probably have to say either “There She Goes”, that song wrote itself, or “The Great Song Of Defiance” cause that’s pretty much 20 years of my life wrapped up into 4 minutes haha |