TEE "The Earth Explorer"

TEE is a five piece flute front progressive rock band from Tokyo, Japan. Their so-called 'European' sound is unique considering their far-east origin. The imaginative tunes with complex ensembles and rhythms will definitely catch the attention of prog lovers all over the world. Their sound will remind you bands like Camel, King Crimson, Asia Minor or even Frank Zappa on some parts. The band was formed in 2004 when... more

Shawn PHILLIPS

At the kick off of his 2010 tour Shawn Phillips sat with us at a 24 hour diner in Davenport, IA to grant us a very special interview. At his insistence, it would be very informal. One should not expect otherwise from this splendid human being.

The hours prior to this meeting over midnight breakfast were now a recent memory, but...more

You may not know his name but you have definitely heard his music more than once or twice in your life. Maybe on HBO, or on MTV, or on VH1, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel. Doesn't ring the bell? How about American Idol Rewind, or Dr. 90210? We had interviewed Kevin Bartlett a couple of years ago when his second solo album GLOW IN THE DARK was released. Bartlett has been quiet since that time but but he has been secretly brewing new projects. A few months ago he had put a new song...more

Peter Hammill, founding member of Van Der Graaf Generator, released his 28th solo album " nearly 3 months ago. He recently got back home from a short tour covering North America, Canada and Italy. In the 70's when bands like...more

FRIGHT PIG Barque At The Lune *** REVERSAL OF GRAVITY Scuba Gear ***

Interview with KEVIN BARTLETT by Hande BURDG

You may not know his name but you have definitely heard his music more than once or twice in your life. Maybe on HBO, or on MTV, or on VH1, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel. Doesn't ring the bell? How about American Idol Rewind, or Dr. 90210? We had interviewed Kevin Bartlett a couple of years ago when his second solo album GLOW IN THE DARK was released. Bartlett has been quiet since that time but he has been secretly brewing new projects. A few months ago he had put a new song up on his myspace player titled "Car With No Wheels" and he had a little surprise. Not only was he about to release a rock album, he was also singing. He finally released the EP a few weeks ago. It's called "Songs For The Big Kablooey" and it is literally rocking!

TPF: First off, congratulations on the release of your EP! It is currently only available in digital format, will there be a physical product as well or will it remain digital only?

KB: Hello Hande. Thank you, it's nice to be back here in the friendly confines of The Prog Files.....kinda like home. Most likely by the time this goes to "print" the hard copy CD (ep) will be available at CDBABY. The digital download version was just a quicker way to get it out there without the manufacturing and delivery lag time. Actually the entire EP idea was to have something out in the world so I could take advantage of some radio airplay offers. They usually won't play anything unless the public has some kind of access to it. I've never done an EP before as it's kind of an incomplete thought , if you will. The remainder is written and for the most part recorded and I intend to have the "proper" version out this fall. I look at the EP as more of a promotional vehicle and there's a very limited run on them. Perhaps a collector's item more than a product. Most are being sent to radio and press.

TPF: "Songs For The Big Kablooey" is very different from everything else you released before. This is more like a Bowie meets Rolling Stones kind of rock album. Why did you want to release a rock album?

KB: Different on many levels to be sure. First off there's lyrics and I'm singing which I guess goes to your next question. As a recording artist, people know my instrumental work for the most part, but my musical life has always been pretty diverse. I've spent most my life in "rock" bands, some pretty progressive and underground and some pretty in your face raucous and energized. I produce a fair amount of people too, as well as my soundtrack and commercial work, so there's this whole world that has little to do with what I've released under my name as a solo artist. Basically I love songs, and while I've always written them or collaborated on them just never thought to perform them myself. I probably secretly wanted to, but regarded that as more of a hobby than the music I work at as a composer or producer.

As far as the Bowie/Stones comparison, I guess I can't disagree, but you're hearing 5 out of 12 or so songs, and as this was meant more for radio promo, these are the more single orientated tunes. I'm also getting Pink Floyd comments, Marc Bolan and Lou Reed too! I'm trying like hell to sound like myself and probably do, but comparisons are a necessary evil I suppose. There are a couple of songs that I'm sure will evoke Peter Hammill and a couple that sound like they're off Rubber Soul. I guess you'll hear that when it's all done. More variety in the larger package.

TPF: We see another side of you as a musician we didn't know before. You actually sing! And you sound great by the way... Were you singing before?

KB: Here we go... this is quite the can of worms here. First off thank you for the kind words and I suppose the compliments and accolades I'm beginning to get in that arena, will forever surprise and tickle me. I've never sung before! Yup... too afraid, self-conscious, whatever, combined with the fact I hated the sound of my voice (which I'm learning is a common thing amongst singers). The neurosis club. I would occasionally sing back up or be forced into demoing a jingle, but no, never my thing. Again secretly always wanting to, but just not something I did.

The back story here is that I had written and recorded some roughs back in 2001. I had just purchased a new guitar effects unit and was so blown away by some of the sounds I was getting, I thought I just have to get this recorded. I had a few choice riffs and whatnot, so I laid down a drum beat and a bass part and just started playing my heart out. I ran the takes back and for some reason started singing to them. It was loud and raw and simple, but had a great energy. I put them away, but before the night was over I had 5 pretty completed songs. No thought out lyric really, just what popped into my head in one take. A fun exercise, nothing else. Probably 2 years later a friend of mine was really interested in hearing them and asked if I would send him a dub. He was probably the only person I felt comfortable enough to share this late night rambling with, mostly because of our mutual psychoanalytic explorations and history. The stuff I was "singing" was very primal, angst ridden nonsense that seemed to be a part of our current conversations, so off they went. He called a few days later raving that I was "mining gold"! He told me to stop what I was doing and work on those songs. Of course I was just finishing and releasing Near-Life Experience and all my attention was on that record. In hindsight I probably should have taken his advice, but that wasn't where I was at back then. So they sat for years and once in a great while I'd be brave enough or high enough to let someone have a brief listen. Usually I'd have to leave the room or just cringe until it was over.

About 3 or so years ago, my girl, Susan (Susan Barnett)was treated to a private listening and she actually and amazingly had favorites and wanted a copy and sang along and just seemed to love them. Now she has some pretty eclectic musical tastes, which always delights me. I turned her on to Peter Hammill and now she has favorites and sings along and so it goes. So when I decided just last year that I wanted to record some "songs" after the labor of Glow In The Dark, I knew I had 2 whole fans, which was probably enough. Also it is SO MUCH FUN to turn up a guitar and just go for it. "Fun" was never part of the composition equation on the heavily orchestrated works. Enjoyment and satisfaction and all that, but maybe not just pure fun. I dusted off the old tracks and found 2 keepers. One is on the EP and one will be on the full length. Having built a new studio as well gave me a second crack at them to bring them up to my current production standards. All of a sudden I just started writing like crazy. Songs had become this new playground and of course everything I wanted to say I could come out and say without it being couched in the lofty and interpretive world of the instrumental works. Of course now you're standing there naked and vulnerable and in a way more responsible for your thoughts. And being an opinionated bore this was all just perfect! But once I started recording "for real" it got very challenging, very fast. I still hated my voice and I still didn't come easy to sharing it. Bit by bit I discovered a new instrument and eventually just said "fuck it". This is all I've got right now, so here ya go. It always amazes me how little the fears get once you hang out with them.

TPF: You always have very interesting album titles like "Near Life Experience" or "Glow In The Dark" and now "Songs For The Big Kablooey". How did you come up with the most recent title? What is the story behind Kablooey?

KB: Well Chauncey Saucer may survive 2012 but I'm not so sure about the rest of us. :) The original title was always going to be "He Was Always Such a Quiet Boy". Ya know you always hear that from the neighbors of Jeffery Dohmer or some idiot who blew up his High School. Also originally I wasn't going to release this under my name. I had a character called Johnny Gofuckyerself and he seemed perfect for the straight ahead 3 chord rock and roll. It was all angry and punky at the start.

As I really started writing, it began to get rather introspective and more complex sonically and pretty soon Johnny was out of a gig. I was owning this stuff in a whole new way. The material thusly, was becoming more and more personal. In our last interview I spent some time talking about this whole 2012 thing and that I thought and hoped it represented an end of a type of consciousness (and the beginning of a new one) more than a physical ending which would be a Big Kablooey of some sort. For our new consciousness to take hold we really need to blow up or dismantle this outmoded, fear riddled one. Not just globally, but personally. That takes a shit load of serious questioning and will. Lyrically I'm trying to expose and recognize myself to myself in hopes of being clear enough about the mechanisms, how they work and just how capable am I to practice what I preach. A cosmic gut-check if you will. It ain't pretty but it is rewarding. So these are songs for my personal kablooey and dismantling and willingness to cop to it all, but they're universal in that, don't we all have to get serious about who and where we are and who and what we're going to be... globally and personally. It's not all self flagellating, self indulgence. there's still some sex, drugs and rock n' roll goin' on, and you can still hum along as you watch the end of the world.

TPF: Your lyrics are very interesting as well. The most intriguing thing about them is that they observe the little details of an everyday situation or a person. Do you observe people and things a lot?

KB: I wish I had an example or knew just what you were referring to, but yeah. That's what I do . If I'm not so wrapped up in observing myself, I'm observing everything else. Gotta take stock of the surroundings constantly to figure out where we are as a planet, a people, an organism. Where I fit, where you fit, if I fit or if you fit and the days where you don't want to even begin to fit. Our realities are private little universes constantly reading sensory feedback and filtering that through past experiences and always trying to gauge the present moment.

It's a nightmare of a way to exist, but it's what we do. We should all probably breathe more and worry less. I also think the more honest you can be with yourself, the less most of that crap matters to you, so I try and write it down and shout it out. Kind of like scary vitamins. I love writing and that's where these songs start. I'm saying what I'm saying as opposed to the instrumental music where I know what I'm saying but how could anyone else possibly?

TPF: In our last interview a couple of years ago following the release of "Glow In The Dark" you were talking about a trilogy. Is it on the back burner for the time being or did you decide against it or is this the third album you were talking about? Your words were "There will be a third work in this saga of consciousness honing and soul-sifting. At this point it seems to feel much more universal than personal." You did not mention anything about style but you hinted that it would be very different.

KB: I really don't know the answer to that. This album certainly doesn't work in the traditional trilogy format. It's the bastard child at best. But I am realizing that the line between personal and universal is really blurred in our common experience. My hope is to write extremely personal stuff and have other people recognize themselves in that. I get that confirmation all the time from artists I listen to. We're all in this thing and our feelings don't really span that great of a spectrum. We all laugh, cry, hurt, get angry, love, experience sadness, joy, sorrow, elation, hopes, etc. How are we different besides the obvious cultural differences?

TPF: I know MACHAN TAYLOR did background vocals on this EP, and she sounds incredible by the way, are there any other musicians involved? For example, are the drums programmed or is there an actual drummer? It is hard to tell these days especially if it's done right...

KB: Yes, how lucky am I to get to work with Machan. She's coming back in to work on some more tunes. She's such a pro as well as this beautiful, supportive and magical presence in the studio. She's worked with Pink Floyd and Sting and now she gets to add me to her resume (big guffaw goes here).

On this first batch of songs I've also used Susan on Cool Thing and Dear in the Headlights. She'll come down late at night to hear the progress and I usually have some back up vocal part in my head that I want her to try and she'll just nail it. She's a writer, and a NPR broadcaster and will probably be the first to tell you she's not a singer. Certainly not professionally. But she sounds great on the tracks and so far is free. We'll have to see if that holds up once the royalty checks arrive. While Machan is the main voice with me and the insane wailing at the end of Cool Thing, Susan and her way cool daughter, Mary Kate are actually responsible for the beautiful breakdown harmonies in the middle of the song. On Hold You I originally had Kelly Bird do the backing tracks, but also wanted to try Machan while she was here on the same parts. The result was I used a little of each. They have such different ranges. I've been working with Kelly since 1991 when she joined the Happy Rhodes line-up. We've done hundreds of commercial spots together and I usually use her when I produce other people. She's a freakin' choir by her lonesome. I'm really lucky to have these girls around.

The drums are actually played by me triggering samples. I use Superior Drummer 2.0 which are actual recordings of real drums from the studios of Avatar, the Hit Factory and Alaire Studios. Before these rooms closed their doors some folks wanted to capture the sound of the spaces, which they did beautifully. they are not loops, I have to play them either from pads and triggers or from the keyboard. But being a closet drummer it comes pretty easily. So I guess I'm the actual drummer as I'm doing it all with my hands. there's an occasional loop here and there, but mostly it's SD2. On these songs I'm also trying to create a "band" sound, and the real drums go a long way towards that end.

TPF: The opening track "Cool Thing" is a killer dance song and it is different than the rest of the tracks. When I first heard it I thought it really needs an alternative clubber mix as well. Can you tell us a little bit about that song? Lyrics especially, who is it about, a specific person or a stereotype?

KB: A few people have singled out Cool Thing for a club remix. Probably will happen. I kind of don't want to give it away here as to what the song is about, suffice it to say while it sounds like I may be talking about a specific person, I am not. It's much bigger than that. It does seem to work on a few interpretive levels though as do I think all these songs do. There's always a "you" or an "I" but it's never really the obvious one.

TPF:Do you do your own mixing and mastering or do you prefer someone else handle it?

KB: I do my own engineering from start to finish. Especially the mixing, cause that's what I'm hearing in my head throughout the whole recording process and that's the version I'm trying to actualize. There are a lot of opinions that I hear about vocal placement and levels of certain things and some have been very helpful and a welcomed dose of objectivity. I refer to Susan most of the time as George as in Sir George Martin. She has great ears and usually a fine rationale as to what are better takes. I'm in the middle of the soup and sometimes what I love at night isn't all that interesting in the morning light. She's good for steering me back to essence over style and sometimes style over perfection. When it's all mixed I send it to Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital for mastering. He's able to hear the whole picture sonically and objectively and does final EQ and leveling and prep for pressing. Been with Toby since 1991 as well. Mastering is such an art that so many people are forgetting 'cause they bought some piece of software or a magic box. It's an art performed by artists and not for the weak of heart or the amateur.

TPF: If you are plannning a full CD release when will it be?

KB: I may have already answered this. YES YES YES! Pretty much as soon as I can send off the next batch to Dr. Mountain. Problem is that I keep writing new songs all the time and already have 12 that I need to whittle down to probably 7 to add to the current 5. How's that for math? Usually the new ones are more interesting or more exciting than the ones you're recording. The writing is the high here. The recording is the work. But I think I've selected the rest of them and will try not to write any more and finish my "homework".

TPF: You haven't played live in a while. Would you consider maybe getting a band together after this album?

KB: YES Again. This is so more readily available to perform live than the instrumental symphonic stuff. It's rock n' roll. Let's plug in and do it! There are a surprising number of mates who have expressed an interest in playing this stuff. Actually makes me feel like I might have something here. I mean you want your friends to like what you're doing, but for them to offer their unsolicited services is very confirming that you didn't write shit. Or maybe they just want to meet Machan?

So I have to finish things up, keep working radio and start rehearsing. Very excited to do this stuff live. Another new cliff to dive off as I've never sung a whole live show either. Should be interesting. I'm also including some of the material from the previous two records so it'll probably wind up being a pretty proggy evening.

TPF: The music industry is rapidly changing and now house concerts are becomming very popular. Would you consider doing house concerts?

KB: I've been rehearsing "my end" of things here with just an acoustic guitar and I'm quite happy with the results. I think the songs stand up as songs, so that's something I would consider doing 'cause I don't think anyone is going to want the full band in their living room. I also think the intimate nature of such a gig is cool.

TPF: And lastly, what is currently in your CD player?

KB: Sadly just tons of mixes of what I'm working on although just tonight I went out and bought a copy of Imogen Heap's Grammy winning "Ellipse". She won for best engineered rock album, and while I love Immi and her work, I got this to hear it technically at first. She turned me on to a microphone/preamp combo which I'm purchasing and I'm dying to hear how she's employed them. Such a geek...jeez!

TPF: Thank you Kevin for answering the questions!

You can purchase Kevin's albums on CD BABY and AMAZON.COM