Hello
Martin! It is great to finally make this interview for Grande Rock!! Your
latest album made quite an impact to all of us here at the site. But to be
honest the DVD was beyond expectations! Everything an IQ fan (like myself)
could dream of… The first question is obvious: How come you decided to release
this anniversary show now, 3-4 years after its original recording??
M: There wasn’t a choice! To make a DVD to the standard of IQ20 involves a great deal of work, and all of our band and crew are only part-timers that can only work on band projects at weekends. Although a band on a major label could have got the DVD out sooner, it probably would not have had anything like the care and attention that was lavished on IQ20 by Mike Holmes and Dene Wilby, and it’s a better package for it. Because IQ is not our full-time profession, things take a little longer to happen, but they are generally worth the wait.
Since this is the 20th anniversary DVD, would you like to tell us how you feel, personally and for IQ, after 20 years around?
M: IQ is stronger and more popular now than ever before, and it’s very satisfying to see the band now being regarded by many as one of the cornerstones of progressive rock.
How would you characterize those 20 years in a few words???
M: It takes 20 years (at least) to be an overnight success!
Has there been a time when you thought you would disband the group?? I’m asking because I know that IQ road has not been paved with roses…
M: Every year, and sometimes several times a year. We never have though.
Could you highlight the best and the worst memory of those 20 years???
M: No, far too much has happened in that time to single anything out in particular. Most of our experiences haven’t been really good or really bad – they’ve been somewhere in the middle. We’ve not enjoyed runaway success or endured complete obscurity.
Let’s get to the context of the DVD. I find that the playlist is complete. How difficult was it to assemble it???
M: You would have to ask Mike Holmes about that as he did most of the authoring of the DVD. The IQ20 DVD originally started out as a home movie made by Dene Wilby, the guy who runs the official IQ website. When Dene showed us the footage it was just so good we had to release it. Dene filmed the whole show and much of the extra footage included in the extras is his too.
IQ do not tour extensively. First of all why?
M: Basically we don’t want to. We’re not full-time musicians and we all have day-jobs outside of music that keep us busy from Monday to Friday every week. The last thing we want to do is work for five days and then spend every weekend working on IQ. Working seven days a week isn’t good for anyone (especially those band members that have children to bring up) so, we restrict the band activities to just a few weekends per year. The band is great but it isn’t the most important thing in our lives and that’s how it should be. From what I can see, many full-time rock musicians are sad, lonely people, forever traveling and living out of hotel rooms. It’s not a lifestyle I would wish for.
... Secondly and consequently I (among many others) didn’t have the chance to see Peter’s amazing performance. I liked the make-up which reminded me a lot of Genesis. Judging from the way he sings, he must be largely influenced by Gabriel, right??
M: You would have to ask Peter about that. However I think it’s true to say that generally the Genesis/IQ comparison is a bit over-played. Peter came through drama school and trained to be an actor, so his visual presentation comes from a long theatrical tradition dating back to ancient Greece rather than any particular attempt to copy Genesis. Pete actually only wore make-up on stage in the very early days of IQ and the 20th anniversary show has been the only occasion in recent times that he did so again, this time purely to reflect the band’s history.
Was it hard to find the x-members participating in the special show??
M: We’ve always kept in touch with Tim Esau, so he was fine about participating. It would have been nice to get Paul Menel as well, but he has not maintained contact with the band. Another ex-member, Carmine Brudenell who used to be a dancer in the early days was actually at the show but we couldn’t tempt her onstage! The only other possible was our original drummer Mark Ridout, but I think he’s living in the USA now.
Tony Wright and his sax add a lot to the sound. Have you ever thought of having a sax player as a full time member, upgrading thus the role of the instrument to your music?
M: Tony is a superb musician, but there simply isn’t enough for him to do to justify him being involved in the band full-time. Saxophone is great in IQ occasionally but it’s not an integral part of the IQ sound.
The production of the show must have been expensive with the projections behind you and the various effects. Is this how a “normal” IQ live is, or was it only made so for the anniversary show?
M: This is how a “Normal” IQ gig is (actually it’s even more impressive now as we currently use three projection screens), and yes it is incredibly expensive, especially for a band that does not have major funding from big business.
Since you are one of the founding members of the band can you tell me why did you call the band IQ?
M: Mike and I wrote down some suggestions for band names and I think IQ was the one we disliked the least! I seem to remember it originally came from a Psychology book that Mike was reading as part of his college studies at the time.
Let us get a bit back to the last studio album of yours, “Dark Matter”. Has it met the expectations thus far?
M: Yes it’s been widely acclaimed as our best album.
I think it is a “difficult” album. I consider myself familiar with your music and sound. Nevertheless it took me some time to really get into the album. What do you think??
M: The best albums generally are the ones that take a while to get into. If you listen to an album and it registers immediately then there probably isn’t much else left to discover in it. There are always things to find in IQ albums mainly because of the weird way we write and arrange things.
The album gives me the impression that you no longer care (don’t really know if you ever did) about what critics and generally the others might say about your music. It seems as if you compose in a really independent way...
M: We couldn’t care less what the critics think – we don’t rely on writing music to make a living so why should we? This time we really wanted to make a “classic” prog rock album, so the style is deliberately and quite unashamedly old-fashioned. Strangely enough, the critics (and especially those that don’t normally like IQ) loved it.
Do you think that this kind of “dark” prog rock you play can have an impact in today’s music industry?
M: Well obviously it does, otherwise we wouldn’t have sold any copies of the CD or got any reviews in the big music magazines! However we’ve got our own little music industry now, so what the rest of the business thinks of us isn’t important.
I bet that “Dark Matter” went better sales-wise, once it had better distribution. Is that right??
M: Dark Matter sold better than some of our other albums because people liked it more – it’s got nothing to do with distribution. Our distribution set-up is the same now as it was for previous albums.
By the way, you must be aware that fans can hardly find your oldest works. Are there any plans for re-releases??
M: There is no need at all for re-releases as all our CDs are still very much available. The problem is getting record stores to actually buy them in and put them on the shelves. We have an excellent distribution network and all the stores know where they can get our CDs if they can be bothered. However it’s better if people buy CDs from our own website as all the money from those sales goes straight into our own organization and helps to keep everything going.
So, what are the future plans of the band?
M: We’re currently rehearsing with our new drummer Andy Edwards and then we’re off to play some shows in the USA, Canada and Germany over the summer. Then we’ve got a few dates in the UK and Europe, and maybe we’ll think about a new album next year.
How far do you think that you can go with IQ?
M: That’s up to the people that buy (or don’t buy!) our CDs.
And some weird Questions now!!! Which kind of rock music do you prefer the most?
M: I don’t really listen to rock music. In fact I very rarely listen to anything unless it’s something I’m working on. I like music, but because I know how it works I’m not fascinated by it anymore and I haven’t been for probably 25 years.
If IQ’s carrier was a movie, which movie would it be?
M: Something dark and nasty probably.
Do you believe that internet has helped the bands to become more popular or has caused many problems?
M: The Internet is generally good for us as it’s an easy way for people to buy our CDs without having to search through loads of record shops. I’m not crazy about people downloading music from the Internet, but fortunately that hasn’t affected us too badly so far.
Which band do you consider that can take a leading part in metal music in the future?
M: I know nothing about the current state of metal whatsoever. Never listen to it and don’t know anything about it.
Which are the things that piss you off from today’s music industry?
M: Nothing – I don’t have anything to do with the music industry. They don’t bother me and I don’t bother them.
Which is the most overrated band today?
M: Probably Radiohead –I just don’t see anything special there. Going back a bit I could never understand what people saw in Nirvana.
If you were obliged to give just one album to extraterrestrials that which would represent the whole human music… which album would it be and from which band?
M: It would be a compilation of the works of J.S.Bach. I don’t think music has ever been done with more skill and ingenuity.
How do you imagine that the music world could be, one thousand years from now? And why?
M: I imagine that everyone will have become very tired of music by then so, it will probably only exists as a minority appeal thing if indeed it still exists at all. There are after all only so many things you can do with the 12 notes of a chromatic scale.
Do you consider yourself a rock star?
M: Certainly not.
Imagine that your wife is selling your whole album-collection just to buy for herself an expensive ring. How would you react? J
M: I would think she had gone completely mad if she wanted to buy a ring – not her style at all. If she wanted to buy something like a motor-caravan I would not be even slightly surprised, and I would gladly offer my record collection in part-exchange. I don’t have a large music collection anyway, and what I do have very rarely gets played so I wouldn’t miss it.
Well, Martin… Thx for your response…and above all thank you for the music!
by Alex Savatianos