The Jester wrote:
About Peter Hammill: As far as I understood, he is a very big fan of Hammil and Van Der Graaf in general. I remember I included a couple of songs in that night's playlist from Hammill and VDGG, and he went nuts! So, it is rather logical to try somehow to sound like him, right? But in my opinion he does it in a very decent way. |
Sorry, but I have not found a "Spoiler" tag![Shocked Shocked](smileys/smiley3.gif)
Parmenter meets Hammill
Matthew Parmenter was the leader of the awesome progressive rock band Discipline,
who released two excellent studio albums during the 90s. After
Discipline split up, Matthew started a solo career that led to the
beautiful Astray in 2002. As recently Parmenter
started performing alone on stage with only acoustic guitar and piano,
many people noticed what was partly evident in Discipline effort as
well: a strong (though mostly unconscious) connection with VDGG and Peter Hammill’s
music. As Parmenter and Hammill will share the same bill at Gouveia Art
Festival in April, we asked Matthew some questions about his
relationship with VDGG and Hammill production…
How did the Hammill/VDGG connection come about? As I understand it was because of Anekdoten’s bass player Jan Erik Liljeström?
There is no real connection, of course. I have never met
Peter Hammill or any of the VDGG band. But in tiny print in the liner
notes of our Unfolded Like Staircase CD, I thanked Jan Erik
Liljeström for introducing me to ph and vdgg. I abbreviated ph and vdgg
as I have written here, thinking this abbreviation would be a cryptic
personal message to Jan Erik. I did not realize that others would
immediately decode this message. Some did not, in fact. One reviewer
interpreted the message as thanks for a particular chord progression,
which he guessed we’d lifted from our Swedish friends. But the cat’s out
of the bag now.
Prior to this written acknowledgment to Jan Erik, Anekdoten thought
that some of Discipline.’s songs sounded Van Der Graaf influenced. I did
not know VDGG or Peter Hammill’s music yet. Anekdoten all seemed
surprised, maybe even taken aback, by my ignorance. So Jan Erik
suggested several albums for me to hear. I thought so well of Anekdoten
that I started looking for the recordings he recommended.
What are your favourite PH/VDGG albums and why?
Godbluff was the first VDGG album that really spoke
to me. What a great album that is. It rocks so well. It feels
liberating and free, but also frustrated, trapped. By the time it rocks,
you crave it. So satisfying.
It typically takes me several listens to appreciate VDGG and
Hammill’s music. I cannot say why this is, but I have come to recognize
delayed appreciation as a common characteristic amongst the pieces I
love–no matter who is the composer or songwriter. The change in my
opinion, from disinterested to passionate adherent, reminds me that I
cannot always trust my instincts when it comes to art, and I am humbled
by the transformation. Is this delayed reaction something inherent in
Hammill’s music? No, for surely my reaction to the music is my own, just
as your reaction is your own. But clearly Hammill writes music that has
an appeal that I cannot always grasp at first. Hammill’s music changes
me somehow, teaches me something about the music I respond to. This is
why I feel so strongly about Hammill’s contribution to my recent life as
a listener. “…was blind but now I see.” You get the picture.
I have bought all the VDGG albums, and I particularly recommend Pawn Hearts and Still Life as well as Godbluff.
Peter Hammill’s prolific output has outpaced me, I must admit. I have
many albums by him, but not all of them. I do not copy CDs or download
free music from the Internet. It matters a lot when you listen to lesser
known artists to actually buy their music. (But perhaps I’m biased?) So
I have much to find by Hammill yet. I own Chameleon, Silent Corner, Future Now, PH7, Sitting Targets, Skin, Out of Water, Fall of the House of Usher (sans guitars), Roaring Forties, A Black Box (excellent), In a Foreign Town, X my heart, Everyone you Hold, This.
I think that is less than half of what he’s released. Since I am a dad I
listen to less rock in the car now, and that has slowed my acquisition.
I do not want to predispose my kids to the drums and such. (Though
somehow my five-year-old daughter has decided she likes Magma!) Also, a
friend loaned me Nadir’s Big Chance, which rocks.
Your song Between me and the end, included in the Astray album, could be a typical Hammill song… a mixture between In the End, The Lie & Stranger Still but of course with a very original feel and artistic contribution by yourself.
I was writing myself through a difficult and uncertain period in my life. Between me and the End
just sort of emerged. I hate to lead anyone to make an association
between my song and the work of others. I know this is where the
interview has gone, and “Yes,” I do love Mr. Hammill’s work. But
listeners should be able to reach conclusions through their own
associations and thinking, not mine. Comparison between songs,
particularly in print, steps close to a risky practice in musical
criticism, whereby the reviewer leads the reader by association with
other, more familiar pieces. Imagine if you had never heard Stravinsky’s
Firebird and you read a review comparing it to Debussy’s
“Afternoon of a Faun.” Do you see the danger? If you knew both pieces,
then maybe this is not so bad. But if you knew only the Debussy, how
would you come to the Firebird? Perhaps the reader has some
responsibility in this, too, so maybe it’s not such a big deal. See
Rilke’s “Letters to a Young Poet” for his views on this subject. And no,
I do not mean to compare my sparse, 3-minute, pretentious pop song to
the Firebird.
All that having been said, Between me and the end does have a
similar feel to some of the songs you mentioned. But those songs are
truly great. I’d rather not compare. I realize now that Hammill’s Stranger Still
that you named above is the song I always thought was called “Entropy”.
So thank you for that mental calibration. What a great melody in that
song, and he just sort of tosses it out casually.
Did you start playing sax after listening to VDGG or were you interested in that particular instrument before?
I had begun playing sax a few years before hearing VDGG.
When my band shared those shows with Anekdoten, I was playing a little
sax here and there. This was another reason Anekdoten thought our sound
resembled that of VDGG. I have not given this instrument enough time to
play it well, or even to play it consistently. Still, I can overdub sax
on a recording or fumble through on stage.
What about the 2005 VDGG reunion and new album Present? Was it something you were especially awaiting for?
Oh yes, definitely. And a great album it is! A real fusion
of Hammill’s later sound with the later band sound. (And that organ
entrance! …Gives you the chills. Like coming home).
The presence of the white makeup mask is definitely a landmark in your
artistic career. It’s not casual that the mask is featured in a very
prominent way on the new Discipline DVD cover, and on the Push & Profit cover
as well. What is your relation with the mask? Is the makeup mask still
the key for you to be less inhibited when on stage, or has just become a
distinctive part of your stage image?
I cannot explain what attracts me to the makeup. It is
childish. Perhaps I can hide behind some heavy intellectual BS and
provide an answer that will satisfy? No performance is truly sincere,
though the best performers would make us believe it was. We all care
deeply how we are perceived by others (and mark well the person who
claims otherwise). The performer portrays an idealized or otherwise
exaggerated presentation of self, and the audience, participant in the
spectacle dance, is either moved or not moved, taken in or suspicious.
So it goes with drama, politicos, and everyday life. It is good to see
the clown again. He is much greater and more terrible than I am. And in
my imagination, the paint concedes that the presentation is a hoax.
Sometimes blatant fakery poses a poetic, ironic contradiction whereby
its own manifest insincerity proves the more sincere. And furthermore, I
do not like, and would disassociate myself with, the weak, whimpering,
grotesque personas born out of these songs. Many have suggested I drop
the gimmick. And so in part I maintain it to spite the judgmental.
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