Phil Manzanera '6PM' - Wed 28th Jul
Phil Manzanera '6PM'
28 July 2004
Thanks to Phil Manzanera & Claire Singers, I have been given the opportunity to interview Phil Manzanera for vivaroxymusic.com
VRM
The album is called 6PM as this is your 6th album under the name Phil Manzanera but you have done so much other work outside Roxy Music under different band names and as a main collaborator with other artists. Do you see all your recorded work in equal terms or is the Roxy Music work or Phil Manzanera albums more important to you?
PM
I don't see making music in those terms. It's all about when the mood takes me, and when the time seems right..or the planets have aligned!
VRM
Was there an outline plan for this album at the offset in terms of direction and was the lack of any Spanish language on the album a conscious decision made early on.
PM
I had a collection of songs that I first started writing around the time of the Vozero release but they didn't make it on to the album. When it came to starting this album I revisited these songs, most still stayed where they were, on the backburner, but they did act as a starting point. I am working on a Spanish album with a Colombian friend and have been working on this in parallel with 6PM...old habits die hard.
VRM
I read recently an interview with Paul McCartney and he was asked how he fealt that no matter what he did as a solo artist his work would always be overshadowed by The Beatles. Do you think this is inevatible with any solo artist coming form a hugely influencial and successful band.
PM
From the start of Roxy, most of us had solo projects on the go. It was good to have the freedom to work with other musicians and to discover different musical journeys.
VRM
This is your first solo release since the 2001 Roxy Music re-union tour, how did that influence your approach to making this album?
PM
I enjoyed the tour and it was great working with the others, but I can't say it particularly influenced the making of 6PM...I've made over 40 albums now, my own, Roxy and producing other artists.
VRM
Other than Paul & Andy being on this album what did you take from the Roxy 2001 tour on to this album either consciously or subconsciously.
PM
I have no idea!
VRM
The re-union tour rekindled your working relationship with Paul Thompson whom you had not worked with on your solo albums since 1977, with all due respect to other drummers you had worked with, is this something you wish you had done before now?
PM
There's a time for everything, I never look back, am too busy on the present and the future....The Great Paul Thompson, that says it all. His drumming on 6PM is fantastic.
VRM
You also worked with Eno on this album for the first time on an album of yours since 1977, is this something that was carried forward from the recent Robert Wyatt album that you worked on with Eno at your new studio.
PM
The great thing is, that we might slip off each other's radar for a while, but when we do get back in touch..and yes that was triggered by Eno working on Robert's album at my studio, it seems that no time has elapsed.
VRM
How has Brian Eno's method of working with your music changed since the first two Roxy Music albums?
PM
It hasn't..he's still putting my sound through weird machines and producing ENOTONICS!
VRM
Andy MacKay's sound is unmistakeable on this album especially on Green Spiky Cactus, and Love Devotion, how do you put across to Andy and the other musicians what you want them to play or is there a unique chemistry there that you instinctively know what each other wants.
PM
It's instinctive..we know each other so well that it does just tend to
evolve. Andy has made a great contribution to the album.
VRM
Like the previous album Vozero you take on all the lead vocals, what was the inspiration behind that?
PM
I have something to say and I wanted to say it.
VRM
6PM is like Bryan Ferry's 'Mamouna' album in that there are 4 original Roxy Music members on the album but, like 'Mamouna', there are only 3 at the most on any one track. Did you actively consider how much of a reunion on record this album is?
PM
I never saw it like that, they are longstanding friends and great musicians.
VRM
'Wish You Well' is dedicated to your late friend and one time collaborator Ian MacDonald (MacCormick) Did you have the music for this track written at the time of his death then found the tragedy an inspiration to write the lyrics or was the song written completely when Ian died.
PM
I couldn't attend Ian's funeral as I was going on holiday with my daughters. I took a guitar with me and wrote the song, it was my way of saying goodbye and paying tribute to Ian.
VRM
The Cissbury Ring seems like a concept piece where the tracks segue together not only track by track on the CD but like a journey geographicaly around that part of England, was this the intention.
PM
It was, and it seems to work
VRM
Has that part of England got any particular significance to you?
PM
Cissbury Ring is a place on the South Down where I have enjoyed some great walks, in all weathers: it is the site of an iron age fort.
VRM
If I can talk about the Roxy Reunion tour for a bit, at what point at the first show in Dublin did you think 'yes, this is working, it was the right decision to reform for this tour'?
PM
There was never any doubt in my mind that the tour would be musically a great success...the sounds coming from the rehearsal room were great, really strong.
VRM
Roxy performed 22 songs in total from their 80+ canon, where there any
others rehearsed for the tour and which ones?
PM
Can't remember.....
VRM
The one question I know all the Roxy Music fans who are reading this want me to ask is will Roxy Music record a 9th studio album?
PM
My standard answer to this is, yes, great, let's do it.
VRM
Do you have any material written that you would like to give to Bryan Ferry to complete and use in the 9th Roxy Music album?
PM
We all have lots of material.
VRM
The Phil Manzanera back catalouge is on sale at www.mazanera.com as well as signed copies of 6PM, other than this what fundimantal changes has the internet made to you as a musician.
PM
I'm a great fan of the freedom and access the internet can give to musicians
VRM
Will there be any live shows in support of this album?
PM
No live dates this year
VRM
In some of the interviews/reviews of '6PM' it is said that there is material left over from this album that you plan to release. When will we see that material and do you have any left over material from previous projects still to be released.
PM
Yes I do, but I don't know when they will be released.
VRM
What are your outline plans for the future?
PM
To go on holiday!
VRM
On behalf of the many thousands of fans who read vivaroxymusic.com every week, we are eternaly grateful for you taking the time to answer these questions.
PM
Thank you.