Here, the conversation continues with that Psychedelic Warlords project, already discussed, and its upcoming tour which will recreate the classic live 70s Hawkwind album "Space Ritual Alive".
And then we turn to Alan's latest album and other things....
GI- For many fans, the main 'point' about the Space Ritual album is the extensive riffing by Lemmy and Dave Brock. One can barely hear Nik Turner on the album. Will this project have that same sort of structural focus?
AD- Yeah, Vince the guitarist and I work well together on stage so we can jam out and get back to the song structure with a wink or a nod. Being tight and loose at the same time is essential for the Space Ritual show and the true spirit in which this sort of music should be approached, not endlessly rehearsed, that just kills it!
GI- Will the Psychedelic Warlords band do other albums on other tours in the future?
AD- Yeah, got lotsa plans for some very special shows coming up, some unexpected ones too!
GI- Turning now to your album "Cyber Tooth"....
It's a concept album about computer viruses? On listening, I thought it seemed to be more about people than about machines.
AD- Yeah, people, computers and viruses is what it's about not just virises so I'm glad that comes across and not just the virus part.
AD- Not at all, it's in my blood, eh! I don't honestly know what pigeon hole I'm in though! I felt like experimenting with Cyber Tooth and tried some different approaches using some new VST plug ins I acquired for my studio program and I'm very pleased with the outcome. I've had many kind messages from fans about it and quite a few have said its my best album so far! ;-)
GI- I have a kind of a mental image of you at your computer one day, and it crashes... and instead of screaming curses at it, you sit down and write an album about computer problems! I guess it wasn't really quite like that? How did it all start?
AD- Not really but a good guess! My friend Kevin Sommers who does my album designing works for Intel as the "new processor design glitch sorter outta" ;-) I don't know the official title but we were talking about viruses and the interesting names some of them have and what they specifically target. Like Bootkiller for instance. So that's what triggered the whole concept.
I started researching and got sucked in, then a light bulb / dyslexic moment, the name Cyber Tooth (Sabre Tooth Tiger) came to mind out of nowhere which was great, 'cause I'd been trying to come up with a new name for a new computer virus as an album title. A eureka moment..!! ;-)
GI- The feel of it, I have the feeling it's not intended to be a vehicle for furthering your "bass monster" reputation?
AD- No and ya right, but I wanted to experiment with Cyber Tooth as I said and Bass Monstering wouldn't work with most of the songs on it. It's a nice sit back, relax and get taken on a journey album. I have 2 maybe 3 sides musically, I like loud heavy bassing but also like playing mellow, atmospheric stuff too.
GI- I've seen some of your Twitter "tweets" and notice you don't use it like some people do... who almost tell everyone what they've had for breakfast that day! Are you much of a fan of Facebook and "social media" stuff like that?
AD- I hate twitter actually, I can't seem to work out how to use it, Most things are easy, I may delete my twitter accounts soon. Facebook is much better, still a pain sometimes but much easier to use than twitter which is seeming more and more pointless by the day! FB is a good way for fans to get directly in touch with me and me with them which is cool.
GI- I've heard you are (or were) working with [former Hawkwind vocalist] Bridget Wishart on a project called "Djinn" [pronounced 'gin']. Can you tell us a bit about that...
AD- Bridget and I like Arabic music alot so we decided to do an album together of Arabic scaled songs. I'd send some music to her and she'd write the lyrics and put the vocals on and she is fantastic on it.! She came up with some brilliant vocal parts, inspiring they are! If ya didn't know Djinn is the Arabic word for Genie hence the album title, Last Wish!
She also plays some EWI on it, it's a midi blown instrument and sounds pretty wild when in Bridget's mouth! Ohhhhhh...... Thats doesnt sound good eh, an "oooohhhh matron" moment comes to mind! ;-) Anyway, we've had great feedback so far for it and we will do another album together I'm sure, time allowing, she's very easy to work with is our Bridget ;-)
GI- If someone were updating your biog, what bands would you say you're currently a member of, or still working with?
AD- The Psychedelic Warlords, Gunslinger (Which is on sabbatical this year ) and The Meads of Aspodel with whom I did bass for their new album recently. I did the bass for the new Pre-Med album recently also but I won't be playing live with PreMed - maybe one day with The Meads though, I hope. That'd be a blast!
GI- And what are you currently working on?
AD- I'm working on Vol.2 of my Al Chemicals Lysergic Orchestra series which is way out psychedelic stuff. This one will be based on Death Valley and the places there I've been to. It's like a different planet, very inspiring as a writer/artist. For instance one song is called Bad Water, a place of saline, toxic water and miles of salt flats. It can be very hot, 54 degrees [130° Fahrenheit] when I was there in Sept 2012! My artist Kevin sings on this Bad Water song and plays his Naval on it; trumpet too.
[and Gonzo's hoping to arrange what would effectively be a 'part 3' to this interview.]
All info and news about all my albums and projects can be found on
www.alandaveymusic.com
Cheers for having me and enjoy Cyber Tooth, AD
And cybertooth is currently available here:
CybertoothSCD - £9.99
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