| 1. Guys, thank you so much for taking time out of this hectic touring schedule to be my guests here! I truly believe that The CGT are the hardest working Men in show business right now! You have just kicked off yet another grueling road trek that is going to present some long nights driving and very little time for anything else, much less sleep. As the years go by, I know the traveling probably never gets easier, especially with Your growing popularity and fan base, but is it still a thrill to get up on the stage every night to perform? Bert: When the music takes over, it is thrilling. Those moments are rare, but they keep us going, and make it all worthwhile: long hours in the back of a van, weeks of fast food, smelly backstages, greedy clubowners who don't give a damn, separation from our loved ones. 2. It is hard to believe that the CGT has been together for eleven years now even though the three of You actually were performing together even earlier in Robert Fripp's LOCG. How many students were there in your original Guitar Craft class and how did the three of You make that connection to carry on after Guitar Craft? Paul: Hey pal, your trying to pass two questions off as one here! The answer to the first question is: There were about 35 people on my Level One Guitar Craft course. The answer to the second question: Make what connection? It is difficult to pin down exactly what drew Bert, Hideyo and I together. One of the common interests we shared in the beginning was a love for Classical music. I remember hearing Bert practicing some Bach on one of our days off at the Red Lion House in England. I really loved hearing that music, and enjoyed Bert’s playing, perhaps this was one of the moments that lead to the formation of the CGT. 3. It must have been surreal to come from such varied backgrounds and then to be accepted into Guitar Craft. Were there any special pre-requisites that you had to fulfill in order to be accepted in? What was a typical day like in Guitar Craft for yourselves? Bert: It wasn't surreal. It was intense and wonderful. We were asked not to play our guitar for a week prior to the course, have a healthy skeptiscism towards what's going on, and to abstain from drugs. Here is a few impressions from typical Guitar Craft days: -I took the ferry from Ostend to Dover and drive to the GC house at night, in my Citroen 2 CV. The full moon shines over the hills in Wiltshire...I'm in awe. -How I returned from Dover, drove off the ferry, arrived at home to find out that the ferry sunk on the way back. -The unforgettable sound of the guitars during our first meeting in the ballroom. -Robert answering questions from the audience during the LOCG in Holland. One person asked: "Is this Music?" -The morning sittings in silence. My nose is running. -The sound of pelted almonds and peanuts on a darkened stage, somewhere in Texas. --Sharing a small room with five other guys in the winter. The Americans want the windows closed,the Europeans want it open. One guy is snoring and nobody gets any sleep. -Hideyo coming back from the pub, on an evening off, stumbling into the room, falling over his suitcase, cursing in Japanese. -We are in Berlin in Martin's old Mercedes, on our way to a performance for mentally disabled people. Five Italians and one Belgian in the car. We get lost, try to pull a U-turn, and get pulled over by the secret police. Paolo Marcon, the driver rolls down the window and says:"Gute Morgen!". Davide and I are dying with laughter on the backseat. -Playing with gloves and scarfs in a freezing church during the Winter Project in East Germany in '96. The audience has buttwarmers. 4. I remember vividly seeing the CGT live for the first time in Cincinnati opening for King Crimson back in 1995 and I still remember how this large crowd that was waiting to hear a blistering set from King Crimson didnt know how to react when the CGT began their set but by the time your set was finished, you had the whole audience captivated and You had a great reaction from us all. Did it always seem to be an uphill battle like that where you had to fight the tough crowds to eventually gain acceptance? Paul: No. During our tour with Crimson, every night was very different. Some nights felt indeed like an uphill battle, and others a little more like smooth sailing. As the tour progressed, In general audiences became more aware and more supportive of us, but I recall our first show in the USA with Crimson, in Buffalo NY. We walked out onstage and some guy yelled: “Play one song, and get off!” By the end of our set they were on their feet cheering for more. That show you saw in Cincinnati was a very good show. We recorded that night and made a CD out of it called: “An Opening Act: On tour with King Crimson” 5. Watching you guys live is a real treat because I think it is great watching the interaction and the visual cues and all of the other little intricacies that come together for such precision playing. I always wondered how the parts were worked out for different songs. For example, it seemed like Hideyo played most of the bass line parts, Bert seemed to play most of the higher end stuff, and Paul played most of the middle keyed parts. Do different arrangements have different assignments between the band, so to speak? Bert: Each of us has his own voice, stemming from personal taste and cultural background: Hideyo(Japan) was initially influenced by the Ventures. Paul(USA) has his roots in rock music, I(Europe) have a classical training. We strive to grow from there and to go somewhere we haven't been before. But the focus is always on the piece of music, as a whole, not on the different parts. 6. Paul, at your last show in Louisville at the Rudyard Kipling, you were telling us all a story of how CGT had been commissioned by Coca-Cola to write and perform some jingles and it was dropped at the last second by them. Your music is being used by The Weather Channel, ESPN, and so many other people right now, I was wondering how profitable it is for the band whenever your music is used like that? Paul: Profitability is a very hard thing to determine as a musician. If we tried to calculate an hourly wage for the actual time put into some of these projects, we’d be way, way below minimum wage! Actually these licensing deals have been a blessing, and helped us to finance other projects, such as the recording of the Christmas Album. Even Coca-Cola paid us a fee for our submission, even though they didn’t use it. 7. At that same Rudyard Kipling show, I bought the "Live at the Key Club" album in which the CGT is joined by Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto which is one of my favorite CDs I own now. I found that all of your original compositions for the CGT were adapted very well with drums and bass and it seemed to be a very natural formula. How smooth of a transition is it for the band when other components like drums and bass are added to the CGT sound? Bert: It took us three rehearsal days, two short tours, and a week in the studio to arrive where we are now. We just started. 8. I have done recent interviews with Pat and Tony since then where I have asked them about playing with the CGT and they have been raving about the material that you recently recorded together in the studio. They said it will be like nothing that CGT fans have ever heard before, so I am going straight to the source here and asking you guys what the new album is going to be like! Paul: It is like nothing that CGT fans have ever heard before…at least a big portion of it. We did re-record a few CGT classics with Tony and Pat, but a large part of the album is improvisations that we did in the studio, that do in fact sound like nothing we have done before. At times I can’t even tell that it’s us. 9. Are there any tentative plans to tour with Pat and Tony to support the new album when it is released? Bert: Pat and Tony's schedule permitting, we will tour with CG3+2, in support of the new CD. Pat is working with King Crimson a lot, and Tony is currently touring with his own band. Both of them have told us that they are very excited to tour again soon. 10. I always thought that an interesting collaboration would be the CGT with Adrian Belew on electric guitar & ebow. Has that ever been a consideration for either party or even casually tried in rehearsals? Paul: Hey man, your asking two questions as one again: Question 1. Consideration? You’ll have to ask Adrian for his answer on this, but as for the CGT: Several Years ago, the CGT was considering having Adrian produce a new album for us. I called and spoke to Adrian about this and he seemed open to the idea. But then the CGT got side tracked by recording all these recent live albums, and never ended up doing the studio album with Adrian. Who knows what the future holds? Hey, we are driving right near Adrian’s house in Nashville as I type this answer, maybe I’ll give him a call! Question 2. Tried in Rehearsals? No, We have never had the opportunity to play with Adrian, although I got to hear him play almost every night for a year and a half while on tour with Crimson, over 130 concerts. Wow! That guy is good. I love Adrian Belew! 11. What is on the agenda for the CGT once the spring tour has ended? End of June we will do a short European tour, in Holland and Italy. This coincides with a concert of Orchestral Soundscapes on 29 June, by the Metropole Orchestra in Amsterdam. I transcribed RF's Soundscapes, and Andrew keeling arranged them for orchestra. Schedules of Pat and Tony permitting, we may go on tour with CG3+2 in September. In November we will do a CGT tour to promote our Christmas CD. 12. Guys, I want to thank You so much for lending your valuable time to this interview and wish you all the continued luck in the future. In closing here, I wanted to ask each of you what the most important ingredient has been for You to achieve musical happiness and freedom? Paul: Happiness is a warm gun…No, that’s not it. Happiness is love, and love is God and Clapton is God…Sorry, that’s not it either. I think it goes like this: God is Love, Love is Blind, Ray Charles is Blind; therefore Ray Charles must be God (I read that on a Bathroom wall somewhere earlier on the tour). Actually, I think the most important ingredient is Iridium. Hideyo: I have not achieved musical happiness and freedom yet. So, there is no answer for this question. Bert: Coffee. |
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| The California Guitar Trio Interview! |
| In a direct quote preface from Paul Richards when he sent these answers back to Me : " The CGT answered these questions while riding in the tour van during a very long drive from Frederick, Maryland to Dallas, TX. By the time we got to the final questions, our brains had turned to mush after sitting in the van for two days." These are the words of a real group of road warriors, the California Guitar Trio. This extremely talented pool of guitarists features Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah , Bert Lams of Brussels, Belgium, and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo, Japan. The three met while enrolled into Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft seminars in 1991 and afterwards shared a great musical bond that allowed them to start exploring their varied musical backgrounds to form the perfect musical beast. The Trio has since been touring endlessly for the last 11 years and are watching their fanbase grow faster and bigger every day. The Trio took time out of their frenzied road trip of their latest tour to answer my questions. My sincerest thanks goes to the CGT! |
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