Back from Space: Nik Turner Lands in America

“We’re having a jam and it’s really lovely weather!” says the warm, friendly voice of Nik Turner over the phone from the UK. The “jam” that Turner is referring to this evening involves Terry Ollis, Mick Slattery and Thomas Crimble – all former members of legendary Space Rock pioneers Hawkwind, and all guys who’ve made music with Turner at one time or another for decades. Together, these gents make up part of Space Ritual, just one of Turner’s numerous groups and projects. In addition to Space Ritual, there’s Nik Turner’s Fantastic Allstars, Outriders of Apocalypse, Project 9 and probably a few others by the time this article goes online. There’s also a film biography on Turner in the works (set for a 2015 release), as well as appearances on the Fusion Syndicate album project (with former Yes members Billy Sherwood and Rick Wakeman, among others) and William Shatner’s latest release, Ponder The Mystery. Quite an impressive schedule for a 73-year-old man who put out his first album with Hawkwind in 1970.
 

With the October 9 launch of an extensive US solo tour, Turner will be bringing his new album Space Gypsy to stateside fans who have appreciated every twist and turn of his esoteric career.

“I find the American audiences very nice,” he says. “I like them; they’re very friendly, and I’m very friendly with them. They enjoy themselves and we have very good communication together.”

Easily one of the year’s most adventurous and exciting releases, Space Gypsy boasts guest appearances from former Hawkwind keyboardist Simon House, Gong guitarist Steve Hillage, The UK Subs’ Nicky Garratt, Jurgen Engler of Die Krupps and Jeff Piccinini of Chelsea. The album’s many highlights include “Fallen Angel STS-51-L” and “Time Crypt” (see videos below). Space Gypsy is another career milestone from someone who, oddly enough, never really cared that much about having a career in the first place.

“I never thought about it, really,” Turner admits. “I always thought, ‘Oh, I’m really happy to be in a band and that people like what I do.’ It really has been gratifying, and I have a great respect for the audience. I just try to learn about music all the time. I never had any aspirations towards being successful at all. When [Hawkwind’s 1972 hit] ‘Silver Machine’ was successful, I thought, ‘Wonderful!’ (laughs) It was nothing I anticipated; I just thought it was nice being in a band playing music.”

Unfortunately, playing music often means dealing with business. At the time of this writing, Turner was involved in a trademark dispute with Hawkwind founder Dave Brock over the rights to the band’s name in the US. According to an October 4 press release by the current Hawkwind, the band decided to put their own US tour on ice. The announcement included the following statement: “Dave was taken ill a couple of weeks ago. Doctors have confirmed that his condition is stress related, aggravated by the trademark dispute in the United States which could result in years of litigation.” (A feature on Brock and his version of Hawkwind was in the works for this website at the time of the tour cancellation, and has been postponed until Brock’s re-scheduled jaunt hits America early next year.) With Turner’s show still on the road, this impartial writer asked him to elaborate on his position in the feud.

“Dave trademarked the name of ‘Hawkwind’ without, in my opinion, the permission of the people who actually own the name, which is all the people on the first recording contract, which was jointly and severally signed as Hawkwind,” he offers. “Then, my record company decided to trademark the name of ‘Hawkwind’ in America.

“I don’t like being involved in this sort of thing,” he adds. “It’s all sort of political. I’d just rather play music to people and make them happy and raise their spirits, raise their consciousness [and] raise their level of fun. People have a really good time because I have a really good time. I think that’s what it’s about, really. Exchanging energy, communication and entertaining each other.”

Above all, Turner stresses his desire to see all parties get along and get on with what’s important – music.

“I don’t have any enmity towards them; I wish them great success,” he says. “I would like to play with them, if they would invite me to play with them or if Dave Brock would come down and play at my gig. It would be very good. I very much want to proffer the olive branch of peace.”

Despite the headaches of working in the music industry, Turner still approaches his creative endeavors with enthusiasm and the desire to provide something truly special to listeners and audiences.

“Music is a very harmonizing thing,” he says. “I think it’s a gift to be able to play if people like it, and I’d like to share the gift. I like to try to make my music and my gigs healing experiences. Making people feel good and getting them dancing is a healing, cathartic thing, and I think that’s what motivates me.”

For tour dates and other information, please visit www.nikturner.com.






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Dave Ingram Takes Us Down Among the Dead Men

For nearly 25 years, Dave Ingram has stood as one of the definitive vocalists in Death Metal. Best known for his eight-year stint as frontman for Birmingham legends Benediction (replacing Napalm Death-bound singer Mark “Barney” Greenway in ’90) as well as his performance on Bolt Thrower’s 2001 album Honor-Valour-Pride, Ingram has spent recent times exploring the world of Internet radio with “Metal Breakfast Radio” (with co-host Donovan Spenceley) and the Swing/Big Band-oriented “Lambert’s Basement.” Now, he is ready for a new chapter in his musical life as frontman for Down Among The Dead Men.

A collaboration between Ingram and Rogga Johansson (Paganizer/ Fondlecorpse/ Ribspreader/ Humanity Delete/ The Grotesquery), Down Among The Dead Men are about to deliver one of the year’s most brutal albums with the November 22 release of their self-titled CD on Germany’s Cyclone Empire. From the Crust-Punk rage of “A Handful of Dust” and blast beat battering of “Bones of Contention” to the midtempo tantrum of “Venus Mantrap,” there is not a single note on this album that doesn’t go for the throat. It’s even more intense than Anselmo’s new record. Just think about that for a minute.

Like many of today’s musical outfits, Down Among The Dead Men was born out of social media.

“Rogga first wrote to me on Facebook asking if I would like to perform on a track for one of his personal projects he was doing,” Ingram recalls. “Being the curious type that I am, I went and looked him up online and found he owned a resumé of absolute immense proportions. I’d heard of - and was a fan of - many of the bands/projects he had been involved in, so I heartily agreed with working with him. As I was putting the lyrics together for this one song, I began to mull over the idea of doing a project together, so I wrote and asked if he was interested. As he’s a fan of my work in both Benediction and Bolt Thrower, he thought it an opportunity that wasn’t to be missed. We brainstormed via email for a couple of weeks, and Down Among The Dead Men was born.”

Augmented by Johansson’s Paganizer/ Ribspreader bandmate Dennis Blomberg, Down Among The Dead Men completed the album with help from session drummer Erik R. Bevenrud, whose ferocious playing fuels the album’s 13 tracks.

“I didn’t actually hear Erik’s drums until the album was finished, unless you want to include the click track under the rough mixes so I could write the lyrics to the songs,” Ingram says. “In truth, I was very surprised at how close to my description of ‘Power Punk drums’ he got; in fact, he bloody nailed it! The drums were the only thing I had concerns over, since I wasn’t able to be there during the recording. Once I put the album on,  I had any fears dissolve away swiftly. Erik, under Rogga’s supervision, did a sterling job!”

With Johansson and Blomberg recording in Sweden and sharing guitar and bass duties, Ingram recorded his vocals in Denmark. Despite the band members working separately, the album came together easier than Ingram had originally anticipated.

“I think that the short time span in which the album was written, recorded, mixed and ready to go was incredible,” he says. “The day I received the tracks was the day that Donovan and I were moving our studio. Therefore, I had nowhere to record the vocals until we were moved in. It was actually beneficial, as I managed to make a vocal booth for recording out of all the moving boxes when we arrived at the new premises. The phrase ‘needs must when the Devil drives’ was used that day, and a most satisfying one it was, too!

“I can truthfully say that the entire project has been a lot of excellent ideas by band members, artists and studio/mastering folk that were executed swiftly so as not to let them sit around and go stale, or let someone else move on them before us,” he continues. “Additionally, if you’d have told me eight months ago that I’d write and record an entire album and have new material waiting in the wings less than two months before the debut was out, then I’d have called you nuts - or that you were very, very enthusiastic.” 

From the second Down Among The Dead Men begins to assault your eardrums, it is obvious that Punk played a crucial role in the development of the band’s sound, making for a listening experience that is as much Discharge as it is Deicide.

“I’ve been wanting to do a Metal and Punk crossover for a very long time,” Ingram explains. “The raw energy of Punk, along with its simplistic riffing style, fits harmoniously together with the crisp crunch of Death Metal, especially if there’s a Scandinavian edge to that Metal, too! It seems hard to swallow, but Down Among The Dead Men have captured the sound I had in my mind for the project perfectly. I know the band will evolve, as we’re writing new material already, but we’ll also keep to the same style as well. I’ve already got a piece of music I’m currently working on, while Rogga has already written and sent me some more tracks to write lyrics for. Being this productive in such a short time is gobsmackingly brilliant for me. Geronimo, I say!”

Dead Among The Dead Men is also a bit of a family affair, as Ingram’s 10-year-old son Oliver sings on the band’s eponymous song.

“We had fun recording it - and guzzling several cartons of chocolate milk in the process, which helps give a great ‘gurgle’ to any Death Metal vocalist!” offers Oliver’s dad. “He knows all about the noisy music his dad is involved with. My wife Trille and I recently gave him his first iPhone, and he asked to have Honor-Valour-Pride loaded onto it. He really likes the mid-paced Metal of that one. Additionally, his wacky father is on it. He often tells me he’s been showing his school buddies - and his teachers - videos of my performances from my previous bands on YouTube. I've bought him a guitar and a bass to see what interests him musically, though I have told him, ‘No drums!’ I’ve explained to him my take on a drummer’s philosophy: Spend thousands on a nice, shiny new kit, then proceed to smash it up with two pieces of wood. I’ve never quite been able to comprehend that!”

10-year-old Oliver delivers the chocolate milk Death growl

Down Among The Dead Men is wrapped in striking artwork by Turkka G. Rantanan, who offers imagery akin to a mashup of Crass and Cannibal Corpse.

“We told him the idea behind the name of the band – in a nutshell, it’s closely related to archaeology – and that we wanted the cover to have a similar feel to it as the old Discharge album covers, yet with a modern twist,” offers Ingram. “This also included the liner notes and layout in the booklet, too. He came up trumps and did not disappoint us!”

Anyone who listens to Ingram on “Metal Breakfast Radio” and  “Lambert’s Basement” is surely aware of the man’s love of/obsession with Doctor Who. Unsurprisingly, this devotion to the series had a considerable impact on Down Among The Dead Men. 

“The album is out the day before the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary; I am over the bloody moon!” says the Doctor disciple. “Cyclone Empire made it that particular date for the release since I’m such a massive fan.”

It gets even better.

“An acquaintance of mine who is a composer for the show heard a Dead Among The Dead Men track and described it as ‘a wall of energy,’ which was a compliment indeed!”

        

The band hopes to be performing live dates by the Spring, while Ingram has high hopes for their future. 

“We really do want to make this band ‘real’ as opposed to so many ‘Internet projects,’ and our close proximity to each other means we’re eventually going to achieve that,” he says. “For now, we’re a three piece; when we begin plans to play live, we’ll find a drummer and bass player to fill the ranks. Rogga knows a lot of musicians!”

Decades after Ingram first growled on Benediction’s The Grand Leveller, he is still delivering some of the most incendiary sounds in Death Metal. In his mind, what had enabled Death Metal scene to survive - and thrive - for as long as it has?

“Its sheer bloody-mindedness and its bullish sense of survival is the first thing that springs to mind!” he replies. “Obviously, this includes the fact that it’s a vent or an outlet of expression for a lot of folk – not just the musicians, but those listening to it. I use it to decompress often. Metal of all types has always had a dark shadow following it, and I think those often obsidian aesthetics are of interest to a good many people. There’s a lot of prejudice against it, often directed at its use of said dark subjects. But really, who wants to listen to songs about eating your greens or doing the best you can at school? We know these are sensible things to do, so leave us to get on with singing about the bleaker and blacker things in life. It’s fictional and it’s fun.”

More information on Down Among The Dead Men is available at www.darksentinel.dk/DATDM.html.

Dave Ingram is also featured in the book From Satan To Sabbath: The METAL Interviews 2000-2009 by Joel Gausten, available HERE. 

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Searching for Gerald Bostock: An Interview with Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson

Photo courtesy of www.JethroTull.com

Although Progressive Rock fans have a special place in their hearts for “Gerald Bostock,” the fictional child lyricist behind Jethro Tull’s 1972 landmark Prog Rock lampoon, Thick As A Brick, nothing was heard from the little scamp in the four decades following the album’s release. That was until Gerald’s creator, Tull frontman Ian Anderson, decided to explore what the precocious young poet might be doing today. The idea led to the creation of Thick As A Brick 2 – Whatever Happened to Gerald Bostock?, which presents a series of intriguing what-ifs on the whereabouts of the now-middle aged character. And in keeping with the spirit of the original Thick As A Brick, there’s plenty of awe-inspiring songwriting and musicianship to help tell the tale.

Far from a man who would simply put a bunch of songs on a CD and call it an album, Anderson (who released Thick As A Brick 2 under his own name) sought to make the experience truly worthy of its groundbreaking predecessor. Released in April 2012, Thick As A Brick 2 is available in two distinct formats: A simple jewel case CD with an 8-page page booklet, and the “Special Edition” with a CD, audio-visual DVD and 16-page booklet. The DVD contains (among other goodies) 5.1 surround mixes, videos covering the making of the album and interviews with the musicians. Also on the DVD are the pages of www.StCleve.com, the online update of the fabled St. Cleve Chronicle newspaper featued on the original album, and multilingual lyric translations in Italian, German, Spanish, Czech, Polish and Russian.

Backed by a group of longtime collaborators including brilliant 30-year-old guitarist Florian Opahle, Anderson has spent the better part of 18 months touring in support of the album, which is currently being paired with the original Thick As A Brick in a special live production that sees the music legend performing both albums in their entirety. Anderson’s show hits Boston’s Citi Performing Arts Center on October 12. Ticket are available HERE.

Well-spoken with a sense of humor so dry it actually cracked during the course of our conversation, Anderson phoned me on October 3 for a free-flowing interview on a variety of topics including the current tour, the next album…and why Taliban soldiers should consider needlework.

With Thick As A Brick so identifiable with Jethro Tull, why did it come to be that the sequel was released under your own name as opposed to it being a full-fledged Jethro Tull project?

It’s interesting that folks have a bit of a hurdle to jump in sort of grasping this, but Jethro Tull is the name of the band that I have been a member of, and that band has consisted of some 28 people over the years. Really, whether I call it ‘Jethro Tull’ or go out as ‘Ian Anderson’ these days for me depends on whether or not I’m just playing a generic ‘Best of Jethro Tull’ show, in which case it’s fair enough just to say ‘Jethro Tull’ on the ticket. But if it’s something a bit more specific, like the production tours of Thick As A Brick or perhaps an orchestra tour or string quartet concert or an acoustic show, then I tend to use my own name because I want to make sure that people understand that this is not just ‘The Best of Jethro Tull’ because they might get a little bent out of shape if they come along expecting to hear six tracks from the Aqualung album, and in fact they get all of Thick As A Brick instead. They might understandably be a little miffed, so I try to make sure we brand these concerts in a slightly different way. I’ve been trading quite legally all these years because I own the copyright and the name ‘Jethro Tull’ for the purposes of musical entertainment, [but] Jethro Tull is a 18^th century English agriculturist who invented the seed drill. He’s in the history books. I’ve always felt a bit embarrassed and a bit guilty that our agent named us after him in February 1968, and in some ways feel maybe it’s just time to move on and spend the last few years of my very active life being myself rather than having this slightly misappropriated name attached to someone whom I think really should be left to lie in peace and enjoy his reputation as the founding father of contemporary farming, which is what Jethro Tull was.

People think of ‘Jethro Tull’ as a bloke who stands on one leg and plays the flute. Fair enough, but I think ultimately Jethro Tull should be remembered in the historical context of the real Jethro Tull rather than a Wikipedia entry. [Our entry] usually sits way above his if you do a Google search. I feel a bit bad about it, really.

The real Jethro Tull

One very crucial part of your current production is your guitarist, Florian Opahle, who wasn’t even born when Thick As A Brick came to be. How do you think he has impacted the proceedings, and what does he bring to the table as a musician that perhaps wasn’t there in earlier incarnations of this material?

I think he brings a very Germanic kind of quality with him, which is that of discipline, organization [and] the ability to prepare things. When it comes to performance, he gives it both precision and a lot of emotion, so he’s a very European kind of guy. I wouldn’t say that he’s necessarily a better guitar player than [longtime Tull guitarist] Martin Barre or other guitar players that I’ve worked with over the years, but he’s a very good guy for working with when you have to learn new material, change arrangements and be very much able to prepare things in your own time and in your own space, which in his case is Rosenheim in Bavaria. When he hops on a plane and meets us at Heathrow Airport or wherever we’re going, I know he’s done his homework. He’s a pretty good guy; I’ve worked with him now for about 11 years. He’s performed as a guitarist in some Jethro Tull concerts here and there when Martin Barre was ill-disposed or didn’t want to do a particular tour, as happened I think a couple of times in Russia, India and places he’s not very fond of. The other guys in the band [have] all played as members of Jethro Tull during the last years, and they know the repertoire and they’re a good bunch of guys to work with. We’re probably a very mature group of men who know just how to spend a lot of time in each others’ company without things getting stressful or tense or upsetting to each other. That very often happens with bands, as you could imagine.

You’ve released a great number of albums over a long period of time. What do you think has specifically enabled Thick As A Brick  to endure? Looking back, what were the magic ingredients that made that album work to the point where we’re talking about it 40-plus years later as part of a current tour?

I think it’s a classic album of the Progressive Rock era because it set out to be not only a parody of the ‘concept album,’ but to use that comedic mask as a way of presenting something quite serious. It is essentially about the passage from childhood through puberty [and] the rather misguided idea of a child aged 8, 9, or 10 as to what adult life may be about. I took it quite serious as a piece of written work; it’s not all joking and fun and games. It’s presented in a whimsical, humorous way, which I think is part of our tradition of British humor, which in post-war years became quite a factor in radio and then later in television. [This is] something parallel with the beginnings of Jethro Tull [and] the kind of humor that we employ. Comedic masks are often ways of just drawing an audience in, and then you give them some hard-hitting and sometimes quite dark messages. That’s what I tried to do. In the way that we perform it onstage with the use of video and additional people, it’s part of creating a context for that music to work in that keeps people interested through what otherwise might be rather complex and difficult music. The trick is to present it in a way that keeps them engaged. I think I’m better at doing that now than I was in years gone by. And I have to be good at it again in 2014 and 2015 when I present the new work. It’s very important that I write and record the next album in a way that’s also going to be very stagable and make it interesting for the audience.

What do you know about the direction of your next album at this point in time, and where the next chapter will be for you?

Well, it’s something that I set out to write last January, starting at nine o’clock on January 1. That was my target start point, and indeed that’s what I did. I wanted to try to write it in the period of three weeks or so and get it wrapped up in terms of the detail of the arrangement and, of course, all the lyrics and some of the elements of the presentation. I really wanted to get it put to bed before I had to start another year’s active touring around the world. I had to work to a deadline. The starting date for recording is the 10^th of December, and we have a couple of weeks prior to that to rehearse. We will finish up around the 20^th of January, when I hopefully will be mastering the album to deliver it for an Easter release, or just 10 days before Easter, in 2014. It’s something that is well-established, but we’re just getting to that point in the next few weeks when all the guys in the band have got to go back to those demos that I sent them last March and think, ‘Wait a minute. We’ve got to learn all this stuff now.’ (laughs). It’s a scary reality we’ll be descending upon them during their long travel days on the bus during the next three or four weeks as they can see those dates in the year planner looming ever closer.

Photo courtesy of Leighton Media

Thick As A Brick 2 explores how Gerald might have turned out after all these years. How do you think you've changed most in the years between the two albums?

Well, a couple of inches around the waist, substantial hair loss and a few other physical realities that you can’t do anything about. But changing in terms of basic personal philosophy, really surprisingly little. I’m often surprised and maybe even a little worried that a lot of things I feel and think about today are actually not so different to the way that I was when I was in my late teens and early 20s. I think the time that you’re most shaped by your environment [and] by your experiences tends to be that period of passage from child to man. I think the early teenage years particularly are very important, and [that] as parents, we give our children the best possible and easiest ride through that difficult time of coursing hormones and a lot of peer group pressures from others to participate in things that perhaps are not ultimately going to be the best course of action. Sometimes, parents underestimate the importance of their role to be friends and guiding influences rather than just authoritative parental figures or, worse, to not really be involved at all.

I found the “All Too Commonly Asked Questions” section in the press area of www.JethroTull.com pretty amusing. There are questions you get asked a lot, but what’s a question about this current tour and production that you haven’t been asked that you’d love to discuss?

To be fair to most journalists and inquisitors within the broad media context, they really do ask a lot of the same questions, but they also ask quite often some very specific things to make it a very broad discussion. Most of the time, I’m quite happy to do interviews because they don’t all turn out to be just the same. They sometimes start off just the same, but hopefully you as an interviewer and I as an interviewee manage to kind of steer it somewhere else and touch upon things that aren’t quite as samey. I don’t really have any specific, ‘Oh, no one ever asked me that before,’ [but] people don’t very often touch upon say, for instance, my sexuality. That’s always kind of interested me because they assume I’m just a centered kind of very ordinary, straightforward traditional heterosexual guy and a married man with a couple of children, but we’re all a little more complicated than that. I personally always think of myself as having some female attributes and aspects of my personality which are very much part of what I do, and so perhaps being someone who on the one hand might be found combat handgun shooting and on the other hand might be playing a girlie instrument like a flute or sewing some buttons on my shirt in the kitchen [while] making a sort of delicate pudding or something. We’re not simple creatures.

I think the sexual thing’s quite interesting, especially because I play in a lot of places where people do just think of men as men and women as women. I don’t think we’re as simple as that. I would love to get your average Taliban guy and dress him in a nice frock and maybe some high-heel shoe things and teach him to knit or do embroidering because I think it would be good for the soul. It would be good just to point out that this terribly sort of old fashioned and rather right-wing view about men and women as two essentially different species is just complete nonsense. We all have a bit of the girlie about us, and most females – thank goodness – know sometimes when to wear the pants and exercise a bit of authority. For example, Margaret Thatcher. For example, Angela Merkel. For example, Hillary Clinton, who might well become your next president. It’s good that some of the girls know how to play the guys’ rules, too, just as people like me have to remember that we represent maybe 90 percent male stereotypes, but there’s 10 percent of us that’s a little bit iffy, and I don’t mind that at all. But I’m not, as far as I know, gay. I’ve never tried it, but it’s probably getting a bit too late now. (laughs) But if the offer’s right, I’ll certainly consider it.

(laughs) I wholeheartedly thank you for taking this conversation to an unexpected area! I always appreciate that.

Well, I am in fact going combat handgun shooting with a number of IED victims from the community of injured servicemen when I’m in Long Island next week. Ultimately, I’m not enough of a man to get up there and shoot a gun at a person in defense of my country’s interests or in defense of global democracy. I wish I was, but the nearest I can get to it is trying to give a little comfort and solace to some people who’ve had their legs blown off and are much more men that I, sadly, would ever have been. I’m kind of facing this stuff quite often, and it’s sort of part of what keeps me sane and, dare I say, a bit grounded because you realize how fortunate you’ve been in life and how much other people have suffered for things that they sometimes aren’t really in control of. Anyway, I shall think of this when I’m going bang bang bang on the special range designed for homeland security that I’m visiting next week.

www.JethroTull.com
www.IanAnderson.com
www.StCleve.com



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From Grief to Glory: Bill Ward Conquers His Demons Through Art

Photo courtesy of Bill Ward

“When all you have is gone/It’s time to carry on.”

- Bill Ward, “Tall Stories”

Copyright 1990 Aston Cross Music

When legendary Black Sabbath drummer Bill Ward wrote the above words for his 1990 solo album Ward One: Along The Way, he exposed the heart of a man who had spent most of the previous decade battling – and eventually defeating – drug and alcohol addiction. During one particularly devastating point on his road to recovery, Ward – a man who scaled the heights of fame in the 1970s as one of the fathers of Heavy Metal – was reduced to panhandling for change in Huntington Beach. As anyone who has heard it knows, Ward One: Along The Way was Ward’s rise from the ashes, a breathtaking musical document born of pain, struggle, hope and the will to survive. But nearly a quarter century after the album’s release, Ward found himself facing a new kind of darkness. 

On November 11, 2011, Ward joined the other three founding members of Black Sabbath at a special press conference to announce the recording of a new album – the original lineup’s first since 1978 – and a world tour. Fast-forward six months, and Ward was out of the picture amidst public claims that he was presented with an “unsignable contract” to participate in the latest reunion. Black Sabbath soldiered on without him, releasing the album 13 in June 2013 and currently charging through an American tour as this feature hits the Web. But as the rest of Black Sabbath went on with their plans, Ward was preparing to reveal perhaps his most personal and profound artistic statement to date, Absence of Corners, on August 1.

Boasting 15 fine art pieces and billed as “a collection of rhythm on canvas,” Absence of Corners was created by Ward in collaboration with the Los Angeles-based visual art team SceneFour. As described on the project’s extensive (and aesthetically amazing) website (www.billwarddrumart.com), Ward “utilized a sophisticated formula to create the collection’s visuals, using an array of drumsticks and rhythmic accessories that produce light, much like a painter utilizing brushes and oils. The movements featured within the captured rhythms are then studied and developed into abstract artwork that showcases a dimension not normally seen by the human eye.” Each numbered piece in the collection comes signed by the man himself.

“[The project began] as a request for me basically to show up on a nighttime session with a full kit of drums,” recalls Ward. “As a matter of fact, I played on the same kit that I was rehearsing on – which would have been the kit, had things worked out, that I would have taken to Lollapalooza and Download last year, so I actually played on a Sabbath kit.

“It started out as me thinking, ‘Okay, I’m going to show up and play drums, and somebody is going to take pictures of me and let me know if they need anything special or different or what have you,’” he continues. “I didn’t know that there was more, but it turned out there was quite a lot more. The entire project now has become far more than I had originally realized was going on, in a lot of different ways. It’s been quite an adventure, and a very good one.”

Ward was greeted at the session by “a number of people doing lots of strange things,” including handing him lighted brushes and drumsticks to use. Then, he was asked to play drums in the dark while surrounded by photographers.

“It was quite different to be completely in the dark playing,” he reveals. “All I remember was that there were different flashes of light. Different lighting was placed in and around my drum kit. At one point, there was someone with a ladder above my head, and someone on a ladder to the left of me, and the same thing to the right of me and down below…so many different angles.”

Ward ended up playing for 90 straight minutes in that darkened room, unleashing some considerable pent-up emotions in the process.

“We started out by having a PA set up, which was just putting out the music that I normally play to,” Ward explains. “After about six or seven songs, it was decided not to do that any longer. I was asked to just got ahead and start playing just to play. I said, ‘Do you mind if I just kind of go at it a little bit?’ They went, ‘No, just go at it. Do whatever you want to do.’ That’s exactly what I did. I didn’t know why I wanted to go at it; it just felt like the right thing to do. I kicked the shit out of the drum kit! Something was inside, and I just needed to completely get everything out…It’s as if that night, I had something to prove. I’m sure I was upset; I’m sure I was angry.”

(Click the player below to hear Bill talk more about the emotional aspects of Absence of Corners):

Following a second drum session with SceneFour a couple of weeks later, Ward was presented with the results of his efforts and tasked with naming each piece. Some pieces (like the sinister “Hello, I Don’t Think We've Met [Yet]”) clearly show the demons exorcized by Ward during the session, while others, such as the somber “Grief,” display a more subtle intensity.

“When I first saw the picture, I had no idea what it was,” remarks Ward on the piece.  “I looked and I thought that I saw a face – and in fact there is a face on it. It’s so distinctive, it’s uncanny. When I saw it, all it felt like to me was grief.”

"Grief" by Bill Ward (Photo Courtesy of Bill Ward)

    

Not surprisingly, the experience of creating Absence of Corners has greatly informed Ward’s other creative pursuits.

“If anything, it’s allowed me to know that I can diversify,” he offers. “I’ve taken some time out to work on this, but at the same time I don’t think I’ve dropped a stitch at all with what I’m trying to with [song]writing. I’m waiting to go into the studios to finish mixing Accountable Beasts, which is [my] new [solo] album. While I’m waiting, I’m writing something else for further down the line. It’s given me a feeling that I know I can diversify and pay my attention to something, and come back and settle back down into my writings – which tells me I’m a lot more relaxed about myself. I’m very loose about everything, and that’s not such a bad thing. I got tightened up last year on a lot of things I was feeling, but I’m allowing myself to relax and just enjoy the ride.”

(Click the player below to hear Bill talk about the response he's received to his art):

When Ward is asked where he’d like to be in a year’s time, his mind goes straight to his first love.

“I’d like to be playing more drums in a band,” he says. “If it could be Black Sabbath, wonderful. But if it isn’t Black Sabbath, I do have something else in mind where I can still get to play drums. As much as I love writing and everything, I miss being out on the road. I miss playing live and I miss traveling. As much as I like everything else I’m doing, it would be very nice to be there in a year’s time, being busy on a stage somewhere.”

(Click the player  below to listen to Bill talk about his art piece, "This  Evening," which can be viewed at www.billwarddrumart.com):

          

Just as Ward triumphed over tremendous personal obstacles to complete Ward One: Along The Way all those years ago, he worked through considerable inner turmoil to create Absence of Corners. Looking over the pieces that resulted from this process, he cites “We Focus. We Persevere.” as the one that currently gives him the most strength – especially when it comes to drumming.

"We Focus. We Persevere." by Bill Ward (Photo courtesy of Bill Ward)

(Click the player below to hear Bill talk about his art piece, "We Focus. We Persevere."):

While Absence of Corners and the in-progress Accountable Beasts album certainly bring Ward happiness these days, his greatest joy will undoubtedly come this January when he celebrates 30 years of sobriety. No matter what happens to him down the line in the always unpredictable – and often political – world of Rock ‘N’ Roll, Ward has already won.

“I’m really enjoying most of the days that come my way,” he says. “It’s been a long time since I was in Hell.”

To view all the pieces in Absence of Corners (and to request pricing), visit www.billwarddrumart.com. Additional information on Bill Ward is available at www.billward.com.

Bill Ward is also featured in the book From Satan To Sabbath: The METAL Interviews 2000-2009 by Joel Gausten, available HERE. 

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EMAIL JOEL at gaustenbooks@gmail.com

Bill Ward Discusses Black Sabbath's "Born Again"

In honor of the 30th anniversary of BLACK SABBATH's Born Again album, here's audio of a chat that Bill Ward and I had about it back in 2011 on the Glory Is Noise radio show, around the time of the album's re-release as a two-CD deluxe edition: 



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EMAIL JOEL at gaustenbooks@gmail.com