new Baz interview

JJ Burnel, ...., Baz Warne, Jim Macaulay.

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evonx
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new Baz interview

Post by evonx »

Spoke to Baz the other week.

Read it here http://www.fileunder.nl/archives/2021/0 ... nglers.php

It's in Dutch though so you can use google translate or learn the language 8)
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by painter in black »

Nice interview! well done, goed gedaan!
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by jason »

Thanks Evonx. Unfortunately I can't seem to translate it. Anything interesting in this?
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Re: new Baz interview

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Then I got tired of counting all of these blessings, and then I just got tired.
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Re: new Baz interview

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Thanks Bear Cage. :wink:
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by Greatkudu »

Thanks for Translating, a very good interview with Baz, they are still grieving for Dave but nice to know they have a keyboard player that they are happy with to honour the gigs and for tribute tour to Dave. Lt Kudu.
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Re: new Baz interview

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Greatkudu wrote: 21 Aug 2021, 20:52
Thanks for Translating, a very good interview with Baz, they are still grieving for Dave but nice to know they have a keyboard player that they are happy with to honour the gigs and for tribute tour to Dave. Lt Kudu.
Yes you can still see that they are grieving for Dave and especially as JJ was his friend for 46 years which is a lifetime.It's also good to know they are happy with their chosen tribute player to honour the tribute gigs with.If it's who i'd like to see come in then i would be really happy with that,but any good tribute player or as JJ describes this new player as a Dave disciple who knows every little key move to Dave's work then this guy must be more than capable of doing these tours will know problems i would imagine.Where as if they had picked a non disciple player so to speak then i think he or she would of found it quite hard to do all the sets and tour shows especially by the euros time, so for me the KEY point is that this person really loves Dave's playing and music then that's good enough for me.
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by Lafleur »

So the name of the touring keyboard player will be announced soon...
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by evonx »

Nice interview! well done, goed gedaan!
Thanks - dank je wel !
Thanks for Translating, a very good interview with Baz, they are still grieving for Dave but nice to know they have a keyboard player that they are happy with to honour the gigs and for tribute tour to Dave. Lt Kudu.
Thanks - it is clear the loss of Dave still does a lot to Baz and, from his words, of course also JJ
So the name of the touring keyboard player will be announced soon...
Soon .. could mean anything between tomorrow and end of October I suppose ... Baz was vague about it except that he was well pleased with the chap
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by sendwarrior »

Great interview - many thanks 😊👏👍🖤
Lafleur wrote: 22 Aug 2021, 13:04 So the name of the touring keyboard player will be announced soon...
Not until after the album release date I reckon! Maybe end of September, after they've pushed the album?
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by evonx »

here's a readdable translation:

File Under: New Music (Eric Vonk) interview with Baz Warne – August 21, 2021

Everyone has been touched by the pandemic that has ravaged the world for a year and a half. The end seems in sight, or rather, enlightenment seems to be approaching. And of course, anyone who does anything with the performing arts has been unable to perform most of the time, oh well, the story is well known to all of us. A band that was hit unprecedentedly hard by Covid is The Stranglers. On the third of May of 2020 their keyboardist Dave Greenfield passed away from the consequences of Covid. Since 1975 he was the man who helped determine the sound with his organ and synthesizer parts. A melody he played with became the world hit Golden Brown, his eccentric but extremely sympathetic personality endeared him to friend and foe of The Stranglers. It seemed for a while that this would mean the end for the British veterans, but the last remaining primal Strangler J.J. Burnel put his bass guitar back on. Together with Baz Warne (guitar and vocals since 2000) and drummer Jim Macaulay (replacing the retired Jet Black in recent years), he completed an already partly recorded album, and they are going to make the stages worldwide unsafe again.
Dark Matters will be released on September 10 and The Stranglers will play at 013 in Tilburg on October 31. Let's catch up with Baz Warne.

File Under: The past year and a half have been unprecedented for everyone, but certainly also for The Stranglers. How do you look back on it?
Baz Warne: The last gigs we did, before everything closed, were in Australia and New Zealand in February 2020. After that I had some time to stay with my brother. He has lived in New Zealand for years. That was fantastic because it doesn't happen that often and New Zealand is really a beautiful country. We are never home with The Stranglers for more than a week or three between touring or other commitments. Luckily, I was back in England in time when the Covid bomb burst. In March 2020 we were supposed to play in the Swiss Alps, in the mountains at a really cool festival, and that was the first show to be cancelled. We found that annoying but, like many other people, we thought “this will be unpleasant for about six weeks and then we'll pick up the thread again”. That was a bit different… J.J. lives in France and I in Yorkshire, so we called or spoke regularly via Facetime. Strangely enough, we didn't even mind that much in the beginning. That first lockdown felt like an extended vacation. You paint some walls in your house, you put up some frames, you know what I mean. But the longer it went on, the more restless we, like everyone else, became. And then suddenly disaster struck. Dave's passing was such a huge shock. He was more than just a colleague. J.J. has been in this band with him for forty-five years, they were good friends even though they have such different personalities. And to me, Dave was a bit like the crazy uncle every family has. But also always friendly and humble and the last one to walk out of the bar, if you know what I mean.
I'm not telling you anything new, but without Dave, The Stranglers would never have gotten this far. His playing lifted them above most other bands in 1976 London.
Unfortunately, I was the only one in the band who could attend the funeral. Officially it wasn't even allowed I believe, but I got in the car and drove to Cambridge. If I were stopped, I would assume that even the traffic police in England would know who Dave was and would let me, as his friend and fellow Strangler, secretly drive on. His death was big news in all media in those days. Anyway, it all went well, and I was able to attend on behalf of the band. It was unreal and the mourning period… well, we are still grieving actually. For the first few weeks I actually turned off the phone. All the sweet and well-intentioned messages and all the sympathy, I just couldn't take it. Fortunately, my wife was a true rock in the surf and, I understood, J.J.'s partner was too for him. It really took a few weeks for us to recover from the shock. We weren't really talking about the future of The Stranglers. Of course I talked a lot with J.J. and Sil (Sil Wilcox, manager) but that subject was very loaded, and we had not yet broached it. At some point it came up, of course, but we decided to continue with The Stranglers only after Dave's widow Pam told us it would be fine for her if we continued to honor the performances and commitments that had already been booked. Jet Black also felt that the album we were already working on should be finished, if only as a tribute to Dave. Only when we had the green light from them did we dare to make concrete plans and get back to work.

We had already started recording the album Dark Matters long before Covid. Eight songs had already been recorded in the base and Dave had already played most of his parts. It wasn't really finished yet, but luckily J.J. ended up in a studio near his home in the south of France. I have all the possibilities to record at home. I used to only use that for demo recordings, but with today's technology it's all perfect. So we finished everything. Under the supervision of our producer Louie Nicastro, of course, who also added some keyboard parts, completely in the style of Dave and on Dave's keys, to keep the sound as authentic as possible.

File Under: From what you have already shared on the various social media, and the two singles that have already been released, I noticed that this is one of the most varied Stranglers records ever. From a small, subdued ballad like “Lines”, about aging, to a song like “White Stallion”, which in style and instrumentation is reminiscent of classics like “Down in the Sewer” and “Toiler on the Sea”. What impressed me most so far was “And If you Should See Dave”, the first single, a song that, in its simplicity, manages to evoke deep emotions.
Baz Warne: Thank you. “And If You Should See Dave” was written by J.J. on his acoustic guitar. I was shocked when I heard that recording. Before the final version was finished, we tinkered with the end result without losing that it was an intimate and personal ode to J.J. to his deceased friend. The end result, with its almost Mama's and Papa's like sixties atmosphere, man, when I heard that master for the first time I was shocked for a while. Especially the text line “this is where your solo would go”, and we then quietly play it on without the solo coming… that still means a lot to me. It was Louie who also suggested during the recording that this should simply be the first song by The Stranglers ever that does not contain keys. There are now people who have that line of text tattooed as a tribute to Dave, I think that is very special. In the end, on the vast majority of Dark Matters Dave's playing can be heard and the reactions of those who have already heard the album in its entirety are incredibly enthusiastic. That gives us great satisfaction.
In recent months, we have already shared a few things to the public via social media and shared videos, the so-called Rat Chats, in which J.J. and I chat openly and answer questions from fans. In addition, we also shot a few videos with 'behind the scenes' images. Together with Louie we tell how the songs were created and recorded, what the lyrics are about, what inspired us, and so on. That was a lot of fun to make, and we get a lot of positive feedback on this too.

File Under: Yet in a few months there will be that moment when you are backstage, the notes of your intro “Waltz in Black” are playing, you come on stage, and for the first time Dave won't be standing there behind his keyboards.
Baz Warne: That will be an emotional moment. Fortunately, we have found a worthy replacement (ed.: who this keyboard player is will be announced shortly). Louie introduced him to us as a replacement for Dave. This keyboardist had already worked with J.J. in the past and for a while played in a band that
sometimes covered our songs. He is a true disciple of Dave's style, so to speak. He will also play on his keyboards. Less than two weeks ago I rehearsed for the first time for a few days with our drummer Jim and this keyboardist. Fortunately we clicked immediately, he is a very nice guy, but perhaps more importantly, when we played, I got a lump in my throat. He played those parts of our Dave so perfectly. I don't think we could have found a better replacement and, because it's been such an unbelievably long time, I can't wait to get on a podium again. Sadly, without Dave, but we will give more than anything for the fans and for Dave.
File Under: First a European tour and then, early 2022, the UK, but after that? Are you already thinking about that?
Baz Warne: Actually, in all the twenty years that I've been playing with The Stranglers, we've never had long-term planning, especially not now. Remember, J.J. is seventy by then but fortunately very strong and healthy.
File Under: I wish I was as fit as J.J. on my seventieth birthday.
Baz Warne: Exactly, haha, me too. Anyway, we don't know what the future holds, but it's always been that way with The Stranglers. For now, we still have plenty to do and plenty to tell.
--eric--
i was attracted by a night torchlight parade
and there i came
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Re: new Baz interview

Post by parasiteinblack »

Thanks Eric, a great read. 8)
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