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Transatlantic 2 interview by John Silverwood

Hi Guys. How are you all?

Neal.
I'm good.

Roine.
I'm fine.

Mike.
I'm doing good.

Pete.
Yeah, I'm great

First of all, before I mention the new album, there's currently a live Transatlantic album ('Live In America') out isn't there.

Mike.
I'm totally happy with it. I was a bit disappointed with the video because they didn't sync it properly y'know -- How ironic with a CD named SMPTe!!! Anyways, it wasn't mixed -- there was no guitar in it. Roine had to overdub his guitar to be in the mix at all and of course it never matched the video. I was totally hands off with both of these but where I was disappointed with the video, I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the CD. It's mixed well and the performance is good, so that kinda made up for it.

Neal.
I think it's a really good live recording. Everything was all where it was supposed to be and you don't get that very often with live tapes. However, I had a real hard time to say the least. It really set me back. I was going to touch up a few things on the live album, y'know, where the vocals got a little distorted and there were a few keyboards things ... just one or two -- (laughing in realisation) -- not a whole lot!
Obviously.
You're professionals.

Pete.
You'd think so wouldn't you!

Neal.
That's right. Well, we try to be. Anyway, I wanted to make a digital copy of the live tapes but I had an equipment nightmare. I rented all this stuff to transfer the material over but it never did work. Every day, I tried something new -- I had all these tech guys coming over. It was just insane and without getting into too many details, a lot of the things I fixed on Roine's rig came out distorted. We had to kinda 'duck' some of it -- I mean it sounds fine -- you can't tell I'm sure but it's been a big upset for me. It was such a waste of time. It was totally unnecessary and it took a whole week.

Is the live album a sort of 'stop gap' between the last and new studio album?

Mike.
Yeah, kind of. It's cool, especially for the covers and the little medley of all the band's songs.

This new album started with a four-day writing period over at Neal's house. Was this a good thing for the band?

Mike.
Sure. I mean, anytime that you can be more prepared before you enter the studio can only be a good thing. Having said that, when you make a record in this short a period, there will always be spontaneity no matter what.

Pete.
The time we had before the studio was great on reflection. We got some tremendous arrangements together that just would never have happened in any studio, especially as Mike was in a different room to us in Dark Horse. Also because we were at Neal's House (thanks Neal by the way), there wasn't the 'money thing' hanging over every minute we spent deliberating on things.

Roine.
Absolutely! It was. I think that saved us a lot of time when we got to the studio. In fact, I don't think we used the last day in the studio because we had finished up early.

Neal.
I think the reason why we did that was a logistical thing. I wanted to do it here in Nashville and the studio was more expensive. There were lots of places that we could have used but there was this vibe about Dark Horse studios and the guys really liked it as well. The problem was that because it was small we couldn't all be in the same room. For example, the drums were in one room and we were in the control room and this doesn't lend itself to good writing. As we did a lot of writing before, we only did 6 days in the studio instead of eight, so it cut down on the costs and balanced itself out in the end.

Dark Horse studios looked a very idyllic place to record.

Mike.
It was really nice. It was especially nice for me to record something in a new setting because I've been recording so many albums in New York between Bear Tracks with Dream Theater and also at Millbrook with various side projects. It was great to get the hell out of New York and go to Neal's turf where the studio was real beautiful. The rooms were really nice and outside they had horses -- oh, and a really big barbecue grills. It was a fun little place.

Roine.
Yes it was. I can imagine in the summer time that it would be really beautiful.

Pete.
Neal did a great job finding a place like that. Places like Dark Horse don't get built every day. And it was an inspiration itself in just being there. Psychologically, it made the experience new, so we weren't on a trip to repeat the first album, which was always going to be an issue.

Neal.
Yeah, it was very cool. When I first saw it, it really hit me right in the gut (laughs). My first thought was -- (adopts spooky voice) Transatlantic! It was a real trip!

So how did you come across the place?

Neal.
Oh, that's a terrific story. It had been tugging on me for about a year to contact this guy called Glen Rosenstein, who lives here in Nashville. He produced the first Echolyn album, among lots of others. I contacted him because I was looking for someone to produce some of the mainstream stuff that I'm doing for my solo album but he didn't, unfortunately, have time for that. Anyway, while we were at lunch he said to me that I should meet this guy Robin Crow at Dark Horse studios. He told me that he is a big Yes fan and he's doing an album with Jon Anderson. So although it didn't work out with Glen, the way it worked out was just perfect because we found Dark Horse.

Was it good to get back together and see each other again?

Mike.
Yeah, definitely. It was different because the last time we were physically meeting for the first time but now we've done so many things together. We did the little East Coast tour in June and then we got back together in August for Prog Fest and then back together for NAMM. So we have been in touch a lot more during the interim.

Pete.
It's always a pleasure to meet up with these guys again and when you know something special is going to come out of it, it just gets more wild and crazy. It got a little intense in places, especially when we decided to video and DAT the entire backing track session. You know things do go wrong, people do get upset and the last thing you really want is the world and his wife looking through your windows, which is what it can sometimes feel like. We put ourselves under these extreme deadlines though, so it's up to us how much fun to have with it.

Neal.
Especially the first couple of days before it got into the real serious stuff. Sometimes it got a little tense. The first couple of days were really fresh y'know -- but then it became (thinking)-- horrible drudgery (laughs out loud). I'm kidding. You know I'm kidding right? Can you wipe that from the interview?

Too late.

Neal.
Oh well. No, seriously. I have to say it was a great experience and there were incredible moments where I think we were all astounded.

I'm glad you said that. After the first album, was the chemistry as good between the 4 of you this time?

Pete.
Chemistry is too simple a word for it. It's insane how much music there is coming out of everyone all at once -- and It's all going the same way at once. But the respect and understanding is all there. Nothing has to be gained or explained and that's what is unique.

Neal.
I think it was. It was great how the different themes came together. We all came in with these themes, like I put up an idea and then Roine would and then Pete would and they all seemed to fit together really well at the end.

Mike.
For sure -- in fact I think it was better this time because we had got past the introductory process already and so this time we could just be completely creative and we incorporated everybody's personality into it this time.

Roine.
Definitely. There is just so much energy going on when we start composing. I've never been in a band where the rehearsing and composing process goes on so fast. There's always someone with a new idea and we are always willing to try the new ideas. It keeps you awake (laughs). You can't just fall asleep in the corner with this band!

Mike.
I think, during the making of this record, I came to the realisation that this band could never exist on a full time basis. It's a great place to visit but I don't think I'd like to live here (laughing out loud). Y'know, having four captains on the same team.

Pete.
It's way too intense to be a full time thing and even towards the end of recording, I could sense that mentally everyone had done this bit and was frustrated at not being able to move on with it.

Roine.
I always say as a joke, that this band isn't big enough for all of our ideas but then that's the real strength of Transatlantic.

Mike.
Yeah (laughing excitedly), it's like what E.L.P. did when they recorded that four disc set with a side each.

The way this band produces music, collectively and individually, you could probably do a whole CD each.

Mike.
That's right. It would be no problem. As Roine pointed out, there are so many ideas that there is just not enough time to utilise them all. The writing is not a problem. I mean, the two big songs alone are longer than any classic Yes album.

Neal.
I think all of the guys enjoyed it though, especially Pete. He was just so excited, you should have seen him (laughs). There was this one time, I was outside the studio writing some lyrics and Pete was inside overdubbing some bass parts. He just came running down these stairs towards me, like a little kid, he was so excited and he shouted (adopts English accent and laughs again) "It's killer, it's killer."

Pete.
(laughing) I get fired up when something is going well in the studio, even at my age, and I could feel It was good.

Mike.
I think we consciously tried to make it sound more like a group and less like four individuals though. I think everyone shone through this time.

Pete.
For me, it's the four working together that makes it strong.

Judging by the diary that you all kept on the web site, there were a few times that were a little fraught though.

Neal.
Yeah, I think day one in the studio, which was set up day, was pretty tense.

Mike.
The first day in the studio is always incredibly stressful. Y'know, we're getting the gear in and setting up things -- all the time your trying to get into a routine and familiarise yourself with the engineer--

Neal.
Mike's used to things moving very fast. Faster than I'm used to. Y'know, I think things are going along normally and he's like (adopts loud New York accent) "Man, we've gotta get some momentum here!" He's like a racehorse y'know, he's always got to be moving.

Mike.
As Pete said before, we'd got these guys in -- one had a video camera and one was running around taking pictures -- and it's a small place to begin with, so I think I needed to lay down the law. I just slammed the door and yelled (shouts) "Everybody get the fuck out -- we're trying to make a record here" (laughs again)

Roine.
It's not serious though. Sometimes, the recording engineer couldn't keep up with our pace and sometimes Mike got a bit--

Neal.
Cranky! (Mike laughs)

Roine.
Ha, ha, that's right. But there was never any real tension and Mike was always the one making jokes and keeping us laughing. There were never any frosty situations.

Mike.
I have to say, on that first day, I was ... (pauses)

Neal.
(tentatively) Very cranky?

Mike.
(laughing all the time) Yeah and as for getting up at the times these guys do in the morning -- forget it. If it were left to me, we'd get up at 6pm and work through until 6am.

Pete.
Well, I've been in worse situations but the first day is always going to be where you dictate the speed of the work rate. Ed, the engineer, knows how we like to do things and, more importantly, how much sugar we take and stuff--.

Was there more of a band feel to this album.

Pete.
I was happy with the way the writing got kind of shared out. We could go from one of Neal's songs into a piano bit of mine then into a Roine solo thing and it was interesting just how well everything fitted together. I guess we had all been writing at home for this one and all of that preparation paid off.

Roine.
For this recording, we've all thrown in bits and pieces. The songs aren't really mine or Neal's like on the first album. It's more like everybody contributed and there's much more of Pete on it. I think that the instrumental stuff is a lot stronger this time. Mike also makes a big contribution because of all his ideas and energy. At night, when the rest of us go to sleep, Mike would sit up for a couple of hours listening to the tapes and writing down notes. When we come back the following day he had lots of ideas about changing different sections, so he's much more involved in the arrangements. The songs are really nice too. We used a lot of real grand piano and real Hammond organ and that's one of the big improvements from last time. It's given us a much fuller sound.

Neal.
There's more participation from everybody this time. As Roine said, especially from Pete. It all worked out just great. That's the beauty of this type of collaboration. When it's working it's just wonderful and by working, I mean that everybody likes what everybody else is doing. When it doesn't work, it's absolutely horrible. I mean there were moments where I didn't always like what we were doing but I think that I'm a lot better now at just letting it all go.

Well, there's quite a few of you that are used to fronting your own bands. Maybe it's a case of too many chiefs sometimes--

Neal.
That's right. I think the main problem with the first album was, and I did tell the guys this, that I just didn't perhaps trust them as much as I should have.

Mike.
(talking to Neal) I think you're definitely better. You seem inspired by the whole process from last time.

Neal.
Well I figure that if we're going in a direction and I don't think that it happening, I just sit back and hash it out because I know that if it doesn't work out, the guys will just know it. Before, I'd just jump in right away and maybe I'd be guilty of killing off some good ideas and in the process, I'd make some people mad.

Mike.
Of all of us, I don't think I learned too much (laughs once more). I'm still very dominating. Actually, I'm probably the worst of not being able to let go of the reins. You see, when I'm away from the project, I enjoy not being so controlling, it's the other aspects. I'll give you a 'for example'. I enjoyed not being so involved with the live video but when we're writing I can be very pushy.

Roine.
But first and foremost, it's a good album and I don't care who wrote the music or how we went about creating it, so long as the music is really good -- and it is.

Mike.
Actually Roine, of all of us, you we're probably the most passive. I think that maybe we were all tiptoeing around each other so much because we were afraid of being too pushy.

Roine.
Well, I was certainly more active when you weren't there (laughing). Mike tended to get up later than everyone else, so quite often in the morning, there would only be Pete, Neal or myself there. With just 2 or 3 of us, it was a bit quieter and that gave us more time to be active and creative. When all 4 of us were in there, it could get quite crowded.

Pete.
Roine hit the nail on the head there. It is something we can all be proud of and, because of the experience of the first album, we all know we have the same goals and know when something is working or not. For example, I scratched one of my ideas because I thought it was just too weak and didn't want the album to suffer for it'

Who will be mixing the album this time?

Roine.
I believe Rich Mouser will be mixing it. I think it will sound better because the recording of the drums is a lot better this time. Last time, I thought it was a bit harsh. None of us really has the time to do it ourselves, so we'd rather have Rich mixing it.

Pete.
Rich did a great job of the last one that he gets my vote.

What can you say about the songs on this new album?

Neal.
(laughing loudly) Songs is definitely not the word. These are EPICS!

The song that you all seem to be raving about is 'Hanging In The Balance' or 'Stranger In Your Soul', whichever name you decide on.

Mike.
I think this would be a great way to close the album. One of the things I'm most passionate about is song sequence and I picture this as the album closer.

Neal.
Well, I'm calling it 'Stranger In Your Soul' but I don't know. We may opt to call it something else. I love this song. The opening theme is Pete's but it got changed so much. We all put into that. There's this just beautiful -- hauntingly beautiful -- melody thing that happens at the end of the first section.

Would it be fair to say that this is your favourite song on the album?

Neal.
Hhhmmm -- (pause, while he thinks) I don't know -- well (still unsure), there's sections of it -- (and finally and very firmly) YES! (laughs)

Make a decision!

Neal.
(still laughing) No -- no, I won't. It's too hard to call I guess but at the moment, I think that this song is the one!

Pete.
It's a great collaboration and has many moods and turns in it. It clocks in at about 25 minutes and it wears you out listening to it but it has a finale to rival all others.

Mike.
It's an incredibly strong piece. Like Pete just said, it has one of the most incredible grand finales I've ever heard. The whole song is just majestic and beautiful.

'Suite Charlotte Pike' is a little shorter at around 10 to 12 minutes.

Neal.
That was more of a bunch of pop and rock ideas that were together in a suite, with not so many recurring ideas.

Roine.
It's kind of a medley of different songs of mine or Neal's or Pete's. The way it's been put together is very reminiscent of the second side of 'Abbey Road'. They're not really songs that fit together, it's more a kind of medley.

Pete.
This to me is the most exciting thing because it is not what you'd expect us to do with these ideas. It was like we had to stop ourselves from arranging them to much and just weld them together like a piece of modern sculpture.

Mike.
I suggested early on, that this band has a lot of those poppy Beach Boys, Queen and Beatles influences. 'Pet Sounds', 'Sgt Pepper', 'Night At The Opera', y'know there's a real love of that type of theme and we thought it would be more effective to tap into it in a more progressive way. My suggestion was, that rather than expanding one or two of these ideas into a five or six minute piece, a little like on 'Mystery Train', that we could take them in their small forms and model them into something much bigger. Like Roine said, it's a lot like the second side of 'Abbey Road'.

And then, 'Duel With The Devil' (Formally 'Dance With The Devil') also goes over 20 minutes I think.

Neal.
Does it! I don't know. I haven't timed these things yet. I thought it would be about 18 or 19.

Roine.
No, it will be over 20

Neal.
(talking to Roine and laughing) Well, I guess if you do one of your spacey things for two or three minutes --

Roine.
(also laughing) -- I could easily get it to 30!

Pete.
This again has moments of genius from Roine and Neal and has some tremendous themes.

Mike.
Now this is the song that I picture opening up the album. This is more classic prog with a lot of parts and there's also a sax on it!

You've also included a shorter piece called 'A Bridge Across Forever'.

Mike.
I didn't play on that. It's a piece that Neal brought in and, similarly to 'We All Need Some Light' we heard it and thought that there was no reason for us to mess with this. I listened to Neal's demo and it has no drums on it and I thought it was perfect as it was. In fact, the band recorded it after I left, so I haven't even heard it (laughs), so I'll probably hear it at the same time as you.

Neal.
There's this old song of mine, from the mid nineties, that I co-wrote with a girl -- but I can't find it or her! (laughs). I recorded it and put it on a CD that I sent to the guys back in November and I think they all liked it. It's just a little spacey ballad. Just a little 4 minute song that I think will break the album up a bit. I don't know if it'll go on there yet.

Roine.
(firmly) Yes, it will! I think it's one of the best songs. It certainly gets my vote.

Pete.
Yeah, this is a really nice piano vocal ballad which made me cry when I first heard it.

Mike.
We've also done a bonus cover version that I think will be on the special edition of the album.

Is this 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond'?

Mike.
Yes. We didn't want to announce it during the diaries because we knew we were playing it at NAMM but now I think it's OK. We specifically recorded it as an extra track. We've rearranged it a little because, the original Floyd version has half of it at the start of 'Wish You Were Here' and the other half at the end. We took the two and combined them together and consolidated some of the parts a bit, so that we've reduced the time down from 25 minutes to about 15. We've also tried to make it sound a little more like us and less like Pink Floyd. There's a lot of jamming in the instrumental sections. There's also a lot of great out take stuff that would be cool to include and I think it would be nice to include again, one of Roine's demos and one of Neal's demos because they show the evolution from the initial collaboration into the finished song.

Pete.
We rehearsed 'Shine On' while we were in the studio, as it was the only time we had left and it got a bit intense. In the end we worked a good arrangement and thought we may as well record what we were doing as the machine was sat there. It turned out great.

I get the feeling that you are all more satisfied with the whole writing and recording process on this album. You all seem much happier with it.

Mike.
Yeah, I agree, although I felt the first album was phenomenal as well. I wondered if we could better that. But I walked away from this one thinking -- "my God, I think this one's even better -- we did it".

Neal.
Yeah, I think so. I think the collaborations worked really well. I don't know how to describe it. It's a bit like a marriage I guess. Things are either popping or they're not. I just feel that we played off each other very well this time.

Pete.
I think since the first album, we have evolved into a group. We started out as a project and this is where we are at the moment with it. We've all enjoyed it and it has been very enjoyable to have captured everything in this way.

Roine.
It's a much more laid back album. There's lots of energy and to my ears, it sounds a lot more mature. The thing is, when we did the first album, it was the first time that we all met altogether. This time it's nice because we discovered that we can get together again and make really great music that has lots of nice parts and lots of emotion. I get the feeling that the die hard prog fans will like this one, not because there are lots of long songs on it and not because it's Mike and Neal and Pete and myself, but because it's a really good album. If it was a new album from a totally new group, I think they would love it.

Perhaps a lot of people decided that they would love the last album before they heard it!

Roine.
I think you're right! (laughs) They already made it their album of the year before it was released. On this album, I get a good feeling about the music and not because of who we are but because the music stands up on its own.

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