A Chat with Blair Parkes James
You pretty much played all the instruments on this album. Was it a matter of finally running out of partners to the great OE, or just an experiment to see how much you could achieve on your own? Would you do it again?

Blair
hi well it was only me on the record. I've been recording this way for about 16 years now, just me and the 4 track ..... Up until this year , the recording has always been when the song was written - i.e. written on tape. All the songs on the cd are those 'original' versions.

I find it's pretty satisfying way to work, as this is the point of creation that gets captured. It is all dilution from this point on - i.e. trying to play the songs with a band and stuff, I always ending up feeling like I'm trying to replicate the original [and arguably 'best'] version, and it never measures up. No offense to any one I play with .........

The difficulty of this approach is that you have to finely balance a creative spark with the need to play in time / tune /in sympathy to things you haven't even thought of yet, 'cos your still making the song up -- or you need to do backing vocals before the main vocal 'cos you need to put them in the same track as something else without bouncing ... and you haven't even thought of the main vocal...

Having said that, it's a great fun quick way to 'write' songs. It gets you out of creative traps, by having a 'unique' approach: e.g. you don't always start with an acoustic guitar. Most of the songs on the end would have started with the drums [to try and make them less sloppy rhythmically] ... Now did I succeed?!

James
So you were just playing the drums with no accompaniment? All the other instruments in your head?

Blair
You got it, although mostly at that point my head is pretty empty ... [!] ... I haven't thought of the song at that stage, I'm just playing some drums. From that I see if I can get a 'song'.

James
Sounds a bit like the way many modern dance merchants build up their tracks from the drums up. Were you playing with the sense of "Oh, I'll probably need a fill and I might go to a chorus pattern here", or was it a more freeform bash? And did you do much cutting'n'pasting at a later date -- or are the drum tracks pretty much as they were from the word go?

Blair
It's kind of a 'controlled' or directed free from bash ... trying to balance giving the track some 'direction' without totally turning it one way or another. And yeah, it is a bit like the modern dance [Pere Ubu!] there's no cutting and pasting as its all done on a cassette, 4 track, two mics -- I really want to get into a computer recording situation so I can explore the whole cutting pasting looping approach.

James
You did well to add a few layers of noise when you consider your recording setup.

Blair
Thanks.

James
What inspired some of the 'crazy noise' stuff on the album?

Blair
I'm just trying to push myself in a different direction form the trad singer songwriter thing.

James
the backwards guitars 'Crooked Mind' -- I assume it's a backward guitar?

Blair
Yeah - I probably laid that first after the drums, then built on top of that.

James
Crowd noise ('Surfin In')?

Blair
I stole that off something, I better not say what -- and added a bit of my own stuff on top,

James
Weird synth/keyboards sounds/loops ('The Killer' and 'Sit Right Down')?

Blair
'The Killer' used a wee $39 warehouse Kawasaki keyboard - also features prominently on the range album -- it's always good to buy cheap instruments, especially ones that have bird sounds ... and sit right down uses a bicycle alarm / siren / megaphone thing that cost $14 - turning it on and off to get the different pitched notes of its cycle...

James
And were there any problems getting that stuff down onto tape?

Blair
No it's easy -- I usually just stick my mic in front of it and pump the gain ... it's also good to add these things when you're recording something else, like your vocals, and deftly position yerself and yer toys in front of the mic ... I have a few wee toys and things which are always fun to try and build a track with. It's what I really enjoy about doing solo stuff ... no need to consider how you'd do it live or with a group ... till ... it'd be fun to do this stuff with a group, but too much like hard work.

James
And as far as getting the album 'finished'? Was it hard to say 'ok, enough tinkering' on some of the tracks, and call it a wrap?

Blair
The tracks were all done in about 18 months -- after the Range album. Each song only took a couple of hours, going from nothing to pretty much the finished thing -- very little tinkering. The hard part was picking which songs, and then mixing, which was done by my friend Damian. I had about 60 to choose from ... we whittled these down to about 25 (mostly on the basis of how 'tight' they were) which Damian mixed, then I sent a bunch more up, these got mixed and from that a few got remixed, and then we picked the final lineup.

Yeah it was hard to say 'stop' but it had to happen. Mixing was the hard thing actually. Fortunately Damian knows what I'm about, but mixing by correspondence / committee is very hard, and I couldn't get too precious about things. I guess if we had lived in the same town it would have been way easier.

James
Damian and Wrong Records have been pretty supportive on your solo work, and of your band Range. How important is having a few people push you along to get this stuff out to the wider world? Would you be doing it regardless?

Blair
It's incredibly important to me. Damian and wrong have been really encouraging ... as have Noizyland and various folk in the b.net, friends, my boss and workmates etc.

As you know it can be a bit soul destroying this music thing ... sending copies out for review and no bastard bothers until you've sent the third copy (true). I'm not really an in your face guy and find it pretty hard to self promote -- it all seems pretty icky -- maybe a NZ thing? Shyness? Politeness? As a friend once said, "nice guys come last in 'the biz'" and although I've met a few nice folk who've done well...

Doubtless I'd still be recording, but getting it out and doing the business side of things is something I've always found really hard and I'm not at all comfortable pushing my wares to retailers.

James
And how about other people's stuff? What's doing the rounds on Blair Parke's turntable at the moment? Is all this talk of 'New Zealand's answer to the Palace Brothers' based in reality? And local favourites?

Blair
OK, I'm aware of Will Oldham and have a couple of Palace rekkids but I think the similarity between what I do and he does is simple nice chords really. I don't really listen to a lot of stuff at all -- there's always music in my head anyway ... and I quite like quiet ... I don't buy much either BUT I do dig Spiritualised, some Beach Boys, Amanda plays Dimmer on high rotate, the Voom album's great, I've just been given Lanky's CD; I liked the Beta Band and bought them after a review said I was like them: Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Gordons, Axemen, old skool Flying Nun: Pin Group, Clean, Victor Dimishich Band, etc. HDU ... same as most people I guess. And The Fall were a big part of growing up for me ... if you can call it that.

James
You've got an impressive back catalogue, with Creeley, Range and your solo stuff (any acts I've forgotten about?). Thinking back to your 'band' days, are there any tracks that stick in your mind, or mean something special to you now? And off the new album? What are your current favourites? (My top 5, for your interest would be: 'The End', '19 Moments', 'Cheap Jeans', 'Crooked Mind', 'The Killer' -- in fact, I think 'The Killer' is the instrumental track of the year for me so far...)

Blair
Started in All Fall Down, we got an EP out on Flying Nun in 1987, then Little Dead Things - cassette on Failsafe about 89, then I was in The Letter 5 whose EP got released by Flying Nun about 1991; meantime I played in Swim Everything -- we put out 2 cassettes and then Creeley, Range, and for the last 18 months I've been in 103. We should have something out early next year ... actually I'm off to mix one of our songs this very afternoon. I've done the music for a few plays and a couple of films too.

As for my favourites on the cd -- they're all great aren't they ?! And you should hear what we left off ... no I reckon you picked the ones that turned out best ... I quite like 'Chasing Drafts' too, but only cos it sounds like Palace ... actually I always like the piano ones cos it sounds like I know what I'm doing ...

Yeah there are a few tracks I'm particularly pleased with in my 'career' ... maybe 'Nothing' by Range; 'Seventh Day' by Creeley, 'Day One' by Swim Everything ... heaps man! Often its sort of a mix of how well they turned out compared with feelings about the band and the times.

James
You've been kicking around longer than I thought! Your youthful looks belie your age. 8-)

Blair
ah ha ah !!

James
103 are the new band project. Who are the players? And an album is obviously on the go, how and where are the recording and mixing going on?

Blair
yeah - its cool; 103 was our combined age when we started, maybe we're 106 now.

We're a 3 piece; myself, Richard James (who was in Letter 5 and Mainly Spaniards -- he wrote 'That's What Friends Are For', an early F.Nun single) and Marcus Thomas, all round good guy, champion climber and founding member of Bike, till Broughie threw a strop and sacked his band. We all swap around, except Richard doesn't play the drums, 'cos he can't. We practice in my candle lit shed ... drink beer and play every 3 months or so.

The album was tracked onto 4 track, (drums, guitar a and bass) then digitalised, and we've been doing the rest at Richard's and Marcus's house on computer. We did about 13 songs and 10 are finished. It's been a bloody long haul actually -- haven't dragged recording out like that before and have no intention of doing so ever again!

James
What's happened with Range? It's obviously difficult with the three city thing going on, but any plans for the future?

Blair
We've lost Bert to the Wellington corporate world I think, who knows? And Hayden has been globe trotting but is in London at the moment and is planning to come home at Christmas for a couple of months so maybe we'll do some stuff. We've recorded a whole bunch of stuff over the years that would be great to release -- a lot of keyboardy stuff ... that's a wee bit different to the CD; plus a bunch which is quite similar.

James
So you're obviously not stuck for musical projects to work on. What else is going on in the world of Blair Parkes? Settling down? 9-5, kids, a mortgage and a dog?

Blair
I do a lot of painting and making stuff -- I'm getting in to metallic paint at the moment; I go running a few times a week, boogie boarding most days when its a bit warmer-- I live at the beach, and yeah I have a mortgage and job which is fortunately not quite 9-5, and pretty good as far as jobs and people go. I spend a lot of time trying to make our garden more like a garden, and as for the kids and the dog ... well they're both very good questions ... somehow other peoples' seems easier.

James
So how goes the new recordings?

Blair
Excellent thanks! I've been up to Wellington to do 3 solo tracks - I did the drums at Flying Saucer audio capture and did the rest on a computer. Its turned out really well -- sounds flash. Not sure what we're gonna do with them yet , but I'd love to put them out

James
What sort of sound are you developing with the 103 boys?

Blair
It's very much pop song oriented I think -- lots of backing vocals, with big pop hooks being the aim for me at least. As we practice acoustically mostly, all the songs are ones that can be played on an acoustic guitar. That's sorta why I've changed the way I do things from the way the CD was done -- to enable easy transition to the band. We've got over 80 songs now.

James
Spoilt for choice then. When do we get to hear the new stuff (both solo and 103)? (A split double album perhaps?) I assume Wrong Records will be looking after you again?

Blair
I'm not sure what's going to happen with either ... Wrong have been really helpful so far ... we'll just have to see what happens ... all offers accepted.

James
Well, whatever happens, we look forward to hearing the new stuff. Any chance of seeing either you or 103 live in the near future? Any plans to cross the Strait for a few gigs?

Blair
I'd really like to play in Wellington: it's just the cost of traveling ... but we should make it happen. 103 are playing at University of Canterbury October 2nd at lunchtime -- come on down!

James
Aha! I'd love to, but I too live in the world of financial constraints. I look forward to the next Wellington stopover though. Final thoughts? What would you like to see happen with your music in 2002?

Blair
Ideally I'll get a publishing deal, buy a computer and direct more energy into fun, and less into biking to work.





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