Rockezine.com interview with Simon Apple on Dec 29, 2004

with Jeff Miller on Dec 29, 2004


		River To The Sea is an independent release. How do you promote the album and the band? For now, in the initial stages, it`s mostly internet promotion, album reviews, and various press interviews. We are presently lining up gigs for 2005. We will be trying to hook up with a record label to take things to a higher level. Hopefully, we can find an appropriate label that will pick up this album and help us with promotion and/or tour support.
		The album features eleven guest musicians, how did you approach these musicians and how did they record their contribution to the album? Well... they were split into 2 categories... people I knew personally, and then there were the `famous guys`! The famous guys being Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson), Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult), John Helliwell (Supertramp), Hugh McDowell (Electric Light Orchestra), Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group). These guys, I simply tracked down, and via email, I briefly explained what we were doing and asked if I could send them rough mixes to see if they would be interested in playing on the album. Fortunately, all of the guys really liked the material and agreed to play. We`re very honored and flattered by their participation - not to mention their gracious generosity by doing this for nothing, or next to nothing (mostly covering minor studio costs). They are all extremely nice guys, and I`m very grateful to each of them for squeezing this into their very busy schedules. I grew up as a big fan of each of these bands & artists - so that made the experience even more enjoyable & magical. Quite a personal thrill. To accommodate their schedules (and our budget!) it was easiest to record remotely, instead of flying them in, or I flying to them. I sent them mixes via WAV files... they recorded their tracks, and sent them back the same way. The other guest artists are people I know personally - some with a previous connection to the band, some not. Stefon Pizzuto has been the live bassist and principal recording bassist for the Apple for several years. John Feldmann is the former singer of Simon Apple (on the album From The Toybox), and he contributed some backing vocals - we remain great friends. Saxophonist Dave Miller is also another musician with a long history with Simon Apple... mostly live, but also some recording... and he`s a long-time friend. Dave Stahl is kind of a trumpet legend in our hometown area... he`s played with Buddy Rich, Sinatra, Harry Connick, etc... I`ve played a few gigs in his sacred jazz big band (Dave Stahl Sacred Orchestra). Deirdre Masapollo added some vocals on “For Every Loss” - I met her about a year ago working in a local theatre production of The Scarlet Pimpernel. Johannah Mackin is actually a friend of Dan`s... sorry, I lied - I didn`t know her personally! She sang on “Weight Of The World”.
		I had a very hard time writing the album review. How would you pinpoint the main characteristics of Simon Apple (I couldn’t)? We take some of the best elements of some of our favorite styles and fuse them into one sound... which hopefully sounds uniquely Simon Apple. It`s sort of a combination of pop, prog rock, jazz... maybe classified as Adult Alternative. If you like artists like Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan, Sting, Bruce Hornsby, Marillion, Dave Matthews Band, John Mayer, Genesis, Pat Metheny Group, Supertramp, James Taylor, Kevin Gilbert, there`s a good chance you`ll like what we do... we`re musically a cross of those artists.
		Could you give some insight in the writing process? What does the writing of any song start with? I come up with the music first, and I`ll generally put together a fairly detailed demo of the song - full instrumentation. The arrangement is also fairly involved at this point too. I then give this to Buzz, and he writes a lyric to that music and also a melody if one is not there. Generally, I do the music & arrangements, Buzz does the lyrics, and we both do melodies. Dan has contributed 3 songs to this album as well - he wrote those on his own (all music/lyrics). I was simply involved in the arrangement & production of those songs.
		Which of the three tracks took most time writing and recording? Writing, it`s hard to say... some evolved over time. “Leap Of Faith” might have been the quickest song written though - at least compared to the others. Recording – “Weight Of The World”, “Lot Of Hope”, “Colours In Between” probably took the most time... not so much recording, but in editing. I use editing as a production tool... not so much to fix mistakes - although that happens often as well! But, I like editing drums, vocals & acoustic guitars (more so than electric guitar parts) for production purposes... a lot of cutting & pasting. Recording and putting the segues together also took a long time... especially the footsteps segue - don`t ask how long that one took!
		I think that the album cover is really strong. Who is responsible and what is the idea behind it? Buzz and I had a loose concept for a feel... in terms of general direction, mood, etc. Buzz had an idea of an infant girl floating on a brass bed on a river. But that was too hard to achieve, and probably too direct. The graphic artists at Disc Makers designed the cover. We simply explained to them what we were looking for... kind of a water color... more interested in feel than specific image... `letter-boxed` in the middle with white borders, etc. And they ran with those ideas and came up with a fantastic cover.
labels often don`t want to be bothered		What are your expectations of the album? Artistically, we hope for the obvious... hoping that people enjoy it musically & lyrically, and that it evokes emotion from the listener... whatever emotion(s) that may be. From a business standpoint, we hope to greatly increase the fan-base. We ultimately want to do Apple 100% career-wise... instead of having to rely on other sources of income to make a living. The music business is not always (ever) kind to this style of music. We`re not mass appeal pandering to the lowest common denominator - and labels often don`t want to be bothered unless they know it will sell millions. That`s not us. We`re not motivated by fame/fortune. We just hope to make enough money to sustain ourselves and to sustain the band.
		What is the biggest compliment you read concerning your latest album and what the most bullocks? We`ve received some very complimentary reviews - both press reviews and from fans. Several reviewers stating this is one of their favorite albums of the year. And the fans stating how much the music & lyrics touch them... it`s all very flattering - and we`re very grateful. In fact, we`ve only received ONE bad review to date... and it was actually VERY funny! It`s our all-time favorite negative review. We`ve even included it in our press kit! For copyright reasons, I`ll only state the last sentence of the review: "I hate to be negative, but this kind of touchy-feely, pseudo-spiritual junk would send even the most committed pacifist in search of a deadly weapon." Is that not classic?! It`s like right out of Spinal Tap! I love it!
		What are your personal favorites on the album and of course why? It varies depending on my mood. I`m drawn more to specific moments on the album as opposed to songs. The big drawback for me producing the album, and literally involved in every single facet from beginning to end is that I`m sick of the songs by the end! I`m only half-joking. I still need some more time away from it all... I haven`t listened too much of it since it was released. After I listened to final masters for approval in some different settings... I had to put it away after nearly 2 years! However, having said that, some great moments for me are the solos by Buck Dharma and John Helliwell... brilliant stuff - always makes me smile. The end of “Weight Of The World”... with Tony Levin, Buzz, and myself on guitars and keys - it`s our trio with Tony Levin... Buzz and I are big fans of Tony, so this is quite the personal thrill. All of the guest artist stuff is really cool... not to slight anyone - they’re all great contributions. But for one song, more often than not I tend to favor Katherine. It`s a beautiful song written by Dan about his then 3 year old daughter. I love the simple honesty & pureness. Perfect mesh of music & lyric.
		It took you 16 months to find a replacement for John Feldmann. Did you ever consider to end Simon Apple? Possibly, yes. It never got quite that far... only because we were too stubborn (and stupid!) to quit! We were getting very frustrated and depressed though. But as always, the end result was a blessing in disguise. Dan`s a great fit musically and personally. In addition to his obvious talent, he`s just a great person. You`d be hard-pressed to find a more genuine, decent, kind, human being. In fact, we`ve been blessed by being surrounded with great people. John was a great person too... and still is! He remains a great friend. Same goes with Stefon & Dave who have been involved with the Apple for a long time.
		Why did you pick Dan Merrill’s demo out of the 800 you had to listen too? Were all other demos that bad? Unfortunately, there are a lot of bad singers out there... and people who THINK they can sing... ala American Idol type shows. I appreciate all of them taking the time to send their tapes & CD`s...but many were not even close stylistically. A small handful were actually good singers. But, most did not fit the music. Probably less than 5 were in the ballpark legitimately. Dan stood out... texturally, stylistically and emotionally.
		Is there anything else you would like to share? I`d just like to thank you, Geert, for taking the time to listen, review and conduct this interview. And also thank you to all of your readers for taking the time to read this... and hopefully be intrigued enough to at least check out the sound clips on our site! For all of our current fans, thank you very much for the continued support! As clichéd and trite as that sounds, we really do appreciate it. Thanks.
(Geert Oldenmenger)