September 20, 2004
Gary Hughes Interview
From the very moment I opened my copy of Ten’s new album “Return From Evermore” and received word that Gary Hughes was interested in an interview I have been very excited for the opportunity to put this interview on line! Gary is one of those artists that while he has been successful in his career he has always been motivated by one simple goal; to bring the world his music and express himself and his dreams. Gary’s accomplishments with Ten and his phenomenal work on “The Once and Future King” are his gift to us. It is my pleasure to present an up close and personal interview with one of today’s greats and one of my personal favorites…
1. Gary, thank you for taking the time to do this interview, in the tradition of strikupthebands.net we would like to ask you to start by introducing yourself, Gary Hughes the man behind the music...
Firstly, might I thank you for the opportunity to talk to you.
My name’s Gary Hughes. I am the singer and songwriter for the rock band Ten. I have written and recorded songs and music for the best part of ten years now. I live in the North of England. I have a small recording facility there, where I write and produce most of the projects that I have released during that time. I like most forms of music but especially rock and also classical music, which I find, helps me to relax. I am somewhat of a work-a-holic but when I do take time out I like to catch a football game And follow the trails and tribulations of my beloved Manchester United.
2. There has been so much anticipation regarding the new release from Ten, "Return to Evermore," will you tell us a bit about the project, what the feeling was like working on this album in comparison to previous Ten albums and projects such as "The Once and Future King"?
I think that Return to Evermore is a return to the style of AOR meets Metal. This is the direction that I see Ten going for future albums to come. This style comes natural to Ten and is not contrived. We are most comfortable with this blend of styles and we are totally at home playing it. We have experimented over the years with styles and textures and have tried to base Return To Evermore on the essences that we feel are Ten’s strengths. The approach to an album like this is therefore very focused. The Once and Future King albums were very different in that the sheer scale of the project becomes the main stress factor. Beyond the writing process the schedule aspect kicks in and takes over. Every vocalist has their own schedule and coinciding time frames became quite a nightmare. With a band album the vibe is very different. Everyone pulls in the same direction and the passion to create and excel yourselves is the main driving force.
3. The sound of the new album is of course fantastic, in true Ten style, showing one of Tens greatest strengths; a tight bond amongst the members of the band, all most as if when the music starts the minds and spirits come together to accomplish a common goal - a perfect song! How has Chris Francis added to the band and how do you feel his style works with the rest of the members?
The arrival of Chris has been a revelation for Ten. To the rest of us it feels like the beginning of a new chapter in the bands history. He has had an immense impact. His appearance on my concept albums took the pressure off his first appearance on a Ten record and his playing is going from strength to strength. He plays with a very forward thinking style. He has a very modern edge to his riffing and I think that this is beginning to add a new dimension to Tens sound. Live also his approach is very different and there is a more vibrant feeling in the band on stage now.
4. Looking back at the completed album can you pick out one song that has a particular meaning to you, a special song that you could tell us about and why it above the others has a special place in your heart?
It is very difficult to single one out but if I had to pick a rocker and a ballad then I would probably have to pick Apparition and Sail Away. Apparition is a brooding song about a collector of souls. A black figure that appears at dusk and fades in the dawning light. It is epic and classical in its structure. A dream type sequence. Mysterious and powerful. I like this one because it re-establishes Ten’s classically epic style which is very much a trademark of the band. It was important that the band delivered this kind of track on the album, especially after a personnel change. Sail Away is a classic Ten-style ballad with a big harmony chorus. It is a love song about overcoming all our misfortune and continuing forward, which is essentially what Ten have done.
5. It's hard to imagine the stresses of creating an album when you have such accomplishments to your credit already, what do you do to stay focused and maintain a balance in the studio, on the road and in your heart?
I just try to make sure that I prioritise. I try to work hard but play hard also. It is important to apportion your time correctly and to switch off completely when the time comes to do so and move on to something else. It isn’t always easy to put some things down, rather like a good book, but you have to learn to do it … Otherwise your focus on everything else suffers accordingly.
6. The name Gary Hughes surely appears on many artists lists of "I would like to someday work with..." and you have worked with many of today’s artists but are there still some that are on your list? Who would you like to work with in the future either again or for the first time?
There are a great many talented people out there. If I had to categorise some that I would like to work with, then on the subject of vocalists, David Coverdale, Steve Perry, John Waite, Anne and Nancy Wilson would all make the wish list. Guitarists would include Dan Huff, Neal Schon, Steve Vai and Reb Beach. Bass players would include Ricky Phillips and Rudi Sarzo. Drummers would include Simon Phillips and Carl Palmer. Keyboard wise I have already worked with my favourite all time player Don Airey. But I would work with him again at the drop of a hat. I’m always open to offers and approaches on a professional level. I am hoping that having a label and a studio at my disposal will bring much further collaboration of a writing and project concept kind.
7. You are a man of many talents but above that you are a man who follows through with his dreams; with your masterpiece "Once and Future King" complete and your work on this the latest, critically acclaimed, "Return to Evermore" I wonder what do you plan on doing next?
I am eventually hoping to expand Intensity as a label. Although it is currently only a vehicle for Ten orientated product, we would eventually hope to sign bands that we consider to be the future of the rock genre. The beauty of Intensity Records is that it is the only rock label owned and run by professional musicians. We, in Ten, have been around for almost Ten years. We have been blessed to be able to follow our dreams and we would hope that in some way we might be able to put a little back and help perpetuate the rock music genre. We also know the pitfalls and could help stop other bands making the same mistakes that we made. We will be the only Independent record label who has a background as professionals in rock and so we would eventually hope to bring this experience to the bands on our label when the time comes. It’s a while off yet but it’s a plan for the future.
8. What was your inspiration for creating "Once and Future King", had it been something you had longed to do or did it come as an inspiration?
It's something that I've always wanted to do and it's something that I began years and years ago.
With regard to the subject matter it's something that I was into as a child and it is after all history and really some of the most poignant of all time. What I liked about it as well is that so much of it is grey area because it's a legend and it's down to interpretation and I like the idea of that, something that I could add a little bit of my own interpretation as well. Obviously there are certain historical facts and timescales that you have to deal with but there is so much grey area that leaves scope for your own version. As you would expect with a work of such magnitude, research has been painstaking to say the least. heavy research, for at least three to four years. I was reading nothing else in my spare time. I honed as much as I could from various sources such as the Mallory Poem and the Geoffery of Monmouth version of the Arthurian legends, which is probably the earliest. Various other documentation from various authors, things like the Bernard Cornwell novels Excalibur, Winter King, Enemy of God and various things like that which I thought were probably as close as my interpretation would be. I tried to avoid the Hollywood-isms and tried to concentrate on Arthur the battle lord trying to unite the tribes which is what it was all about. I'm pretty pleased with the way I've done it, also the one thing that was really worrying me was that I didn't want to do this one thing and look back on it and think that I could have done It better. If you do this type of subject matter you never return to it again, so if you're going to do it lets do it as best as we can and the most concise. You can't ignore how Arthur was born and the legend was conceived, you can't ignore the preceding information so I had to do that in the booklet really which is something that the listener can read before the first track kicks in because really musically the concept starts at Arthur’s Kingmaking after excepting Excalibur at Dragon Island at the Druids haven. I had to really narrow it down because it could have been eight albums long.Certainly the tales may have become quintessentially English (i.e. slightly eccentric, tea on the lawn, cricket on the green etc.). Every culture has it’s own hero tales that seem to have sprung from a spark of truth, and Arthur’s story, like a Christmas tree, seems to have had various baubles hung upon it over time until it has become the whimsical Hollywood favourite it is today.
It has been my aim always to try to give the best I can to every album.
With "Once and Future King" I want to prove that quality British songwriting and musicianship are not just a thing of the past. Like the majority of British people, I was always curious about our heritage. It was something I was really into as a teenager, and this is just something that has been spurred on from there. I think what really impresses me is that so much of the story is so open to interpretation. After all it’s based on a legend, and within certain time parameters obviously, no one can turn around and say that one point of view is right or wrong, it’s just down to personal belief. And really, when you look at all the old documentation from over the centuries, you can kind of glean certain things from all of those sources, but there are so many grey areas between the main points of the story, that it really is just open to individual interpretation … so that’s what I really enjoyed about it. And at the same time, I though if I was gonna do something like this on a grand concept scale, it was an area that I was never likely to revisit. You know, when you’ve done it, you’ve kind of been there and bought the T-shirt, so I thought ‘let’s put that extra bit of time and effort into getting it as close to perfect as I can from my humble musician’s standpoint’. So really I guess you could say that, in many respects, it’s been more a labour of love than anything else. It’s been hugely expensive to do, but at the end of the day, if you don’t do things that inspire you, or you don’t do things that try and take it that one stage further, then you don’t really progress any.
9. How did you go about bringing so many great artists together for your rock opera, did you all meet and work on the album together or was there long distance collaborations as well?
When you do something like that with ten different singers, the scheduling is a nightmare. Some people could come and sing, some couldn’t; some could sing but they had to do it now, and they had to do it in their own country because they couldn’t afford the time to fly over. So I was mailing tapes to some people, slotting some people in, I was doing some stuff here in Arena (my own studio) trying to be as omnipresent as possible, but when you’re only one person, you can’t be in two places at the same time.
I tried wherever possible, to go for different sounding textural voices for the different characters. I tried to make it so that no two characters sounded alike, basically because with so much information circulating round, the last thing I wanted was for people to have to have the booklet in front of them to know when a different character was entering… so it was important that they were all different as well.
10. Why, in your opinion, do you feel rock operas and collaborative albums have become so popular; perhaps because the world has become smaller due to today’s technologies, or is it something else - perhaps the natural progression of the music?
I think one reason is that people are beginning to look for something more thought provoking than a collection of songs on CD. I enjoyed making this concept album immensely and although there were times when I could have gladly burned the master tapes, I am very proud of the finished product.
We are living in the PS2 computer age. To my mind if someone is going to buy a CD rather than the new Tomb Raider game, the CD has to be more thought provoking and inspiring than just twelve songs on a silver disc. Something, somewhere has to stir the embers of the imagination. In any event I hope that I have gone some way to achieving this.
11. The Internet has obviously changed the music world, making something’s easier and with that introducing new problems such as file sharing and lost royalties for the artists; what is your feeling about the Internet and its effect on music today?
I think that the Internet is a fantastic communication device whether it be for interactive purposes or information exchange. Unfortunately, like everything else it is there to be used or abused as individuals see fit. Labels are quick to condemn it saying that it costs them millions in lost revenue each year but at the same time are quick to promote their new products over the net. I think the problems are with monitoring and control. I don’t know what the answer is but locked, none uncompressable sound files would be a beginning. Media that would help people listen to the sound clips but not be able to reconstitute them to CD quality afterwards. This would be good for the artists and labels. It would not however, stop the pirates posting entire albums at higher resolutions now that broadband is upon us.
12. The AOR community is alive with talk of a resurgence of melodic rock and a return to the glory our music has been robbed of for so many years, what is your take on this - do you see a positive change on the horizon?
I really hope so. I, for one, would like to see Rock back where it was in the late 80’s.
It’s catch 22. The major labels need to know that there is airtime available for rock, if they are to begin to sign it again. The radio networks that cater for the major labels will only really begin to airplay rock again mainstream if the major labels begin to invest money in it again. Bon Jovi and Def Leppard had several million dollars of development money poured into them before they broke onto the scene and I think the days of developing a band for several years prior to them breaking is gone. However, rock is already back in the mainstream but in a more contemporary form, Evanescence, Nickelback etc. and so therefore a return for melodic rock is not too hard to imagine. Whether the labels bite is another story.
It’s a case of “Watch this space…” I’m afraid.
13. As one of today’s most successful and most respected artists do you have any words of wisdom to those just starting out, hoping to follow in your foot steps and looking to you as an example?
I would say just go for it. Be yourselves. Be musically uncontrived and follow that dream.
Believe in yourselves and the music you create. Above all don’t be afraid to ask advice. Professional or otherwise. Everyone has needed some at some time and most professionals are prepared to give a little free advice. You never know, most of it may seem at the time to be irrelevant but later on something someone has told you may turn out to have great significance.
14. Of all the interviews you have done is there a question that you have not been asked that you would like to answer now, think of this as an invitation to air your thoughts on the issue/topic of your choice...
After all these years I think I have been asked most things, and as I am most of the time uncomfortable with interviews, I tend to like the questions that people leave out. (tends to make the interviews shorter). I must say though that I have enjoyed answering your questions on this occasion, not least of which because it is clear to me that you have thought about them. They are far from the usual approach or standard kind of questions I get asked. So. Thank you for making me think about my answers a little. :-) I have enjoyed answering them for you.
15. And last but never least; do you have a closing message to your loyal fans world wide?
Just a big thank you.
For allowing me to follow this path and for supporting, and encouraging me along the way.
I hope that some of what I have written along the way has gone some small way to repaying you all for your belief in me.
Many thanks,
Gary Hughes
Posted by Kathy at September 20, 2004 03:40 AM