Dezember 2007 D-Side

D-Side Interview mit Wayne Hussey

E-Mail Interview von November / Dezember 2007
von Wayne mit dem französischen D-Side Magazin.

Da wir ja nicht alles diese Sprache beherrschen, hat mir Wayne freundlicherweise den englischen Orginaltext zur Veröffentlichung freigegeben.

Q.) Among the guests featuring on stage with you will appear Julianne Regan. How has come the opportunity to see her in London on your side at the next Shepherds Bush Empire shows ? Will she intervine of the “Gods Own Medicine” and “Children” nights both ?

A.) As I've said before and elsewhere, nothing is yet confirmed as to special guests appearing with the band at Shepherds Bush apart from the appearance of Simon Hinkler. We do want to make the 'Farewell Tour' special both for ourselves and for our audience and so we ARE talking with some 'friends' and some 'friends' have said they would love to do it and will try to do it but it depends on their own commitments elsewhere at that time. In a situation like this there will always be rumours and some rumours are true and some are not. Unfortunately, who is appearing where and when is not something that we can announce any time soon despite there being 'some' truth in 'some' of the rumours.



Q.) Will you finally participate to her next solo record ? You said before that it could happen...

A.) Well, if Julianne ever gets around to recording a solo album I'd gladly be involved, it would be a privilege. She has such a wonderful voice and it is a criminal shame that she is not able to make a living from making music. Her contributions to GIAB were outstanding, as always. I have invited her to come to Brazil to make use of my studio but she has a fear of flying and it would take about 4 months to get here by boat so I don't see that happening for a while. I hope she does record a solo album though and I hope she remembers to ask me to contribute when she does.



Q.) Concerning another important guest, Simon Hinkler : you had revealed during our last interview that you thought to realise some more songs through the Internet with Simon after the GIAB recordings. Has this thing finally happened ?

A.) No, not yet. We've both been busy with other things, not least of which is Simon re-acquainting himself with a whole host of Mission songs to learn to play. Myself, after a short holiday (some of which I actually spent in Paris in July) I have been working on this new album of mine, only interrupting the work for Liverpool matches on the TV. Simon and I will no doubt get together during the tour and talk about future projects and plans and if it still seems like a viable idea then I'm sure it'll happen at some point.



Q.) What about the rumour concerning Valo of HIM on stage with you in Paris...?

A.) As I said before, some rumours are true and some are not. I would suggest maybe having a look at the HIM website and seeing what Ville and the band are up to whilst we are on tour ourselves. Ville is a long time friend and it was at his invitation that The Mission went out and supported HIM across Europe a few years back. It would be absolutely lovely to see him again.



Q.) Will you finally publish a video trace of the “Farewell” Tour ? I believe that you expected to publish something around the four very last gigs...

A.) There are plans to record and film all four of the London Shepherds Bush shows but the logistics involved and financing needed is huge. It's something we are still working on. We will also have a cameraman with us on the rest of the tour to film backstage, interviews, soundchecks, us having showers etc. It would be a great if we could document visually the last days of the band.



Q.) Your first solo album, titled "Bare", will appear during the final Mission tour, under your own name. How have you chosen the covers and the old songs of The Mission featuring inside in acoustic version ?

A.) Yeah, I've narrowed it down to 12 new recordings. It was a difficult choice as there were over 30 songs on the original list. Maybe, if this first album is received well by our audience, then I may do a 'Part II' at a later stage. It's certainly easy enough to record here at my own studio in Brazil. 'Bare' is a working title and that may yet change but I have a feeling it won't.
The recordings are loosely based on the solo shows I have played over the last few years. It's basically just acoustic guitar, piano, some other keyboards like organ and mellotron, an old beat box, and cello on a track or two. There are no electric guitars, no bass, no 'real' drums. In fact, no band. And yeah, I am planning for this album to appear in my own name.




Q.) Do you think this solo record is the prelude to some other exercices like this one ? Do you finally keep on pursueing a carreer under yourproper name ?

A.) In a lot of respects I don't really consider 'Bare' as being my first solo album. It's more an acoustic re-working of part of my past and I would prefer to think that my first 'proper' solo album will be all new songs and will be looking to the future rather than the past and that will, more than likely, be the next thing I work on next year after the tour. I'm hoping that being able to release records under my own name, rather than a 'brand' name like The Mission, will ultimately afford me more artistic freedom. If I want to record a techno record or a jazz record or an album that defies categorization or whatever then I think it'll certainly be easier to do, with no level of expectation from the Mission audience, by releasing them under my own name, or even under an pseudonym.



Q.) We`ve not heard the sound of “Bare” at the time to ask the questions. Can you please describe the global content of the record ? Did you wanna touch something appeased on a musical point of view or are there some more nervous moments ? How have you recorded it ?

A.) When we released the last Mission single, 'Blush', I included an acoustic version of the song as an extra track and a friend of mine suggested that I should do more of that kind of thing, you know, taking a song and stripping it down. I took the idea a step further by deciding to re-record the songs but with very limited instrumentation. One of my favourite ever albums is 'Only The Lonely' by Frank Sinatra and it's a 'mood' album. It's perfect for late-night, having drank a couple of bottles of red wine, lighting some candles and either wallowing in a recent lost love or being 'relaxed' with the one you love. And I wanted to do something similar. So it's a very laid-back, gentle record. I changed the keys to all the songs so that I could sing them in my best 'goth Dean Martin' voice without having to really exert my vocal chords. I'm not nervous about it at all. I know it's a record that only some Mission fans will enjoy but I believe some will really love this album and there may even be people that enjoy this record that have never liked anything the band has ever done. But I've done it more for myself than anything else. You could say it's a little extravagant, self indulgent on my part but it's just something I wanted to do and I figured it was time to do something like this now that I'm finally putting The Mission to bed. These new versions aren't supposed to be better or worse than the originals, it just captures a mood, I hope, and hopefully shows that the songs are just good songs regardless of how they're played. As I've said before, it's recorded very simply with either acoustic guitar or piano, or both in some cases, and voice. It's a lot more roll than rock.....:)



Q.) Will some other personal projects come soon ? Movie soundtracks, for example ? Have you taken the decision to stop The Mission at a period where some other projects had arrived in your personal land ?

A.) I have nothing else planned at this time. But I am constantly being asked to be involved in other projects and until now I have been very limited with time in what I could do. Now I will be able to dedicate myself and my time to pursuing some of these other projects including, hopefully at some point, movie soundtracks. One project I've recently completed is I have contributed lyrics and vocals to a track, named 'Hit Repeat', by Swedish artist, Stisch. It's very techno, almost '80's disco and I believe that is going to be released, funnily enough, in February. Another project that I have recently been asked to do is contribute music to a spoken word album by, again Swedish, an author and that is something that excites my imagination.



Q.) Have you directly taken the decision to release The Mission’s “Live MMVII album” or was it asked by you by the label which has realised the final product ? What do you think of the result, and the musical content of the live session ?

A.) We were approached by the label with the idea and we decided it was a good one. I think it's good that people can have an audio souvenir of the show that they've just been to, particularly if it's a good show. I mean, people will always bootleg anyway and we have had a policy for the last 18 years or so whereby it is OK for members of the audience to record the shows themselves for their own pleasure with hand held recorders. So this just seemed like an extension of that policy. I think the packaging was good. I must confess that I haven't listened to the whole thing, but I did play the first couple of tracks and I think the audio quality is good considering that it was mixed 'on the fly' and the CD made available immediately following the show.



Q.) For the “end” of The Mission, was your first projetct to re-create entirely the first line-up of the band or was it something totally excluded ? Have you even thought to this possibility ? And tried ?

A.) No, not really. It was an idea that was suggested to me and an idea I entertained briefly but quickly rejected. The Mission, nowadays, is Mark, Rich, Steve, & myself and I do feel that we play together really well and will be able to do justice to all the old songs that we have to learn to play. I'm not sure what kind of noise the original line-up would make these days, particularly considering that Mick hasn't hit a drum in 10 years. If Mick and Craig do happen to turn up then it would be lovely to see them and I'm sure the audience would love to see the original line-up back together, even if it's for only one song. But, no, there are no plans at the moment for that to happen.



Q.) What are the titles of the unreleased/unfinished songs of GIAB and do you think that you’ll give some time to really finish the thing, for a “final” EP for example ?

A.) There are 3 tracks currently unfinished that we started recording whilst recording GIAB, working titles being 'Ghosts', 'Nightshade', and 'Springy's Roll' (written by Steve!)...... I would like to finish them at some point as I do think they are potentially as good as anything that did eventually make it onto GIAB. Maybe after we've finished the tour and I have a little spare time. I would still like to release a Mission album of 'b' sides and extra tracks and unreleased tracks from the GIAB sessions and these 3 songs would certainly merit a place on that album. We'll see.



Q.) Do you think that some more records of The Mission featuring past unreleased things could appear in the next months/years ?

A.) To be honest I'm not sure if there is anything actually left in the vaults that hasn't already been released. To a degree we are powerless if Universal find some unreleased stuff and want to use it. I have been involved in the re-releases at Universal's invitation but more so because if I don't they would go ahead and release it anyway and at least if I'm involved I can be a voice of reason keeping an eye on quality control.



Q.) What about the next re-releases of The Mission ? Will we have “Carved In Sand” in these series, and the other albums also ?

A.) Yes, 'carved in sand' and 'grains of sand' will be released together as a double CD album and 'masque' will also be released, both scheduled for February to coincide with the tour.



Q.) Have you listened to the works that Mark Gemini Thwaite has recorded with Paul Raven under the name Mob Research ? How have you found them ?

A.) I've heard what you've probably heard on their Myspace page. A couple of the tracks are songs that Mark submitted for GIAB that we didn't end up using so I was already familiar with them at least musically. I think it's pretty much what you'd expect from Mark and Raven. It's not for me, I'm afraid, it's a little too heavy for my tastes but I do think it's very good for that kind of thing and would definitely find an audience if it hadn't have been for Raven's untimely and sad departure from this life. I don't know if they intend to carry on without Raven because, from what I can gather, it was Raven that was driving the whole Mob Research thing......



Q.) What will you keep on a personal point of view of Raven ? Tell us a simple souvenir, a moment with him...

A.) There's quite a few but there's two that come readily to mind......We were once in the Borderline club in London on a night out and I was in the toilets and Raven came running in saying 'Come here, you gotta see the ass on this girl out here, it's amazing!' So I followed him out into the club and he pointed to said ass, 'What do you think of that then, Huss?', to which I replied 'Fuck off, that's my girlfriend!' 'You fucking lucky bastard!' he said shamelessly. The other occasion was when we played 7 sold out nights at the Astoria in London and we put Raven on the guest list for the last night. At that time I used a radio mic so that I, under the influence of alcohol and white powders, could climb the PA stacks and onto the balconies. Anyway, this particular night I climbed right up to the top balcony and at back of this balcony was the guest bar. Whilst the band were still making their noise onstage I went into the bar and there was Raven sat at the bar and not watching the show! I couldn't complain though as that is something I have been guilty of too on numerous occasions. And anyway, he bought me a drink!



Q.) (A joke, Wayne, sorry but... I cannot forget this kind of question ! :) Would you not have preferred to stop your current band before one like The skinny Sisters Of Mercy ?

A.) Sorry, I don't understand the question.



Q.) Andrew does not relase anything at all while pursueing the live option, and we would have understood that you needed to give a simple “live” goal to The Mission... Have you thought to this ?

A.) No, not really. But I wouldn't rule out a return for the band to the live arena at some stage in the distant future. It's not a bad idea.



Q.) How do you live nowadays with the idea that The Mission comes to an end?

A.) Well, to make the decision was hard and I did feel sad about it for a day or so but then I started to get excited at what I could do in the future away from the band. And now I feel creatively I have a blank canvas to start with.