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 BLACKFIELD – Meeting of the minds
By Adrian ‘The Energizer' Bromley
"I thought this whole thing was going to be a disaster because I am a fatalist in that way. I'm such a pessimist,” begins Porcupine frontman Steve Wilson, on the initial beginnings of the Blackfield project with Israeli musician Aviv Geffen. "I usually get this way when a band asks me to produce or work on one of their albums and I am always afraid I am going to ruin things and it usually ends our pretty well. That seems to be the case where I see the worst in a situation and it always ends out fine.”
The results on Blackfield (Snapper) are quite stunning.
"It is quite remarkable isn't it,” he says gloating playfully. "When we came together to work on this project there never was any pressure or any expectations. It was just two songwriters coming together to collaborate. The main thing that I found to be intriguing about this whole project was that we were two people from very different cultures coming together to work on an album worth of material. How was it going to turn out? It could have flopped, but it didn't. Had it flopped nobody would have been none the wiser really. No one was waiting for this album, so there really wasn't anything to lose. Now, of course, that the first album is out and people are loving what we did, there is an expectation for a second one,” he muses
I think people who have not heard the album will expect it to be a bit of Steve Wilson and Porcupine Tree and a bit of Aviv's style of music. No one will write this off as second rate Porcupine Tree music.
"I think a lot of people who have heard it already are really into it. I think the album would've drawn a lot of criticism had we released it as a Porcupine Tree album because people would be wondering why the songs are so short, where are the guitar solos and odd time signatures. I think people are expecting to some degree for this to be a bit different and that is a good thing. Us both coming together, myself with all these radiant ideas and epic ideas and Aviv being the popsmith that he is, made for a great collaboration.”
He adds, "Universally this album has been accepted by Porcupine Tree fans because as you said, elements of that band/style can be found here, just on a different level of playing. My personality and playing style is still present but it is handled differently and in a much different context.”
How did you react to the shorter songs and restructuring of how you went about making the songs come together?
"It was exciting for me for sure,” he explains. "There would have been no point in me doing this project with Aviv if there hadn't been a particular slant to the way the music was being assembled. I like to be creative and try new things and this band had the perfect groundwork to try new things. Working with Aviv is great because he is so focused on the "three-minute song” and he does it so well. I admire those people who are capable of writing songs within the three-minute format. People like Lennon and McCartney, Brian Wilson and many others. I've never actually been inclined to try and do that myself and when I had tried to do it I have not been convinced with the results I ended up with. But now I am working with someone who has been successful at hitting the three-minute mark and I can bring my skills to the table and perhaps enhance the song at the same time. We have a great combination and this may be the most commercially viable thing I have done, but it isn't being done for the wrong reasons. This is being done in a very pure, organic way.”
Does it scare you that this album/project may break Porcupine Tree into a bigger market as well?
"No, I'll commit to it but it is all going to fail miserably anyway,” he laughs. "Yeah, I am up for it. I mean, we are getting radio play for this album and that is something I would never see with any of my other projects and it is a strange feeling but if it breaks my other bands big or puts them in the spotlight it can't be a bad thing I suppose.”
He ends off, "I'd welcome this trip into the mainstream because I always felt that Porcupine Tree was deserving of it and we just never received it. So this may be my only shot, so I better put aside any negative or pessimistic attitudes I have and go for the ride. Wish me luck.”
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