L’Apparition

 

 

 

December 2005

 

 

A little background:

 

According to L’apparition’s website http://www.myspace.com/lapparition” – “

L'apparition is the fake band name of Neil Wheatley, a guitarist and

songwriter from Sheffield now living in Glasgow, Scotland. Unfettered by other

band members thus far, Neil can still make a harmonious noise thanks to the

wonders of technology and a rickety all-transistor guitar amp. “

 

I first became aware of Neil’s music through a demo review oddly enough

on a teletext servicer which described his music as a cross between Elliott Smith

and Belle and Sebasation.

 

Now normally I don’t tend to agree with a lot of reviews, but after listening to a track or

two of Neil’s music, I really found myself agreeing with it as well as being really impressed by what

I heard, so it made sense for Setting Sun to contact him and the enclosed interview shortly followed.

 

A special thank you to Neil for this interview and good luck with future recordings. If the band he mentions

here during this interview click as well as I think they will, this will be something very special indeed.

 

For more information – please contact Neil on http://www.myspace.com/lapparition

 

Setting Sun:

 

How’s tricks and what are you doing at the moment?

 

Neil:

 

At the moment I'm doing very little, other than playing music and going out a bit.

I'm pretty much a pauper. I've been looking for a job for about three months but no

luck yet. On the music side things are going ok, I'm working on new

stuff and looking for players for a new band. I think I might have found a bass player today.

 

I've had a really good response to the demo as well so that's good.

 

Setting Sun:

 

Can you next introduce yourself to us, tell us a little bit about what got you

started with music, be it who fired the starting pistol etc?

 

Neil:

 

I've always been interested in music but I have to say that when I was a lot younger

I didn't really get that excited about records and so on. I think it was maybe the

Britpop stuff like Oasis that got me more interested, I loved Definitely Maybe.

Before that I loved Guns n Roses actually. Heh. They were good though.

Then I took up the guitar when I started listening to the Beatles and because

a friend of mine had started playing and he got really good in about three months.

I remember thinking it would be amazing to be able to play something like 'Because'

on the guitar. I was fairly obsessed with the Beatles for a while when I was 16 but

thankfully I stayed open minded and moved on. I don't think it's that clever to idolise

one band or one style of music forever, you end up missing out.

 

Setting Sun:

 

Music wise, what are your influences and what are you listening to at the moment?

 

Neil:

 

Well the Beatles were a pretty big influence like I said.

And Bob Dylan was the other person

I listened to a lot around the same time and I love his early albums.

But I love music from today as well, especially Radiohead, the Pixies

(not really from today then but you know what I mean), Bjork...

the Beta Band's Three EPs was a pretty big album for me as well.

I think it's amazing. I hope people will look back and give it the recognition it

deserves at some point, even if they went a bit downhill from there.

 

Recently I've been listening to quite a few different things.

A friend recommended Moon Pix by Cat Power and I like that a lot.

She's got such a beautiful voice and I'm always impressed when someone

can make apparently simple songs sound so good. And I also discovered

the Fall a few months ago after reading about them. I think they're

one of the best bands I've ever heard. I'd love to make music as

demented and brilliant as that.

 

Setting Sun:

 

Do you play concerts / gigs? If so, how do this compare to your self released CD?

Is their one you prefer one to the other? If not, how could you see your gigs

varying from your studio work?

 

Neil:

 

I've played a few times and I just played the songs acoustically on my own.

I don't really like doing it though and I don't think it sounds that good.

Personally I don't like going to watch that kind of thing, so

I don't want to perform it either. I'm trying to put a band together

so I can do some proper shows.

 

Setting Sun:

 

I think my favourite track on your CD is the second track “Hidden Depths “… -

partly because I love the title off it - Can you tell us a little bit more about the track etc?

 

Neil:

 

Well the hidden depths bit comes from some advice my dad gave me about not

breaking up with girls too soon, because the more you get to know people

the more they reveal their hidden depths... or something like that.

 

For some reason that phrase stuck with me. The song came together

in a strange way in that I seemed to come up with the two sections

separately but they fit together really well. And the lyrics were

really easy.

 

I like it when that happens.

Setting Sun:

 

Can you also tell us what inspired you to call your band / project “L’Apparition“….

It is French if my memory is correct, but what inspired you etc..

 

Neil:

 

I can't actually speak French. I just like the way they use that

L' thing on words that start with a vowel. And I like the word 'apparition'.

I kept seeing it in books I was reading for my exams, and I still keep seeing

it in books I read now. People who write novels must like that word as well.

 

Setting Sun:

 

What’s next for you? Do you have any more recordings

planned / concerts etc?

 

Neil:

 

I'm recording new songs at the moment, some as rough demos and

some as 'studio' versions of other songs, like on the demo you've got.

I've nearly got a new three song demo together. In fact I've got one

song to finish off, called 'Under Suspicion'. I hope I'll finish it

in the next couple of days. I like my new stuff a lot.

I hope I'll be playing live with a band soon as well, not just because

it would be really enjoyable but also because I think all my music

is geared towards a band really.

I think it would be even better with other players and

probably more fun to make.

 

Being in my first band was probably the most fun I've had.

Working on your own has its advantages but bands are the best in my book.

 

Setting Sun:

 

A few more light hearted questions to finish off with… Firstly, what would you like to be doing when you are 60?

 

Neil:

 

I can't say I've really thought that far ahead, not much anyway! I hope I'll still be

working and still thinking about stuff. I don't want to turn into a narrow minded

old codger whose only concern is getting a cup of tea and keeping the house tidy.

 

I think it's inspiring when you meet older people who still get involved in life, and

you can see in their eyes that they're still interested in the world and not just in

remembering the good old days.

 

I hope I'll have a family as well.

Setting Sun:

 

What will you doing at 60?

 

Neil:

 

Uhm... what I just said, I hope? :)

 

Setting Sun:

Lastly, something light to finish off (Borrowed from a pal's zine almost) -

Imagine you were ship wrecked on a desert Island and could have

(Clearly have second sight here – lol) the choice of having 5 records or

Cd's with you with a stereo of course- what would be your desert Island discs?

 

Neil:

 

Desert Island Discs eh... I'd take the White Album because it's

 

long and there's plenty of variety on there... I'd take Doolittle by the

 

Pixies because it's just immense... I'd take Bringing It All Back Home...

 

Bjork's first album Debut... and Music Has the Right to Children by

 

Boards of Canada. Those are all albums that I always come back to because they're

 

so good and they're so dense with ideas and details that I don't get bored of them.

 

I don't listen to them often anymore but I always go back to them. There's a lot of

 

albums like that I could have picked. And they're all really different from each other so

 

I could mix it up a bit on my island!