A Conversation with GRAHAM PARKER
Rock's Premier Songwriter and 'Dark Horse' Sacrifices Mass Appeal for Quality
As Graham Parker was considering the 12 songs that comprise his new
CD, "Deepcut To Nowhere," he realized he may have done something that
hasn't happened in his career.
He thinks he's made a CD that touches on virtually every song style he has
used on the dozen-plus studio and live albums that make up his prolific
career.
"It was completely unselfconscious. The songs came out that way," Parker
said. "It is like hitting a certain kind of peak for me, the record,
putting everything together. Everything came together. Apart from my old
swing style, the 'White Honeys' and the 'Lady Doctors' (two songs from his
1976 album "Heat Treatment), those are gone for me. But there again, we kind
of brought that into play with 'Socks And Sandals.' It's written in that kind
of swing style."
"Deepcut To Nowhere," in fact, may be Parker's most varied work to date.
And long-time fans will find themselves revisiting key points in Parker's
career as they listen to the CD.
Those who liked the fusion of rock and soul that Parker brought to his
earliest CDs -- "Howling Wind," "Heat Treatment" and "Stick To Me" -- will
hear some of that sound in "Socks 'N' Sandals" (which is a folkier take on
the swing style of a song like "White Honey") and the brisk "I'll Never Play
Jacksonville Again."
Fans of "Squeezing Out Sparks," the classic 1977 album that remains
Parker's finest hour (not to mention one of the best albums of the entire
punk/new wave era) will hear echoes of that album's crisp guitar rock and
biting lyricism on new tunes like "Dark Days" and "Syphilis & Religion."
The kinder, gentler and more romantic Parker that emerged on such
first-rate largely acoustic albums as "Struck By Lightning" (1991) and "12
Haunted Episodes" (1995), will be drawn to new tracks like "Depend On Me"
and "Blue Horizon," the former a promise of trust and commitment, the
latter a sweet tale that finds Parker reflecting on his parents, his childhood
and friends whose lives took them on divergent paths.
Albums that struck a winning balance between the rocking and acoustic sides
of Parker's music, such as the underrated 1983 release, "The Real Macaw"
and "Burning Questions" (1992), are recalled in new tunes like "If It Ever
Stops Raining" and "Tough On Clothes."
Parker is especially proud that he was able to bring such variety to
"Deepcut To Nowhere" and still make the CD sound cohesive. He acknowledges
that this is something he didn't always achieve with his past records.
"I had so much material for this record, I had these choices of directions
to go in," Parker said. "And I could have taken something more extreme, like
everything being more let's say rock-pop oriented. I had to really make hard
decisions. 'Blue Horizon,' for instance, will that fit this album that also
has 'Dark Days' on it?
"I think that sometimes when you do albums like that -- and I know I've
done them in the past -- they have kind of a scattershot approach, as it
were," he said. "It sounds like a bunch of disparate material thrown together,
whereas with '12 Haunted Episodes,' it's really one piece. Those are the records that
I find hardest to come up with because my songs are very varied. I don't know
if that's something people really understand about my work. There's nearly
always a number of styles represented on each record. And it's hard to make
that sound like it's something, it's hard to make that flow as one album."
For Parker, "Deepcut To Nowhere," marks his third studio CD for the New
York City-based independent label Razor & Tie Records, after nearly 20 years
with stints on six different major labels.
The move has given Parker the artistic freedom that sometimes was difficult
to come by with other labels -- particularly with his contentious stints
with Mercury Records (immortalized on the vitriolic but hilarious song
"Mercury Poisoning") and Atlantic Records (a label with which he never did
release an album after he rebelled against the company's involvement in the
record-making process).
Life with an indy label may mean a lower recording budget, but that hasn't
been a problem for Parker, who recorded and mixed "Deep Cut To Nowhere" in
less than three weeks -- a lightning quick period by major label standards.
"I just find these days it's not necessary to take any longer than that, if
you've got a good basic lineup of musicians and the songs are well
prepared, which mine usually are these days," Parker said.
"We only did one day's rehearsal, otherwise I think you're just laboring the
point," he said. "And basically in the studio we were getting tracks down,
usually on the second take. We'd run through, roll the tape, 'OK, let's try
it again' and bam, we'd have it. I was playing live with acoustic guitar.
The vocals, for the most part are live. Nearly everything is absolutely live."
Long-time fans will also be pleased to see that one member of Parker's
backing band on "Deepcut To Nowhere" is drummer Stephen Goulding, a member
of Parker's original backing band, the Rumour.
Parker split from that group after the 1980 album, "The Up Escalator," and
Parker hadn't played with Goulding since then. While a full-fledged reunion
with the Rumour is unlikely, Parker welcomed the chance to work with his
former drummer.
"I'd bumped into him in Chicago many times over the years. He had just
moved to New York, and I was doing the album in upstate New York. We just
occasionally said it would be great to do something together again," Parker
said, noting he had played or been in contact on various occasions with the
other members of the Rumour over the years.
"So if any of these guys are in the vicinity and I'm making a record, it's
going to tickle my fancy, as it were. Steve just had to come up the road a
couple of hours."
Other musicians included on the CD were keyboard player Professor Louie, a
long-time associate of members of the Band, and Pete Donnelly, a member of
the group the Figgs and a musician Parker considers one of the best
bassists he has heard.
The Figgs, who backed Parker on the rocking 1996 studio CD, "Acid
Bubblegum" and on the 1997 live CD, "The Last Rock And Roll Show," will
again tour with Parker this fall as he promotes "Deepcut To Nowhere."
Parker has simple reasons for once again choosing the Figgs as his road band.
"(Guitarist) Mike Gent knows some of my songs better than I do. That
always helps when you go into rehearsal," Parker said. "The guy can tell
you what the chord is. I mean, I listen to my records to check out a song and I'm like
'What the hell was I doing? What is that?' So I've got Mike Gent to tell me.
"That's basically why I'm using the Figgs. "(Also) a couple of tours I'd
done with them in the '90s were so good, they were a lot of fun," Parker
said. "And they're younger than me, shall we say, so it's not about money.
It's not about feeding a family and that thing. They're a cheap date."
"Actually they get more expensive every year as they get older. Yeah, they
rock great. There's a rawness to them which is always going to be there, as
opposed to getting the high end session guys.
"To lose $20,000 on a tour is not my idea of fun."
