Webcast London live September 26, 2000

Sitting in for his first webcast interview ever, David Sylvian looks very aristocratic with sunglasses and the yellow jacket. The first question from interviewer Robert Sandall comes natural: if he does much online himself. Very little, just basic communications, replies David. Sandall: "You don't see this as a future way of getting your music to more and more people?" David: "That depends what the future holds for me. In terms of how I'm working and whom I'm working with. Ya, I see the potential for sure. But right now it doesn't necessarily interest me to that extend." Now Sandall starts with the questions asked by fans. The first questioner wants to know if David has a large collection of unreleased work. David: "There was a fair amount of unreleased materials lying in the vaults and I thought this was an appropriate time to get to it. For a number of reasons: Primarily because the industry is changing and there is no real security when working with the major labels - I've been with Virgin for 20 years, but whether I'll be with them three months from now, we don't know. So let's say, I was not to be with them in three months from now I would no longer have access to this material at all. And as the material was unfinished it would never be released, so basically a lot of good material would have been lost. Also would no longer have access to my earlier work, the back catalogue, in all probabilities. So I thought it was an appropriate time to get to grips with all of that and bring to a completion some tracks which I thought were quite important and certainly worth a listen. They were by no means sub-standard tracks. They were either not included on the albums they were originally meant to compliment because of time and budgetary constraints or because of contextual problems. But I really felt they were strong pieces. Are there anymore tracks? One or two. I would like to do an instrumental compilation at some point and would like to present a greater overview of that branch of my work."

Just wait a second. What do we read here? He doesn't know if he'd be with Virgin three months from now? And this being one of the reasons he is finally putting out the compilation (Virgin asked him six years ago to do it). David seems to be very unhappy with his record company he's been with for so long. Seems they are not giving him the support he desires. Remember there was no video made for his first single from DBOAC 'I Surrender' and now Virgin even withdrew the single supporting Everything & Nothing 'The Scent of Magnolia'. In a recent radio interview with the BBC London he said: "It's odd, I'm still with a major label; who knows for how long. But I'm with Virgin for 20 years and although there are major changes going on I am still able to work within the system without conforming to it. I'm quite happy to move away from the major labels to work independently, should that be the case." He goes on: "I would like to perform but only under the right conditions. And again because the climate, the conditions, aren't right now but maybe in time they'll be right again. Right now I couldn't put a band together and take it out on the road, it wouldn't be financially feasible. But should the conditions be  right again I would like to give it a crack again. The tour with Robert and the solo tour in 95 have been an eye opener for me. I had never really enjoyed touring that much up until that point. And now I am quite open to the idea of going out on the road again and performing material."

So no live dates in the near future. So much is clear. Back to the webcast. Sandall asks why he chose to rework some of the tracks. Particularly why he revocalled Ghosts but did not rework the instrumental track. David: "I did not want to interfere with the music. I purposely didn't add anything, didn't over-dub on the tracks outside of the vocals. ... I resang certain songs because I felt I could bring more to those compositions now than I could back then; both technically as a vocalist but also emotionally. Particularly to a song like Ghosts. I wanted to create a greater continuity throughout the album as a whole. The vocal style has changed over the years, so I made a decision to resing anything that was recorded prior to 84. And it brought me back in time when I was actually physically standing there with headphones on performing the piece in a way I found pleasantly nostalgic - much to my surprise (laughs). That was nice. I found that a lot actually going back over the older material. 'Cause actually I don't do this, I don't listen to my own work. After listening to this work for the first time in many many many years... and it was an interesting experience. Not something I want to relive... Not something I am going to do that often in life. I much rather work on new material, but as a one off it was really informative and kind of a bitter sweet experience. Because after all, this is representative of the best of my work, so to speak, of the past 20 years of my life. And you look at the work and you say 'does it justify 20 years of my life?' Of course it doesn't! Even if I'd recorded St. Pepper or whatever it wouldn't justify all of that effort. Your work never does when you look back on it. So it's this bitter sweet experience because there is something of worth and value there also. But it never justifies that amount of your time, that much of your life. It can't possibly live up to that."

Any outtakes from the Rain Tree Crow sessions? "No outtakes from the Rain Tree Crow session, no likelihood of there being another Rain Tree Crow album either. Thoroughly enjoyed making the one that we did make. Relationships were damaged as a result of unforeseen circumstances that arose toward the end of the recording. But now there is no ill feeling between anyone of us but there is also no real desire to reunite. I work very slowly and I have many ideas for different kinds of musical projects that so often get pushed to one side in favor of the one that currently grabs my attention. I don't know if I'll ever have enough time to cover all the ground that I want to cover to actually go back and work in older setups is less inspiring than working within new ones."
David then goes on that he would like to work in a group again. It could be in the context of a live performance. Then they talk about how former collaborations came into play. "Usually the arrangement cries out for certain voices", says David. While working on Briliant Trees he heard the trumpet of Jon Hassell. It's a question of making that connection. Did he ever had any vocal training? "Never had any vocal training. It has just matured with time and... not an awful lot of effort (laughs).... time. No, I don't practice singing. I only sing with my children."

Q: Do you see your music as a place to seclude? "I hope that the music encourages introspection. I hope that it would be a place for people to feel far freer to open their own hearts. You could say that the desire is to open hearts with music. To blow them wide open. So that they are vulnerable to themselves. So much of our daily existence has to with do with us closing up; concealing ourselves from ourselves. So if we come in contact with what opens us up, it must be seen as something that is valuable. So that would be the primary object I would say. And from that point onwards they would feel secure within themselves, within the embrace of the music, within the embrace of the work to take a closer look. And maybe it would affect the quality of the kind of questions they might ask at themselves. I think that's the most you can ask for." 
Which I personally feel is absolutely true. I remember a similar quote from an interview from 1991 where he said that "sometimes the question is more important than the answer. The quality of the question." Which instantly rang true to me. I think it is very important that we ask ourselves certain questions we most likely will never find an answer to, because they are so deeply rooted in our very existence as human beings. And music can help finding those questions, just like any kind of art; literature, painting or whatever. Which is always closely linked to the spiritual believe. So how did he become involved in Eastern religions and are his parents Christians? David: "I come from a family that wasn't overtly religious in any way whatsoever. I began to question that (Christian) believe at some point and wanted to look further into it. That was the start of quite a long and obsessive journey for me. Ultimately I felt more toward the Buddhist practice because it was so clear cut, so well defined, it was pure practice. But at the time in my life when I sought out a teacher I came across teachers from a Hindu background. This happened to me on a number of occasions and ultimately that has played a large influence. It's developed my own practice. My own practice is an amalgam of certain Buddhist approaches and the devotional aspect of Hinduism. But it is all directed towards my teacher. So I follow now what I would call a devotional path - Bhakti joga [sp?]. Which is to surrender to my teacher's will which is a very difficult thing to do. Because in the west we are particularly taught to let go of ones own will is to let go entirely. So we are talking of an act of surrender. So an act of surrender, in this context, isn't a once in a lifetime event, it's something that's ongoing with every moment. You have to be reaffirmed in every moment. Otherwise you would just slip back into old ways of thinking and acting. So it becomes a form a meditation. And that is the practice I subscribed to. It began to really show itself after breaking up the band; 82, 83."

Q: What became of the collaboration with Scott Walker? David: "Nothing obviously. (laughs) I originally sent a composition to Scott just to see if he'd interested in recording it. It was actually 'Ride' which we now hear for the first time on Everything & Nothing. I felt it would have suited Scott's vocal style. And he responded well and asked to meet up. And we did. We talked about recording albums. The initial idea of recording one track just involved into multiple albums. For some reason I never fully believed that this was going to take place. But if I could be, in any way, of assistance of helping Scott get back into the studio recording again, I thought, that's fine by me. I needn't be involved in the project. So I was basically there for that purpose, I felt. Until such a time as events took over and he was finally liberated from the contract that he was in at that point in time, and was able to move on and record on his own without any assistance."

Q: "Can you recall any personal favorite recording sessions or appearances where something 'clicked' and made it particularly rewarding?" David: "Heartbeat comes straight to mind. Because that was the piece that brought Ingrid and I together. So that piece is immensely important in my life. Ingrid and I got together two weeks prior to the actual sessions. And fought tooth and nail for the two weeks that we weren't initially together, 'cause I think we felt that something was about to happen; the forces drawing us together and we fought like crazy. By the time we headed into the studio to record the track we had totally succumbed to one another. And I just remember the two days of session work that we did on the Heartbeat track and it fell together so beautifully. The backing track was already there, Ryuichi had already recorded it, and I just brought in Frisell and added my own and Ingrid's vocal. I had written a part for spoken word but I hadn't found the right artist to perform the part and this was the story that brought us together. She sent a copy of her album to me and I had just completed writing the song. And so to hear that voice was to know immediately who the appropriate person was for the song. And that's what drew us together. Or one of the many things that appears to have pulled us together."

Q: Any other key moments? David: "I really did enjoy the sessions I did with Jon Hassell and Holger [Czukay] on Brilliant Trees. Very interesting chemistry there between the three of us. And particularly the intensity that Hassell has brought to the sessions; really brought the piece alive for me. It was wonderful to be able to get that affirmation, to be able to make that connection between a certain voice and a composition. I was very nervous of the fact that after breaking up Japan I would be entering the studio with session musicians. You know, you work with a band for a number of years, everybody in that band is committed to the outcome of the composition; of the recording. So they give their all. And the notion of going into the studio with session musicians that just kind of swarm in, lay down a solo, and swarm out again. It didn't appeal to me at all. The the success of those sessions with that caliber of artists, Jon Hassell, Holger Czukay, Ryuichi and all the rest, set in motion what was to be a method of working for me for the years to come. Particularly the work with Ryuichi Sakamoto was very important for me. We share a common vocabulary, which is so important, and it needn't be verbal. It's just the way we respond to one another in the studio. That's very rare. Ryuichi is sort of a touch down for me. When we go into the studio together we can immediately go further and further afield in terms of the input into the piece we are working on. We don't have to establish or reestablish that common ground. So he's the only person in my life right now that I share that with. .... I enjoyed the work of people who has that personal element or very personal voice. It doesn't really matter in what genre they are working in. Normally they tend to be working in the outer perimeters of any given genre or cross-over. Hybrids are very interesting to me also. I hear something of a very personal nature in their work that pulls me to it."

END OF PART 1 (to be continued)