|
|
martin hannettan interview
First published in Muziekkrant Oor, September 1981 in The Netherlands.
Interview by Bert van de Kamp.
Translated by Hans Huisman whom we thank profusely.
After a written request for an interview we're finally sitting opposite him in the lobby of the Strawberry Studios in Stockport, near Manchester. 'Martin moves in his own mysterious way' Howard Devoto had told us that same morning. He rolls a joint (the first of many) and gives me a smile from underneath his coated glasses. Behind him a photograph of Abba's Agnetha, his biggest musical hero. 'I take that picture home with me every night' he jokes. He is soft spoken, often diverges from the subject and is sometimes unintelligible. 'A lot of musicians find it hard to work with him', according to Devoto, 'because he doesn't communicate very well. He sits like Buddha behind the mixing desk: untouchable'. England's new wave producer number one is an enigmatic character, who finds it hard to talk about his work. This is his third interview.
Jilted John, Buzzcocks, John Cooper Clarke, A Certain Ratio, OMD, Durutti Column, Joy Division, Pauline Murray, Basement 5, Magazine, The Only Ones, The Psychedelic Furs... this is just a selection of all the bands Martin 'Zero' Hannett has produced in the past five years. He has developed his own unique sound. Dub techniques, delayed reverb, elastic drums and other 'special effects' give away the producer's identity. There are people who buy every record produced by him. Reasons enough to visit the man and find out about the hows and whys. The interview including interruptions will take the whole evening and go into the night. Martin is just finishing the first New Order album. During the breaks he sits with me and answers some questions. At five o'clock in the morning, everybody else has long since left, he takes me home with him. The uncooperative man from earlier that evening has changed into a very kind and willing person.
I desperately need a holiday. I've been working constantly for the past three years now and there's danger that work becomes routine. I want progression, not status quo. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in the control room. There's no reason for that.
What's your favourite production?
Professionally speaking Soap (Magazine: The Correct Use of Soap) was the best, Closer (Joy Division: Closer) the most mysterious: that album was made as closed as possible, kabalistic, locked in its own mysterious world....
According to some the Basement 5 album was the best.
The only problem with that album is that you have to play it very loud to enjoy it to its fullest. It was the most difficult production, that I must say, the heaviest, it was 18 degrees in the shade, the end of August. As I recall it has been the most physical album that I've ever done. It was good. It made me feel like I had been carrying bricks around.....
Bricks?
That was the feeling at the end of every day. Putting the bass lines in the right place, heavy work.....
The dub techniques on that record are very up-front. On most other records you use them more subtly.
Yeah, most of the time I do use them, don't I?
Where did you learn those techniques?
I've always listened a lot to Joe Gibbs records.
Do you immediately know how it works?
Not always (laughs), but sometimes when you're in the studio you develop certain unique, magical qualities which you don't understand yourself. I think it's because this music is so openly dope-music, dub, you break free from your cocoon, play it loud and feel alright.
When you play Magazine right after Basement 5 you cannot believe it's been done by the same producer. I hear it because I know it. Your fans say they can hear it right away.
That means that in a certain way I've succeeded in what I set out to do. I put these special things in my productions to keep them interesting and not to lose the listeners' attention. When you know what to look for, you hear them everywhere. On Soap it's more sublime.
The break in I'm a Party is clearly Hannett.
(thinks) Yeah, although I always forget what version eventually was put on the record. There are five incarnations of I'm a Party and they're all totally different. Strange repetitions and such.... you know when you're in the studio for ten days in a row, strange things happen: little ghosts start creeping around (laughs).
You can distinguish two types of producers. The serving kind, more like a technician and the creative type, that is responsible for the more artistically decisions. You clearly belong to the latter.
Mmm, maybe so, yes.
Have you ever been in a situation where a band comes into the studio not knowing what they really want?
Not really, although: Steve (Hopkins) and I recently did a few sessions with Paul Jones, for which we've also written some arrangements. I always keep my ears open for things which are out of context and don't get noticed by the band. With the Psychedelic Furs I had more artistic control. Everything was wide open. I love records with that party-feeling to them. Bowie records have that. Like everybody was having a party in the studio. In an ideal situation every band I work with have enough studio time to be themselves.
the rest on here:
http://www.martinhannett.co.uk/frame.htm
|