John Parish is a very friendly and smiley man..
Excellent multi-instrumentalist, estimated producer, and eclectic musician. "Once Upon A Little Time" his new, brilliant record, is not going unnoticed. Fairly enough: it would be a real pity if John Parish would remain just "the dude who used to play with PJ Harvey".

Where and when did you write "Once Upon A Little Time"?
Most of the pieces on the album were written in the second half of last year (2004), although a couple pre-date that. The writing of all the pieces was completed in Bristol, but the initial ideas came from all over the place. I travel with a notebook and a walkman and I just put down lyrical or musical ideas whenever they strike me. Then sometime later, at home, I try and make some kind of sense out of them.

This album was recorded in Brescia, Bristol and Copenhagen. Why did you choose to record in different cities instead of taking your time in just one studio?
Well for starters, I didn't have all the songs written when we began recording. I just knew which musicians I wanted to work with. Also I like to work in short bursts - particularly on my own material - it's much harder to be objective about my own records, as opposed to records I produce for other people, so taking breaks between the sessions helps me to get the distance I need to be able to judge things properly. It was also nice being able to road test the new songs as we were recording them.

The press release says this is an album about "nonsense". ... Nonsense?
It's not really about nonsense. But some of the lyrics are kind of absurd. I'm thinking particularly of "Kansas City Electrician". I wanted to throw some light stuff in to balance some of the more 'serious' songs.

"Even Redder Than That" is a very funny song, it always makes me smile and sometimes even makes me laugh. Did you happen to laugh recording it? What is it about?
This one for sure works as balance. It is funny and crazy. We were having fun recording it. The song is about Hopey, my youngest daughter. She's a red-head, with classic red-head temperment. My kids are fundamental to my life so I knew they were going to show up in the songs ("Sea Defences" is about Honor, my other daughter), but I didn't want to fall into that trap of writing mawkish sentimental stuff. I think I avoided it…

"Once Upon A Little Time". Would you explain the title of your latest cd? And what about the pictures and the drawing?
The title comes from Hopey. She used to begin all her stories with that phrase. It was her interpretation of the classic fairy story intro 'once upon a time…' I loved the way that by adding 'little' to the sentence, it changed the whole meaning, taking it from an epic to an intimate setting, which I thought was totally appropriate for the songs on this record.
Michelle, my wife, painted the cover. It refers to Etna and also to the painting on the sleeve of Morricone's soundtrack to "Once Upon A Time In The West".
The pictures inside are photographs taken by Michelle of objects arranged by Honor. When she was 2 or 3 years old, I don't remember exactly when now, she went through a phase of arranging related objects, then just leaving them around the house like little art installations. Michelle started to photograph them, then when we were putting the cover together, they seemed to fit with the mood of the whole thing.

I assume that working solo is different than working with a band. Even if in this album "John Parish" seems to be more of a project, rather than just a solo record by John Parish.
To me, this is a band record. We just don't have a name for the band. I'm not entirely comfortable with this situation. But I'm not sure how to rectify it. There is no easy way to avoid labelling and, as this is basically a collection of my songs and I am the most recognizable name involved and I have already put out a couple of albums under my own name, then it makes most sense to release this album as a John Parish album. But I am uncomfortable with the fact that in name, this underplays the contributions that Marta [Collica, Sepiatone's lead singer and keyboard player in Hugo Race's True Spirit], Giorgia [Poli, former bassist of cult Italian band Scisma], Jean-Marc [Butty, already in the PJ Harvey band] and also Marco [Tagliola, who recorded the album] bring to this project. I am expecting this band to develop further and I'm hoping to find a way of labelling us that more accurately reflects the situation.

The album by Automatic Dlamini can easily be found on the net. Was that you who put it online? What are your impressions about the fact that many people are pretty interested in it now, after so many years?
Actually I didn't know that it was available on the net! So it certainly wasn't me that put it there.
There were three albums by Automatic Dlamini. The first "The D is for Drum" (1988) was only released on vinyl. The second "Here Catch Shouted His father" (1990) was never officially released, but I know there are a lot of bootlegs floating around. So I'm guessing you're referring to the last album, "From A Diva To A Diver" (1992). I still think that is a good album, there are certainly some very good songs on it and it's probably the only Dlamini album that I still relate to lyrically.
I suppose it's natural that some people who have become interested in my work since then are likely to go back and see where it came from. They are also of course the earliest recordings featuring Polly Harvey so a lot of people would like to hear those I'm sure.
But I can't imagine there are many copies left anywhere, I certainly only have a couple.

You started just as a musician, how did you become a producer?
By accident really. I was always interested in what was going on in the studio, I was also quite opinionated and not afraid to make suggestions to the producers I was working with. In 1986 a band from the same town as me (The Chesterfields) got asked to make a record. They'd never been in the studio before so asked me if I'd go along and help out. The resulting record, "Guitar In Your Bath ep", came out about three months later and became an indie chart hit in the UK. It had my name on the back as producer, so other bands started to call me up.

You worked on a couple of soundtracks: for the "Rosie" movie and "Zien En Zien" theatre performance. How was that and how did they come about?
There is a performance tonight in Paris of 'Zien en Zien' - except now it's in French so it's called "Voir et Voir"…
I really enjoy writing and playing music for film, theatre, exhibitions, etc. The first time I did this was when I was lecturing on a performing arts course at a college in the south west of England. I wrote some music for a really quite radical interpretation of "Hamlet". It was not long after Automatic Dlamini had finished and I found it incredibly liberating to be able to write music that was not limited to the confines of a 'pop' song. I felt that helped me to develop hugely as a writer. It was one of those periods where you feel you progressed more in three months than you had in the previous five years. The music I wrote for "Hamlet" lead directly to the music I wrote for the "Dance Hall at Louse Point" album I did with Polly Harvey a few years later. The first instrumental piece on "Louse Point" lead me to be asked to write the score for the Belgian movie "Rosie".
When I get home next week, I have to get straight back into writing the music for a Dutch TV drama called 'Waltz" about a dysfunctional circus family.

You answered to a question I wanted to ask you later. So it's true that you used to teach music at school.
Yes, It was at a college for people aged 16 (and above).

"Dancehall at Louse Point" was choreographed for a ballet. How did that come about?
A choreographer from London, Mark Bruce, had been talking with Polly about the possibility of a live collaboration. It happened to fall at the same time as we were recording "Louse Point", so she invited him down to the studio to hear what we were doing. He loved it and thought it would be really suitable for dance. We ended up doing a British tour (plus a couple of festival dates in Salzburg) with his dance company. It was a lot of fun.

What was your idea of Italian music before Cesare Basile [Parish produced his albums "Gran Calavera Elettrica" and "Hellequin Song"; produced "Tutto l'amore che mi manca", the latest record by Italian great singer Nada; co-operated with band Afterhours for their latest album "Ballate per piccole iene"] got in touch with you and what do you think of it now?
I didn't really have any idea about it until Cesare got in touch. I'd hardly even played in Italy before then. I was pretty surprised when I first went down to Catania and was introduced to so many interesting musicians. The Cesare album lead on to the Nada record where I met a bunch more great players - but it wasn't just the playing - it was the attitude and way of being that I strongly related to. It was while making the record with Nada in Roma that I decided I wanted to work with Marta and Giorgia, and that I wanted to record in Italy with Marco.

You've always work with plenty of people and I guess your agenda is already full with new collaborations. Any chance of you giving us a tiny little scoop? If we say... pleeeease?
Right now I just have to concentrate on finishing the music for "Waltz". Then we (the band) are doing more live shows in February - including Italy.