Here's an interview I had with Andy, which features in the latest KLEM magazine.

TC:
Your first excursion in the EM world was the Linear Functions Tape, which was quite succesful.
Your real breakthrough however was your debut album 'Replicant'. What happened inbetween ?

AP:
Well actually I was writing and producing pop songs for several years. It didn't occur to me to go back into
instrumental music until a local radio presenter started playing it quite a lot on his ahows. After he played a
few of my tracks it really wasn't too difficult to get a deal. I was in fact offered three to choose from, but I chose
Centaur because it offered the oppertunity to get proper retail distribution. Replicant got rave reviews from almost
everywhere in the EM-scene, how did you react to the sudden succes ? I tried to use my new found influence to form
EMMA in the UK. I'm not sure this was my best move however. It quickly became very time consuming and was full
of bad feelings. To be honest I wasn't all that surprised that Replicant was well received, because it had quite a popular
sound and concept for the day. This made it easy to sell.

TC:
What exactly happened with EMMA that you feel so bad about it?

AP:
It still exists, no ? We all behaved like prats. But on the subject of it still existing,
I think such ideas are fundamental to the existance of E/M. But frankly, these days EMMA is just a bunch of guys
clinging to a ideal. You should see the acts at EMMA #4. Messy.

TC:
From the beginning you have used vocals in some of your tracks. Your actually the only e-musician to get away
with it, they're even very popular among your fans. Why did you decide to use vocals and how important are they to you...

AP:
I think I get away with it because my fans know that I use vocals as an option, not an automatic addition to my material.
I believe that there can occasional be times when the tune in a peice of music is insufficient to carry it's message accross
to the listener. It's at this point that I embellish the tune with some vocal work. So it is treated like another instrument.
Being able to sing quite well also helps me to get away with it.

TC:
Just a small question, but are all your vocals vocoded ? I'm just asking since there's always a hint of processing when
I hear your songs

AP:
It's deliberate. It is *electronic* music after all. It has to be produced in an appropriate manner.
But that's why I make it work. If I put 'dry' vocals on an E/M track, it would sound all wrong to my ears.
You quickly managed to build up a reputation of being a very able live musician. Your dedication of bringing
something special to the audience is without doubt the reason behind this. How do you feel about performing
live and how do you go about bringing a studio track on the stage ? In the beginning I really loved performing
live, but it takes up so much time in preparation that it has now become one of my pet hates.
Performing to 500 or more people at a solo performance is pretty much unheard of for E/M in the UK and to
some it is a blatent misuse of the art-form to play to an audience larger than 100. But I have no option. I have
to make a living so I try to make the music more popular. When I perform studio tracks live, I completely re-record
them from scratch, in my studio, leaving out what I can actually play over the top.
I don't care if some people here in the UK don't like this either.
It's something which many musicians with limited resources (and only one pair of hands) *have* to do.

TC:
After Terraformer you got the attention of the GPR label, which issued a few singles with remixes of your work.
There even was talk about an album on the label, but finally you decided against it. What's the whole story ?

AP:
Simply that I didn't like the kind of deal I signed with GPR. It works for many musicians, but that was not for me.
Besides, the remixes, although done by an extremely talented artist, were very surreal and often sounded nothing
at all like the original. Then GPR were laying claim to material due to released on Maelstrom and this meant that
I had to reach a decision. You started working on the Xenomorph project after Terraformer, but then suddenly
began working on Maelstrom. Was this just a change of name for the album now known as Maelstrom, or did
you really put it aside for the other work ? Yes I suppose that it was. Maelstrom was was a work which had to
happen when it did, otherwise it could never possibly have worked at all. But I never really composed anything
for Xenomorph until after finishing Maelstrom. Maelstrom is probably the most highly appreciated of your albums
so far, yet I have heard you describing the entire process as something you wouldn't want to experience again.
I said earlier that there were bad feelings in EMMA. This album was about them. It's about the descent of ideas
into total and utter chaos. This was pretty much what was happeneing in my life at the time and the only thing I could
do to reflect it properly was to create Maelstrom.

TC:
At the time of Replicant, you started out as "Andy Pickford's Psyborg Project" although it was actually only you.
You hoped that in time others would join you. Any plans for further collaborations now that the joint album
with Asana is cancelled ?

AP:
Sure, I'd love to work with lots of musicians. But in order to do so there must be a lot of openness between me
and whoever they may be. I make light of most of the music-making process and never take creating music very
seriously. Ian boddy is very much like me in this respect.
Symbiont was basically constructed in one weeken at Ian's studio, where we drank a lot of whisky and had a lot of laughs.
That's what it should be about. Until I meet musicians who can be laid-back in this way, then I'll soldier on with my solo work.

TC:
After the Dystopia collection, you decided not to continue releasing your work on the Centaur label. Why the break-up ?

AP:
I needed to start plans for my own label, which for the duration of time that have been recording for Ian Boddy's label I was doing.
David Shoesmith at Centaur and Ian boddy have both given me a great deal of help and encouragement in forming my own
label and I owe them both a great debt of gratitude.

TC:
Xenomorph, which was released on Ian Boddy's label, had quite a more sleek production job done to it.
Was this because of Ian's input or did you use some more complicated equipment ?

AP:
By this time I now had digital mixing and multitracking equipment which made the job of production very much easier.
I went to Ian's to master the album. Very little, if anything was altered from my production.

TC:
How important is the technological aspect of EM to you ? You have made some stunning music on a quite basic set,
but you also get along very well with the newer equipment you purchased.
How tempted are you by the latest gadgets and what kind of setup would you use if you don't have to consider budgets ?

AP:
I can't understand technology a lot. But I understand music. I was blessed with the ability to play a keyboard,
but if my life had gone in another direction I might have learned to play guitar.
Technology is just a way to get new sounds, it doesn't make new music.
If I had the money to buy what I wanted, I don't really know what I'd get - perhaps some really top of the range
orchestral module, because I really want to use more classical sounds. I think I would also replace all my sound
effects rack.

TC:
Do you spend a lot of time creating your own sounds ?

AP:
I never listen to E/M - only rock music with guitars. This helps to clear my head of every sound and every influence
which every old "Tom, Dick & Smith" might like to think I have. I don't even listen to my own stuff after it's finished.
I program every sound in as new each time. No presets. I do music to get a natural *high* and if I'm lucky enough
to make a catchy tune, then others can share the same feeling. This makes me happy.

TC:
How do you feel about the analogue revival of late ?

AP:
Corpses are for reviving. Analogue is a nice word.

TC:
You are one of the few EM musicians to take music as a fulltime job. How is it getting along ?
One critic that you might receive is that you HAVE to release albums now, because you have to make a living.
Do you feel any pressure of that kind, or do you actually feel more assured now that you have your own label ?

AP:
Yes I do have to release albums to make a living. But if I didn't want to do it (and sometimes I hate it), I wouldn't.
I cannot compose music 'to order'. If it doesn't come, then it doesn't come and no deadline in the world can make
it happen. I always wanted to do music as a job. I'll be honest and say that when it becomes full-time, it's nothing special.
You don't feel any better. People don't treat you differently. In fact, they treat you like dirt because they're jealous.
Jealous of what? Who am I? Where am I?
I can walk in the streets and no-one knows who I am! Many fans earn much more money than me.

TC:
How do you plan to develop Medusa Music, do you plan to include other artists ?
I also heard rumours about a great new talent that you produced.

AP:
Ah, you are talking about either Asana or Paul Lawler. I've a feeling you mean Paul Lawler (although Asana is great)
because he has the most blinding talent for arrangement I have ever come across.
Paul is not on my label, more's the pity!
As for Medusa itself, the plans are pretty simple: to get Andy Pickford to sell more CDs!
Because - if I get more successful then I intend, as I have always intended from the moment I formed EMMA,
to try and promote this form of music.
Not just my music - other's too.

TC:
Recently you also released a limited edition live cd at a nice price, without artwork, just for the music.
This was volume one of 'The Works'. Will this series continue to be a way of bringing your fans good quality
live recordings or would you also release music under it that you consider to be too experimental/
... to give it a full release ?

AP:
The 'Works' series is intended to be an occasional, ongoing series of CDs which will include live material,
re-recorded material (dance re- mixed, on one future 'Works' CD, But I won't do these re-mixes myself.
I want someone who's very much into the dance scene to do this job for me.) and new material which I think
doesn't fit in with the 'feel' of a full studio album. This may include some of my best work, but if it doesn't fit
into how I want a full studio album to 'feel', then I'll put it on a 'Works' album.
My experimental stuff just gets thrown away!
 

Tom Coppens

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