PALLAS INTERVIEW

Scottish prog/folk/rock band PALLAS have been part of the scene for quite a lot of years now, and with their latest album "The Dreams Of Men" fresh in mind, we decided to put some questions together for bandleader/vocalist Alan Reed ...

Interview by Claus Jensen

1) Hey guys, congratulations on the new album, "The Dreams Of Men". How have the media and fan response been on the album so far?

ALAN: It's been absolutely wonderful - far better even than we'd hoped!! You always hope for the best, but there's usually at least a couple of bad reviews here and there, but this time it's almost universally positive. Feedback from fans has been similarly good. Different people have picked up on different things - which is what we wanted - and it's been interesting to hear what people make of some of the more "off-the-wall" tracks like "Mr Wolfe" and "Messiah".

2) In my opinion, your musical style is a mixture of progressive rock, a bit of hard rock and something I'd like to call "Highland Rock" (which is the big-guitar-driven sound that bands such as Runrig, Simple Minds, Big Country and other Scottish acts seem to have). Would you agree with that, or do you hear something completely different in it yourself?

ALAN: There's always been a bit of that celtic sweep to our music. Most Scottish bands seem to have it to a greater or lesser extent. This time round it's perhaps a bit more obvious, particularly on "Ghostdancers" where we've used Scottish folk styles and fiddle. But it's always been there. For example the "battle" section of "For the Greater Glory" on the last album is meant to sound like a highland regiment charging - complete with bagpipes. But it's kind of hinted at rather than explicit. There's also always been a hard rock element to Pallas. It's what excited me about them when I first heard them (a long time before I joined the band). Progressive rock tends to be a bit "polite" and English sounding. We've always been a bit more aggressive.

3) Compared to your last albums "Beat The Drum" and "The Cross And The Crucible", how would you describe "The Dreams Of Men"? I think it's more progressive and less "highland-rock" ... was this a deliberate choice to go with?

ALAN: It is probably the most "prog" thing we've done in some ways. But it's also a bit "more" in other directions too. I think I'd describe it as "Pallas - only more so!!" :-) Actually the thing we set out to do this time was make it a bit more "energetic", with perhaps a bit more focus on guitars and drums. The band's pretty dynamic live, and we wanted to try and get a bit more of that in the recordings. We were also aware that "the Cross.." had been a very strong album and we needed to come up with something that was at least as good (though hopefully a bit different).

4) In order to go with the highland-rock theme, you've included celtic instruments (violins, harp, flutes) ... is this real instruments, or something done on the keyboards/synth-effects? How will you replicate this live?

ALAN: Most of it's keyboards and guitars (Niall uses a Roland VG system which means we can make some pretty extreme guitar/synth hybrid sounds), but we also had a few guest musicians this time round. Sometimes only the real thing will do, and so we got Paul Anderson to do some celtic fiddle work on "Ghostdancers" and "Bringer of Dreams". The former worked really well as it stood, but adding Paul's playing took it to another place. In the vocal department we felt we needed an "angelic" voice to feature on "Last Angel". That obviously wasn't going to be Graeme or me :-), so we asked Pandy Arthur if she'd like to add a vocal. She got really enthused by the project and really added quite a bit to the style and arrangement of the piece. It now sounds breathtakingly beautiful. And of course we got the "Stroppy Divas" to add a gospel touch to the end of "Messiah". There can't be many prog albums with a touch of R&B on them :-)

5) What is the lyrical foundation of the new album ... and what is it that men dream of?

ALAN: Well the idea was to find a theme that would give us a lyrical and musical focus, but be flexible enough to allow us to explore a number of diverse and individual musical ideas. We wanted the tracks to be stand-alone musical statements rather than hog-tied by trying to work into a "concept". We looked at various ideas, but "the Dreams of Men" was the first one to really fit the bill. It basically gives us the run of all human nature to talk about. The hopes and fears that drive us all, whether it's Love, Power, hate, money whatever. Dreams can also just as easily turn into nightmares, and that I think is the real thread that runs through the album. It's pretty bleak.

6) I've read in your biography that "Ghostdancers" deal with the emigration of the Irish to America ... hmmm, for a Scottish band, that's quite a strange choice of lyrical concept, isn't it?

ALAN: Actually that's a false assumption that someone made and hasn't been corrected. It's actually written from a Scottish perspective. Here we all grow up with the stories of the Highland clearances when landowners forced tenant farmers off the land to make way for sheep and hunting. Many emigrated to Canada, New Zealand, Australia and of course the USA. Nearly everyone in Scotland has family in those places. The song's about how in their quest for a better life for themselves they often displaced the previous inhabitants. One person's dream becomes another person's nightmare. It kind of deconstructs Scottish folk-myths about the heroic dispossessed who went overseas, and also the American dream about immigrants being able to build a new life for themselves in the "land of the free". There's always someone who pays.

7) Pallas, as a band, has been around the music scene twice - first time back in the early-mid-eighties, and then again for the last 6-7 years. How has the scene changed since first time you guys were here?

ALAN: Well it's certainly more fun this time round. We do things at our own pace and without too much in the way of management or record company interference. We do it now for the love of it rather than with any hope of "making it big" (though that would of course be nice) and it means that we choose what we do and when. We have control, which is how we always wanted it. That's not to say we didn't have a great time back in the 80's, but this is much less stressful and more creatively rewarding. Other than that not much has changed. We were unfashionable then, and we're still unfashionable now :-) We don't sell quite as many records now, but then we don't need to as the costs of recording have come down to a point where we can still manage to do what we need to do. The technology has also come on so much that it's a lot easier to get the stuff you imagine into a playable state. It used to take days just to get synths to talk to eachother.. Samples are much more realistic.. Mulitiple delay effects can be programmed with ease etc etc..

8) Has it become harder to make a living as a musician nowadays?

ALAN: It's never been easy making a living as a musician. It's always been a competitive, mainly low-paid existence. But I think it's probably harder for musicians to make it into the big-earning league these days. That seems to be reserved for fat dancers (copyright Noel Gallagher) and winners of TV talent shows :-) Music has so much more to compete with these days. And it's easier for people to make their own.

9) How do you view the whole issue about downloading/filesharing? And what's your solution to it all ... ?

ALAN: I've got very mixed views. I think the ability to download is a wonderful thing, and we actively encourage it when it comes to bootlegs and samples of tracks. However, it is very damaging when people download your entire album without paying for it. It costs us time and money to do and it doesn't seem fair that someone can just rip it off without so much as a thanks. It feels really disrespectful. I can't tell you how angry I was when I found a site offering the whole album at least two weeks before it was even released - that's just malicious. On the other hand I do understand how things have come to this pass. The major labels have been ripping us all off for so long that it seems entirely natural to take things from them when the opportunity presents itself. Surely Madonna, U2 or Metallica won't miss the odd few euros here and there? Unfortunately there's no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always ends up paying, and you can be sure the record companies makes sure it isn't them that's suffering. At our level, every sale makes a difference, so downloading it illegally can make recording the next one that little bit harder. I don't have an answer to this. We try and make the entire package as attractive as possible, so you're buying an "artefact" rather than just a collection of songs. We also offer as many extra features as possible to keep our fanbase interested. But they're not the problem. It's the casual buyer who helps bring a wider audience. And they are more likely to be attracted to downloading for free. Oddly enough I've been told that labels now look on a certain level of downloading as a form of promotion. I'm not sure I share that confidence, but if it leads to a wider audience for the music then I suppose it's a positive thing.

10) Will you go on tour to support "The Dreams Of Men"? And can we expect to see you here in Denmark?

ALAN: We'll be doing a short tour at the end of January, mainly centred on Germany. There'll also be other short bursts of dates throughout the year. No plans to come to Denmark as yet, though we'd love to if someone asked us :-) It's a place I've never got round to visiting so far, and would love the excuse.

11) Thank you for doing this little interview - I really appreciate it.Anything you'd like to add?

ALAN: Thanks to everyone who's followed us this far, especially for your patience in the long wait between albums. Hopefully we'll be able to pay that back with a visit sometime soon. And if you've downloaded the album for free, I'll be round to borrow your wife quite soon. ;-)