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	Interview with Brian Josh (page 3)
	Pete: It sounds like the record company themselves, they're on a mission in a sense, they haven't just seen classic rock as some commercially viable enterprise. Whereas of course a lot of music these days is manufactured. What's your view, as someone who's been through the mill in a sense, of the industry as it stands at present? Bryan: Well, I think there's some bloody awful stuff out there. A lot of contrived ... it reminds me, you know, of disposable teacups (laughs) ... you're on a motorway and you're there for a second, and it's gone. There's no one sitting back .... it's all fast moving, fast cash, fast profit, and then it's gone. There seems to be a lack of people investing in real music, and putting that focus on show. There's millions of people out there who would love it ..... yet millions of people have given up on the whole scene. But having said that, there are some good bands, I think, around ... but you don't often come across something that blows you away. Not for me personally, anyway. A lot of the time it's, everyone's ripping everyone off, and it's going round in circles anyway. But I've got a sense that this rock music, this classic rock, will be on its way back. Although there's a lot of bloody awful progressive and classic rock bands as well, I think. They take a snippet of what Genesis were doing, and Floyd were doing, and Camel were doing, and then they've only focussed on that. The arrangements, and time changes, and spirit of the songs, and basically showing off. There's no heart in it. I think in all areas of music there's some bloody awful stuff going on. And some good stuff as well. I'll start getting on my soapbox in a minute. But it's true. There's a lot of bands that don't have direction. (laughs) They're in mid-air, they don't know which way to go, copying everything that's around them, and by the time they're copying it it's gone, and they're gone, and we'll be copying the next thing and we'll wish it were gone. Pete: Sure. I read a book some time back by a guy called Tom McGuinness, you know, McGuinness from Manfred Mann and so on, about the industry, and he was saying that young bands, their ambition is to get the record contract, and they think then everything's going to be sorted for them. And he says, "Well I'll tell you, that's when your troubles really begin." Bryan: Yeah, absolutely. Pete: Now, you seem to have come into things pretty well prepared. There must have been the logistics of signing what is a substantial contract, isn't it, that you have at present. Can you tell us any details about the contract? What are you committed to? Bryan: Basically, they own us. They own us for up to five years, and in that five years we sell three studio albums, and there's a DVD, and there's options on anthology albums or live albums in between that. But basically they own us, especially me, for up to five years, to do what they want with. But with that, they plan to put the band on the map on a big scale - they think it's something that could really go. Pete: Well, they've gone in like a ton of bricks, with that DVD, which is an excellent piece of work, isn't it. We saw that the other night. It's well shot, and it doesn't go over the top, which these things often can do. Bryan: Yeah, I think that was a nice documentation of what we were doing on the 30th of June, 2001. There's nothing more than that, but the spirit of the band's there, they've captured that. It was well filmed, well put together, and they could have gone over the top, but they didn't. They just caught that as it was at that time. And it was a live performance, it wasn't pre-recorded or anything. That was as it was. Pete: Nice use of the dissolve between the hillside, the outside and the stage, and so on. Rehearsal and so on, it was well done, well edited. As far as your input as band members go, did it happen real fast? Did you get much direction? Bryan: What, with the DVD? Yeah, it did happen fast. They had some great guys working on it, and I had to go down a few times to have a look at various bits and pieces ... Pete: Was this in post-production, or prior? Bryan: Post-production. Er, prior-production, sorry. While it was all coming together really. We had meetings, and they kind of grasped what it was all about, the organic connection with nature, and they did a bloody good job of just subtly inerconnecting that with the band. Because it's hard to get a two hour show down just with the band, it's nice to have something different in there as well. Pete: The audience were too much - did you invite them, did the company organise that? Bryan: No, they were just people who bought tickets. It was just great. There was loads of people there, and most of them as well were people we'd never ever seen before. We only took a coach down, I think, and some friends from York, which probably came to about seventy or eighty people. Everybody else just came down to see us. We had no idea where they were coming from, we had no idea who they were. It's amazing really, that it's going on, that people are actually into it, but you don't see them. It could have been awful if we'd only sold thirty tickets. It would have been disastrous. God knows what would have happened. Pete: I'm sure the company would have known that wasn't going to happen. ------------------------- You mentioned the other night a soundtrack - songs inspired by "Lord of the Rings." How's that going? How are you doing? Bryan: Yeah. That's going well. It's just that I'm on it twenty-four hours a day now, I've only been given a few weeks to put a whole album together basically, and record it and master it and arrange everything that's in there. But it's going well I think, it's something that I've always wanted to do actually. It would be nice to have six months to do it, but I think you've got to grab these things and do it. It was Bob's idea, he phoned me up. The record company have a film company as well, they're doing a TV documentary on "Lord of the Rings", which is coming out around the same time as the film. Pete: On the making of the feature film. Bryan: No, it's not actually that, it's on about the fact that a lot of Tolkein's work was inspired by the Second World War, and it's just things that inspired him when he was writing the books. So that's just a different angle on it. That's going out and using some of our music from this album actually on the documentary. We got interviewed on the documentary - we were interviewed for it as well. Which was nice. Which was a good push for Mostly Autumn, because it will reach millions of people. Pete: And also, this isn't some transparent manufactured thing, because it's something that's a primal inspiration for yourself. Bryan: It is, yeah. We do a few songs which were inspired by "Lord of the Rings", even prior to this. Pete: How do you feel as a technician, a craftsman, writing to demand almost? As we've just said, you've only got a short amount of time to do it. Bryan: It's a challenge. I do feel the pressure of it, and the pressure of putting out a really good product - we've always believed in making the best you possibly can. I feel the pressure, but I'm enjoying the pressure, because it is something that's natural, it does come naturally. And I guess they think it could as well, else they wouldn't ask us to do it. But I'm happy to be doing it. It's just, there is a lot of pressure, it's just the logistics of arranging it all and getting it all down. A lot of it will be played live in the studio, and mixed as we're doing it. It has to be like that with the time span. Pete: But that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can bring in energy that way. Bryan: Absolutely. Pete: Because a lot of your work .... I can't imagine you playing the same solo over and over again. You play from the top of your head, don't you, as you're working. Bryan: Totally. Definitely. Pete: So does Liam, although you're doing a lot of rhythm work obviously, you're working to blocked chords. But likewise, within that, the syncopation which is just out of the air, isn't it. Bryan: It is yeah, it's just the feeling at the time. When the mood's right, it can be blinding. It's always according to the mood, and how you're feeling at that time. And that's the energy that ... I think it is great to do. I mean, even with the other studio albums, it was played as live as possible. We didn't spend time and time again with takes. We wanted to record as much together as possible, like the rhythms, the bass and drums and keyboards wherever possible, it was all to go down at the same time. To try and get that live energy, because I think there's a chemistry that comes across, with the band playing that way, instead of overdubbing everything. Pete: Sure. So then you just put bits of guitars and vocals on top. I suppose it must have been quite reassuring to see the DVD and know that these people weren't pissing about. Bryan: It was, it was great. I couldn't believe, for one, that they could get the venue, because it's really hard to get the Astoria, you can't just get a gig there, and they just sorted that out. And then spent sixty odd thousand pounds just to get the DVD together. But the wonderful thing about this deal is the guy who's running it, Bob. He's sincerely into the music. He thinks it's wonderful. He really believes in it, he's prepared to go to great lengths to put it on the map, to let the band succeed wherever possible. Pete: do you have a separate management company? Our manager's called Dave. Dave Owen. Bob's the guy who owns the lot, really. He owns the record company and everything. He's got a lot of people working under him as well. So he's the top man. Pete: Another thing I've heard from people moving towards an international profile is, as you get there, it's harder to reach, to get through the front office. It sounds to me as though you could ring up and just speak to these people. Bryan: Yeah, we do, yeah, it's very much on that level. It's very simple really, he loves the music, and enjoys the band, and we're just doing what we want. We're doing what we enjoy. Pete: I think you're quite familiar, Brian, with stuff that's going on in the north .... very high standard, don't you think, around the north? Bryan: I think there is some great stuff. I don't see enough of it to be honest with you. I haven't recently had time to go and see anything. Yeah, there's some great stuff going on. Pete: Do you think northern artists are at a disadvantage - this thing about Wardour Street, the streets are still paved with gold. What's your view about that sort of thing? A lot of the A&R people are down there. Bryan: I think it depends what angle of music you are. If you're a young pop band, rock indie band trying to make it, you're probably ... it's more accessible, to get in touch with these people, all the A&R people, if you're down in London. I don't really see why it would make that much difference. You can get to London really quickly from the north. I don't know. If you're chasing the dragon, if you like, trying to get this big deal and you want to be a real pop star, you're on a bit of hiding to nothing before you even start ..... completely, really. Pete: Obviously you've maintained a fairly consistent sort of control. I know that you have great support within the band itself, let alone Jean's involvement. Has that sat uncomfortably with you? Are there times where you've thought, "I just want to sit down and play my guitar?" Bryan: Yeah. I'm the most terribly unorganised person you could imagine. I have to an extent been involved in a lot of our organisation. And it could have been run a lot better. But, thankfully, people like Jean have pulled the thing together, where I would have failed miserably. But I have been frustrated in the past, because I did want to just sit down and write. Which is the aim of the record company now, they just want me doing nothing else other than writing. Pete: Which is really useful now. Bryan: Totally. They've sorted everything out. I don't have to think about anything. Pete: When we met the other night at the gig up here, we had a chat, I asked if we could do this little interview, and it was obvious that your schedule is so tight at present. Is that something you can accept, is that cool? How does it work out? Bryan: Yeah. Basically, years ago, knowing where I wanted to go, I saw a line to where the music wanted to go, the visuals, and living the music - I gave my life to music really. And I knew that it was going to get a bit like this. So I don't question it really, I just go with the flow. And it is incredibly - last year was incredibly busy, this year's even worse. Now there's not space to breathe till Christmas, on Christmas. We're away now all the time basically. We've got our English tour, then we're straight more or less to Germany after a few gigs in London, then we're coming back on the 23rd, 24th of December, and that's the first time we can have a sit down and not think about it. Obviously there's this "Lord of the Rings" album which has to be done by the 13th of this month, then more or less straight on tour in England and then straight away. It's mad. There's loads of other stuff that goes on as well, rehearsing, organising when you can write the fourth album. So I just accept it now, and bounce with it, go with it. You've no choice. link to photos of Mostly Autumn in the recording studio ........ click here Pete: You've supported yourself in the past through teaching, haven't you? Bryan: I did that initially, yeah. Just in the crossover before I started the band in about '95, gigging, over that crossover I was teaching guitar, just riding around in a little Fiat. Pete: Have you ever found yourself bogged down by day jobs and stuff? Bryan: I didn't work for a long time, no. I did a college thing, I nearly went to university, York University, to do Science and Electronic Engineering, but I thought, no. That was the time when I thought, "No, I can't do this. ..... it's music or nothing." It was so strong inside, I was just thinking of other ideas. No, not really. I had a good job in computer engineering in the late '80s, early '90s, and I jacked that in to do the music, actually. And once I'd jacked it in, I knew. It was too good to believe that you can get this far, then. But it was something I had to do. I thought, "Well, life's like this, and that's what I want to do - that's what I've got to do. I'll be happy doing that, if I can just do that. And survive." So I've never been bothered with .... I've always been a free spirit. For the last ten years, no one would get me doing anything else. Pete: Your main time-consumer at present I guess is writing. But Sunday you're off to rehearse. Is it much easier for the band now to get that time together? In other words, you don't have to worry too much because you've got some money to fall back on. So therefore can you create in rehearsal under less pressure, or what? Bryan: Yeah, we can now, and everyone's full-time now, more or less. They're just leaving their jobs and everything, the people who were still working. So the freedom's there completely to do what we want when we want to do it. A lot of the writing goes on, as I say, while I'm maybe camping somewhere, or just wandering around in nature. Or even just sat at home. But the rehearsal thing, we'll get it sorted out over the winter. Pete: There's often pressure for bands to use sound stages, to rehearse on, and all that. It struck me that you're pretty well located in the North, in York, North Yorkshire ... is that how you want to keep it? Bryan: I'd rather keep it like that. Till I had to move somewhere else. I think I probably will stay around here, because it is still central, as I say. You can get anywhere from York. When I've booked rehearsal studios in London before for us, we can easily get down there and do all that lot. Yeah, I think for the clarity of mind, and just the general happiness, of enjoying living where we're living, I'll stay based here. Unless something dramatic changes. I can't imagine what. I'd probably have a cottage in the Lakes if I could, and then maybe a cottage just outside York, that's what would be nice. I don't like the big smoke, I can't stand that city scene. Pete: This is a dreadful word to use, but "ambitions" ..... what sort of ambitions have you got right now? Because you're just in a sense on a cusp, aren't you. You have got the new contract. Bryan: Well, I've always had the ambition, as I say, from the beginning, from the minute I wrote "The Night Sky", to develop the music and the show to the extent where it could fully put people in the audience in the picture of what it really is all about. I'd love to have theatrical mountains on stage, the sky would be a huge projection screen, we'd have all the moving lights and stuff, a really good organic but really spectacular show that's completely married to the music, and what the music's all about. That's the main ambition, to be able to do that and get it out to the people, that's where it's really going. Also ....to be able to survive and live doing all this, and not have to worry about anything else other than doing this. It's fantastic to involve all that stuff in there. Not to just, like ... the Floyd have always used projections. But it's just another organic natural thing I think I'd like to get across, to be closer to nature with it all. Pete: It's a rare thing, going back to the beginning of the interview now. You're probably familiar with this, people tend to have either an aural imagination or a visual imagination. You seem to have both. Bryan: Definitely, yeah. I can't explain why, it's just the way it is, I guess. Just being around nature. Growing up with that scene, the power of it, the energy that's out there. It was very strong. I was closer to Mostly Autumn as it is now, when I first started writing and learning the guitar and listening to Floyd, than I was when we were doing the melodic rock band in the mid-'80s, late '80s. It was like that was kind of a detour, I guess, to learn a little bit more about a different angle, but the other thing was so strong that it was always coming back. And just appreciating nature, the sunset on the hill, beautiful autumn ... that's what drives it, seeing it and putting it into words and feeling emotions about life, about things you experience in life, along with all that. That's where it all comes from. Pete: I suppose the other thing is, when you're up a mountain, you can hear pretty well. Bryan: Yeah, you can, yeah. Not half. Apart from the bloody ringing in my ears from the Marshall stack being blasted through my head the night before. Just after that I've been up there thinking, "Bloody hell, I don't want to stop hearing the birds singing". But yeah, you can. Everything's quiet, the mind's quiet, the spirit. You feel close to what it's all about somehow. It's incredible. Pete: I'm sure you'll take this question in the spirit that it's intended..... I've heard criticisms of your band, that in a sense it's slightly conservative music ... with a small "c". Another word which could be used would be "traditional", which you've used already. And these criticisms come from people who perhaps are more attracted to, again a quotation, "cutting edge," you know, current ...... And yet you seem to be coming out of a - because obviously I saw Floyd and all that myself - a continuum of music within a particular form. How do you answer those criticisms? Brian: Yeah, I know what you're saying. My first instinct is only to say that if you don't like it, don't come and see it. Because what we do is basically what we do, and there's no preconceived ideas about how we're going to write songs, and whether they're going to sound cutting edge or sound strongly influenced by music that went on twenty or thirty years ago. I don't mind the criticism at all. Basically, the nature of what we're doing is something that's just from the heart. It's just very natural. And if you like that, then you can rest assured that it is from the heart, and you can get off on it and you can relate to it, a lot of people can relate it to their own lives. That's what it's about, and you either like it or you don't. There are strong influences, but I would say that there is also a sound. And I only noticed this when listening and watching the DVD. I've listened to the albums a while after we produced them, and I think there is actually a sound going on there. It is quite different to anything else. Although there are influences. But it's probably a cult thing maybe, I don't know. We're not trying to be anything, we're not striving. As soon as you try to be something that's on the cutting edge, it becomes contrived, and with us that's certainly not what's going to happen. Pete: I've noted - because I've been to a few of your gigs, either working with you, on the periphery or whatever else, - quite an age range. Bryan: There is, yeah. It's a very strange bunch when I think about it actually, but yeah. I mean, John's twenty and Andy's forty-one I think, and we're all somewhere in between. But the purpose of putting the band together was finding the people who could do the right job for that, irrelevant of what they look like. I don't think image is important, it's certainly something that I'm sure the record company will be promoting, with Heather being the lead person in there. But it's always been for the music, and not for how old somebody is or whatever. Pete: Well, you've answered a question I didn't ask there, but that's cool, I'm glad you did. The point I was making is, I was talking about the audience. I've seen children, to people in their late middle ages, into the music. From where you are, standing up there, have you noticed that? Have you got off on that? Bryan: Yes, absolutely. Whatever area we've played, it's always been ... there is a classic audience, a classic set of people who were into the music. I was always into it as a kid, and I'm sure you were a few years ago, that seem to have found something they believe in when there's been a bit of a void for a while maybe, in their opinion. But there are also all the varying ages, teenagers down to children. I think if nobody's got any preconceived ideas about it, it's generally just good music. The melody's fairly strong, I don't know ... any age bracket. Pete: Like you say, if it comes from the heart, it doesn't matter, the rest of it. Bryan: Totally. If they started putting it on Radio One, I'm sure that a load of sheep would suddenly start following it, and thinking, "Oh, this is the best thing we've heard," or, if it stops they wouldn't ... Pete: Nice point. Yep. This place, the Lion at Blakey, has obviously got some sort of resonance for you ... how has that developed? Bryan: I don't know how. I love the place, I think it's an incredible pub, probably one of the best pubs in the world, really. I don't say that lightly. It would be hard to beat it, to try and find a pub that was better. I defy anybody to do that. It's a wonderful situation. The first time I came across it .... my Dad was on about it years ago, I was about twenty I think. He said, "There's a fantastic pub in the middle of nowhere, you want to go out and find it," because we were always into this shooting into the country on motorbikes or cars .... And we came out looking for it. It took us ages to find it actually. Once we did find it, that was it, we were sold on it. We've had millions of fantastic times up here. The vibe of the place is incredible, there's magic here, definitely. That's why the place is always busy ...... That's why it's in the middle of nowhere and it's always full of people. It's run by a set of people who really care for it I think, and it shows. It's well run. The food's great and the ale's great. Pete: The gigs here have been superb. Bryan: We've had some great nights here, yeah. Pete: They've all been good. Our collective .... we are musicians, and we work with musicians, and I'm here interviewing you now, thinking, "Who am I to be interviewing you?" Perhaps I'll put it to you. If you were in my position, interviewing you, what questions would you ask? Bryan: I'd have probably asked a lot of what you've asked already, actually. I think you've asked basically, where it comes from, how it works, what the initial inspirations are, and what the direction is. And I think that's really what it's about. I think you've more or less covered it. Pete: I'm not asking for congratulations, I'm thinking of things that I've missed. (laughs) Bryan: No, I'm trying to think now ... how all the other people feel about it all, the other members of the band maybe. Pete: Yeah. I do realise I'm asking one person, who's a member of a collective organisation. ------------------- Brian: There's not really anything more .... You've asked about the future, where it is now, what's gone on in the past, what's made it what it is now. I think you've covered it really. Damn good questions, really. A nice angle on it, a bit more background. Pete: We'll do some daft stuff then, some "Smash Hits" stuff, like "What's your star sign?" Bryan: Libra, 30th September. Pete: Right. Do you know anything about your Chinese astrological position? Brian: No, I don't know about that, but an interesting thing about the astrology and that ..... there is something in it. I'm certain there's something in it. There's a lot of crap that goes into it ... but about ten years ago someone did a chart for the minute I was born or something, and it said, "When you're thirty-three years old, it all starts coming together. You wait and see." And I thought, "Oh well, what's that all about?" And it's quite coincidental, because it happened to be my thirty-third birthday when we recorded the third album. And that is when it all kicked off. Pete: Tell us that other story, you told us it before, about ... Bryan: Threes? Yeah, that's fascinating, it's something that's been with me for a couple of years now. Threes are appearing everywhere, in all forms, and it's going on, it's fantastic. Pete: You don't mind recording this sort of thing? Bryan: Yeah, I don't mind, because there's a song about it on the next album. It's strange, it's very strange. I was thirty-three when it all came together, it took us thirty-three days to record, finished off on Liam's thirty-third birthday, three days to master, and also it was the thirtieth of the ninth, my birthday, which is three threes ... but that's nothing compared to all the other little threes that have gone on. When I first recorded "Prints in the Stone" which is a song that me and Liam wrote, about going climbing with my father ..... When I first did the original arrangement it was three minutes thirty-three. And that very night, I sprang out of bed and looked at the clock for some unknown reason, it was 3:33. Then I looked at "Heroes", I nearly died, the length of time on the original track was nine minutes thirty-three, which is all to do with the threes as well. And there's been loads, absolutely loads, hundreds of this three experience. And other people have witnessed it. Pete: It's beyond coincidence. Bryan: Oh it is, there's no question, no question at all. I don't know what it means. It's a good thing, though. I don't know whether it's someone communicating with me, or it's either you were at the right place at the right time, but it goes on all the time. Pete: When were you born? Bryan: '67, 1967. The day Radio One was first transmitted, actually. To the day, yeah. It's their birthday, the same as mine. Pete: What's your favourite colour, then? Bryan: Erm ... I don't know really. The colour of autumn I suppose. That covers a few ... I don't know, red and blue, I couldn't say actually. I don't really have a favourite. The gold .... the sort of shady golds reminiscent of an autumn atmospheric scene, I think. Somewhere between gold and green, maybe. Pete: Where did the name come from? Bryan: I always wanted to call it something to do with autumn, because I always find it a very strong time of the year, something I love. And I was in the Lakes with Liam, about ten years ago again, and we were in a pub called the Newfield Inn in Dunderdale, and he pointed to a sign that actually said "Mostly Sheep". But we couldn't see the sheep, and he said, "Mostly," and I said, "Autumn, Mostly Autumn." And that's where it actually came about. It's a bit strange really, but that's how it happened. The sign's still there. Pete: Were you talking, saying, "What are we going to call the band" at the time? Bryan: No, because it was a project at that point. Liam didn't really have anything to do with it. He was a friend I used to play with, and I had an idea for something. It was something to do with autumn. It wasn't going out of our way to think of a name, it just happened. Pete: It just came out of the ...? Bryan: Yeah. Pete: Okay. Thanks very much Bryan. Bryan: No problem, Pete. It was great, that. Cheers. I enjoyed that, it was very interesting. Well put together......
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