A wonderful trip through the fancy 70s prog music is what Rick Miller offers with his newest album “Heart of Darkness”. Rick has been a prog – worker for all of his life so as a musician he has a lot to say about progressive rock music and the music industry in general. Grande Rock contacted him and had a very interesting chat. Do read below…
Hi Rick. Your new album “Heart of Darkness” is truly wonderful! You did a great job once again!
R: Thanks Thanos… I’m glad you liked it.
First things first, since your comeback in 2003 you have released 9 full-length albums. Can you actually say that you are “workaholic” or it’s all due to your inner urge to create music?
R: To begin with, I don’t really consider making music to be work. It is strictly a hobby for me and I do enjoy it. When you create something, I tend to feel that you are fulfilling a basic human need. The need to create and be artistic. That is my motivation. I’ve always told myself… as soon as it feels like work, then stop and do something else. (i.n.: That’s the actual principle when making music.)
How and in which parts does “Heart of Darkness” differ from your previous albums?
R: I think all my albums are a reflection of my state of mind at the time of their creation. “Heart of Darkness” is perhaps a bit lighter and more musical than the last one, however there is a commonality in my albums in that I love to create atmosphere and melody shrouded in melancholy and darkness.
What is the “Heart of Darkness”? Where is it? Why did you use this specific album title?
R: Of course the title was taken from the novel by Joseph Conrad although there is nothing in the music that has anything to do with the novel. It’s more of a statement of my state of mind and the music that came out of me as a result. “Heart of Darkness” seemed to fit perfectly.
How is the moody cover artwork related to the album’s title? It’s true that this cover artwork could have been used by an extreme metal band as well. Can’t you tell?
R: When I went looking for album artwork, I try to find something that matches the feel of the music. I used to paint all my own album covers (until I ran out of paintings to use) so it was natural for the images to reflect the mood of the music. For “Heart of Darkness,” I was looking for something moody, dark, soft with a feminine touch, because that’s how the music felt to me. The image of the Dark Goddess, created by Souffiane Addrassi just seemed to work.
I don’t really know much about heavy metal itself, so I can’t really say if the image works for that type of music. Heavy metal bands seem to always have interesting artwork on their albums covers… usually with a lot of tension portrayed. It does seem strange to me how heavy metal and progressive rock as I know it have become more or less one and the same to a lot of people. I really don’t think my music has any more similarity with heavy metal than it does with jazz fusion or country… but like I said, I don’t really know much about heavy metal, so who am I to say?
Do give us a hint about each one of the tracks…
R: “Heart of Darkness”: I wanted to play around with some of the sounds I used earlier in my musical career, synthesizers and sequencers. Mixed with the brooding atmosphere at the first, then layered with lead guitar, it seemed to work. It then seemed natural to have it then flow into another piece that I was using a heavy synth bass line on.
“Blood of the Rose”: This started as a simply melody in my head and grew from there. I sent a rough version to my friend Ruth Archer and asked her to write some words to it, and she came back with the Arthurian them which I think worked out really well. After that is was a matter of building atmosphere and structure. I think now it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever done.
“Castle Walls”: I remember hearing this melody being sung by a singer in a language other than English once and I thought this sounded so much like a Moody Blues song… so I took the basic idea and made it into my version of a Moody Blues song that would appeal to me.
“The Dark Lady”: I had a few melodies floating around in my head that I decided to try and put together into one long song. Some worked out, some didn’t, but when it was all said and done, I was happy with it. Especially the cello and piano parts.
“Come Summer, She Died”: To me, this was a Pink Floyd/David Gilmour type song with plenty of acoustic guitar, then the lead electric guitar taking over towards the end with a few bluesy riffs thrown in.
I can’t help but say – as I have also written in my review – that “Come Summer, She Died” evoked the finest moments of The Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest & Pink Floyd. It’s one of those songs that it’s hard to find in any prog rock album nowadays. Way to go!
R: Thanks… I’m not sure why you don’t hear a lot of this type of music anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to produce it. When I hear the acoustic guitar strumming and the lead guitar wailing away, I always think of “Comfortably Numb”… one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs.
Apart from the songwriting, the recordings & the song arrangements did you also do the production of the album?
R: Yes. That is probably my favourite part. I love to sit down in front of my computer and play with sounds, atmospheres and arrangements. Getting the best I can out of every little nuance. I do spend a lot of time on it, but it’s easy when you enjoy it.
It seems that you have a dedicated group of musicians that you work with and you trust. How important is it to cooperate with musicians that fully understand you? Could things have been different without them?
R: I find it’s very important to know what to expect from someone when you are working with them. And of course they are all very accomplished musicians, so that makes it easier. It’s also important in my opinion to work with other people occasionally. When you work by yourself all the time, it becomes easy to get self absorbed and then you start to lose your objectivity.
The album is available only digitally as we speak but as you told me the psychical copies will be released around February 24th. Why’s that?
R: I find that there are a lot of people who don’t care about the CD who will only buy the download, and there are some people who don’t care about the download and will only buy the CD, so I treat the electronic release and the CD release as two different releases. Once the music was finished, I posted it for electronic download on my Bandcamp site, then send it along with the artwork to my distributer, MALS for the CD production, which can take up to 6 weeks.
What’s that bonus track that will be featured on the CD?
R: “Time and Without You”. It starts with a poem read and written by me that slides into a newer version of a song I did a long time ago with a couple of different singers. The end result was something atmospheric and Moody Blues sounding. (i.n.: I must listen to that song!)
Do you ever feel the need to play some of your music live? Would you do such a thing in the future?
R: Not at this stage of my career. I have a daytime job that I am retiring from soon, and I intend to start travelling a lot. Of course there is always the allure of playing your own music live, but it’s just not practical now.
Even though you’re totally dedicated to prog rock music and you deliver qualitative music works, you haven’t got the recognition that you are worthy of up to now. Does that thing make you wonder why or it leaves you with a grievance about what the music business has turned into?
R: Not really. If it was ever my goal to make a living from the music industry, I would have stuck to AV productions or soundtracks or at least wrote music that was more palatable to the music industry. As I said before, I create music for my own enjoyment and that’s the way I like it. I could have gone with a larger distribution label than MALS and probably sold more CDs, but not necessarily made any more money.
With regards to the music industry though, that is a different story, and it has always been a bit of a sore spot with me. I grew up in the late 60s and 70s listening to all sorts of music. I remember going to the local record store and hearing the latest from King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Jimi Hendrix. They were all innovators as well as great musicians. There was so much variety and I tended to spend way more than I should have on my growing record collection.
Compare that with what we have today. The industry is controlled by 3 large corporations that force feed the public a steady diet of mainstream, over-compressed, unimaginative garbage that ensures they continue to make money even if the artists themselves don’t. Then when the industry started to lose sales, they simply blamed it all on illegal downloading rather than looking at their own business practices. All I can say is thank God for the electronic music revolution and the rejuvenation of the independent music scene as a result.
R: Thanks Thanos… I’m glad you liked it.
First things first, since your comeback in 2003 you have released 9 full-length albums. Can you actually say that you are “workaholic” or it’s all due to your inner urge to create music?
R: To begin with, I don’t really consider making music to be work. It is strictly a hobby for me and I do enjoy it. When you create something, I tend to feel that you are fulfilling a basic human need. The need to create and be artistic. That is my motivation. I’ve always told myself… as soon as it feels like work, then stop and do something else. (i.n.: That’s the actual principle when making music.)
How and in which parts does “Heart of Darkness” differ from your previous albums?
R: I think all my albums are a reflection of my state of mind at the time of their creation. “Heart of Darkness” is perhaps a bit lighter and more musical than the last one, however there is a commonality in my albums in that I love to create atmosphere and melody shrouded in melancholy and darkness.
What is the “Heart of Darkness”? Where is it? Why did you use this specific album title?
R: Of course the title was taken from the novel by Joseph Conrad although there is nothing in the music that has anything to do with the novel. It’s more of a statement of my state of mind and the music that came out of me as a result. “Heart of Darkness” seemed to fit perfectly.
How is the moody cover artwork related to the album’s title? It’s true that this cover artwork could have been used by an extreme metal band as well. Can’t you tell?
R: When I went looking for album artwork, I try to find something that matches the feel of the music. I used to paint all my own album covers (until I ran out of paintings to use) so it was natural for the images to reflect the mood of the music. For “Heart of Darkness,” I was looking for something moody, dark, soft with a feminine touch, because that’s how the music felt to me. The image of the Dark Goddess, created by Souffiane Addrassi just seemed to work.
I don’t really know much about heavy metal itself, so I can’t really say if the image works for that type of music. Heavy metal bands seem to always have interesting artwork on their albums covers… usually with a lot of tension portrayed. It does seem strange to me how heavy metal and progressive rock as I know it have become more or less one and the same to a lot of people. I really don’t think my music has any more similarity with heavy metal than it does with jazz fusion or country… but like I said, I don’t really know much about heavy metal, so who am I to say?
Do give us a hint about each one of the tracks…
R: “Heart of Darkness”: I wanted to play around with some of the sounds I used earlier in my musical career, synthesizers and sequencers. Mixed with the brooding atmosphere at the first, then layered with lead guitar, it seemed to work. It then seemed natural to have it then flow into another piece that I was using a heavy synth bass line on.
“Blood of the Rose”: This started as a simply melody in my head and grew from there. I sent a rough version to my friend Ruth Archer and asked her to write some words to it, and she came back with the Arthurian them which I think worked out really well. After that is was a matter of building atmosphere and structure. I think now it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever done.
“Castle Walls”: I remember hearing this melody being sung by a singer in a language other than English once and I thought this sounded so much like a Moody Blues song… so I took the basic idea and made it into my version of a Moody Blues song that would appeal to me.
“The Dark Lady”: I had a few melodies floating around in my head that I decided to try and put together into one long song. Some worked out, some didn’t, but when it was all said and done, I was happy with it. Especially the cello and piano parts.
“Come Summer, She Died”: To me, this was a Pink Floyd/David Gilmour type song with plenty of acoustic guitar, then the lead electric guitar taking over towards the end with a few bluesy riffs thrown in.
I can’t help but say – as I have also written in my review – that “Come Summer, She Died” evoked the finest moments of The Moody Blues, Barclay James Harvest & Pink Floyd. It’s one of those songs that it’s hard to find in any prog rock album nowadays. Way to go!
R: Thanks… I’m not sure why you don’t hear a lot of this type of music anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to produce it. When I hear the acoustic guitar strumming and the lead guitar wailing away, I always think of “Comfortably Numb”… one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs.
Apart from the songwriting, the recordings & the song arrangements did you also do the production of the album?
R: Yes. That is probably my favourite part. I love to sit down in front of my computer and play with sounds, atmospheres and arrangements. Getting the best I can out of every little nuance. I do spend a lot of time on it, but it’s easy when you enjoy it.
It seems that you have a dedicated group of musicians that you work with and you trust. How important is it to cooperate with musicians that fully understand you? Could things have been different without them?
R: I find it’s very important to know what to expect from someone when you are working with them. And of course they are all very accomplished musicians, so that makes it easier. It’s also important in my opinion to work with other people occasionally. When you work by yourself all the time, it becomes easy to get self absorbed and then you start to lose your objectivity.
The album is available only digitally as we speak but as you told me the psychical copies will be released around February 24th. Why’s that?
R: I find that there are a lot of people who don’t care about the CD who will only buy the download, and there are some people who don’t care about the download and will only buy the CD, so I treat the electronic release and the CD release as two different releases. Once the music was finished, I posted it for electronic download on my Bandcamp site, then send it along with the artwork to my distributer, MALS for the CD production, which can take up to 6 weeks.
What’s that bonus track that will be featured on the CD?
R: “Time and Without You”. It starts with a poem read and written by me that slides into a newer version of a song I did a long time ago with a couple of different singers. The end result was something atmospheric and Moody Blues sounding. (i.n.: I must listen to that song!)
Do you ever feel the need to play some of your music live? Would you do such a thing in the future?
R: Not at this stage of my career. I have a daytime job that I am retiring from soon, and I intend to start travelling a lot. Of course there is always the allure of playing your own music live, but it’s just not practical now.
Even though you’re totally dedicated to prog rock music and you deliver qualitative music works, you haven’t got the recognition that you are worthy of up to now. Does that thing make you wonder why or it leaves you with a grievance about what the music business has turned into?
R: Not really. If it was ever my goal to make a living from the music industry, I would have stuck to AV productions or soundtracks or at least wrote music that was more palatable to the music industry. As I said before, I create music for my own enjoyment and that’s the way I like it. I could have gone with a larger distribution label than MALS and probably sold more CDs, but not necessarily made any more money.
With regards to the music industry though, that is a different story, and it has always been a bit of a sore spot with me. I grew up in the late 60s and 70s listening to all sorts of music. I remember going to the local record store and hearing the latest from King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Jimi Hendrix. They were all innovators as well as great musicians. There was so much variety and I tended to spend way more than I should have on my growing record collection.
Compare that with what we have today. The industry is controlled by 3 large corporations that force feed the public a steady diet of mainstream, over-compressed, unimaginative garbage that ensures they continue to make money even if the artists themselves don’t. Then when the industry started to lose sales, they simply blamed it all on illegal downloading rather than looking at their own business practices. All I can say is thank God for the electronic music revolution and the rejuvenation of the independent music scene as a result.
Do you think that this 70s prog rock music approach is very popular nowadays and we have an overall back turn to the 70s sound?
R: I honestly don’t think the 70s approach is that popular with modern prog rock bands, at least not that I’ve heard. Somewhere along the way, prog rock as it was back then seems to have gotten mixed in with heavy metal somehow and that has always confused me. I never really saw the common ground even back in the 70s and 80s when Rush were being heralded as a new prog rock band. To me there were more similarities between Bach and Shostakovich than there were between Rush and Genesis. Just my opinion of course.
What do you think of the Internet as a means of promotion & distribution? Conversely, it is also a way for people to get music free & illegally. What’s the right way to control it so as not to lose time & money as a musician/band?
R: As stated above, I think the electronic music revolution, and by that I mean using the internet to promote and distribute music, saved the music industry from corporate collusion. Yes, there will always be people who download music for free, but in my opinion, I would rather have someone listen to me for free than not listen at all. Besides, how many of those illegal downloaders would have paid for the music they downloaded if it had not been available for free? The music industry loves to give out huge numbers when talking about the amount of money they have lost to illegal downloading, but they base that on the misguided assumption that the illegal downloaders would have paid their full price for each and every one of those downloads if the internet simply didn’t exist.
It’s time for the weird questions!!! What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?
R: I think I’ve ranted and raved in this one enough.
Which are the top 3 prog rock albums of all time?
R: 1) “Dark Side of the Moon” (Pink Floyd)…
2) “Selling England by the Pound” (Genesis)…
3) “Voyage of the Acolyte” (Steve Hackett)…
Were you obliged to give just one album to extraterrestrials that would represent the whole human music, which album would it be and from which band/artist?
R: “Beethoven Symphony No.7” (Herbert von Karajan). A recording not an album on its own, but the Allegretto is the most powerful piece of music I’ve ever heard.
Prog Record: “In The Court of the Crimson King”. A wild ride absolutely full of originality and musicianship…
What is missing from today’s music industry? What are albums missing? Is it that quality they used to have back in the 70s and 80s?
R: Diversification and musicianship. In the modern music I have listened to, there are no more guitar solos and drummers seem to have been replaced by what my daughter tells me are “beatz”. The music sounds like it all came from the same studio and the same producer with all dynamics removed and an obligation to get at least 2 four letter words into every song.
My wife and I raised 3 children and I made sure along the way that they were more than familiar with music from the 60s and 70s. They still listen to it today. You know there is something wrong with modern music when you walk into the CD department in Walmart and the 30 year old Pink Floyd CDs are right up there with Lady Gaga. (i.n.: It sure does… but where all those modern music trashes will be in 30 years from now?! Hehe!)
Which will be the best soundtrack to play in the day we will be forced to evacuate planet earth?
R: “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber. Melancholy music at its finest.
Prog Soundtrack: “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.
If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?
R: Hmmm… in the context of this interview, I’d love to go back to the 70s and go to all the concerts I missed. I still kick myself for not seeing Genesis before Peter Gabriel left.
Imagine that your wife/girlfriend is selling your whole album-collection just to buy an expensive ring for herself. How would you react?J
R: GRRRRRRRRRRRR… I have to admit… that question did make me really laugh… Thanks for that.
I think that’s all for now Rick. The last words belong to you… Take care!
R: I would like to thank you Thanos, Grande Rock and the entire independent music scene for the opportunity to do what I love… even if it is just a hobby.
R: I honestly don’t think the 70s approach is that popular with modern prog rock bands, at least not that I’ve heard. Somewhere along the way, prog rock as it was back then seems to have gotten mixed in with heavy metal somehow and that has always confused me. I never really saw the common ground even back in the 70s and 80s when Rush were being heralded as a new prog rock band. To me there were more similarities between Bach and Shostakovich than there were between Rush and Genesis. Just my opinion of course.
What do you think of the Internet as a means of promotion & distribution? Conversely, it is also a way for people to get music free & illegally. What’s the right way to control it so as not to lose time & money as a musician/band?
R: As stated above, I think the electronic music revolution, and by that I mean using the internet to promote and distribute music, saved the music industry from corporate collusion. Yes, there will always be people who download music for free, but in my opinion, I would rather have someone listen to me for free than not listen at all. Besides, how many of those illegal downloaders would have paid for the music they downloaded if it had not been available for free? The music industry loves to give out huge numbers when talking about the amount of money they have lost to illegal downloading, but they base that on the misguided assumption that the illegal downloaders would have paid their full price for each and every one of those downloads if the internet simply didn’t exist.
It’s time for the weird questions!!! What are those things that you do not like in the music industry nowadays?
R: I think I’ve ranted and raved in this one enough.
Which are the top 3 prog rock albums of all time?
R: 1) “Dark Side of the Moon” (Pink Floyd)…
2) “Selling England by the Pound” (Genesis)…
3) “Voyage of the Acolyte” (Steve Hackett)…
Were you obliged to give just one album to extraterrestrials that would represent the whole human music, which album would it be and from which band/artist?
R: “Beethoven Symphony No.7” (Herbert von Karajan). A recording not an album on its own, but the Allegretto is the most powerful piece of music I’ve ever heard.
Prog Record: “In The Court of the Crimson King”. A wild ride absolutely full of originality and musicianship…
What is missing from today’s music industry? What are albums missing? Is it that quality they used to have back in the 70s and 80s?
R: Diversification and musicianship. In the modern music I have listened to, there are no more guitar solos and drummers seem to have been replaced by what my daughter tells me are “beatz”. The music sounds like it all came from the same studio and the same producer with all dynamics removed and an obligation to get at least 2 four letter words into every song.
My wife and I raised 3 children and I made sure along the way that they were more than familiar with music from the 60s and 70s. They still listen to it today. You know there is something wrong with modern music when you walk into the CD department in Walmart and the 30 year old Pink Floyd CDs are right up there with Lady Gaga. (i.n.: It sure does… but where all those modern music trashes will be in 30 years from now?! Hehe!)
Which will be the best soundtrack to play in the day we will be forced to evacuate planet earth?
R: “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber. Melancholy music at its finest.
Prog Soundtrack: “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”.
If you had the chance to travel in time… where would you choose to go? To the past or the future and why?
R: Hmmm… in the context of this interview, I’d love to go back to the 70s and go to all the concerts I missed. I still kick myself for not seeing Genesis before Peter Gabriel left.
Imagine that your wife/girlfriend is selling your whole album-collection just to buy an expensive ring for herself. How would you react?J
R: GRRRRRRRRRRRR… I have to admit… that question did make me really laugh… Thanks for that.
I think that’s all for now Rick. The last words belong to you… Take care!
R: I would like to thank you Thanos, Grande Rock and the entire independent music scene for the opportunity to do what I love… even if it is just a hobby.