Lust, den musikalischen Mainstrem zu verlassen und sich in Gefilde zu wagen, wo es von biblischen Plagen, Axtschwingern, Teufelsinseln, Zombies und Folterkammern nur so wimmelt? Dann herzlich willkommen im Reich des Paul Roland!
Der britische Gothik-Psychedeliker der mit Alben wie „Danse Macabre“, „Grimm“, „A Cabinet Of Curiosities“ und „Duel“ eine treue Gefolgschaft um sich versammelte, und von seinem ehemaligen Labelkollegen Robyn Hitchcock gar als „männliche Kate Bush“ gelobt wurde, hat wiederum eine starke Band um sich geschart. Man kann mit Sicherheit behaupten, die Beteiligten haben garantiert The Cramps, Johnny Cash, Iggy Pop und The Ramones gehört. Irgendwo dazwischen befindet sich die düstere Absteige „Bates Motel“. Songtitel wie „I was a Teenage Zombie“, „Kali“ oder „Tortured by the Daughter of Fu Manchu“ weisen nachdrücklich darauf hin, in welche musikalische Richtung es auf diesem Album gibt. Und es rockt!
Dabei reicht die Geschichte von „Bates Motel“ zurück bis Ende der Achtzigerjahre, als Paul Roland für eine britische Zeitung ein Interview mit Velvet Underground führte. Nach dem Gespräch fragte er Moe Tucker, Nico und Sterling Morrison, ob sie nicht zusammen ein paar Titel aufnehmen wollten. Die drei waren begeistert von der Idee, so schrieb Paul einige Songs und schickte die Bänder über den großen Teich. Aber es gab technische Probleme, die nicht gelöst werden konnten aufgrund der Inkompatibilität der Tape-Formate zu jener Zeit. Dann verstarb Sterling und kurz darauf Nico und das geplante Projekt verschwand im Archiv. Bis jetzt.
Nachdem Paul in den letzten Jahren bekanntlich mehrere eher intime Psycho-Folk-Alben veröffentlicht hatte, erinnerte er sich im Jahre 2012 wieder an die Aufnahmen für das geplante BR/VU-Projekt, kramte sie hervor und stellte sie mit seiner Band zuende.
Man kann sich gut vorstellen wie die düster-humorigen Titel in der Besetzung Paul Roland, Maureen Tucker, Nico und Sterling Morrison geklungen hätten. Doch die derzeitige Roland Band, bestehend aus Giarrist Sonny Midnight, Organist Tony Jacks, Bassist Joshua Roland und Drummer James Count, bringen die Motelgeschichte souverän nach Hause.
Ein tolles, gruseliges, morbides, victorianisches, spinnenwebenverhangenes Album - der perfekte Soundtrack für einen imaginären Film mit Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing, Bela Lugosi und Boris Karloff!
Demächst in diesem Theater!
Paul Roland Meets The Velvet Underground
'Gothic psych baroque rocker waxing demented as only an Englishman can.'
(Goldmine, USA)
"I was rolling west on Route 66, just outside of Fairville, no more than a couple of clicks,
when the sky turned blacker than a biblical plague and the night descended like the axeman's
blade." (from 'Bates Motel')
Fancy a detour off the musical highway this autumn? Cult English baroque rocker Paul Roland
(who was once described as 'the male Kate Bush' by label mate Robyn Hitchcock) has left the
mock gothic grandeur of his past albums such as 'Danse Macabre' and 'Duel', the Edwardian
proto-steampunk offerings of 'A Cabinet of Curiosities' and the dark woods of folk-themed
'Grimm' to plug his electric guitar in and thrash to death such titles as 'I Was A Teenage Zombie',
'Tortured By The Daughter of Fu Manchu', 'How I Escaped From Devil's Island' and the title
track Bates Motel . Someone has evidently been listening to The Cramps, The Ramones,
Iggy Pop and Johnny Cash!
"In the late 1980s I interviewed several members of the Velvet Underground for a national
English newspaper and at the end of the interviews I asked Nico, Sterling Morrison and
Maureen Tucker if they would be interested in recording with me and they seemed genuinely
enthusiastic. So I wrote some songs for them and sent the tapes over to the states, but there
were technical problems that couldn't be resolved due to the incompatibility of the tape formats
at that time. There was no internet then so submixes on metal spools had to be shipped over for
them to add their parts and these weren't compatible with the American studio that Sterling
was using at the time. So the songs were shelved, until now. I had spoken to Sterling several
times on the phone and he had written back saying that he was keen to record and he liked the
songs, particularly the structures, I remember, but I didn't pursue it, thinking that we had all the
time in the world to get together. Then sadly he died and soon after so did Nico. Then my own
music went off in a more psych-folk direction and I forgot all about the PR/VU project.
But recently after making a number of intimate acoustic albums I was itching to rock again and I
thought it was time to dust off the songs I had written for them and complete those which I
hadn't finished. 'Bates Motel' is not Paul Roland immitating the Velvet Underground - that
would be pointless - it is the album that I would have made with Mo, Sterling and Nico had I
been a bit more aggressively ambitious and made sure the opportunity wasn't lost."
For those who might find the pace rather bracing, be assured there are also a couple of spacedout
psych tracks (including a paean to the dark Indian goddess Kali) and a creepy tale or two
with a suitably atmospheric setting - one inspired by a ghost story written by England's master
of the macabre M.R. James ('The Wailing Well') and another inspired by an episode of the
'Twilight Zone' (see if you can spot which one, cult TV fans).
The lighter side of Roland's macabre humour is embodied in a couple of classic Sixties psych
pop track with a twist ('In Love With Myself' and 'Crazy' which we think could have been
written for Green Day), plus a sly pastiche of self-righteous evangelical preachers on the gospel
tinged 'Promised Land' and a typical Roland offbeat Arabian adventure featuring
Curly, Moe and Stagger Lee ("and me with a half-assed plan to find the lost city of Genghis
Khan").
Tracklisting:
01 Was a Teenage Zombie
02 Kali
03 Bates Motel
04 How I Escaped from Devil‘s Island
05 The Wailing Well
06 Tortured by the Daughter of Fu Manchu
07 The Light of Life Drains Out of Me
08 Katmandu
09 Promised Land
10 Crazy
11 Cain
bonus track
12 I‘m in Love With Myself
