Interview with Trey Gunn by Howie Shih
Submitted By: Howie Shih
Trey Gunn Interview 6/30/1995
This is the complete and vitually unedited interview I did with Trey back at
the end of June. I was only able to use a small portion of it for my
Crimson article in the September issue of Smug Magazine. Fortunately, you don't
have to put up with my 'ums' and 'ahs' and I'm sorry that Trey had to. It was
only the third interview I'd ever done. I'd love to get any feedback
from people out there. I know I didn't ask the best questions in the world so I
wanna know how I can do a better job next time. Enjoy!
Howard Shih: How would you define your role in the new King Crimson?
Trey Gunn: It's a very different role mostly because the
function of my instrument in the sound of the group is not one that normally
takes place in rock music. It's kind of a baritone range.
Howard: Well, is it a problem finding space to play in since
you have Tony on the low end plus Robert and Adrian on the high end?
Trey: Well, there's no problem. It's more of an ensemble
kind of playing than you would normally get in rock n' roll; where everybody
kind of has their own territory where they make as much sound or do whatever
they want in that territory. You can't really do that in this group. It needs
to be more organized and a little more thought put into who's covering what
territory when. Tony is generally always on the low end. Although last night we
were kind of cuing each other and I was going below him. Generally, he's down
there and Adrian and Robert are up top and I'm somewhere from the middle to
all the way up top. The instrument I play actually has a five and a half
octave range. So generally what happens is Tony's playing very,very low bass,
although there are times when I take the bass over from Tony, but generally
when he's in the bass register and when I'm in the bass register we have parts
worked out where I'm in a fuzz bass and he's in a clean bass with an octave
divider on and I'm an octave above him. We do that on "VROOOM"and "VROOOM
VROOOM" and on some other pieces but generally I'm up in the guitar register.
Howard: When I first heard your record,1000 Years, I was really surprised by
the range of The Stick. I had no idea it was so broad because the only Stick
playing that I've heard has been Tony's on the 80s Crimson albums.
Trey: Yeah, it's quite an amazing instrument. One of the
things that I wanted to do on that record is just present everything that I
discovered you could do with the instrument.
Howard: Do you have another album ready to come out?
Trey: Not ready, no. I'm gonna start recording this summer.
Howard: Is Raw Power still availible?
Trey: Not unless you happen to find a cassestte somewhere. I only
made a couple hundred copies of it. I have archived it to DAT and a lot of
other recordings that I'd done on cassette. I may put out something at some
point but right now it's unavailible.
Howard: How have the audiences been reacting to the new material?
Trey: Great. They seem to know it.
Howard: The reason I ask is because during your show in Red Bank the
audience started applauding after the quiet interlude in "Dinosaur", not
knowing it wasn't over yet.
Trey: Actually, that happens every night. I guess it just sounds like
we're finished when we really aren't.
Howard: Do enjoy playing the older material, like "Red", or the newer
material?
Trey: I like playing newer material since it's more appropriate to
the time. Although some of the older pieces, especially "Lark's Tounge" and "
Red", are truely timeless and don't sound dated. I'm sure you could play
"Lark's Tounge" in a 100 years and it wouldn't sound dated.
Howard: Do you guys plan out who's going to lead off in the improv
section in the middle of "THRAK"?
Trey: We haven't really discussed anything about what we're gonna do
for that. The drummers' have a couple of things that they can pull out and
cue on the moment but generally we just go for it. It's evolved into quite a
different thing since we played in New Jersey.
Howard: Is there a track on the new album that best represents the
new Crimson?
Trey: Unfotunately no particular track does. The thing that's most
interesting about the band is we cover so much territory; more territory than
you would usually expect from one band. I think "VROOOM" is probably my
favorite insturmental. "VROOOM" and "Dinosaur".
Howard: Why didn't "Internet", the Stick duet, make it onto the
album?
Trey: Well, we recorded a lot of stuff for the record and not
everything made it.
Howard: So have plenty of new material for the next album?
Trey: We'll probably end up re-recording things. The thing is that
just because you record something doesn't mean it's going to end up on the
record. The record has a certain feel to it and we felt that that particular
piece didn't fit in with everything else. I was trying to get Tony to put it on
his solo record but he had too much material and he didn't even get to use all
of the material that he had. So who knows? It's only about 90 seconds long.
Howard: How strange was it for you to get feeback about the
VROOOM ep while you were recoding THRAK?
Trey: That was kind of fun because Adrian was actually laying down
the vocals for the second version of "One Time" as we were reading reviews of
"One Time". It was kind of fun for awhile because the kind of things that you
read about your work are purely from professional critcs
published in a magazine and the stuff that you get on the Internet is purely
subjective, which is refreshing because you just don't get that kind of
feedback from the critics. So it was really good for awhile but I think it has
a tendency to infect your thinking.
Howard: How different is the from The Stick?
Trey: It has the same tuning and string configuration that I have on
my Grand Stick so the range is the same. It has generally everything that's
availible on the stick and a little more because you could play it like a
guitar. It has a bit more of an electric sound on the top side of the
instrument and ithas several different pick-ups. It's really a cross between a
Stick and a guitar.
Howard: Did you use it when you recorded THRAK?
Trey: No, I never recorded with it. I just got it three months ago
and I wasn't planning on using it on the tour.
Howard: Have you guys been able to devolpe the 'double trio' concept
any further? Like in soundchecks?
Trey: Unfortunately, we haven't been able to do any work at all
during soundchecks. We were hoping that we'd be able to write some more
material but there just hasn't been time between when the gear gets setup and
when we have to clear the stage. They've just been soundchecks which is a
little dissappointing. We have been experimenting with different textures but
we haven't been able to do any writing. We really have to get together just
for that. I think we're gonna do that in some smaller groups over the summer
for a few days. We also have quite a lot outtakes from rehersals that are
quite interesting that we'd would like to release.
Howard: What are some bands that you enjoy? Or what do you generally
listen to?
Trey: I don't listen to that much actually. My favorite band is
still XTC. One of my other favorite singers is Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He's a
Pakistani singer and he's got several records on Peter Gabriel's Real World
label. Also the Latin Playboys.
Howard: Is there definitely a second album in the future?
Trey: Yeah, definitely. We have the live record and we also have a
lot of interesting outtakes from rehersals that we'd like to release. The next
studio record may not even be next, it could be in the fall of next year. It
depends on when we have the material. When we've got the material
we'll record it. So it looks quite good for the future.