West, Richard (Threshold) (August 2002)

Turn On, Tune In: Richard West On Threshold

When one goes back to the origins of progressive metal, the thing goes way back ... all the way to Rush, actually. Nevertheless, prog metal was never really a subgenre of metal overflowing with bands until the nineties, despite the previous multi-album existence of acts such as Queensrÿche, Fates Warning, Watchtower, Crimson Glory, and King's X. Then, a certain band called Dream Theater released Images And Words with the support of a major label and ignited the progressive metal scene into a veritable volcano of activity, during which a series of new bands came into life in order to produce their sometimes original and at other times not-so-original sounds. What escaped the eye of many, however, was the fact that at the same time that Dream Theater released its homecoming album, British act Threshold was releasing its prog metal debut Wounded Land, effectively bringing progressive metal into the nineties at the same time. And while history certainly hasn't brought that little-known fact to public knowledge yet, it has allowed Threshold to become one of today's premier and most instantly recognizable progressive metal acts. Now, is there really a need for another reason to do an interview with the band's keyboardist, Richard West? I didn't think so...

Marcelo Silveyra: Alright, in order to try and retain some vague semblance of coherence, we're going to fire away in chronological order ... at least sort of. In other words, we're going back to the early years of Threshold, some time after the band was formed in 1988 and you were about to record your debut Wounded Land. When you were asked by Karl Groom to join the band, you thought you were joining in as a session player, but I guess it should have become clear by now that you aren't (otherwise, this is one hell of a long session!). When you first joined, what were your first impressions about what the future would hold for the band? And once you recorded the album and still thought you were in as a session player, just how badly did you want to become a permanent member of Threshold?

Richard West: I don't think I ever thought about it really! At the time I was in a rock band called Mercy Train with Threshold's guitarist Karl, and I was also trying to get somewhere writing singles for pop bands on a new record label in England. So those were my main areas of focus and everything was secondary really. In 1992 I toured as a session player with Shadowland, fronted by Arena's Clive Nolan and also featuring Karl, and during the tour Karl mentioned Threshold. They'd already recorded Wounded Land but needed some keyboard parts, so I just saw it as another session job and agreed to help out. The following year we released the Mercy Train album, but that didn't really go anywhere and the pop writing was just frustrating, so when the opportunity came to join Threshold for their tour I decided to put everything else second and concentrate on that. I don't think I ever saw it as a long-term thing, prog and metal weren't popular in the UK and combining them was pretty much unheard of, but I like the music and I was impressed by how together the band sounded. It was quite a shock at first though, as I'd really stretched myself on the album so I had to practice very hard to play the stuff live!

MS: A thing that people usually don't realize about Threshold is that Wounded Land came out at the same time as Dream Theater's Images And Words did. And while Dream Theater already had an album before that, it wasn't really until 1993 that a new, more modern direction for progressive metal was established. Didn't it ever feel unfair or frustrating to see that people only recognized Dream Theater as the new trendsetter for the genre, without initially taking notice of bands such as Fates Warning and yours?

RW: I don't know how Dream Theater managed to land themselves a major deal but I'm very glad they did! Because although we were busy in England combining prog and metal, it was them who made the style popular. I think they got some great coverage on MTV at the time, and that helped the genre to get off the ground. For us, being called a prog metal band from the UK really didn't mean much to anyone, but call us the UK's answer to Dream Theater and suddenly we started to get noticed. As for Fates Warning, I love what they've done recently but I don't know much about their past, so I don't really know how they fit into the story. I know that in 1995 they were pretty well known, and our record company was really pleased to get us onto their European tour. We thought that was really going to help our careers, but unfortunately the tour got cancelled.

MS: Later on, after releasing Psychedelicatessen, you toured with what may very well have been one of America's most underrated progressive rock bands ever, Psychotic Waltz. How did that tour come about and how did it feel to be on the road with a bunch of self-described hippie prog metallers? Moreover, when a band that you've toured with comes to an end, like Psychotic Waltz did, does it somehow hit you as awkward or shocking?

RW: It's always sad when a band comes to an end. I think a couple of the guys are involved in other projects now so I guess life goes on. [see note below] Our tour with them really came about as a substitute for the Fates Warning shows, but we were worlds apart in terms of our backgrounds and lifestyles so we never became close friends. They were actually quite a culture shock for us!

MS: Touring for Psychedelicatessen followed with Dream Theater, and the live album Livedelica was released in support of the tour. Things seemed to be going great, but there was some turmoil going on inside the band and later on Jay Micciche (drummer) and Glynn Morgan (vocals) left the band in order to form Mindfeed. Are there any regrets now of perhaps not having exploited the Dream Theater support tour to the maximum due to internal conflicts?

RW: The Dream Theater tour was really good for us, we got to play to much larger audiences and win loads of fans. If we'd have followed that up by doing another album straight away I think our future would've been very different, but unfortunately we'd developed so many internal problems over the past months, that we ended up doing nothing for about two years afterwards. Looking back we were really stupid, there we were on tour with some great musicians and we hardly even spoke to them, we were so caught up in our own problems. They probably don't even remember us!

MS: After Jay Micciche and Glynn Morgan left, drummer Mark Heaney entered the fold and vocalist Damian Wilson returned for Extinct Instinct. You have mentioned at times that Wilson didn't enjoy touring or committing himself to a band, which led to his departure again before the recording of Clone in order to join the musical Les Miserables. My question is: did you ever get tickets to go see him? And did you go?

RW: No, although I thought about going; but his show was touring the country and never got close to where I lived. I don't think I've even seen him since he left Threshold, our paths never tended to cross outside of the band. He's just brought out a second solo album [Disciple] but I haven't had a chance to hear it yet.

MS: A thing that strikes me as peculiar is the fact that no one ever seems to ask about Johanne James' integration into the band, how he works with you, and any funny or memorable anecdotes of him ever since he has been an official member of Threshold. This is doubtlessly because everyone asks about Mac [Andrew McDermott] having joined the band, but out of balance and curiosity, how has Johanne affected Threshold and how has he worked out so far?

RW: Johanne's a bit of a mystery to most people, he tends to play his cards very close to his chest! He joined the band on tour in 1997 and again in 1999, and finally got into the studio with us for Hypothetical. He fits wonderfully into our style of music and he's very easy to get along with, although he's constantly hungry and most of our time on the road seems to be dedicated to finding food! Before Johanne joined we'd had a succession of drummers who either didn't fit or weren't committed, but then Johanne came along and he was just right!

MS: I must admit, however, that I'm also planning to ask something about Mac. After he joined the band, he got voted as the best vocalist at the Wacken Open Air Festival but had an "embarrassing" performance at the ProgPower festival. I don't intend to rub it in any more, but what I wanted to ask is if that ProgPower incident has already been left behind and is now considered as an interesting anecdote for Threshold, or whether Mac won't forgive himself for that. Another thing, although not really related to Mac, is what the difference is, if any, for you as a band to play in an all-round heavy metal festival and then in a progressive/power metal festival.

RW: When we got to Wacken most of the bands seemed to have death-style vocals, so we were a bit worried about doing a set with a ballad in it! But we figured we might as well just do what we do, and it all worked out pretty well in the end. It looks like we should be back there in 2002 so I guess they liked us. From what I've seen, prog fans are usually more critical than metal fans, so what happened at ProgPower was pretty unhelpful to our reputation. But that was 2 years ago now and our last tour went much more smoothly, so that festival has become - not an anecdote yet - but just a distant warning!

MS: Speaking about Mac, his previous band, Sargant Fury, was supposed to be a lot more in the pop metal vein than anything else. And then Nick Midson has said that he has a large collection of pop metal albums, a la Ratt and Mötley Crüe. What strikes me as interesting is that while most progressive metal fans are constantly criticizing eighties "hair metal," Threshold seems to actually like some of it. How important do you think that scene was to the development of heavy metal as a whole? Any chance that Nick will sell me some of his records?

RW: I don't think so, and you can't have my Loverboy albums either! I'm no music historian but it's not hard to imagine that "hair metal" probably killed off the commercial metal scene, it became the new pop music and once that happened the fall was as steep as the rise.

MS: Going back to Clone for a second, the time between that album and Extinct Instinct was a bit long. Do you think that the delay in releasing a new album may have caused the Threshold machine to lose some steam where promotion and expansion is concerned? With Damian Wilson leaving days before recording Clone, was there a sudden panic of that delay being lengthened even more?

RW: Well, the sales of Extinct Instinct were pretty much the same as the previous album, but I think if we'd have done it at the end of 1995 with no line-up changes, we could've done a lot better. But when it came to Clone and Damian left at the last minute, we'd pretty much gotten used to the rocky road of Threshold and didn't really panic, we just looked for a solution and got on with it. Looking back I guess it could've spelled the end of the band, but Mac's worked out really well as our new singer and he's lasted longer than all the others!

MS: During the summer of 1999, you had decided to leave Threshold and had already commented about the decision and your choice to stay and play the last scheduled live dates with the band before departing, but then you changed your mind. What exactly made you change your mind after you had made such an important decision?

RW: In 1999 I was burned out and something had to give way, I felt that Threshold had probably gone as far as it could go and I wanted something that I could try to take further. As a result I decided to concentrate on the Farrah West project [Richard West's wife - MS] and figured I wouldn't really have time for both.

But one day, I was visiting a church and someone had a prophecy for me. Now I know it's easy to be sceptical, but a stranger told me he had one word for me, and the word was "Threshold!" He also said a few more things about it, and when I asked the band later if I could join again they told me they'd never really thought that I'd left anyway!

MS: Ok, before we catch you off-guard, we're warning you. It's now time to go into the trademark series of oddball questions; basically lightweight stuff that only full-blown bozos like us think of asking. First one: when you're running frantically between vans, one of them blocked by a market stall, in order to get your equipment on time to the Viarock festival in Belgium ... what exactly stops you from setting fire to the market stall?

RW: The market stall wouldn't sell us any matches.

MS: What are the odds of seeing Threshold on tour with the Backstreet Boys across Europe?

RW: I don't they could afford our buy-on fee.

MS: If you were given the choice of being a porn star or playing in a band for the rest of your life, which one would you choose? Now that I think about it, wasn't there a time when both things were actually one and the same?

RW: Playing in a band definitely, that way I don't have to worry about how big my stomach gets.

MS: Ahem, anyway, going back to Threshold (and thanks for your patience, by the way!) ... Perhaps the Threshold equivalent of Progfreaks.com's oddball questions was Decadent, which is not really an official release, but nevertheless surprised a lot of people out there. How surprised were you yourself with some of the ideas there? Wasn't there any fear of a negative reaction on behalf of the fans?

RW: Not really; the idea to release it came from our fans. Over the years we'd accumulated various recordings that hadn't been released, and people were asking to hear them. By releasing it as a fan club album it was never likely to annoy the critics or affect people's perception of our studio albums, so we just told people what it was and let them decide whether they wanted it. It was only a limited edition release but we got some good feedback from people, although some were a bit surprised at the dance mix of "Paradox!"

MS: Now, regarding your latest release, Hypothetical, a thing that immediately stands out about the album is the cover art, which is excellently done. Somehow, the art for your albums seemed to have been getting weaker, with Extinct Instinct not really being very memorable. With Clone, however, the artwork got a lot edgier and seemed to represent the band's sound a lot better; something that Hypothetical continues. Just what exactly got you to make that change and what was your reaction when you first saw the cover art for Hypothetical?

RW: Our first few albums were done by an English artist who blew us away with Wounded Land but never really repeated the success with later covers. Then we found Thomas Ewerhard for the Clone album, and suddenly we felt we'd stepped up a few levels. His artwork seems to go from strength to strength, and when we saw his Hypothetical cover we were awestruck. It's the sort of picture that makes you want to release your album on 12" vinyl!

MS: Something that people have mentioned out there is that "Keep My Head" would very likely receive some airplay if it were released as a single. Yet some radio stations probably wouldn't even give it a chance if it were presented as a single from a progressive metal band. Isn't it kind of sad to see how people, fans of progressive music included, won't give something a chance if they're not familiar with the label or genre? On the other hand, what if an eighty-year-old grandmother hears the song, think it's a dainty tune, and then buys Hypothetical, unsuspecting of the sonic strength she's about to unleash?

RW: I think if a band like Threshold was to release a debut single like "Keep My Head," we'd be destined to release REO Speedwagon / Aerosmith ballads for the rest of our days! I hope we will release a single one day, but I think it would have to be representative of who we are if we're to stand a chance of long-term success off the back of it. As for radio play, I don't remember the last time I heard an independent release on commercial radio, so unless we got bought up by a major label then we're only talking hypothetically!

MS: In addition to the release of Hypothetical, you are getting both Wounded Land and Psychedelicatessen re-released and with bonus material. Does it feel like this could get more people to know Threshold? How does it feel, after so much time, to see your first records getting worked on again and to release additional material that the fans originally didn't have access to?

RW: It's just nice to be able to present the old albums in a way we're happy with. I don't think it'll make more people know about Threshold, that's a job for the new studio album, but hopefully some of our new fans will want to buy the older stuff. When we were in the studio remixing Psychedelicatessen a few months ago, it felt like no time had passed since we first mixed it in 1994, and we were remembering all these things that we wanted to do the first time around but didn't have time for. So it's nice to finally have it the way we wanted it, and to be able to add the multimedia stuff and extra artwork was a nice bonus as well.

MS: You just finished your European Hypothetical tour. Are you guys finally getting used to Mac's wild antics on stage? Has he ever done something that actually made you fear for your life? Also, with five studio albums under your wing and great responses from the fans, will there soon come a time when Threshold releases a full-length live album to represent its entire career live?

RW: We're considering releasing our Paris gig as a fan club album; we're just waiting to review the master tapes at the moment. [And they did, Concert In Paris -ed.] One day soon we'd love to do a live DVD but that's going to have to wait a year or two. [And they did, 2004's Critical Energy -ed. again] As for Mac's antics, or "Macrobatics" as they've become known, he was actually a lot calmer during our last tour. Back in July he'd climbed up a huge lighting rig at the Bospop festival and sang from the top, and I think some of our band worried for his life around then! But after that he changed his stage style quite a lot, and the new calmer approach seems to go down a lot better!

MS: Last question. Threshold is a British band, yet the UK keeps turning its back to heavy metal, with the recent exception of nu-metal. Being more popular in mainland Europe than in one's own country is something that many English and American metal bands go through nowadays. How does it feel to experience that situation, especially when the UK was so crucial to both the progressive rock and heavy metal (just thinking about Purple, Zeppelin, and Sabbath is going to make me cry) movements during the seventies?

RW: I don't really know what happened. I think the UK was too busy trying to present the world with its indie scene to take any notice of prog metal. Thankfully for us the rest Europe was more receptive, so although it's sad to be relatively unknown in the UK it's still a great feeling to know we've gotten somewhere in other parts of the world!

[Psychotic Waltz vocalist Buddy Lackey, ne Devon Graves, formed Dead Soul Tribe, who, along with Threshold, are scheduled for Progpower Europe 2002. Critical Mass is the upcoming album, due September 2/3, 2002. {Further notes: By 2008, Wilson was back with, if not actually in, the band again, though I suppose now in 2011 we can say "in." August 2011, to add a somber addendum, Mac passed away. As of this update, Threshold are working on a new album} -ed.]

Discography:
Wounded Land (1993)
Psychedelicatessen (1994)
Livedelica (1995)
Extinct Instinct (1997)
Clone (1998)
Decadent (1999)
Hypothetical (2001)
Wounded Land: Special Edition (2001/2002)
Psychedelicatessen/Livedelica: Special Edition (2001/2002)
Concert In Paris (2002)
Critical Mass (2002)
Wireless - Acoustic Sessions (2003)
Critical Energy (2004)
Extinct Instinct: Special Edition (2004)
Subsurface (2004)
Replica (2004)
Surface to Stage (2006)
Dead Reckoning (2007)
The Ravages Of Time (2007)
Paradox - The Singles Collection (2009)
March Of Progress (2012)
For The Journey (2014)
European Journey (2015)

Critical Energy (2004) (DVD)