West, Richard (Threshold) (August 2004)

Beneath The Subsurface

At the beginning of August 2004, UK prog metal band Threshold released their seventh studio album, Subsurface, an album that has received kudos and five stars from many corners of the world, including here on these very pages - from Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, 5/5, and from Joshua Turner, a 4.25/5. With the band going on tour beginning September 2 to support the latest album, Joshua spoke with Threshold keyboardist Richard West about the new album and the ideas behind it.

Josh Turner: [answering phone] Hello.

Richard West: Hello. This is Richard West from Threshold. Got an interview with you.

JT: Oh, definitely.

RW: Cool.

JT: Yeah, I got a bunch of questions for you.

RW: That's just as well. [we laugh] Cause I tried to find you last week and you didn't.

JT: Okay

RW: That's kind of weird.

JT: Yeah. Are you currently on tour?

RW: No, next month.

JT: Oh, next month, okay.

RW: Yeah.

JT: Can you tell me about that tour? What cities are you going to and how big is it going to be?

RW: Um, it's about three weeks I think. We are just going around Europe. Unfortunately, not going to the States. But, we are doing a lot of our usual suspects, which are Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, kind of all the central countries.

JT: Great.

RW: And, we are going a bit further East, doing countries like Slovakia and Hungary, which it was kind of impossible to play a few years ago, so it's really cool we can do that now.

JT: Is that something you're looking forward to?

RW: Oh yeah. Yeah, we've been writing since November. And recording, well, we must have done three months of that. And now we're rehearsing and it's like that's all we... the real intense work, and you get off on tour and that's where you let off the steam, you know. That's where you get to play your songs nice and loud, get hot and sweaty, and have a few beers. Have a real adrenaline buzz, you know. So, yeah, the process wouldn't be complete without the tour.

JT: Ok, I'm reading that you got a new bass player? How did you meet your bass player and your other band mates? Can you tell me some of the history behind that?

RW: Yes, well, the bass player, Steve [Anderson] um, he was, I think, in school bands with our two guitarists, Karl [Groom] and Nick [Midson]. They go way, way back. I think when we were looking for a new bass player, he was just an obvious choice. He's a very good bassist, plays mostly jazz, uh, very accomplished and there is something about getting new band members, you know. If the chemistry isn't right, it can really ruin the band and we were really blighted with that in our early years. We had quite a few member changes and it's just not good. You know, you try to build up like a family and when you have awkwardness and people wanting to go in different directions and different personality types, it can get really tricky, so bringing in Steve was such a good idea cause he's, you know, he fits like an old pair of shoes. [we laugh]

JT: Exactly. You talk about some of the directions you are going in and you guys kind of do your own thing. It is hard to draw comparisons to you guys. There are a lot of guys that sound like you guys, but you guys are kind of the original, the original thing. I'm wondering who would you say are your influences musically?

RW: Before I answer that, I'd like to know, I'd like to ask you a question.

JT: Oh, sure.

RW: Who would you say sounds like us, because I'm kind curious?

JT: I mean, I think you guys are similar to maybe Dream Theater, groups like Shadow Gallery. It is hard for me to draw comparisons, because you are kind of unique.

RW: I can kind of understand where you are coming from. I thought you meant maybe we influenced people, which is kind of a scary thought. [we laugh] You know, those guys have been going a long time, too, and it's like we've had parallels, um, American Prog Metal doesn't really sell big in England, and so, we don't really know these guys, um, so it's, I think it's a parallel thing, you know, They do their thing, we do ours. There is no real crossover of influences between us, but, with Threshold, I think we have a slightly different sound to everybody, cause we're the only British guys doing prog metal and I think that makes a bit of a difference, you know. In England, we've got our own unique set of influences. A lot of prog and metal from the seventies and eighties was very British and that's kind of been our heritage and hopefully we're continuing the heritage.

JT: Ok. And I'm wondering, in general, when you guys actually put music together, like can you explain your songwriting process? Just how that all works. How you guys come up with the ideas? How you get together, put them together, and how you ultimately make the songs?

RW: Yeah, it varies. I mean, the first album [Wounded Land], half the album was written by Karl, our guitarist. He then gave me his instrumentals to do the lyrics for and the other half was written by me. And we both just kind of sit in our homes and just sit there and write. It's kind of an intense, intimate process, um, we've never really been into the band co-writing thing. It's quite a hard thing to do for us. I think either in a standard kind of blues band or rock band you can jam stuff, you know, you can say here are four chords, let's write a verse, but with Threshold, you know, the whole thing is composed more like a symphony in a way, you know, where you have recurring themes and undercurrents and then throughout the album, it's like the album is an extended symphony with undercurrents repeating through the lyrics. And to try and do that in a democratic way, I think a lot of subtlety gets lost cause somebody is going to say I don't like that, let's do something else, but they didn't understand the whole picture. So, what we prefer to do is write at home and present the band with what we hope is going to be the full picture and then some things might get changed, some songs might get dropped, but generally, you know that what's been presented is 100% from somebody's heart, rather than 50% from collaborations, you know.

JT: Ok, excellent. I have to tell you, your new album Subsurface, it's an amazing album. It totally blew me away. I thought you brought things to a completely new level. I'm wondering, can you explain Subsurface? How that all came about? What that album might actually be about?

RW: [he laughs] It's about the world, um, it's, I mean, a lot of people have commented already on the lyrics, um, which is worrying, cause the album isn't out yet. Where did you get it? [I laugh] But, some people are saying it is all about Bush and Iraq and some people are saying it is all about the EU and Britain, and I think that probably wherever you're from and whatever your political thoughts are, you're gonna identify with something. But also the album, it's not a political album. It's a personal album. It's about anyone whose let themselves be controlled by somebody else, you know, whether it's all the way up from a school teacher or a parent all the way up to a world leader, you know, and it's about the day of dawning when you discover that actually they didn't have your best interests at heart and that they were serving a different set of rules that you knew nothing about and it's kind of like an awakening album almost, you know, the subsurface thing is discovering what's below the surface. So, people that read into it, Bush and Iraq, uh, it can be that it's the key thing on their mind at the moment, so that's the first thing they see in it, but if you look deeper you see the thoughts and other things as well.

JT: Ok, yeah, I mean, it's an excellent album. I'm very impressed with what you guys have accomplished on it.

RW: Thank you.

JT: How did you come up with the name Threshold for your band?

RW: I have no idea. [I laugh] I think the idea was, I mean, it's one of those classic words just asking to be a band name. I think, um, it's a word you'll see on a compressor in a studio or a keyboard, you know, it is a music word, you know, but it also opens up other ideas like you're standing on a threshold to a whole a new world of music. I mean, you could use it on many levels, so I think it works well. I just don't know quite where it came from, but unfortunate in a way, cause, um, a lot of European countries don't put "t" and "h" together, so we are always getting called "truthold" and we thought about just going by truthold, but then we'd be getting a lot of people confused.

JT: [I laugh] That is funny. One thing I can say about the album is that the keyboard contributions are just unbelievable and I'm wondering how did you learn to play your instrument? When did that all begin?

RW: Well, I started piano when I was five and then I think my parents bought me a little monophonic synthesizer when I was maybe fifteen and then, so, I've grown up listening to Genesis and other prog bands as much as I had to pop and metal, and so when I had this monosynth, the best sounds it made were these monolith sounds, so I just start playing monolith, you know, and at the same time there is Gary Numan and Howard Jones doing stuff on monosynth, but in a pop context, so I was, you know, I felt quite at home just doing the same kind of thing, you know. I had a little four-track recorder and I would write and record and sing and use, I'd use cardboard boxes for drums and I had a tambourine net for my high-hat and I had played a cello on it, cause I was a cellist as well and that'd be my string section. I used to love it. That was just how I spent my days, you know, just making out little songs and recording them. So, I guess it just evolved in me without me noticing. It is just what I do and then I moved up near London when I was about twenty and bumped into these guys who were doing this prog stuff and I just kind of got to know them. I got asked out to do a tour with Shadowland, which was a band fronted by Clive Nolan, who is the keyboard player for Arena and he's been playing keyboards on the album, but he wanted to be the frontman on stage, so he asked if I could play the keys for him on the tour. So, I did that and that was kind of my own step into the world of prog really, um, the guitarist in that band was Karl Groom who is in Threshold and he was just finishing the first Threshold album at the time and he said could you just come and play a few keys on the album. So, I went in just as a session player really just doing him a favor and I've been with the band ever since.

Kind of by accident, but kind of by destiny at the same time I think.

JT: To get an idea of some of your musical tastes, can you recall the last CD that you purchased?

RW: Yeah, I don't buy many actually, [I laugh] especially in the prog metal area cause I just find that InsideOut has all the good bands these days.

JT: Right.

RW: I find a lot and they send me stuff, which is cool. The last one I actually bought was probably, it was either Spineshank, which is kind of quite heavy nu-metal sort of stuff, fantastic album, one of the best I've heard in years, either that or Gary Numan's Hybrid album, which is kind of remixes of original material and I was always a big Gary Numan fan and I've bought some of his old albums on eBay, um, cause I had them as LP's as a kid and I bought them on CDs thinking, yeah, the big keys sound, the fantastic production, and I've put them on and it's so disappointing, you know, they sound so cheap and small now, because music's just moved on.

I hear this new Hybrid album, which is just a double album of remixes, where it's all been done properly and it does really sound big. It's really cool.

JT: Ok, kind of along the same lines, what's the last concert that you attended as a fan?

RW: Oooh. It really has been a long time. Sshh. I... the last one I attended was actually Bryan Adams in Prague, but that was kind of more for my wife. She's a big fan. I mean, we're in the Czech Republic at the time and so we looked to see what concerts were on and we went up there for the weekend in Prague and we saw Bryan Adams and we went to this really cool jazz club, which is downstairs from the rock caf? where Threshold had played and we saw the most amazing jazz band. Metal concerts, I'd love to, but I don't. I live in one of those suburbs in England where it is just close enough to London that you think you are going to go there all the time, but it is just far enough away that you never do. So, you see there is a gig on, you think by the time it's finished, public transport will be closing down. I won't be able to get home, so you just never go there. It's really quite disappointing, but being in a suburb, I'm in an area where there are no concerts at all and you have to go to London. So, it's like a Catch-22. So, it's a lame excuse, but I just haven't been to many concerts recently.

JT: Are there any concerts that you haven't had a chance to see that you'd like to see?

RW: Yeah, uh, Fates Warning, but you never know when they are gonna get on the road or whether they'll change their minds. They certainly never come to Europe. That would be a cool one, um, OSI, I'd love to see if they ever get themselves on the road. Spineshank if they come to London, um, I nearly went to Linkin Park in Prague cause I was in the country at the same time, but I think the singer had an accident or something and he wasn't playing, so that was a shame cause they're quite a good band. I know everyone slams nu-metal, but there are actually quite some good bands out there. The good thing about bands like Linkin Park is that they just write great music, you know, whether it's done in a metal context or in the remix context or re-animation. They're just good songs and I love it.

JT: Have you had a chance to hear Atreyu or Magna-Fi? Are those bands that you like?

RW: Sorry, who?

JT: Atreyu. That's one of the hotter bands around here that's in the nu-metal genre.

RW: Ok.

JT: There is also Magna-Fi, which is kind of a similar sound.

RW: Ok, then they must be too hot for me. [I laugh] I have been kind of in the Czech Republic where I'm out of touch with everything.

JT: Oh, okay.

RW: It's like a blissful place to be, because I don't understand the language. I don't really know the culture that well and so you just think everywhere is like utopia. You don't realize that there are any problems. It's just a beautiful green wonderful place, so nah, I've really not had much new music recently, so I'll look out for those ones, thank you.

JT: Ok, sure. Can you recall any Spinal Tap moments where something bizarre happened on tour or in a concert or in the studio?

RW: Yeah, I mean, having mentioned Prague, actually, when we played there with Threshold, we had the worst bus driver in the world. I mean, I think we sacked him halfway through the tour, because he had these mini-bottles of, um, alcohol like gin and vodka. Once he found a mini-bar, he had a whole basket of them and he was just drinking them and we were like "you are driving through the night with twenty guys sleeping and we're trusting you" and it's like his driving is all over the place, but we go to this gig in Prague and we came out after we finished and it was, it was actually on September the 11th, the actual day, so you know our spirits are pretty low already, um, we had the band out with us, there were a couple of New Yorkers with us and it's like a really, really hard day. We came out of the venue and the bus driver said I'm sorry, I've left the bus running, which they do, but he had forgotten to plug in the land line, which is like the main supply for the bus, so that everything can keep running. He had all the lights on, he had the toilet working, he had the TV on, but he had somehow run the battery down, because he hadn't plugged in for the day, and we got out there. We had to jumpstart a two-decker twenty bed bus.

JT: Whoa! [I laugh]

RW: I'm serious.

JT: Wow!

RW: And the most bizarre thing is it worked. First time, we pushed it maybe twenty feet down the road there and it started, but it was so embarrassing.

JT: Yeah, that is some moment. I want to figure out some of your favorites? Like what would you say is your favorite band aside from yourself?

RW: [he laughs] Threshold is not a band, it is a way of life. [I laugh] I couldn't say that, um, favorite band, I mean, right now, it's probably Spineshank. That's the first album I've bought in a couple years where I thought that's something new and exciting.

JT: Along the same lines, what is your favorite album?

RW: Ever?

JT: Sure, ever or just the top contenders.

RW: Uh, well, I meant to mention Ark earlier. They've sadly split up I believe; um, they were a fantastic band and their album Burn The Sun blew me away so much that I insisted they came on tour with us, which fortunately worked out really well. An awesome band. Um, Fates Warning Disconnected. That's kind of the album that got me into them actually. I know kind of everyone in prog metal got into them on their really early albums, but actually Disconnected was the first one I heard of them and I thought, yeah, that's awesome. They, it's kind of, its got a simplicity, but a real depth at the same time and they've created their own whole universe, which it's beautiful. Um, oomph, oldies I guess, you are always colored with old, old albums. You kind of, um, you remember them with like halcyon eyes or whatever the phrase is and when you're actually listening back, they are not as good as you thought. [I laugh] They certainly were when I was growing up.

I like Night At The Opera by Queen, um, and not specifically for the "Bohemian Rhapsody" [track]. I didn't, I wasn't aware there was such a hype around that. I was only a kid, but, um, songs like "Death On Two Legs" and "Prophet Song" really blew me away, cause they were just so different, you know, there was just so much going on. They were really catchy, really inventive. Uh, Genesis' And Then There Were Three. There's another album that again everyone got into Genesis with, like the really early stuff, but for me I was kind of later on, you know. Gabriel had already left the building.[we laugh] and I heard this And Then There Were Three album when it came out and again blown away, because I had just been listening to the radio and its all boring three minute pop songs and suddenly there is this fantastic band doing stuff you didn't totally understand and you listen more and more and you get more and more into them and you get more out of it. Well, I think ever since then that's the kind of music I wanted to do. Stuff where it takes you awhile to get into it, but when you do, it becomes an album that you love forever rather than you listen ten times and you throw it away.

JT: Ok. I also like to ask some non-music-related things that are more personal interest.

RW: Okay.

JT: It seems the progressive rock people are very open to these kinds of questions and the metal people aren't.

RW: Right, well, I'm kind of between the two, so you'll have to see. I might.

JT: Exactly, but I was wondering what you would say is your favorite movie?

RW: Movie? Aliens.

JT: Aliens?

RW: Seriously.

JT: I was just talking about that one today.

RW: Aha. Okay. I love it. I've seen the remake. There is an extended version of it, but my wife is not into kind of thing at all, so it is not the sort of thing I'll be buying for my collection. It must be something that we can watch together, but I've always loved that movie. It's one of those films that even though you've watched four or five times when it gets to the part where you think they are going to leave and they have to go down, back into the building again, you think, no, don't go [he laughs] and it's, uh, awesome. I like it, cause you look at later Alien films, especially the fourth one and they think they got so clever with their graphics that you have to see the alien in full daylight in 3D with little facial expressions and you think, no, we don't want that. You know, you want the hint of an alien. You want to see the walls kind of dripping, but you don't know quite what it is, you know, the suspense of the thing, and you put them in full 3D with lighting effects and it just looks stupid. You think, you know, give me a video game if that's what you want to give me. [I laugh] I've always found it disappointing when, I mean, Star Wars is a good example. I loved the Star Wars film, as most people of my age did when we were all kids at school and it came out and it was like nothing else ever, but then they came back and do the remakes with CGI, so that you know it is going to look dated in six months. [I laugh] Why do that because the originals, aside from a few bad lighting effects still look good cause they were actual models, so why do CGI that you know is gonna date? It's all the same, so, you know, I'm not going to be buying the DVD for them now that they're coming out cause they're just not as good and I am sure Lucas will look back in five years and say, "what have I done," and he'll go and make them again or something. [he laughs]

JT: Exactly. As far as the Alien franchise, they're coming out with Alien Vs. Predator later this summer so you might want to check it out.

RW: Yeah, yeah, there has been a video game for years, hasn't there? It just had to become a movie. [Comic book, too, I think -ed.]

JT: Yeah, now it's going to be a movie, so we'll see which direction they take it in.

RW: Yeah, I'm not sure I'm going to bother. [we laugh] I mean, Terminator 2 when it came out was awesome, but I still haven't bothered to see Terminator 3. It's like I already saw that story.

JT: Exactly.

RW: Same thing with Aliens 3. You won't see anything. Well, ok, it's people running away from the alien again. Kind of done that already. Let's move on. Let's make something new that's interesting and I really didn't get on with the Predator stuff anyway. Sounds a bit boring to me.

JT: Ok, when you called I was reading a book [for the record, it was James Patterson's Cat & Mouse], so I was wondering, what would you say is your favorite book?

RW: Favorite book? Tricky one. It used to be Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy and I did come across this very English thing that they are just making into a movie at the moment, so you will be forced to watch it soon. It's one of those books, there was five of them, I mean, I had them on audio tape and it went on for 25 hours. I mean, this is long stuff, but I used to do a lot of driving and it was good for the car, but it's one of those things when you're a kid you just find it wonderful. It's got, it's a whole, it's kind of quite progressive, it's got a whole world that you're trying to figure out and it's got lots of what you think are really funny jokes. I read it again recently or tried to and it was really quite painful. I think it's kind of that transition from youth, you know, you thought it was brilliant, but when you go back it's not quite the same. So, it's not my favorite anymore, but nothing has actually taken its place.

JT: Ok, I like to ask this because it helps me identify with the artist and I think this tells a lot about people, but do you have any pets?

RW: No.

JT: No, okay.

RW: No, I don't have a stable enough lifestyle for that. Um, you know, I'm from half the time in the Czech Republic, half the time in England. It's not realistic. Um, I grew up with loads of cats, but my wife's allergic to them, so it wouldn't be a sensible pet.

And in the Czech Republic, the most logical thing for us to do would be to keep chickens cause that's just kind of what they do in the villages over there; but again, we'd go away for six months and come back and they might not all be alive. Although a goat would be cool cause they have some special kind of grass on their lawn there that just grows in a furious rate and its three times as thick and we go back there when we've been away for six months and it takes us two weeks to cut this stuff back down again. So, maybe I should buy a goat. [I laugh]

JT: Ok, I also want to ask if there is anything you'd like to say to your fans at this time.

RW: Yeah, sorry we haven't come across more often. Um, we came to ProgPower [USA] in 2002 and we're waiting to be asked back, [he laughs] so hopefully we'll be able to make it back soon.

JT: Yeah, cause I'd definitely like to see you guys in concert.

RW: When we were over there, we spoke at length to the record company and they said they are just looking for the right package and that was two years ago. So, the right package hasn't yet come forth.

JT: I think with this new album coming out, you are going to turn a lot of heads. I think you guys did a phenomenal job.

RW: Oh, thank you. I think the political side to it seems to be making some sort of resonance with the Americans more than with anybody else. I get the impression that you guys are really rubber in the politics at the moment.

JT: Oh, yeah.

RW: That's the top of your subject list.

JT: Yeah, that's the big subject right now.

RW: Maybe you should send a few albums to, um, Michael Moore or maybe John Kerry. Maybe they can use our songs.

JT: Ok, that's cool. That's pretty much all the questions I have. I just want to wish you guys good luck on your tour. I want to say congratulations again for that album. I'm looking forward to hearing more material from you guys whenever you get around to doing it.

RW: Cool. We'll see.

JT: Keep up the good work.

RW: Thanks very much. It was nice to talk to you.

JT: Ok, nice talking to you, too.

The Subsurface tour kicks off September 2 at The Underworld in London, with support from Balance Of Power and Power Quest. The rest of the tour sees Dead Soul Tribe in support, touring behind their The January Tree album.

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)