By: Peter Podbrežnik, Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Ampere / Munich / Germany
Interview date: 03/15/2011
“Magnum, Britain’s champions of melodic rock with an art rock twist, have made their fifth album since reuniting in 2001 with “The Visitation”. Right off the bat, it has to be said that they have never sounded as convincing as this since then, in their constant attempts to revive the magic that made them famous in the eighties. And that’s without overlooking such excellent efforts as “Brand New Morning” (2004) and its predecessor “Into the Valley of the Moon King” (2009)” – by: Peter Podbrežnik – taken from the RockLine review of the album “The Visitation”, which you can read in full HERE) .
It was precisely the excellence of the new studio album from these legendary British melodic rockers that pushed the RockLine crew to meet the band in person and swap a few words about where things stand right now, the energy running through their veins, and their plans, wishes and vision.
Magnum are a band with an impressive track record. They’ve lived through it all, the highs and the lows. Their golden and commercially most successful period started in 1982, when they first made people sit up and take notice with the album “Chsse The Dragon”. They carried on their climb to the top with an unforgettable string of cult classics that belong in the collection of every true melodic rock fan, such as “On A StoryTeller’s Night”, “Vigilante” and “Wings Of Heaven”, and that winning streak is rounded off by “Goodnight L.A.”, released in 1990.
It was early afternoon. Sitting with us in the garden of Munich’s Ampere club, on the grounds of a former small hydroelectric plant, was the venerable frontman of Magnum, Bob Catley. Bob, who had “just barely woken up after the night liner pulled in at the venue” written across his forehead in bold letters, wasn’t hiding his good mood and cheerful spirits….
First off, we’d like to know how the current Magnum tour, dedicated to presenting the excellent new album “The Visitation”, is going?
Bob: It’s going great. We’re back here in Munich, and I hope the atmosphere at the venue will be fantastic tonight. We kicked off the tour in Stockholm, Sweden. It was bloody cold there, but people were thrilled with our new songs. The vibe right now is really excellent. Tonight here in Munich the second leg of our new tour kicks off. A few days ago we were in Prague in the Czech Republic. We played a really small club there, but the atmosphere was great, because the crowd welcomed us with open arms.
Can you tell us a bit more about how the new album “The Visitation” came about and how the recording went?
Bob: We recorded the album in a month. We started writing material for it right after we wrapped up the tour supporting “Into The Valley Of The Moon King”. In fact, a lot of material came together during the tour itself. Those ideas then just had to be reworked and polished afterwards. The guys put together the music and the arrangements, then it’s my turn and I ask: “So, guys. What have you got for me?”, I put together the verses, and we shape the choruses together. In the early stage we focus more on the melodies, while the ideas for usable verses, I’d say “pretty” words, come quite, quite a bit later. This ten-track album is a lot more spirited this time, compared to its more “laid-back” predecessor “Into The Valley Of The Moon King”. The new album is more rock ‘n’ roll, louder, the guitars are more up front, it feels rawer. We’ve become a rock band again (laughs). A rock band, of course, that still has, at least I hope so, sufficiently intelligent lyrics and intelligent melodies. At the same time there’s a fair bit of nostalgia in the messages. Now that we’re older, those memories drift back to the beginning of our career, when we were teenagers, and there’s quite a lot of personal confession in there too, each of us can find ourselves in these lyrics. There’s also some criticism of the things going on around us in everyday life. There’s a song on the album called Freedom Day. It carries a message of liberation. The chorus is set up so that both I and the audience can really let it rip in the verses and the melody. That song comes across especially intensely on stage every night, because every single member of our band finds themselves in those lines, so there’s always some emotion in the air when we play it. The audience reaction is incredible, it really lifts it up when we play that song. “The Visitation” is a very solid, expressive and emotionally intense Magnum album.
Which songs would you single out on this album, which are your personal favorites?
Bob: I can say it’s exactly those six we play live at the shows on this tour. Of course it’s very hard to choose. The songs we’re not playing are really good too. It would be hard to pick favorites, but if I have to, it’s definitely the song Wild Angels. It’s a track with very simple lyrics that call for a good time.
What was it like working with Roger Taylor, the producer of the Magnum album “Vigilante”?
Bob: Oh, that was a long time ago…. 1986. We were at Mountain Studios in Montreux. We were there together with Roger Taylor and David Richards, who was our sound engineer. The studio offered some technological advantages, which we put to good use. That’s how we upgraded the sound of the album “On The Storytellers Night”, which was recorded in Birmingham. We thought it was great to have a guy from Queen working with us. Brian May was also constantly dropping by during that time. Queen were shooting the video for Kind Of Magic at the same time. So Roger had to fly to London in the middle of it all to shoot the video, and David Richards filled in for him, which means David contributed a lot of the sonic solutions on the album “Vigilante” too. Many years later, in the nineties, after Freddie Mercury had died, Roger formed his own band The Cross and at one point asked us if we’d take his band as a support act. We thought that was great. It was a special extra, a real treat. Working with Roger was a huge pleasure for us.
Taylor also contributed backing vocals to the album.
Bob: Oh yes, of course. For the parts that were out of my reach, I asked him to step in and help. He covered the highest lines with his voice. At first we didn’t even expect Roger to be up for singing, but he gladly accepted the invitation and we put together some outstanding vocal harmonies for the album. We’re still friends today. We meet up every now and then, and with Brian too.
Which moments stuck with you the most while recording the album “On The Storytellers Night”?
Bob: We’d been playing some of the songs on that album live long before we went into the studio to record them. Take How Far Jerusalem and All England’s Eyes, for example, we still love playing both of them live today. At that time we were even without a drummer. Jim Simpson stepped in to help, he was playing for U.F.O. back then. The studio we recorded in was owned by the members of UB 40. The recording really dragged on. We had no record deal. We signed with the German label Polydor only after the album had come out and started selling. That year we also played the Monsters Of Rock festival in Donington. In the UK we signed with FM Records. It was a small local label that sold our album. The album also got a reissue, and the label put in the effort to give our release much nicer artwork and packaging. Later we also put out the album “Wings Of Heaven” with Polydor. That was a really big album for us at the time. Those were good times for us. Every week our videos were hitting the charts. The album sold great, thanks to Polydor Records.
What force drives the band today, after such a long stretch of defying the odds and hanging in there on the rock scene? Every album released since your reunion sounds even better than the one before.
Bob: In the mid-nineties we took a break. Times weren’t rosy for the kind of music we were making, and the situation in the music industry was totally unfavorable. Things really weren’t going anywhere. During that period I recorded two albums for the project Hard Rain, which Tony (Tony Clarkin, guitar, Magnum, ed.) and I started together. I also worked with a few other musicians in that period, like Gary Hughes from the melodic rock band Ten. Things didn’t go anywhere with Hard Rain either, and we revived Magnum at the start of the new millennium. Even though we put out two quality albums, “Breath Of Life” and “Brand New Morning”, we somehow didn’t find real satisfaction in how either of them turned out, and Tony needed quite some time to start shaking out those famous seductive Magnum riffs again. “Princess Alice And The Broken Arrow” finally took us back to where we actually wanted to be. We were starting to get a little worried, but then that old chemistry kicked back in at full strength and we knew we were on the right track again. On the path of the Magnum sound we all wanted.
Do you have any plans in place yet for future projects regarding your solo career?
Bob: There’s so much going on right now with Magnum and promoting our new album that I don’t even have time to think about it. Still, I’m involved in the Avantasia project. A special Avantasia show is being prepared for this year’s Wacken Open Air festival, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s great working with all those people, led by Tobias Sammet and Sascha Paeth. Otherwise, all my strength and energy right now is aimed at working with Magnum. As soon as the Magnum tour is over, we’ll head back into the studio. As for my solo career, I’d love to put out another album in the future, of course, but at the moment I can’t announce anything about it. Making music with Avantasia is also a pretty demanding thing, and it can eat up a lot of time. Getting seven singers together in the studio at the same time, Jorn Lande is in there too, among others, is no easy feat. All of us musicians are busy with other projects at the same time and working in our own main bands. Sometimes it borders on a real miracle when things line up so that everyone has time at once and steps away from their priorities to contribute to the Avantasia project.
Is there any musician you particularly want to collaborate with in the future on a joint project?
Bob: I’ve already done all that. You should have asked me that question some 20 years ago. Of course I would have, but it’s too late. With Ronnie James Dio. It would have been interesting to work with Ozzy Osbourne too. A joint American tour where Magnum played as well would have been interesting. Then there’s the collaboration with Tobias Sammet I already mentioned, whom I’d never heard of in my life until a few years ago. He came up to me saying he was a massive Magnum fan, he’s also in Edguy, and then there’s the work with Jorn Lande. I honestly have no need or desire to steer my career toward working with some bigger name in the future. If Tobias invites me back to work on the next Avantasia album, that’ll be more than enough for me.
That’s all, thanks Bob for your time, and have a great show tonight in Munich.
Bob: It was a great pleasure. I hope you enjoy our show tonight.
interview by: Peter Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik and Helena Vertačnik
text translated and edited by: Aleš Podbrežnik
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