Author: Jernej Vene
Interview date: 30.05.2008
RockLine: How happy are you with how the tour with Asia is going?
Carl Palmer: We kicked off on April 1 in England, where we played thirteen shows, then came the US and Japanese tours. We started the European leg in Bilbao, Spain, and slowly worked our way through the south of France to Bratislava, where we’ve got our last show. After 53 gigs we’ll take a bit of a break.
RockLine: Did you have any special expectations when the new album Phoenix came out?
Carl Palmer: Not at all. We made the record because we felt it was the right thing to do. We started writing songs in 2006, the same year we had a great time on the US tour. At the end of 2007 it felt like a good moment to head into the studio and record new material. The work went well and came together fast, and we had a blast. We had no trouble finding a label at all (Frontiers Records, translator’s note). We made the record to show where Asia is at today. At the shows we play songs from the debut, two from the new Phoenix album, and some that marked our musical paths one way or another. We had no illusions that Phoenix would top the charts, because we know times have changed and things are pretty different now. We’ve had the most success with it in Japan.
RockLine: Are you heading to the US after the tour ends?
Carl Palmer: No, in the middle of June I’m playing in Leonberg, Germany, with my own band, the Carl Palmer band. I’ll be playing all summer. Asia will go to the US toward the end of the year, but nothing’s confirmed yet. What I can tell you is that Asia will play six shows in Britain in April 2009.
RockLine: How do you fit songs from your careers that weren’t written under the Asia name into the setlist?
Carl Palmer: It’s really simple. We decided to play one song from each member, from whatever they’re best known for outside of Asia. Of course, the audience has to know it well. It feels like an organic, natural move to us. We often swap songs around, since we can play a lot of stuff with such a long musical history behind us. So there’s no reason not to play more songs from the Yes catalog, Emerson, Lake & Palmer or King Crimson.
RockLine: We heard about the health problems of singer and bassist John Wetton. How’s he feeling?
Carl Palmer: He’s doing well after his triple bypass. If you go to my website (www.carlpalmer.com) you can read that I got a stent put in my heart too (a device implanted to keep a blood vessel open, translator’s note). We’re both feeling fine.
RockLine: Many bands stay successful in Japan throughout their entire careers, while the rest of the world quickly forgets them. Are audiences there really that different from everywhere else?
Carl Palmer: They really are, everything there is completely different from here. Sure, people are people, and either they like your music or they don’t. They don’t buy something they don’t like. There are really a lot of concerts there. In central Tokyo, Asia can play a show for 4,500 people. The next night we can play again for another 2,500. They come because they like us. We were there last year and the response was incredible. It seems they took a liking to us back when we first played there, in the early eighties. Nobody knows why, that’s just how it is.
RockLine: What does the future hold for Asia?
Carl Palmer: We’re not retiring. We put out Phoenix, and that’s our future. We’ll be back on stage at the end of the year and the start of the next, and next summer we may be playing in the US. In the meantime, we’ll be doing our own projects. That’s the whole idea of Asia too: we can play together for a while, then focus on other things, and then come back to Asia again. Maybe 2009 will be the year for ELP shows, who knows?
RockLine: What was the vibe in the studio while recording Phoenix, given that you hadn’t played together in so many years?
Carl Palmer: Let me explain – Britain isn’t big, and we kept seeing each other over all those years, because when you’re circling the concert stages you bump into people you know pretty quickly. London especially, you run into someone you haven’t seen in years and years. We all live around London, and we’d played quite a few shows, so it wasn’t hard to go into the studio. Then we’d break off the recording and get back to work a few days later. There was no pressure at all.
RockLine: Thanks, and all the best!
Carl Palmer: You’re welcome!
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