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INTERVIEW 16/2/05 - John Mitchell "The Missing Annals" 24/1/05 - Pete Trewavas talks about Kino's upcoming tour 07/1/05 - A small novel from John Mitchell about the pre-Christmas gigs 15/01/04 - Pete Trewavas on how Kino came into being
Hello everybody, John M here. Well the good news is the album is finished and all that remains is mastering on Tuesday in London. It's been an age in the making (over a year), but I really believe it's been worth the wait. It's one of the albums I'm most proud to have been involved in, notwithstanding the fact the I've collaborated with 3 of the coolest musicians on the planet!! I was trying to calculate how many cans of Diet Coke I've drunk and cigarettes I've smoked during the making of this record but it really doesn't bear thinking about. It hasn't been an easy ride either. At one point we lost four songs after the primary drive on my downstairs PC decided to run amok. It was only 3 months old as well. It got sent to a data recovery company and they furnished me with the bad news that only 26% was recoverable. I found that out on my birthday... nice! But there have been happy memories as well... like the time I was recording John Beck on 'Letting Go'. He plays this sort of Indian-esque part during the verses and he decided to sit cross legged to get the 'vibe' right. Just the sight of one of my childhood musical heroes sitting in the yogic position on my mum's old piano stool recording a song that we all wrote together brings a smile to my face as I sit here and recount it to you. There are lots more tales I could tell you about the process involved and the things we got up to, but I'll save them for future postings. So for now, I'll bid you adieu and look forward to seeing some of you on the road soon. I know it's a gamble watching a band you've never heard before, but believe me, it will be worth it... and you can say you were there at the start!!! ;-)
As you know Kino will be playing the support to Spock's Beard on their upcoming European tour, and I for one am really looking forward to that. It will be a great opportunity for us and I am looking forward to meeting up with them again. I first heard of Spock's Beard through Mike Portnoy, and of course working with Neal on the Transatlantic stuff I got to meet the whole band quite a few times over the years. You would be hard pushed to meet a crazier bunch of guys, so touring round Europe with them should be interesting if nothing else. The first time I met up with Spocks was in London when they opened for Dream Theater at the Astoria back when SMPTe had just been released, and Mike, myself, Neal and the rest of Spocks played a couple of the Transatlantic tunes 'Mystery Train' and 'We All Need Some Light'. I was impressed by how they were all such good all-round musicians and could turn their hand to play any instrument put in front of them. They gave a lot of their time to us doing those songs when they could have been uptight about us playing in their set time and rehearsing in their soundcheck time. That says heaps about the kind-hearted people they are, and I look forward to meeting up with them again. Hope to see you there, or maybe in London as we hope to tag on a Kino show somewhere after the European dates. Pete
When we were initially approached about doing the 'Rockpalast' TV show in Germany we naturally jumped at the chance. The show carries a great deal of kudos and has over the years played host to some of the biggest names in rock so we would have been fools to turn it down. Trouble is, we didnt really think about the logistics of what we were getting ourselves into. This was after all a band that had never gigged together and at that point, never even had a rehearsal together. Not to worry, we're all professionals here and surely 5 days is enough to get an hour's worth of music up to a gig-worthy standard. Easily said, isnt it? Unfortunately, not so easily done. First problem, no drummer. Chris was away on a very long tour and still is as I write this. We needed a stand-in. Initially we managed to tie Bob Dalton down to the job at hand. Bob is a good mate of mine and a great player and most importantly a known quantity having already toured around Europe with The Urbane with Bob at the stool. It also goes without saying that John Beck and Bob go waaaay back having been in It Bites together all those years ago and have remained good buds since then. So it seemed in the bag. Unfortunately nothing in life is ever that simple and being Kino, fate intervened to an adverse effect. Chris Norman's management (who Bob plays for as a regular paying gig) booked a CN show on the 2nd December, the same date as our warm-up. No good! We needed the warm-up in a big way and I for one wasn't keen on the idea of making our first gig as a band a television performance. Bob was apologetic and we all went back to the drawing board. I remembered working with a guy called Steve Hughes on a Kevin Gilbert track for a forthcoming tribute album dedicated to the man. In fact, that was the first time that John Beck, Pete and myself collaborated together. Anyhow, Steve stuck in my mind as a good solid player so we approached him and he almost instantly said yes. Considering he had never heard a single note by Kino, he had quite a considerable workload on his hands. Fastforward to the 25th November, first day of rehearsals and to a relatively new rehearsal complex in my hometown of Reading called 'Plug And Play'. The first day was occupied with setting up the gear and Pete, Steve and myself having a jam together (John Beck was on his way back from Germany at this point and was not available). We ran through all the tracks a couple of time in order to establish what was gonna be problematic for live purposes. Quite a lot on first hearing! Day two and the full extent of the challenge became apparent as John began programming keyboards and familiarising himself with parts. I would like to point out that under normal circumstances, John turns up to rehearsals fully programmed and with all preproduction in the bag. Due to his frantic tour schedule however (John also plays for Chris Norman), he had not had the benefit of any preproduction time. To cut a long story short, it was only on the last day of rehearsals that we had managed to run through the entire set as a whole and twice at that! Talk about taking it to the wire! Then it was back to Germany for John and to his horror, he found out that his flight was booked for about 6am the day after rehearsals finished and he hadn't even had the chance to go back home and pack his bags! Poor bloke. No sleep for him then. Cut to the 1st December and 8pm. Our tour bus pulls up outside Plug And Play and it's all hands on deck packing the gear and bags into the hold. A nice addition to our merry band on this excursion is none other than Steve Hogarth of Marillion fame. Steve fancied coming along for a laugh and why not! At the first services, Steve decorates the tour bus with a horrid inflatable Santa and Snowman that he purchased therein plus a ghastly advent calendar that no-one can resist opening every other minute. So much for suspense! It has to be said that that kind of sets the tone for the journey and much frivolity ensues plus some cracking jokes from the man they call 'H'.
Okay, so by about 8pm I'm absolutely petrified. I am shaking like a leaf and can't stop pacing the dressing room. Mild relief comes in the form of several interviews which I willingly jump on the chance of doing. Anything to take my mind off the job in hand. Pete and I go up to a conference area and do an interview with my old friend Frans Feenstra who runs a show on a popular Dutch station. Actually, it's more of an informal chat such is the nature of my friendship with Frans but it's a VERY welcome distraction. Almost gig time now and I go through my normal routine of shower/shave and glass of white wine. Everyone has their pre-gig routine and that's mine. Boring huh? Walking up to the stage area and I can smell the familiar and warming aroma of Nag Champa jossticks. It started out as a bit of a in-joke in The Urbane, but in recent years all the bands I play in insist on having them lit on the stage as part of the setting up process. It's now the law. John Wetton says it makes being on stage about 40% more relaxing. He's not wrong.
We hit the last chord of the song 'The Devil's Chord' as it used to be called in more suspicious centuries, and the audience go nuts. This is what it's all about. We walk off stage and John Beck is in a very happy, childlike mood. He gives me a big hug and says "well done lads, we did it!!". Top stuff, top bloke!! Needless to say, we hit the bar as soon as possible and I got fairly merry and had a long conversation with H about Bono and why rock musicians need to be larger than life and arrogant. I think I got the gist of the discussion but my head was spinning a bit from all the information and experiences over the previous two weeks. It had been a hell of a ride! Onwards to a funny little Jazz club for a bit of a dance to a live band with my mates and then it was time to find the bus and venture homewards. Boo Hiss!! Fast forward to the 7th December. We're at the Racket Club in deepest darkest middle England. Diasaster strikes as an ongoing back problem decides that now is a good point to rear its ugly head and incapacitate me. I can literally barely walk. Benny my guitar tech has to help me hobble into the rehearsal area and I run through the songs once as a refresher to the TV show tomorrow. It's just me, Pete and Steve again as John Beck is meeting us in Cologne. He seems to live in Germany at the moment but that's probably due to that Chris Norman's biggest market is out there. Anyway, runthrough over and I go and have a sit down in the control room opposite Marillion's great big mixing desk. It makes my desk back home at The Outhouse seem like a toddler! Ive never had 'desk envy' before now. Everyone else is loading the bus and much as I normally get involved, today I have a valid skive ticket! Only trouble is that once I'm sat down, I can't get up again. Seriously! I'm sat there for a good 45 minutes on my own before Benny comes looking. Ah well, there's worse places to be stranded in and I had a copy of The Web mag to read, so all was not lost. This bus isn't as nice as the one we had last week and Pete takes an instant dislike to it. It's not the layout we're used to, more of a Hoseasons travel coach and seems a bit 70's. Anyway, whinging aside, I necked a load of painkillers and settled down to watch 'Little Britain'. My mate Laz is with me and that's a good thing as the more hands we have on deck the better for this outing. Laz however, can talk for Hungary, so there's never a dull moment! Next day and we're in Cologne. Diasaster seems apparent once more as John Beck hadn't been met at the airport by the Insideout rep. What if he's missed his flight? John and I are among the most flakey people you will ever meet so I kind of know the ins and outs of what can go wrong, after all if you don't know yourself, who do you know? Time passes and I'm in agony. A runner from WDR takes me down to the local hospital on the promise that I might get something a bit hardcore to ease the pain. Unfortunately the doctor there is not in the 'rock' know, and she prescribes me more Nurofen at the cost of 30 Euros!!! Forget it. I hobble back to the venue and soundcheck has begun without me. Luckily, Ben knows a bit of guitar so a runthrough has been possible. I hobble onto stage and we manage to get a runthrough of one song and one song only. A bit of a drag when you consider that this whole event is the culmination of several weeks of hard work and the whole reason for the exploit. Never mind. It's partly my fault as the hospital visit took a lot longer than planned. It all sounds okay from where I am, so no worries. Time passes and Thomas Waber (our good mate at Insideout, and the man responsible for getting this thing off the ground in the first place) takes us all out for dinner. I can't remember much of what was said over dinner as once again, nerves are kicking in. Not so bad this time though, so I'm comforted slightly. Back to the venue and Paul Camilleri is taping his part of the show. He's got a great band behind him and although blues rock isn't really my bag, it's well executed. It's shower time and time for the old Vino Bianco. Tonight we decide to apply a bit of foundation to stop the old sweat glare on camera. I'm not too ashamed to admit that I actually carry a makeup bag for just these kind of circumstances.....dont worry, I don't go out for the evening in full splodge, and if I did then, what the hey!! But it is useful for TV or anything where cameras take a precedent. Showtime!!! A grand introduction ensues from the MC for the evening whose name escapes me, but looks alarmingly like Vin Diesel.
Thanks to those of you that came and supported, and we'll see you out and about live this year! Enjoy the album! John xxx
"Once again I find I am throwing myself in to a new musical and social experience, and I'm loving it. I can sense that there will be a good vibe and amongst the hard work involved will be brought something to be proud of. Exciting times are ahead of us. This all started with a phone call from Thomas Weber from InsideOut, the German record company. While talking about some Transatlantic business, he asked if I had any plans for the future. I mentioned wanting to work with a few people and John Beck's name cropped up. I have always admired what he brought to It Bites musically and visually. Thomas then suggested that I contact John Mitchell, as the two of them were going to be getting together to do some writing. This must have been about two years ago now and I have been going over to John's place on a regular basis ever since writing for what will become our album. I had met John Mitchell before a couple of times and was aware of both Arena and The Urbane, but it was over the first few months that we got to know each other and forge a good working relationship down at his studio in Reading. We hit it off well and seem to have that telepathy going on which is important while writing and brainstorming ideas. John Beck has been getting working with us over the last few months and we have coerced Chris Maitland to come along get involved and see where it takes us all. We seem to get on particularly well and have many common influences. I knew Chris from his Porcupine Tree days while supporting Marillion, but when we got him to play on some of the tracks we had demo'ed he really brought the music to life. Meeting John Beck again after many years was really good. Again It Bites supported Marillion many moons ago, and it was at the side of the stage where I used to stand and watch in awe as they rallied through their set with incredible expertise." Interviews with the other band members coming soon. |
John
Mitchell "The Missing Annals" - 13 November 2004, rediscovered
16 February 2005 :-)
The following day and we're in Utrecht. Lordy, nerves are starting to kick in and thats unusual for me. It's more than a little disconcerting to say the least. Soundcheck kind of goes okay but a mystery power fault keeps tripping the keyboards out. Been here before and I'm not a fan! Not to worry though as keyboard wiz and good buddy Paddy Darlington soon has the fault by the scruff of the neck and we're back on track.
The sound of the intro glocks on 'Leave A Light On' kick into action and there's no going back now. I walk out onto the stage and am greeted by a lot of friendly Dutch faces. That's a good start. No arms folded "impress me you lot" rigamarole tonight. I'm not going to go into to much detail about the gig itself, but all I will say is that all that nervous energy was greatly in vain. A more supportive first audience I could not have wished for. By the time 'Losers' Day Parade' comes around at the end of the set, I am totally at ease, which is a good thing as this so far is my favourite song to play live. I'm fairly new to the frontman game but I'm getting a vibe for how it works, and this is a song I can tell I'm gonna have fun with in future.
The glocks start up again and it's time to march to the front once more. The audience tonight are wild! They clap along with the glocks and I get a real sense of being part of something that is going to influence my life in a big way over the next few years. After certain songs, the crowd can be heard chanting 'Kino' in a football style. That's a bit strange considering John Beck and myself have always joked that such a thing might be heard from a Kino audience one day and there it is at our second gig!! I personally don't think that the Cologne show went as well as the Dutch one due to a number of technical issues and maybe due to the fact that I was a bit woozy from all the painkillers, but the audience were absolutely amazing so that made it all worthwhile. The last chord from 'Losers' Day Parade' kicked in again and this time I couldn't hear myself for all the noise from the crowd. I would be lying if I didnt feel a bit emotional at this point given all the time invested in the writing, recording and time spent up til this point in the thing we now know to be called 'Kino'. I leave the stage and everyone is a little disenchanted with the actual performance but hey, it's swings and roundabouts, right? Pete and I sign some autographs and then it's time to do the interview part of the TV show. Vin Diesel is there once again and asks a bunch of well thought-out questions which are a joy to answer. This guy (or perhaps a researcher) has really done their homework. Last thing on the agenda is to record a few station 'idents' and an intro piece for the show. I get to go first...lucky me. That means that I get to pick the obvious cliches to say and Pete has to work a bit harder. Pete of course has been doing this stuff a lot longer than me and is a pro to the last.
Lastly, it's time to drink and be merry which comes quite easily to me and time to hook up with some local friends who we have known for a number of years. John comes into the bar in happier mood than at the end of the concert and he looks refreshed. A great night ensues and then it's time to head for home. What an experience this has been...what a learning curve.....finally we have become a live band. And by the time you see us next, hopefully a well-oiled, efficient rock and rolling machine worthy of a night out for the fans!!!