Detritus
Mini-Issue #475.5 - October 17, 2008
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*** CAST OF CHARACTERS ***
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Patrick Brower, Editor
patrickbrower@...

Sean P. Gahgan, Editor
lof@...
http://www.lakeoffire.net/

Tim Wadzinski, Owner
tsw512@...

Steve Shumake, Co-owner
vongoober@...
http://www.myspace.com/kdsteve

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*** LET IT BE KNOWN ***
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-Another mini-, another idol checked off Neal's list. Check out his
interview with guitar wizard Uli Jon Roth below. - Tim

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*** SPECIAL REPORT ***
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by Neal Woodall (MysticX9@...)

-Interview w/ Uli Roth
September 30, 2080

Way back in the mists of time (1979 to be exact) I bought TAKEN BY
FORCE, the fifth studio album by the Scorpions and the last to feature
the mesmerizing guitar work of Uli Jon Roth. TAKEN BY FORCE really was
a metalhead's dream come true at the time, with stunning tracks such
as "We'll Burn The Sky," "Sails Of Charon" and "He's A Woman, She's A
Man" getting lots of spins on the old turntable. It was a great
introduction to Uli's unique talent and one I still listen to
periodically. Uli left the Scorpions in 1979, embarking on a solo
career that found him exploring everything from the Hendrix-influenced
heavy rock of his Electric Sun recordings to the more classically
oriented sounds of his recent work. Currently in the middle of a tour
which will take him from the U.S. to Japan and finally Europe, and
having just released his first studio album since 2003, I was well
pleased to take the opportunity to speak with this legend about the
new album and his approach to creating music...

DETRITUS: UNDER A DARK SKY is the new album -- tell me about the
concept and how it differs from METAMORPHOSIS OF VIVALDI'S FOUR
SEASONS...

ULI ROTH: Well it differs quite a lot actually, having said that, all
my albums differ! (laughs) I don't think I've ever done two albums in
the same way which is kind of odd but that's very much the way I am,
you know, I tend to move on, move on to the next pasture which is a
different color of grass. So METAMORPHOSIS was really connected to my
Transcendental Sky Guitar concept, where the guitar is the protagonist
and tells a story; it's mainly instrumental and very often orchestral
but the gist of it is the guitar is at the center of it all. The new
album UNDER A DARK SKY is different in that it's part of a series I'm
working on called "Symphonic Legends" which is a genre of music which
I kinda created I guess -- a combination of many, many different
colors and themes. Not only does it involve a symphony orchestra but
also a band, rock singers, classical singers, electric guitar,
acoustic guitar -- you name it. It's got all these elements --
symphonic elements, rock elements, concerto, opera, it's all that --
in that sense it's a very free-form because I'm almost allowed to do
anything where the spirit moves me, and I like that a lot, it's what
I've always wanted. I've always wanted to have a big, vast canvas
where I can really operate freely without being bound by the
limitation of a genre, so that the new album, you might call it a
concept album, some call it rock opera although I wouldn't go so far
even though it sounds like it in places; it's something that developed
in the last two years, was written and conceived then and that went
pretty quick, that process. Now the recording and production process
was a different matter; it was quite difficult and full of obstacles
until I was satisfied, you know. That's because it was such a big
project, sometimes I had up to 400 tracks going, and then you have to
condense it down to stereo, which is something that I've always found
painful. (laughs) Because stereo is not my most favorite medium, it's
always just a very weak compromise at best, and it's not really the
way I want to listen to the music I do -- it's more like 5.1 when it
begins to get interesting.

D: I can understand that! Who's performing with you on UNDER A DARK
SKY?

UR: Apart from the symphony orchestra we have a drummer, a bass player
who is myself, keyboard player who is myself, two amazing singers --
Liz Vandall from the band Sahara and Mark Boals who is probably best
known for his work with Yngwie, Royal Hunt and also other people, Ring
Of Fire I guess... and yeah, we have percussionists, quite a lineup...

D: Are they going to be able to come along with you on tour?

UR: Yeah, the two singers are there live and the drummer, we've got a
seven-piece band and luckily we're able to perform that stuff live. In
fact it works very well live which you know may be a little surprising
because it is quite complex, some of it, but somehow it seems to work,
I mean the audience is pretty ecstatic every night and we're playing a
good chunk of the new album.

D: You've got some longer songs on UNDER A DARK SKY such as "Land Of
Dawn" and "Tanz In Die Dammerung..."

UR: Yeah, you can't even call them songs I guess, they're more like
epics. There are maybe some songs but I've never been one who was
drawn very much to the song format. Not that I don't like songs, but
it's not really something that is the thing that I do. I'm always kind
of someone who is more interested in creating like a journey and all
kinds of a musical experience -- very often my pieces start at point A
and they end at point Z rather than returning to point A, which is a
more traditional concept. So I like to have considerable changes and
movement in the music to keep my interest going. I've never been a
sucker for repeats. I basically don't really like repeats, I find them
boring. Once I've heard it you know, let's move on. I know that many
people think differently and that's maybe why I'm not so "commercial"
but that's what I do. My aim is to always write melodies that are
strong enough to really have an impact on first, second or third
listening, and I don't achieve that by repeating the melody.

D: That's usually more substantial over time isn't it?

UR: Well, I'm just trying to in some way please my own listening
habits which are far from conventional! (laughs)

D: Do you ever feel compelled to write for your fans or do you usually
just stay with your own vision?

UR: You know I've found that I do have a very loyal cross section of
people who tend to listen to almost whatever I do. They seem to be in
tune with what I'm trying to do and whenever they're faced with a new
project often it takes them a couple of listens to get adjusted to the
new level of sound or the new kind of direction but then they seem to
come in and that works. So, no, I can't really write for anyone, I
have to write the stuff that comes out of me and that feels organic
and natural. I'm not the kind of person who can sit down and say "Oh,
I want to write a radio tune." Certainly I know how to write a melody,
and that comes easily to me, but I don't think like that and I don't
want to write something for a given medium only in order to fit into
the broader scheme of things. I'm not interested in fitting into the
scheme of things, I just want to be free and do the music that I feel
I have to do and that I want to produce.

D: Do you have any rituals or practices that help inspire you when you
are in the creation process, like meditation?

UR: No, I'm not a ritualistic person, I don't believe in repeat.
Rituals are repeat. While there can be power in rituals, I'm not
someone who performs them. What I like to do, if it is something like
a ritual, I do it for the first time and the only time -- I make them
up! No, but every time I write it's a different process, and I guess
the basic principles are the same in that I get into a certain state
of mind which is a certain mode of mind which allows me to attract the
inspiration and then kind of make it happen in the physical world so
to speak, but the actual process of writing is always different,
although I have preferred ways of doing it. I love writing stuff with
the piano, I've done that for about 30 years; rarely on the guitar but
very often it's just a thing that happens in my mind.

D: Your recorded solos are usually worked out in advance rather than
improvised, right?

UR: Yeah most of them, and I like it that way because I love to
improvise but the result is very, very different -- it can be very
exciting and spur of the moment and sometimes you come up with amazing
stuff that way. However, when I'm writing a piece of music I try to go
a little deeper than that and I listen deeply into the piece of music
before I even come up with a solo. I'm always convinced that the
ultimate solo is hidden in any given track, and it's up to us to find
it. Not that I've ever found it! (laughs)

D: I think you have!

UR: I always search for it from the beginning. I guess I learned that
from Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Eric Clapton in the time of Cream,
he used to work out his solos -- at least the ones I really liked, at
least the broad outline of them -- and his stuff was never
meaningless, there was always a meaning in it, and I totally relate to
that. But from the beginning, whatever I played, even in the very
early Scorpions, I had to satisfy my urge for meaning behind what I
played. So very rarely would I allow my fingers like free reign, you
know, "Show me what you've got" -- it doesn't work that way. I do that
on the live show because I love improvising live and I do a great deal
of it the second half of the set, but that's a totally different
matter. On an album, it needs to last for a long time and I like to
crystallize the essence of all the stuff that comes to me and I take
it very serious, it's serious business. I don't want to offend
people's ears with something mediocre, that's why I'm striving for a
certain degree of quality when I play a solo. I do get offended when I
hear people just jamming these leads in the studio on an album, maybe
even on a great track, and destroying it with a mediocre approach. I
don't like that at all -- not that I would tell them! (laughs)

D: I understand! (laughs) One of my favorite aspects of your playing
is your vibrato -- did you develop that more by listening to
violinists or guitarists like Hendrix?

UR: It's vocals!

D: Oh really?

UR: Yes, it's a vocal vibrato, and of course the violin usually
borrows it from the voice as well. I think it's very important to have
a wide range of vibrato and I always try to give each note the vibrato
it kind of deserves, but I'm not always getting it right. I'm
conscious of light and shade when it comes to that. It's easy to do
sometimes too much or too little, and also as I grow older my tastes
change a little and I just go with that. It's never the same, it's
always in flux, you know?

D: We were talking about rituals so I'm guessing you don't keep up a
strict practice regimen to maintain your high level of technique?

UR: I'm the worst one when it comes to practice, I hardly ever
practice. I haven't practiced for years and years and years. I will
sometimes practice if there is a passage that isn't flowing or I need
to find different fingerings, but usually everything comes to me very
quickly and that's good because when I was young I didn't get bored
practicing and I loved it. Nowadays I don't get bored practicing but I
can't do it for a long time; after a short while I do get bored.
Luckily I don't need to do that anymore because I've learned how to be
effective with an absolute minimum of playing input, and that's why
each time I touch the guitar it's always an event for me, always --
and I want to keep it that way. Each time I'm covering something new,
it's never the same and I love that.

D: Keep it fresh...

UR: I love that, it's like a love at first sight affair, and it didn't
used to be. When I played more when I was younger it wasn't like that,
it was more like an everyday thing, now it's not, now it's...

D: Special?

UR: Special, yeah, now it's great and it feels very good and I'm
getting better that way also because it always feels fresh and organic
and exciting, that's the gist of it. I'm not advocating for younger
players not to practice -- they have to practice to get to a certain
level but once you are at a certain level and once you know the ropes
it becomes easier. Once you've found your voice, then the rest is just
staying in the zone.

D: You've been a huge influence on a lot of guitarists, from well-
known players like Yngwie Malmsteen and Marty Friedman to newcomers
such as Gus G. of Firewind. Are you flattered when you hear your style
reflected in the playing of others?

UR: I don't know if I'm flattered so much; it's something I've gotten
used to over the years. In the beginning I found it strange because
whenever somebody plays your phrase or copies a phrase it's almost as
if someone is taking a sentence from your vocabulary and repeating it,
but I've done exactly the same with Hendrix and Clapton, you know, so
I don't want to know what these guys would have thought about it.
(laughs) So to me it's something I've gotten used to and whenever
someone comes up with something "new" or sort of newish then after
some time it just becomes part of the musical gene pool, people use it
and it becomes part of the vocabulary. So I guess I've been one of
those people who have had their fair share of adding to the
vocabulary, in terms of guitar playing.

D: You certainly have! Did you like Yngwie's cover of "Sails Of
Charon?"

UR: I thought it was very good, very good arrangement, it sounds good.
Also there was a band called Testament, they did a really good cover
where they played it note-for-note, which I like. I like it when
people play a solo note-for-note because when I do my own "Sails Of
Charon" solo I do it note-for-note -- particularly the intro because
it's a composition, it's not something that I want to change.

D: What advice would you give a young player wanting to develop a
unique and exciting style?

UR: Don't force it, these things come of their own accord or they
don't come at all -- otherwise it sounds contrived. Find your own
voice, find out who you are, what you want to do and then let your
spirit take you there. Use your guiding star, find out what it is you
really want and then make it happen. Don't fall into the trap of
wanting to be a rock star because this is not the way to write good
music. It's better to fall into the trap of wanting to become a great
musician, it can also be a trap but it's a much nicer trap. (laughs)

D: I notice you're going to be playing the Sun Plaza Hall where TOKYO
TAPES was recorded. What do you have planned for the set list?

UR: We're going to play quite a diverse program. We're going to do two
nights and two different programs to a degree, and obviously since it
is the 30th year anniversary of TOKYO TAPES we're going to be playing
some of those. We will pretty much play a pretty wide selection of my
back catalog, something from all periods including the new album of
course, and that's what we'll do, looking forward to it. It's nice to
play in Japan.

D: I'd like to go over there and see you...

UR: Yeah, that's a fantastic hall. I remember the sound on stage, it
was so good and that's also one of the reasons the album came out good
because the sound on stage was so good and I found it very inspiring
to play there.

D: Will you be filming any of the shows?

UR: We're trying to do a DVD, like a live thing which I don't really
have so far. I mean we have LEGENDS OF ROCK AT CASTLE DONINGTON but
that's not largely based on my own material so I guess a DVD/CD live
would be, ahh, yeah, it's time to do that.

D: I really loved your performances on the Scorpions' LIVE AT WACKEN
DVD, that was really great...

UR: Well there's more of that next month in England.

D: One of my favorite solos of all time is in the song "I'll Be There"
off BEYOND THE ASTRAL SKIES. Is that one you'll be playing live?

UR: We have played it live but unfortunately not on this tour. We
should actually play it but it's not an easy song to pull off...

D: I can't imagine it would be! (laughs)

UR: With the new band we are more than well-equipped to do that, the
band is easily the best outfit I've ever had on stage; they are
phenomenal, each and every one of them. We have an excellent second
guitar player so we're doing all these harmony leads for the first
time the way they should be, and it's very enjoyable to do a lot of
the more obscure stuff which live we never touched because they were
kind of difficult to put into action, but with a seven piece you can
do it. We're always constantly adding new material to the sets,
because we are changing them as we go, and the shows are usually very
long, they are usually two and a half, three hours, sometimes even
longer, we have intermissions and whatever, we just play so much, so
many tracks...

D: I know you're using your Sky guitar, but what other kinds of
equipment are you using for the live shows?

UR: I'm using two Sky guitars on this tour, a six-string and a seven-
string, and I'm using two types of amps: a Marshall 100 watt Plexi
reissue Super Lead in conjunction with a Framus Cobra which is a great
amp, very powerful, very clean, very warm, and those two together are
a very strong combination...

D: Yeah, sounds like a great setup there...

UR: Yeah, and I'm using a few pedals, I've gone back to using pedals.
Jim Dunlop fitted me out with a whole bunch of new toys and I love
them. They gave me probably the best wah wah ever, although I played
their last wah wah for 12 years and now it's on its last legs so they
gave me a new wah wah and I couldn't believe how good it was. So every
night I'm enjoying that kind of stuff.

D: Are the Sky guitars available commercially yet?

UR: Not yet, but there is talk of putting them on the market pretty
soon. We were shooting for possibly NAMM 2009 but since the album took
so long that's not going to happen just yet but the moment is coming
closer. Eventually they'll be there.

D: I noticed some books on your Web site. Are those available now?

UR: No, nothing available yet, that's stuff that is kind of on the
back burner...

D: I see, so many projects...

UR: Yeah, I'd like to do it but I do these things, I start them then
they are on the back burner and suddenly it's finished somehow, I'm
always like that!

D: They get completed when it's time...

UR: I guess so. I never feel really rushed, hardly ever. I felt rushed
with this album -- that was a painful process because I would have
needed three more months to be really satisfied with everything but
sometimes a man's got to do what a man's got to do! (laughs)

D: Well thanks so much for calling Uli. I certainly hope to take a
road trip and see you live soon, you've been a great inspiration!

UR: O.K. thanks for the interview!

Relevant links:

Uli Roth
http://www.ulijonroth.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ulijonroth

Scorpions
http://www.the-scorpions.com/

Sky Academy
http://www.sky-academy.com/
http://www.myspace.com/skyacademy

SPV
http://www.spv.de/

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*** OUT ***
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