A Conversation with Andy Partridge (continued)

PM: What is Colin up to? He's no part of Ape, right? But he is--

AP: No. Somebody else was asking me that this afternoon, actually, what the hell is Colin up to these days. And to be truthful, I think he's really trying to take himself out of music at the moment. He called me a couple of months back, and it's the last time I spoke to him. He said, "I've got something to tell you." And I thought, uh-oh, stand by. And he said, "Look, I've not been writing any songs." I said, "Yeah." I just assumed it was like a writer's block thing or something. He said, "Well, I'm really not interested in writing any more songs."

PM: Wow.

AP: And he said, "I'm not listening to music, and I'm not buying music. I just don't care about music anymore, so I'm not going to be bothered with music anymore." And I thought, "Oh, well, he's just sick of this writer's block." I said, "Look, don't worry about it. Just leave it for a while, and before you know it, a half a dozen songs will be coming up, and you'll be ringing me up saying, 'Hey, let's do an album.'" He said, "No, I don't think so. I'm really not interested in music." And he moved about two weeks ago, and I don't even know where he's living now.

PM: Had he expressed anything that had taken the place of music in his life, or anything like that?

AP: No. I just think he wants out of music.

PM: Yeah, it happens.

AP: So, we'll see. But he's kind of going through a funny thing at the moment. Like I said, he's moved. I don't know where he's living. I don't know what his phone number is, which is very strange for your business partner, and somebody you're in a band with. I don't know where he lives right now. I do know that, like I said, he's sick of music, and he doesn't want anything else to do with music.

PM: What about Gregsy? What's happened to [guitarist and keyboardist] Dave Gregory?

AP: Oh, he's still around. I talk to him every few days on the phone, and about once every week or two we go out and eat and drink together, and hatch plans and things. He still does sessions. He still does one-off kind of things like string arrangements for people, or guitar sessions for people, the odd gig here and there. He just came back from Ireland. I think he was working on the Irish band Pugwash, who are really, really great. He worked on a Christmas record for them.

PM: Wow.

AP: If you don't know Pugwash, you should check out an album called Earworm. It's like a best of Pugwash. And I'll tell you, at their best, they're almost Beatle-like in their greatness. They are so good.

PM: We're going to get right on that. [Didn't find them on iTunes or eBay, but sent a request for the latest CD. Find out about Pugwash at pugwashtheband.com, and see what Dave Gregory is up to at guitargonauts.com.]

PM: Some of the strings on those Warbles demos and those pizzicato sounds, et cetera, are awfully good. What are those orchestral samples you're using?

AP: Well, they're just the Emulator, by Emu. They're pretty good string samples. I mean, I work in an area that's twelve-by-eight, so I can't really get much in the way of players in there. It has to be stuff that I can work with. But I've just updated my studio. While I couldn't play because of my hand, I've been having all the gear in my studio updated and a lot of soundproofing and sound correction stuff done in there. That's about 95% finished now, and I should get in there. I really quite fancy looking into some very, very good orchestral samples. I know you can get these things now, if you pay a few thousand, and they're almost undetectable from the real thing.

PM: Yeah, some serious sound libraries going on now.

AP: Yeah, absolutely.

PM: So are you still a Cubase guy? [It's a popular alternative to the ProTools recording software, Cubase is by Steinberg.]

AP: Yeah. I mixed Monstrance on Logic [Apple recording software], which I'd never used before, and I took to it pretty quickly. And I've just updated from Cubase VST in my shed to Cubase FX. And when I see that Mr. Steinberg, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind, because those bastards have changed everything. I'll tell what it's like: Imagine being a taxi driver, and you spend a year learning where every street in the city is, right? Then they go and build a new suburb on one side of the city. And instead of just the new suburb being a new street layout, in their "wisdom" they change every street in the city as well!

PM: [laughs]

AP: And it's like, "Come on, you didn't have to do that! Just because you're updating it, why don't you just add in the button that does that, keep the graphics the same, keep the way it works the same, just add in that button, add in that little bar there. Don't change everything!"

PM: [laughs] Yeah, it makes you wonder.

AP: So I mean, if I meet Mr. Steinberg, I shall have to shake him warmly by the testes, I think.

PM: And you know who bought them?

AP: Who bought them?

PM: Yamaha bought Steinberg.

AP: Really?

PM: Yeah, maybe that's what part of the trouble is about.

AP: Oh, the axis of evil--

[laughter]

PM: Yeah, the former axis of evil.

[laughter]

PM: I shouldn't keep you much longer. You've been very generous with your time.

AP: Oh, don't worry about it. I was supposed to do another interview tonight, and the other fellow from Chicago had some family drama come up, and they called this afternoon and said he couldn't do it. So I've got a little while longer.

PM: Oh, good.   continue

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