PAUL ROLAND - Bates motel
WATT 2
(release date 5/Sep/2013)
Fancy a detour off the musical highway this Autumn? Cult English baroque rocker Paul Roland (who was once described as 'the male Kate Bush' by label mate Robyn Hitchcock) has left the mock gothic grandeur of his past albums such as 'Danse Macabre', the Edwardian proto-steampunk offerings of 'A Cabinet of Curiosities' and the dark woods of folk-themed 'Grimm' to plug his electric guitar in and thrash to death such titles as 'I Was A Teenage Zombie', 'Tortured By The Daughter of Fu Manchu', 'How I Escaped From Devil's Island' and the title track ‘Bates Motel’. Someone has evidently been listening to The Cramps and Johnny Cash!
"In the late 1980s I interviewed several members of the Velvet Underground for a national English newspaper and at the end of the interviews I asked Nico, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker if they would be interested in recording with me and they seemed genuinely enthusiastic. So I wrote some songs for them and sent the tapes over to the states, but there were technical problems that couldn't be resolved due to the incompatibility of the tape formats at that time. There was no internet then so sub-mixes on metal spools had to be shipped over for them to add their parts and these weren't compatible with the American studio that Sterling was using at the time.
So the songs were shelved, until now.
I had spoken to Sterling several times on the phone and he had written back saying that he was keen to record and he liked the songs, particularly the structures, I remember, but I didn't pursue it, thinking that we had all the time in the world to get together. Then sadly he died and soon after so did Nico. Then my own music went off in a more psych-folk direction and I forgot all about the PR/VU project. But recently after making a number of intimate acoustic albums I was itching to rock again and I thought it was time to dust off the songs I had written for them and complete those which I hadn't finished.
'Bates Motel' is not Paul Roland imitating the Velvet Underground - that would be pointless - it is the album that I would have made with Mo, Sterling and Nico had I been a bit more aggressively ambitious and made sure the opportunity wasn't lost."
For those who might find the pace rather bracing, there are also a couple of spaced-out psych tracks (including a paean to the dark Indian goddess Kali) and a creepy tale or two with a suitably atmospheric setting - one inspired by a ghost story written by England's master of the macabre M.R. James ('The Wailing Well'). The lighter side of Roland's macabre humour is embodied in a couple of classic Sixties psych-punk tracks with a twist (‘Tortured By The Daughter of Fu Manchu’ and 'Crazy' which we think could have been written for Green Day), plus a sly pastiche of self-righteous evangelical preachers on the gospel tinged 'Promised Land' and a typical Roland offbeat Arabian adventure ‘Khatmandu’ featuring Curly, Moe and Stagger Lee ("and me with a half-assed plan to find the lost city of Genghis Khan").
New remixed sound and alternative cover artwork to the Sireena 2013 CD edition.
Limited to 200 black and 100 coloured copies. Factory sealed album. 180gr vinyl
YOU CAN BUY IT HERE Bates Motel Black vinyl
“As for Paul Roland, if anyone
deserves credit for spearheading Steampunk music, it is him. He was one of
the inspirations I had in starting my project. He was writing songs about
the first attempt at manned flight, and an Edwardian airship raid in the
mid-80’s long before almost anyone else….” Joshua Pfeiffer (of Vernian
Process) on the Steampunk Bible website http://steampunkbible.com/2012/04/in-memoriam-joshua-pfeiffer-interviews-paul-roland-part-i
PAUL ROLAND is a
prolific recording artist and the author of more than 30 books on the subject
of true crime and the occult. He has been called the ‘Edgar Allen Poe of
psych-pop’ and, more recently, ‘the Godfather of Steampunk’.
Since the appearance of his first album ‘The Werewolf
of London’ in 1980 (a John Peel favourite and a regular feature at the
legendary Bat Cave) Paul has written and recorded 15 albums which have earned
him a loyal cult following in the UK, Europe and the US.
Formerly managed by June Bolan, the widow of T. Rex
frontman, Marc Bolan, Paul spent the past 30 years spinning tales of Victorian
villains, eccentric Edwardian inventors and the supernatural against a backdrop
of gothic-psych-baroque pop which culminated with the ‘Re-Animator’ album
featuring songs inspired by the horror fiction of H.P. Lovecraft and
contributions from members of Caravan. Other guest musicians on Roland’s albums
include Robyn Hitchcock, Bevis Frond, Nick Nicely, Knox of the Vibrators and
Andy Ellison (of John’s Children).
Album success on labels such as Bam Caruso, Imaginary
and New Rose led to Paul’s first European tours and releases in France,
Germany, Greece, Italy, the USA and Japan. He also received offers to work with
film composer Michael Nyman and members of the Velvet Underground for which he
penned the songs on his latest album, ‘Bates Motel’, a collection of macabre
tales with a sinister garage and psych rock setting. ‘Bates Motel’ was released
on limited edition vinyl September 2013 by ANAZITISI Records/69WATT, Athens, Greece.
Free sound samples
can be heard at :
Also visit: www.facebook.com/RealPaulRoland
Contact PAUL via
www.paulroland.net (author site)
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