Ý
 

             How did the reunion come together?

             Geoff Downes: Weíve been talking about it for quite some time but I think itís
             only really been just this year that weíve actually had the chemistry and the
             right climate to do this reunion.  I think itís going to be exciting and will lead to a
             lot of interesting things
 
 

             Is this the first time that the three original members have worked together since 1991?

             Geoff Downes: Yes, I think we finished in 1991, when Pat Thrall was playing on
             a tour of Brazil.  This is actually the first time that weíve gotten together since
             that period. So, I think itís going to be a lot of interesting things to be revealed.
 
 

             What are the plans for any new Asia releases?

             Carl Palmer: Well, as it was quoted before by Geoff, thereís some new material
             which is being rehearsed, recorded which will be played on the upcoming tour
             and I would say that there would be a new album in the works for the year 2000.
             Thatís where we are at the moment.
 
 

             And can you just re-cap on what it was like when the band very first played together?

             Geoff Downes: Itís quite hard to remember what it was like.  We had gotten back
             to 1981 when we were rehearsing together in rehearsal studios in Shepherdís
             Bush.  It was quite an interesting period then because we had all come from
             different bands and we were finding our feet really.  So, I think really so much
             has gone on in the past that now weíve got this opportunity of actually maybe
             recapturing some of that feel of the early rehearsals.
 
 

             What is the difference between the music of Asia in 1999 and the music of Asia in the
             early 80ís?

             Carl Palmer: Well, why donít you come along touring the 1999 which will be
             starting in the summer and youíll hear some new stuff and you can make your
             own mind up.
 
 

             Will the members still do solo projects while Asia remains intact?

             Carl Palmer: As far as Iím concerned, Iím looking at this as sort of a 100%
             commitment from my point of view, because of the time that it takes.  But
             obviously, youíve got different thoughts on that.

             John Wetton: Weíve all got albums trickling over during thisÖ.. but,Ö.

             Carl Palmer: I canít say I could play drums in 2 bands at the same time.
 
 

             Tell us about the new guitarist?

             Carl Palmer: Johnny, why donít you tell them about himÖ. (See, if the people
             donít like him, itís Johnís fault!)   Palmer starts to laugh.

             John Wetton: Theyíll like him all rightÖ.

             Carl Palmer: His name is Dave Kilminster.

             John Wetton: He looks a lot younger than he is.  Heís a guy thatís been playing
             with me for well over a year, now. Heís an incredible player.  He sings great.  I
             think people will be very, very happy with the performance.
 
 

             Please bring us up to date. Has the band recorded or rehearsed any new material at all?

             Geoff Downes: Yes, myself and John have started writing some stuff together
             and I think that weíve still got the ability to write the material I think weíve still
             got the enthusiasm to do it. And I think weíre going to be incorporating a couple
             of new songs in the live shows that weíre doing this summer.
 
 

             Can you tell us about the upcoming tour?

             Carl Palmer: The only thing that can be said at the moment is that it will be quite
             extensive. It will be a global tour.  It will be a worldwide tour.  It might even
             involve places like Japan and maybe even China, who knows?  We are looking
             at every possibility at this moment in time, but we are exceptionally happy,
             exceedingly happy should I say to be coming back to America as Asia
 
 

             Are there any plans to keep the band together after this tour?

             Geoff Downes: Well, I think thatís the whole idea isnít it?

             John Wetton: Most definitely, otherwise we wouldnít be here.

             Carl Palmer: I think weíre doing this tour to set ourselves up.  To be perfectly
             honest, so we can go into the studio and create new music.   Would I be right in
             saying this?

             John Wetton: Absolutely, yeah.
 
 

              Now will there be anything special in the live show that fans can expect or can be told
             about or can be revealed at this time?

             Carl Palmer: I think it would be hard to sort of say exactly what will be special,
             but letís just say there will be a large body of Asia music which will consist of
             music from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, new material. The show will be approximately two
             hours long, so, come along and be surprised!
 
 

             Letís talk about the history of the band, was Asia originally an idea of a manager, was
             the band assembled or did it come together on itís own?

             Carl Palmer: I think maybe that question should have been focused at John
             Wetton, because he was actually there from sort of day one with the manager
             we had at the time, and I think John then teamed up with Steve Howe at one
             stage and then I came in and then I think Geoff was the last to come to the
             house, as it were.  But, the band was put together sort of naturally.  It wasnít
             something, which was kind of forced.  We all wanted to play together.  We had a
             great time doing it.  Those first six years were a wonderful
             experience overall.
 
 

             Asia, at the onset, was declared a "supergroup" with a lot of anticipation and a lot of
             expectations. Was this a blessing or a curse?

             John Wetton: It was a blessing without a doubt.  We were very lucky to be in the
             position we were in at that time.  We had an incredibly successful couple of
             years and I wouldnít have wanted to miss that for the world!
 
 

             How important was the marketing machinery of Geffen records to the initial success of
             the band with the first album?

             John Wetton: Absolutely important.  I think that in order to get all the pegs in the
             holes at the same time, you need a great team behind you and thatís what we
             had.
 
 

             And how easy or difficult was the bandís first album?  And when did you realize that you
             had a great album on your hands?

             John Wetton: I think that we all knew as soon as we recorded the first few
             songs that it was going somewhere special.  I donít think we knew until we
             recorded "Heat Of The Moment" that we had a monster on our hands but I think
             that once we had done that, everyone knew that it was going to be successful.
 
 

             After the initial multi-platinum success of the first album, did Geffen Records try to
             control the music, and how was it to create the follow-up records?

             John Wetton: Speaking on behalf of the entire band here, I think that it was very
             difficult to re-create what we did within one year of humungous success.  It was
             very difficult to re-create that, but, I think when  "Donít Cry" came out, it was
             enough to silence the critics and personally, I was very pleased with that.  There
             may have been a point for spending more time in the studio, or spending more
             time on the road, but we did what we did.
 
 

             How much credit does Asia give to MTV for its initial success?

             John Wetton:  I think youíre looking at a parallel success here that MTV and
             Asia were successful at the same time and we both came out the same year and
             yes, of course, MTV was instrumental in Asiaís success, but then, Asia was
             instrumental in MTVís success.  So, yeah, I think itís one of each really.
 
 

             Can you please discuss how the band re-united in the early 1990ís and played in
             Moscow?

             Carl Palmer: Wow!  Do you recall that John?

             John Wetton: Yes, I do.  Our agent called and said, ë Are you interested in doing
             a concert behind the iron curtain? ë

             Carl Palmer: Thatís right!

             John Wetton: And that was just about the time of the fall of the iron curtain and I
             remember speaking to you (Carl) and to Geoffrey about it and saying, "Do we
             really want to do this?"

             Carl Palmer:  You know the only things that I recall was that we had we had
             Gorbachevís limousine, I believe for the video shoot and it took 2 hours to get to
             lunch from McDonald's!  Those are the only things that I can remember.

             John Wetton: It was cold and snowing.  It snowed absolutely on cue!

             Carl Palmer:  Freezing!  Thatís correct!

             John Wetton: We could not have been luckier as far as the weather was
             concerned becauseÖ

             Geoff Downes: I remember that shock to your cymbal!

             Carl Palmer: I think that was the first time for any band to actually have
             permission to shoot a videoÖ

             John Wetton:  Ö in the shadow of the Kremlin.
 
 

             Anything else you want to say?

             Carl Palmer: I think generally, as a band, we want to tell America that we are
             looking forward to coming back and playing a tour of the States, for the first
             time since 1983.

             Geoff Downes: Well, we played some shows in the 90ís, but basically, the last
             time that we did anything of any consequence in the US, was 1983.

             Carl Palmer: Weíre looking at a 16 year reunion of Asia. The first tour in 16 years
             and it will be the first album in 17 years when it comes out in the year 2000.

             Geoff Downes: I think thatís fabulousÖ  (All three start laughing)

The Italian Carl Palmer Interview!

After an introduction based on a synopsis of the career of CP from the early days with Crazy World of Arthur Brown to the most recent release with ELP (ItHS) the interview begins...

PERCUSSIONI: First of all, tell us something about the new ELP album. CARL PALMER: "In The Hot Seat" is the title of the album, it was produced by Keith Olsen and contains 11 tracks; Keith is an expert, well-known producer, he has worked with Fleetwood Mac, Whitesnake, and other artists. From the time we first met we liked his method of working. We immediately cleared up that we would like to keep the drums sounding as "live" as possible, with one or two overdubs max., and to keep the environment sounding live too; to get this we had carefully chosen the studios. Part of the material was recorded in L.A. and the rest in England. It's been a working experience very useful and in part difficult for the band; one might think that the music is a bit too commercial for ELP, but the album really contains the kind of music we are playing in this period. There is a song by Bob Dylan, "Man In The Long Black Coat", which contains in my opinion a very interesting combination of drum machine, and what I define as "real drummer"; it's a very successful experiment.

The album needed many hours of work, we are glad it's finished, but as usual it's very hard to say if we are happy with the result. Personally I'm very happy, but in general I like to re-listen to the final product only after waiting a while, because of the many times listening to the music during the recording sessions!

P: What has been your direct relationship with Keith (Olsen)? I mean, did he give you some particular directives or advise? CP: The fact of the matter is the members of this band have played together for so many years that we had it clear in our minds what we wanted to play and what we wanted to get in terms of musical quality. Keith (Olsen) obviously contributed not only for improvements for the drums, but also from a "general" point of view. Personally I found Keith very easy to work with, and compatible with our vision of music. For this project I really wanted to play with a strict tempo, so I used a click, I mean only me, and after some time I was a little late so we used a digital machine and corrected it a few milliseconds, to obtain a perfect synchronization of time on every song. Keith contributed greatly in terms of experience on the finished work, he produced many pop records so he was able to work in a very accurate way, especially on rhythms and so on.

P: BTW, Carl, do you consider yourself a progressive rock drummer? CP: I think that when ELP began to play together we were considered a progressive rock group; but nowadays ELP, maybe like Genesis, cannot be considered as such. You see, the word progressive maybe doesn't fit what's happening today. I mean, the word progressive means to propose or follow something totally new, never heard before, but this is really difficult to obtain, because everthings been said or proposed before. When the word 'progressive' was used for ELP, we played pieces of 20, 25 minutes, time's unusual in length. For instance I don't think the same label could be used for Pink Floyd, maybe their music is more moody, very good songs, sometimes long; perhaps we were progressive because of what we proposed, in comparison to what was happening in the 70s, today it's all so different, even if we did enough at the time!

I like to think myself as a jazz-rock-drummer, or rock-jazz-drummer, but with classical influences, because I studied classical percussion with James Blades at the Royal Academy. To me it was very useful to play with a band like ELP, their classical adaptations perfectly integrated with my drumming style, and vice versa. My classical percussionist culture contributed greatly to the musical proposals done by the band. So, I guess it's hard to define me as a drummer, I'm a rock drummer who likes to play jazz and who studied classical music, I'll leave it up to you! (laughs)

P: Can you speak about your working relationship with Greg Lake, after all you two are the rhythm section of the group! CP: To be honest we don't work as close as one might guess, even because I try to go beyond the commercial or general idea of rhythm section; in fact first comes the melodic idea, Keith is the first, then come drums with parts that make the most of the melodic structure, then comes Greg with new colors, the basic notes.

In fact Greg always tries to play the 'root notes', but we try to distribute the drums and bass parts in function of the general structure of the song, so first come keyboards, then drums and finally bass!

P: And how do you collaborate with Keith in rehearsals? CP: In the most constructive way: I often suggest notes or chords to Keith and Greg, and they happen to have in mind accents or fill-ins that they would like to insert in some sequence; I always try to interpret what they 'hear in mind'. To be sincere I think that the best things I've played were suggested by them, but that I was able to re-interpret their ideas in my own way, and make them more easily applicable to the basic idea: I always like to listen to what someone suggests, everything starts from there, then the energy melds and the two ideas become one. Generally at that point something good comes up, something new!

P: Why did you re-release "Pictures at an Exhibition" on the new album? CP: We deliberately decided to do it : "Pictures", recorded in Surround Sound, is the only part of the repertoire that we have played live for almost 23 years, so we thought we could improve it, if re-recorded, but attempt to give to it a modern taste, as we would play today, after all to us it is like a trade mark!

People identify with ELP as 'the band who plays Mussorgsky', so we tried to improve the musical proposal which for a long time characterized us. First this version was on the 4-ple CD "The return of the Manticore", we thought we would put this version on the new CD since the boxed set was pretty expensive!

P: What exactly are the differences in your drumming style between ELP and Asia? CP: Probably Asia was a more direct rock band, closer in musical terms to bands like Foreigner or Toto, sort of a melodic rock band; it was a proposal of the 80's, in a time which progressive was not broadcast on the radio, and the need was for modern music, with shorter songs; in this sense I guess it was the correct choice, so I left out the style closer to progressive trying to play in a more basic style, but more modern at the same time, fitted with that kind of musical content.

Now in the 90s, coming back with ELP times have changed again, people don't like to listen to long musical sequences from disc or radio, maybe live, so my style cannot be defined as 'progressive' like in the 70s, but certainly it's more accurate, more defined, effective, thanks to new technologies, to the click, to the perfect sounds available. Now it's all 'metronomic', in fact, even when we recorded "Black Moon" the songs were short, something like 7 minutes, compared to 25 minutes of 23 years ago! Unfortunately the record industry in Europe and in the States has strongly changed direction, so my way of playing has had to have changed to be in tune to the moment

P: How do you see the musical scene from a player's point of view? CP: There are a lot of very skilled people, and everyone plays very well, without regard to their musical style. For instance I think Guns'n Roses' and Pearl Jam's drummers do a very good job, like Pantera's drummer, I've listened to just one of their songs but I guess he's doing very well.

I think drumming standards have reached a real higher level compared to years ago! It looks as though the European drummer's level is somewhat higher than the Americans', in the States everything is larger and so it looks for reviews, one year everyone talks about Vinnie Colaiuta and the next year he's gone, the same thing happens to Dave Weckl and so on, in Europe the same thing has happened to Simon Phillips and to Big Country's drummer, but in Europe I think there is more room for personality, we try to be different from American standards.

P: Carl, I saw you recently in Italy and your good shape seems to be unchanged by time, how do you keep yourself so "young"? CP: Thanks!(laughs) Honestly, I've a secret, it's fencing, I'm a fan of the sport, and also I do lots of other sports, today I ran for 5 miles, yesterday I swam an hour, I think it's very important to keep an eye on your physical shape, and don't forget to practice: I practice on drums every day at least 2 hours, and before touring I spend a lot of time rehearsing with the band.

P: What's your opinion on the large number of didactic publications nowadays? Videos, schools, teaching, seminars, stages...? CP: Absolutely great, it would have been very nice if those things were around when I had begun: I particularly like didactic videos, even if many of them look similar; some are very good, the ones by Joe Di Franco and Deen Castronuovo, they are real good drummers. Personally I did a book distributed by Modern Drummer, and I've just completed a new one!

P: Do you plan to release a video? CP: I'd like to; but I would like to make something different than those that are being released today. I wish to do something 'entertainment-oriented', I mean something beyond didactics and more entertainment based, every solo I released, never recorded on video, naming it "the drum solo", and showing my techniques, how I played some sections, how I progressed through time and so on, because I think the videos available today cover every technical part of this instrument. Now it's time to think in terms of the repertoire, the sides of being an artist and a player, that is applying techniques but sowing the ideas too! During my clinics everyone waits for my solo to understand how I play some particular section, so this type of approach could be very useful, in fact I'm working on a project in this direction.

P: What advice do you give to a young guy who wants to enter the rock music world to become a drum hero? CP: It's hard, if you consider what's happening nowadays. First of all, let's consider a band point of view: I've thought of myself as a drummer since I was 11: , I never thought "I'm going to be popular, I'll be with a band", but I always tried to improve, to become skilled on my instrument. I've been lucky too, don't forget that it's important being lucky: 50 % luck and 50 % talent is the combination. I'm sure in Italy , like in the rest of the world there are good drummers, but maybe they are not lucky, it's necessary to be in the right place at the right time! Originality and talent will do the rest.

P: The last question: who are your favorite drummers? CP: I can't say I have a favorite drummer, I like so many, for example the drummer from Pearl Jam... Guns 'n Roses have a solid drummer, too. You won't believe it, but apart from some European drummers from obscure bands I still like to listen to two of my major influences: Elvin Jones and Buddy Rich!