"After ELP I didn't really want to form a band... but now I have one and I can't let it go."

The 63-year-old British keyboard player and composer Keith Emerson shall pass through the ancient Bulgarian town Plovdiv on September 7, 2008 as part of his current tour with The Keith Emerson Band. A week before the performance, the maestro himself spoke to us...

Vassil Varbanov: Mr. Emerson, how are you?

Keith Emerson: I'm fine.

V. V.: You're in Russia, right?

K. E.: I'm in Kazan, yes.

V. V.: In about a week you'll be playing in a city in Bulgaria called Plovdiv. What should we expect?

K. E.: What should you expect or what should I expect? Ha-ha-ha... We're overexcited, because none of my band including myself have been to Bulgaria before. We saw pictures of the venue on the Internet (an ancient Roman theater), and it looks absolutely spectacular! We've done so many good shows on this tour - probably the best shows we've done so far. We started off in Estonia, then Latvia, then Moscow... I think we played very well at the Moscow concert, and it was filmed and recorded, although I've not seen any of the footage nor heard any of the soundtrack yet. It was amazing! Before we'd actually started playing, the soundcheck was going extremely badly, and it's very important for my band that we all hear each other, so soundchecks are very, very important... So everything seemed to be going wrong, but then suddenly, when we played the performance, everything kicked right in and it worked very well.

V. V.: How long does it take for your band to do a soundcheck?

K. E.: Well, it depends. It depends on how well the instruments have survived the traveling, and how they've survived on the previous performance. I'm taking with me very delicate instruments. I'm taking the Moog synthesizer - the big Moog modular system that was originally built for me by its inventor himself, Dr. Robert Moog. I managed to buy it in 1969. So that's with me, and the Hammond organ, of course. All these things need consistent overhauling prior to a show - particularly the Moog modular system needs tuning, because the oscillators can go out of tune.
You know, there are many facets in the making of a live performance, and I think this adds to the excitement of what my band does. Although we play a lot of my repertoire from Emerson, Lake & Palmer, as well as a lot of the new album, "Keith Emerson Band Featuring Marc Bonilla", we involve a lot of improvisation. What I really enjoy is the addition of Marc Bonilla's guitar playing and singing, because its nice to play with another soloist. With ELP it was all about me providing all the solos, and I don't like it to be me all the time - I like to sit back and accompany another soloist, because I think that's just as important. That's why I enjoy working with Marc Bonilla. He likes to back me up, and he knows exactly when not to play and when to play. I was always nervous when playing with guitar players, because sometimes they can be very, very loud and not in control of their instrument. Marc Bonilla however works orchestrally - he's like a member of the orchestra, but then he becomes a soloist, and then he accompanies. I think that was what makes my band sound really good.

V. V.: You just mentioned you're carrying your Moog synthesizer and Hammond organ with you. Does it make the trip more expensive having so much heavy machinery with you?

K. E.: Of course it does, but for me it is like... That represents me and my sound, which I have spent so long working at. Of course I could go out on the road and it would be much cheaper just taking one simple keyboard with me and not have such a big band, but I wouldn't want to do that. The fact is I've always wanted to have a band like the one I've got now. For me that's fantastic! And I have to have my whole arsenal of equipment behind me, because otherwise it would really be like me going on stage just wearing a pair of shorts, which I don't think anybody would be too excited about. I think it's probably like yourself - if you go to a dinner party, perhaps you wear a suit, and you don't go in there casually dressed when you know everybody else is suitably attired. Well, for me to be suitably attired means that I have to take my Hammond organ and my Moog synthesizer, otherwise I don't feel dressed properly.

V. V.: You mentioned Marc Bonilla. Tell us more about the other guys in your band, too.

K. E.: Travis Davis on bass has played with Marc in different other bands. It was Marc's choice to have Travis on bass. You know, I left the choosing of the band to Marc, because I know that he knows what I want, and I know what he wants... So with Tony Pia on drums that just completed everything. My first Keith Emerson Band had Phil Williams on bass, Pete Riley on drums, and Dave Kilminster on guitar. Dave however was in certain difficulties and was given an offer by Roger Waters of Pink Floyd to go on tour, so... I've known Marc Bonilla for a very long time - I first met him in 1987 in California - and I think he should have always been my first choice. Having said that, it was actually Dave Kilminster who encouraged me to form my own band. After ELP I didn't really want to form a band... but now I have one and I can't let it go.

V. V.: You know, just a week before your show in Plovdiv we'll have Rick Wakeman performing in the same city. Considering the fact that you're probably the two greatest keyboard wizards in England, to what extent has there been a competition between you guys?

K. E.: Oh, Rick and I love each other! As far as the competition thing is concerned, I think it's something that the British press probably put together. We both have our own different styles. I enjoy Rick tremendously. He's an exceptional player, an extremely nice lovable guy, and very funny - I hope when he gets there he tells some of his jokes, and I hope you guys in Bulgaria will understand it, ha-ha! He's a lovely guy, and I've never been really aware of any competition. There were some years when I was classed as the top keyboard player, and other years when Rick was top keyboard player. What we've often discussed is probably the two of us doing a duo with two keyboards - kind of the thing that Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea did - but doing it in the progressive rock medium. Sadly, that hasn't happened at the moment, but who knows? We all have very different schedules and... Actually, we almost got together for the Led Zeppelin reunion.

V. V.: You opened that night at the O2 Arena in London with you own band. How was it?

K. E.: It was fine. It was very badly organized for the musicians backstage... You know that Jimmy Page had an accident with his finger, so the original date of the O2 Arena gig was put back a bit later. Rick called to me and... He was already contracted and couldn't make a later date, so I had to choose another option, and I chose it by having Chris Squire from Yes on bass, Alan White from Yes on drums and Simon Kirke from Bad Company also on drums, and then I had a whole brass section. The whole thing was that everybody that was on that show have to had been Atlantic artists - it was a tribute concert to the late Atlantic Records co-founder and chairman Ahmet Ertegun, so you couldn't choose anybody else. I was great for me to play with Chris Squire, whom I've known for such a long time, and Alan White and everybody else, the atmosphere was very, very electric, I though Led Zeppelin played remarkably well, other people thought the sound was bad... but the thing with something of that size is you just don't know - you could be sitting in the wrong part of the arena and...
Anyway, I think it was great. Led Zeppelin should have gone on, but for some reason Robert Plant doesn't want to do that. I think Jimmy would like to do it... The same way people say, "When is Emerson, Lake & Palmer getting back together again?" Come on, I've done that! I wouldn't mind getting back together with Greg Lake and Carl Palmer, and maybe we might do that - we have certainly talked about this - but I don't think it will be of any permanent structure. It won't be like we're just going to go back in the studio and create like we did in the 70's... but I'm wide open. I've always said it: If Greg comes up with any tunes or sends me a demo tape and wants me involved, I'll be right there. However, I don't think it's going to happen. Right now I'm the happiest playing with Marc Bonilla, Travis Davis and Tony Pia.

V. V.: You also did this piano burn-out in the desert (on the DVD accompanying the album "Keith Emerson Band Featuring Marc Bonilla").

K. E.: Ha-ha, yes! That was pretty sad actually, because it was a nice piano.

V. V.: You've been living in South California for so many years now...

K. E.: Yes, I moved there in 1994, just after the earthquake. Everybody was moving out of California, and I moved in, ha-ha! You know, at that time the property there was a bit cheaper, and I didn't have much money then, because I'd just gone through a divorce and... I'm not a rich guy, and I'm not really interested in wealth and stuff like that - it's just great to still be playing.

V. V.: We heard that one of your neighbours is another British guy - Johnny Rotten, right?

K. E.: Oh, yes!

V. V.: Is he a noisy kind of neighbour?

K. E.: Well, he's not like a neighbour neighbour - he doesn't like exactly next door to me, but probably five minutes away... It was quite amazing when I was once at a charity event and John happened to be there. There were a lot of people mingling, having cocktails and stuff, and somebody pointed out and said, "Hey, Johnny Rotten's over there!", and I was like, "Really? I'd like to meet him!" You've got to understand that all I've ever known about John was the fact that he'd always put down Emerson, Lake & Palmer by sticking fingers down his throat and intending to vomit and throw up, ha-ha! I don't mind... So I was introduced to him, and John went, "Oh, man, fuckin' great to see ya!", and I said, "I quite actually enjoyed your first album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"."

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock