Special Question Time by NME’s Hollywood correspondent ANN MOSES, May 11, 1968.
Last week, Ann Moses revealed some startling facts about Mike Nesmith, the oldest of the Monkees and the deepest thinker. Among his achievements outside his Monkee activities has been to compose a long rock ‘n’ roll composition. “The Wichita Train Whistle,” which he has recorded for an album with a big band.
In this question-time-in-depth, he discusses the making of the album with Ann Moses:
Q: When did you conceive the idea for the album.
A: It was about three years ago.
Q: You didn’t really have the financial means to do it then, did you?
A: I didn’t have the music then, either. It takes a special kind of music.
Q If your background is in country-and-western, it seems odd to me that you’d be interested in that kind of a thing.
A: That’s not true. My background isn’t country-and-western. I like it. People always assume that country-and-western goes together with a Texan, but t’aint true. I know very little about country-and-western music as a matter of fact.
My background mostly has been rhythm-and-blues, because that was the section of town where I grew up.
Q: Why did you get into big band music?
A: Because rock ‘n’ roll groups are just four pieces and don’t give you enough means to color the pieces that you’ve written. I needed something more flexible than four pieces. I needed different coloring and that kind of stuff.
The only way you can do it is with a big band. I thought of a big band instead of a symphony orchestra because it’s a little more immediate, more urgent.
Q: When did you start working on it?
A: Two years ago.
Q: How did you prepare the music for the big band?
A: I got with a professional arranger, sang him all the different parts. I sang him first, second and third and fourth trumpet, the five violins – that kind of stuff. I hummed ‘em all out He’d tell me whether I was right or wrong.
And he’s warn: “Well, you can’t do that because last Tuesday you came over and sang a fourth French horn part that won’t fit if you do that.”
Q: Were you that familiar with all the big band instruments?
A: No, I wasn’t. Not outside the realm of just what the average man is familiar with, but I knew what I liked to hear and so I just adjust around.
Q: Didn’t you just tell the orchestra to just jam out on parts of the tracks?
A: No, it wasn’t just a question of jamming. It was a question of giving them something to bounce off on. You’ve got to be very careful that the band makes a statement, otherwise all you get is just a lot of cacophony.
You have to state the music first. So there was a lot of freedom involved in it, but it was closely regulated freedom, if there is such a thing.
I mean it was freedom so that the freedom that was expressed was honestly freedom and not just somebody doing something because he had nothing else to do.
Q: What audience do you see your album reaching?
A: Kids. I hope kids.
Q: Do you think kids are going to dig big band rock ‘n’ roll?
A: I think that’s what’s going to happen. Now kids. To me, are 20- to 25-year-olds. Like me. My generation. I don’t know from nine-year-old kids and up. I think they may end up liking it. It’s kind of unpredictable because it’s not steeped on much more than pure emotion.
Q: Why did you name it “The Wichita Train Whistle?” You once told me, “The Wichita Train Whistle is me.” Is that true?
A: Well maybe it is. That’s not such a bad thing. People are not really ready to give identity to something they can’t touch or feel or something like that. But there I more to a man’s identity than just that.
Man’s identity is steeped in his own. . .well, you could get into technological discussion about that. I suppose in the final analysis the “Wichita Train Whistle” is just my own mind.
And if there is any corporal manifestation of me that is rally honest to God, me – outside of the realm of my own physical person – then I suppose it’s the “Wichita Train Whistle.” So basically what it boils down to is that I am a sound.
Q: Is the album merely a collection of Mike Nesmith songs done in big band form? I mean, would you have taken “My Sunny Girlfriend” and done it in a big band sound?
A: I could have. Of the songs that are in it, I think a few of them have been on some Monkee albums. They were written for big band and the fact that they were on the Monkee albums were secondary to that.
They were written for the “Wichita Train Whistle,” but because the “Wichita Train Whistle wasn’t realized two years ago or anywhere close to being realized, I went ahead and put some of the songs on the Monkee albums, because they all had lyrics to them.
Q: Are you completely satisfied with the end product?
A: Well, I was just after it ended up. But I’m not any more! That’s because I’ve grown, I think. It’s been a few months (a few months is four to six) but that can be a lifetime.
Q: Are you involved with the total packaging?
A: I’m not interested in the album cover being a fantastic work of art. I imagine it will be identifiable. I’m not an album designer and there are people in the world who are. They only thing I tried to do is get the best, and I think I’ve done that. As far as me being involved in album packaging and what have you, I don’t get that involved in it.
Q: How large was the big band you used?
A: Fifty-six pieces.
Q: Did you have any trouble getting some of the old-time musicians in the right frame of mind to play rock ‘n’ roll?
A: They had a little trouble at first.
Q: What did you do to get them more into it all?
A: I got ‘em drunk. It seemed to do the trick.
Q: Is your album the kind of LP you like to sit down and figure out what’s going on as you listen to it?
A: I think it could be, but different things that are going on are not that mumbled. It’s very identifiable. You know exactly what’s going on at all times. There are no tricks. It’s very purely and simply hard rock band.
Q: Did you try different recording techniques?
A: No. There may come a time when I’m able to play games with a big band. I can’t really do it right now. I can’t express myself through any gimmicks yet.
That’s why I can’t use wha-wha pedals and things like that. I don’t say it’s invalid to use them, I’m just saying I have no level on which I can use those as an extension of my own music.
I’m involved in another project that I’m sort of getting into that I’m finding rewarding, but that’s because I’m not involved as a performer – I don’t write or sing or play.
Q: What is that, can you tell me about it?
A: Well, no, I’m going to keep it a secret for a while. Tell you later.
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