Well, we were nothing if not brave and sort of macho about our approach to music. Can you talk a bit about how that was done? A few years after the song was initially recorded, you and the band transformed it into “Elected,” which is a powerful anthem. There’s a song called “Reflected,” on the band’s first album, that has a catchy melody but sounds tentative. Out of that one guitar riff we crafted an entire song in the rehearsal studio. Or we might do that with one great riff, as with “School’s Out,” for example. We would come up with ideas and then take those ideas right down to the bare chassis-the first chord progression and three lines of melody-and rebuild an entire song around that. We sometimes did complete reconstructive surgery. He said that what you did was expand upon the good things about their songs and strip away anything that seemed extraneous. We’re going to graduate from T-shirts and jeans, and graduate to big productions and songs about large ideas.Īlice has said that you were really their George Martin, and that you tightened up the band. And I thought, this is the future of rock music. By the end of it, they had given us basically an hour and a half of theatrical and musical experience. The show took us through all kinds of strange little twilight zone-like short stories involving a variety of twisted characters and weird tales. And then when the band hit the stage, they came on like a group of theatrical ghouls, who sort of walked out with their instruments and props and amazing lights and proceeded to do a show that was as much theater as it was rock music. When I went to New York City to see Alice Cooper play … first of all, I found myself in a room filled with people in black spandex and face makeup, with black fingernails and spider eyes and black lipstick. And like most kids of the ’60s, I was used to rock music being played by angry young men with beards and T-shirts and jeans, talking about social issues and/or their own securities. At that time I was a folk musician, and a classically trained pianist, so I was heavily into music of all kinds. Well, first of all, you have to understand that I was 19 years old when I saw them. What was it about the band that convinced you they had potential? You first saw the Alice Cooper Group at a very early stage in their career. Moreover, Ezrin has lent his skills to a new generation of younger bands, among them the British pop group Kula Shaker and the acclaimed Americana band the Jayhawks. In addition to producing Pink Floyd’s two post-Roger Waters studio albums, A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994), he continues to maintain an executive producer association with Alice Cooper the solo artist. Acting essentially as the creative director (and referee) for the most ambitious project of Pink Floyd’s career, Ezrin helped the band bring to life its two-disc opus, The Wall.įor many, Ezrin will forever be best known for his touchstone work in the ’70s, but in truth he remains a major force in music to this day. Impressive as those albums were, Ezrin closed out the decade with what many consider his finest achievement. Among his other production credits during the ’70s were Lou Reed’s Berlin album, Peter Gabriel’s solo debut and Dr. Having established himself with the Alice Cooper Group, Ezrin started taking on a wider variety of projects. Thus began a partnership that spawned a string of classics, including Love It to Death (1971), Killer (1971), School’s Out (1972) and Billion Dollar Babies (1973). Though Ezrin was just 19 at the time, his belief in the Cooper band was strong enough that he convinced Richardson to give him a shot at producing the group. His pivotal break came in 1970, when he witnessed an Alice Cooper performance at New York’s legendary Max’s Kansas City. And that’s just a small sampling.Ī classically trained musician, Ezrin studied the art of producing under the tutelage of long-time Guess Who boardman Jack Richardson. After all, in addition to the above classics, Ezrin has manned the boards for such diverse artists as Lou Reed, Poco, Peter Gabriel and Dr. That said, to pigeonhole the veteran studio maestro is to fail to do him justice. From the Alice Cooper Group’s seminal early ’70s albums, to Pink Floyd’s The Wall, to Kiss’ 1976 opus, Destroyer, Ezrin’s work as a producer has often tended toward the theatrical. And I’ve always gravitated toward things that are ‘heavy,’ whether that’s heavy metal, or heavy orchestral or heavy themes.”įor anyone who’s familiar with the career of Bob Ezrin, those words from the man himself will come as no surprise. “I’ve always liked brave and dramatic music.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |