Interview with Alex Paterson of the Orb Civic Hall, Wolverhampton Any plans to go to Chile? AP- I'd like to go there. There was a fairly big rave there for the eclipse last year. AP- I heard lots of talk about it. I originally saw Richard James being down to headline but I think Psychick warriors ov gaia did it. Any plans after touring? AP- We've got a new album out this week. Give us a break. Are you going to release any old stuff that hasn't been released, like the Peel sessions? I also heard that you have some stuff on DAT. AP- I won't be releasing that. The first two Peel sessions might come out as an album. The next two might come out as another album. What happened with 'Thrash'? AP- Musical differences. So how has the Orb changed since he's left? AP- Well, he'd almost left in the last two years, he just stopped doing interviews and stuff, stopped doing live shows, just wanted to kill the band and I just got back off my arse and got a couple more people around me, who were around me when Kris was around. Boring subject. Yeah? AP- Every day I get asked the same question. Sorry. AP- It's not to be sorry, just think what you're going to ask. I mean does everybody else ask me the same question. Influences? AP- (Sighs) Don't like that one either? AP- I've been going for so many years now and every time someone asks me what influences I've had it just sounds like, really like.....There's no real point in me answering that question. I think it comes out in the music doesn't it. Unless you don't know what the Orb sounds like. I would have said it's a lot more ambient now than before. Would you say that's a fair comment? AP- No, I would say that's more violent. Ambient, as in lacking obvious melodies? AP- Obvious melodies may have been lacking in the first part but that's not what it's about, it's about drums or less ambient rhythms, drum lines, that sort of thing. For example, on the first album we didn't even like to look at that so much especially if you look at Spanish Castles or Star. That's as far as I want to talk about that. Somebody who wasn't a great fan of the Orb might say that you could do most of Pomme Fritz and quite a lot of this last album be leaving some sort of random noise generator on. How would you answer that? AP- Who would I answer that? In two words. What? AP- Fuck off. Does it matter how we make our music. And if I start telling you how to make our music other people will go and copy us again. Why do you think we disappeared for two years? Got a bit boring, people wanting to know what the Orb sound was so they could go out and recreate it. That's why we changed direction. It was a total reaction against people like yourself and other people just asking the most mundane questions about "what's it with us" so that then other people can copy us, making it substandard and we become cult heroes and we don't even want to be. We're just doing our own thing. You don't have any plans for world domination then? AP- World domination? That went out fifty years ago. In a musical sense. AP- In the musical sense you can take it or leave it. You don't see yourselves as the Rolling Stones..... AP- No. I don't see myself as the Rolling Stones, you can take it or leave it. I'm happy selling three thousand copies of records, I'm happy selling one thousand copies, I'm happy selling a hundred thousand. I certainly don't go round looking for selling two million or selling one million records. So you don't have any long term plans like that? AP- What do you mean long term? What's long term plans like that? Well, where do you see yourself in ten years? AP- Mind your own business. What are you going to be doing in ten years time? I would have thought, living in Chile, probably working. AP- That would be nice. I'd quite like to do that. I have things I would like to do in ten years rather than things I think I must do. Where would you like to be? AP- Right, that's better, that's a different question. What am I going to be doing and what would I like to be doing, is two different questions. What would I like to be doing in ten years time? Maybe living in Chile as well, you never know. You don't have any fixed plans? AP- No! How's the move to Island been? AP- Well, it's more stable. Is that what sparked it off? AP- What sparked it off was that we weren't getting any money out of Big Life and we were selling bucket loads of records. So it was a financial thing? AP- It's a bit much when people start thinking you're pop stars, you're doing Top of the Pops and making number one records and you're not getting fuck all and you've got to DJ and do remixes of other peoples music to get some money, isn't it? I agree with you. AP- Well, that's why we left. Touchy subject, like most things. You wouldn't have said your music was ambient? AP- What? Now? Now. AP- What's ambient? It's not really ambient at all. So you see yourself as being completely divorced from it? How would you separate the Orb from ambient? AP- How would I separate the Orb from ambient music? It's Orb music, that's all it is. I wouldn't say it was separated from ambient. There's no separation, it's just there. A couple of short question. Did you produce Red Sun? AP- No. And Orb remixes of U2? AP- Ask their record company. So, it's not up to you? AP- I don't own U2. On the album and on the adverts, you've got a World Wide Web homepage. Does that mean that you're getting in to the internet or is it just a record company thing? AP- I personally don't feel that there's much need for us to be on the net, on computers on the net, on terminals. I haven't had the time or the inkling at the moment really. I'm not based anywhere, I'm not going to be based anywhere for the next six months. I'll be doing this every day and I will be doing an interview every day, which I don't want to. I'm sorry to bore you. AP- I know, I'm sorry but I don't really like doing interviews. I mean, sorry if I don't like doing interviews. I spent six hours doing tapes so that people could have interviews, so I didn't have to do interviews and I still get to do interviews everyday. Sorry to bore you. Maybe it's your job but..... Back to the internet. Is it something you would get into if you had more time? AP- Well, yeah. So you see it as a positive thing? AP- It's quite a positive thing in terms of restriction's out, borders will disappear as people can talk freely around the world. So how do you see it affecting society? AP- Affecting society? The internet? For quacks and brain dead people who are too frightened to talk to each other. You don't see it as a way for people talking.... AP- I don't thing the average, every day person in this country would even know what you're talking about anyway, because they can't afford it. It's a rich kids toy, man. I use it through the university. AP- It's still widely a rich kid's toy, European and American and the Japanese. World wide, that's just the rich society playing games. It's not real life. Been to India? Must have been, what with that T-shirt. This was brought back by my sister from Thailand. AP- Thailand's not India. I've seen Chile, Peru and Argentina, very different from here. I have to say I can't see it reaching a lot of people in Peru, for example. So you see it as a way of the northern hemisphere excluding everyone else. AP- They're not excluding everyone else, it's just something that's exclusive to themselves. They don't know that, though, people who do it, they don't see the whole world. Americans, North American, USA people haven't got a fucking clue outside of the United State of America, let alone Mexico, let alone Canada, let alone Europe, let alone China, let alone wherever. I saw a recent thing where the majority of Americans thought central America was Kansas. You object to that sort of thing. AP- Most of them think the third world is outer space. You think people should be, not made to, but very much encouraged to broaden their horizons? AP- That's not my fault. No. I'm asking you if you think that should happen. AP- Through the work of computers that could actually happen but it's not fulfilling every body's dreams. So you think it's gone sour, if it ever was "fresh"? AP- It's a big pile of shit, ever since thirteenth century white domination of the world and it's still going on. You feel you want to change it? AP- I feel that I'm trying to change, I think that the Orb's doing as much as it can to change that sort of thing, being non-political. I don't think we should become political to change anything. That's really not what it's about, going out and listening to records, is it? Don't think it is anyway. It can become a vehicle for people who have left-wing or right-wing ideas that then fuck up everybody who just want to listen to music. That's not fair either. So you don't think politics has a place in music? AP- I don't think politics has a place in music. If you want to use it as a free roll to get more publicity to sell your records. I don't know. There are certain elements that you should stand up for. I had this huge argument yesterday with another journalist who was saying "why doesn't the Orb stand against the Criminal Justice Bill?". I just told him to fuck off because I don't want the Orb to become a political band. I couldn't believe it. "You should use the Orb as a vehicle for that". Why should I use the Orb as a vehicle for that? The Orb is the Orb. Orb likes people, Orb goes to bed with people, Orb goes home with people, the Orb is listened and surrendered to in our own homes and they get into it that way. Not getting off Orb political statements. So who is it that decides what the Orb is? Just yourself? AP- At the end of the day, yeah. Purely Alex Paterson? AP- It was a vehicle, in the very beginning, for myself and I let other people go on board, like Kris, like Youth, like Jimmy, but at the end of the day it's me. And I might let other people get on. At the end of the day it is myself who says yes or no. I will listen to other people and they can change my mind, I listen to them. How much would you say other people influence the way you decide? AP- Someone does my artwork very, very well. The artwork on the last album, was that something you were involved with? Or did somebody just come out with it? AP- What like the impossible square? Yeah, that and the maps and stuff. AP- Well, yeah. So you're involved in all aspects? AP- Artistically, not politically. Music is a form of art. I believe somebody said that. But you don't think that's true? AP- What? Music isn't a form of art? I think it is. What do you think of music groups that do it for politics or money. AP- Musical record companies do it for money. What's your opinion of them? AP- I don't like the idea of someone who goes home every day, who has no idea whatsoever, and goes home and listens to some kak band that I've got no intention of ever thinking about listening to, who spends the day trying to work on the Orb project. It doesn't make any sense whatever to me. 9 out of 10 people in record companies don't even like music, so why the fuck they've got a job there I don't know. It's purely on a business level, to shift units. It's great. So you can't see yourself becoming part of a major label? AP- I've tried to get my head round it and it's not very nice. Have you had any dealings with them at all? AP- I don't want to talk about it because at the end of the day they'll probably end up reading it. But this is for printing in Chile. AP- Yeah, but you never know. "It's going to be printed in Japan, say what you want". So you think that something printed in Chile would..... AP- No, not at all. So you're not being entirely, not honest, but forthcoming? AP- About what? Record companies? I just told you about record companies. About things in general. AP- I've been very forthcoming, I think. I've been negative about it, but I've been forthcoming in my negativity about it, for sure. So you're very negative about everything? AP- No. I'm just negative about the questions you're asking me. Is that all right? I'm not negative about anything when I don't want to be. At this point I gave up with any more question. Obviously not getting very far.