Interview with Thomas Dunning: Part Two

What exactly was your role during the recording sessions on this album?

As the executive producer I had the task of coordinating many aspects of the project, but not all of them. First, I had to find out how to make a CD like this, as I've never attempted anything this massive before. Everyone I talked to had great suggestions for me. It's one of the things I love about the Chicago music scene. Nobody withheld information to prevent me from moving forward. People actually wanted to help out and see this record get made. They got excited about the project, and that was very helpful. After planning, talking to musicians, and convincing myself that this could really happen, I had to secure the funds and find the artists who would perform. The artists took care of everything regarding their recording sessions. Occasionally I helped to schedule a studio, an engineer, or additional studio musicians.

You've said that you provided the artists with additional information...

In an attempt to maximize cohesion between my vision as the producer, Kate's historical work, and the artists performance, I spent some time down-loading text from Gaffaweb to give to each artist. I tried to provide them with the information that was available there. For example, the section in Gaffaweb that covers "In Kate's own words...," was invaluable, and everyone got little print-outs of anything I could find that Kate said about the songs they were performing. Although I had input, the performers were given full reign over their songs. It was their interpretations, not mine, that were important, and I think you'll hear that on the CD. I acted as a consultant during the pre-recording and recording process and was present for many of the recording sessions. When I was present, it was not as the producer of individual tracks (with the exception of "Not This Time" and "Jig Of Life," which I co-produced), but merely to give support and to offer clarification or input on phrasings and lyrics. We realized that there are two different groups of people who will listen to this CD: die-hard Kate Bush fans and people who don't know Kate at all but will be introduced to her through this work. We wanted to make sure that all our bases were covered. I offered the perspective of tradition and loyalty to Kate's work, but still encouraged the artists to approach these songs as if they were their own--as if they wrote them. Basically all arrangements and other performance details were left to the individual performers.

Do you have the stats on how many musicians in all have contributed to the CD?

The making of I WANNA BE KATE has taken the combined efforts of 13 studios, 19 engineers, and 71 musicians. It's also important to note that many of the artists and engineers worked on more than one track.

Of all the vocalists, who sounds most like Kate in your opinion?

One of the things that was cool is that no one even attempted to sound like Kate; I'm glad, too. That would have been a bit pathetic wouldn't it? The CD is a tribute to Kate and her songs, not her vocal skills and stylings. However, there are certainly moments where you can hear Kate's influence in the delivery of a vocal line. Interestingly enough, most of the songs on the album are sung by men. Julie Schreiber and Christy Cameron Smith from My Scarlet Life as well as Victoria Storm, are all sopranos with beautiful voices-so there are some immediate connections there, but that's about it.

Do you think this album is in a limited edition run, or will more be produced to meet demand?

It comes down to supply and demand. If there is a demand, we will produce more. I'm sure that after the first pressing, we'll have a better idea of what's ahead of us. I would like people to be able to have access to it for a while. Compilation tribute albums are not the biggest sellers. I don't think in the beginning that I realized or truly understood that there is a marketing aspect to selling an album. Many artists have this problem: "I just want to make my art." My history outside of music is in social work, I don't know a lot about the business world so I've relied on my friends to help me. Thank God for the business-minded among us! What I've learned is that budgeting for promotion and marketing is just as important as budgeting for recording and manufacturing.

You mention an orchestral arrangement on one track, can you tell us a bit more about that?

The track is "And Dream Of Sheep." It's one of those songs that just begs to be played by an orchestra. Thomas Negovan, formerly of a band called Three Years Ghost, has done absolutely gorgeous things with this song. He added a bit of instrumental music to the beginning of the song to set up the landscape; you feel the tension of being in the cold water at night, the waves washing over you, the rise and fall of panic and acceptance and the "What's that, is that a ship?" thoughts our character is pondering and hoping for. By the time he starts singing, you are completely in another place. Kate's music has always been deeply rooted in theatricality and classicism, and Thomas' similar approach to music is the perfect balance: this song is a soundtrack, and Thomas is portraying the character. Given the wide array of performances on this album, I felt this was definitely an important aspect of Kate's world to have on the CD. This track was recorded live and on analogue tape so its sound is very warm and real.

Susan Voelz is a violinist, am I correct? Does she play this instrument on her track, The Sensual World?

This track has several violin parts, along with viola too. I wasn't there for these sessions, but Susan would call me and leave me these great phone messages saying, "We added another violin track and it sounds really lush!" I guess there might be like 6 violin tracks, maybe more. It's really beautiful-absolutely mesmerizing. A favorite part for me is when the violist sings this powerful coloratura soprano over everything way in the background...oh god, its just so great. The whole song is quite sexual and very emotional. I was blown away when I finally got to hear it.

Syd Straw seems to have an increasingly high profile these days, was she particularly hard to track down?

Syd was one of the first to say she would do a song for the record, but just before recording started in December she became very busy for about 3 months. We would talk on the phone and she would assure me that it would happen, but she was out of town as everything was getting wrapped up. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be possible to get the song recorded, but I decided that if she was committed to it, then I would wait as long as I needed to. It's a huge gift when Syd Straw agrees to sing on your record. She is an amazing talent and has performed on more than 50 albums. Syd has worked with many talented artists including Ry Cooder, Michael Stipe (REM), Rickie Lee Jones, John Doe (X), Daniel Lanois, Roger Eno, Don Was, Marshall Crenshaw, They Might Be Giants, Peter Blegvad, Peter Holsapple, Wilco, Anton Fier (Golden Palominos), Chris Stamey and Richard Thompson. You wait for people like Syd Straw, and of course, I'm glad I did.

Were there any conflicts over two artists wanting to record the same track?!!

No, thank goodness. I should note that Chicago's 'house' music scene is legendary. More than one person wanted to do "Cloudbusting" from Hounds Of Love, and I think that had more to do with wanting to "out-mix" the Utah Saints and their use of Kate as a sample in the club hit "Something Good," than it did with Kate's original track. Also, I did have to veto some songs because one album of origin would start to get too much attention and I didn't want that. Actually there was one group with whom I had only begun to discuss the possibility of participating in the CD. They wanted to do a song that I just didn't think I wanted to use, so I told them to try this song or that song...I think they broke up before they even figured out what they were going to do.

A "big name" Kate tribute album will probably be something to surface much later in her career, have you heard many other similar tribute albums featuring fresher talent like this?

I have to say that one of the inspirations for this project came from an album I heard about that was made in Austin, Texas. I'm a huge Prince fan,and a man named John Riedie made a Prince tribute record featuring all Austin based musicians called "Do Me Baby! Austin Does Prince." It wasn't available in Chicago, but I read about it somewhere and called a friend in Austin who found it for me and had it shipped up. I've also seen an indie-rock REM tribute album which is out of print. I think its called Year of the Pig and I would love to get a copy of that recording.

Which of the musicians seemed to you to be the most knowledgeable of Kate's recording career?

Without question that would be Eddie Carlson. He is a Swedish-American bass player who I worked very closely with during the making of the CD. He tells a great story of how when he was 13 he saw the original airing of Kate's appearance on Saturday Night Live. He knew things about Kate that I didn't, and vice-versa. As a seasoned musician he knew her music from a compositional perspective that I lacked. Sometimes when I felt like no one understood my passion or my insane meticulous attention to detail, I would call Eddie, who knew exactly why "...any other lyric in the song could be changed but NOT THAT ONE." That really makes me laugh now (I must admit I got a bit crazy at times). He showed me Kate's Live at Hammersmith video, Kate's Saturday Night Live appearance, and he played me "You Want Alchemy" on a 7-inch 45, the first time I ever heard it, which has since become one of my all-time favorite Kate Bush songs. He is a very busy musician playing for several bands in Chicago but he always found time to help me out whenever I needed an ear (or a bass) while we were making the CD. I'm very grateful for the many friendships I made during this whole experience.

You seem to be quite happy with the artwork.....

I am thrilled with the design of the CD. The images, textures and colors all work beautifully. Coco Sallee has done an amazing job, and I can't believe that we were fortunate enough to have her work with us. She came up with the most incredible packaging. I'm delighted with it. I think its really eye-catching, very funny, and full of innuendo. It's elegant, with just a wee bit of camp thrown in-think of Sinead O'Connor's video for "You Do Something To Me," it makes me feel good in that same way.

In terms of studio time, which track took the most work to get right?

Mine!!!! (Big laugh.) At least it seemed like that to me because I'm not the musician that the other performers are. But really everybody put in so much time to turn in a great recording that there is no way to measure which one song took the most time. I know that the Baltimores put weeks in on getting the different sounds they wanted for "Running Up That Hill," and "Jig Of Life," by Catherine Smitko took a long time in the studio. Nineteen people worked on that song. We spent a whole session recording the drums alone. Now that I think about it, we were a bit mad! But it was truly worth it; it really kicks.

What sort of things were the musicians saying about Kate during the recordings?

Personally, I was worried that I would get sick of listening to Kate songs, but I would come home from working with a song all day and still put Kate on when I got in. Or I would have these really strong emotional reactions during the recording sessions, just from hearing the music and Victoria Storm would always say "Its her writing, its her damn writing. Its so good that it just goes inside of you and stirs stuff up." Some people told me that they knew every song from The Kick Inside on piano because they grew up with those songs and learned them all as part of their piano homework. Probably the most interesting Kate story came from Syd Straw who actually met Kate way back in the 80's at a party at David Gilmour's house. She told Kate she thought if they sang together they would sound like angels in heat. Well that never happened, but Syd did go on to use that phrase as a lyric in one of her songs. So there is this neat little piece of Kate related trivia there for anyone who wants it.

You include a total of 17 tracks on the CD....is it hard to come up with a final running order, taking into account the diverse range of styles on the CD?

It was hard. I really had to remove myself from the emotional ties I had with the performers so I could focus on the sonic patch-quilt I was trying to put together. The final running order is based on how I think the songs worked next to each other-bottom line. Some of these were easier to place than others. I love every song on the CD and it was hard to put some up ahead of others, I wanted every song to be the first track, you know that sort of thing.

At this time you seem to be looking at an August or September release date, I take it the tribute concerts will take place soon after the release?

Wow, "tribute concerts" sounds really big, much bigger than I think we are capable of. I think the word 'concert' means different things to different people. In Chicago, a 'concert' is something held at Wembly or Soldier's Field. Anything smaller than an arena is just a show. There won't be any tribute concerts/shows officially. There will probably be two shows here in Chicago in local rock clubs where people will play a couple of Kate Bush songs along with some of their own songs. The CD release party is most likely the biggest event we'll have around this. The official release date for the CD to be in-stores hasn't been confirmed yet. We'll have something set up around that time though. Perhaps near the beginning of September.

You have a busy month or so ahead....best of luck!

Thanks again Sean! I really appreciate you letting the visitors to your website have a chance to follow the progress of the CD here. See you soon!

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