Heartland

The third in a trilogy for Louder:https://www.loudersound.com/features/an ... w-eldritch

Congrats Mark, smashing interview. Unusually frank for him, regarding Dylan etc. My guess is he sort of knew he'd be asked about it at some point, so better to lance the boil.

Panic is an option, eh? I'll be looking forward to that.

If they play that, Better Reptile, She's a Monster and potentially also There's a door, well . . . this could be quite the tour.

What an excellent interview! Cheers!

Excellent read as always, congrats and cheers Mark

Just stumpled across, in case it wasn't posted somewhere else already

https://www.loudersound.com/features/an ... w-eldritch

that's pretty epic

Already posted by Mark himself - didn't look in the proper places before. Sorry, my bad.

Thanks for the link.

Planet Dave wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 12:26 Excellent read as always, congrats and cheers Mark

I second that! Thank you so much Mark!

One of the more relaxed interviews which I suspect is mostly down to Mark, thank you.

Chief Cohiba wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 12:42 Already posted by Mark himself - didn't look in the proper places before. Sorry, my bad.

belongs in this section anyway mate

I can concur, very good interview, AE rather relaxed mood, interesting questions and accurate answers.
But why no question about the avocado farm?

Excellent interview , thanks Mark

Important quotes:

I was quite surprised (Terri Nunn) turned up. I did get a letter from her lawyer about a month before asking for money, banging on about having written part of Under The Gun. I didn’t take it badly or even personally.

I think people know why (Dylan) was ushered off-stage. It was self-evident. That’s not why he didn’t come back. It was something that happened immediately afterwards. We’ve all had moments on-stage when we’ve been a bit sub-par. That’s forgivable. There was stuff, which happened immediately afterwards, that was not. Lines were crossed. I don’t really want to get into it.

Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor.

(??? this seems self-contradictory)

I introduced Kai to my cat the other day as 'Uncle Kai'. I was worried I had misgendered my friend.

(interesting that Von is not a nasty "gendercrit" like many of this generation)

I know exactly what (Ben's major character deficiency) is and I can deal with it. It’s not a deal-breaker.

2023 was really bad and it looked like it was all my fault. I know it wasn’t, but it looks like it’s all on me, which is unfortunate. So personally, I felt very miserable. I still feel miserable thinking about it but we are doing our best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

I’ve got a lot of respect for people that just stopped.

Also interested as to when Von had his motorcycle accident and needed his chin rebuilt.

H. Blackrose wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 23:54

Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor.

(??? this seems self-contradictory)

Mayhaps if Davey ever decides to come back Chris could do live bass, but thats just wishful thinking

Nyth Grandbeard wrote: ↑13 Sep 2024, 04:35

H. Blackrose wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 23:54

Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor.

(??? this seems self-contradictory)

Mayhaps if Davey ever decides to come back Chris could do live bass, but thats just wishful thinking

At this point I feel Von is committed to the 'No bass allowed' rule, and it's more probable that we end up with a case of Iron Maiden in our hands, with 3 lads playing guitars for no reason .
I'd gladly accept that tbh, why not have Kai's shimmering clean tones, alongside Chris's chugs and groove combined with Ben's cutting leads?

H. Blackrose wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 23:54

Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor.

(??? this seems self-contradictory)

Stumbled over this one too. Doesn't seem to make much sense. Maybe Mark remembers what Von was trying to say here?

Husek wrote: ↑13 Sep 2024, 14:52
At this point I feel Von is committed to the 'No bass allowed' rule, and it's more probable that we end up with a case of Iron Maiden in our hands, with 3 lads playing guitars for no reason .
I'd gladly accept that tbh, why not have Kai's shimmering clean tones, alongside Chris's chugs and groove combined with Ben's cutting leads?

I'd be absolutely all in for that!

In other news, great interview, as always. To paraphrase Von: Mark has a permanent visa to Planet Eldritch, because the two of them get on very well. Nobody else talks to Eldritch like Mark talks to Eldritch.

Lovely ... ... so Von is in good health and some improved versions and even more songs are in the pipeline for the US ... ...

doctor_jeep wrote: ↑13 Sep 2024, 18:16

H. Blackrose wrote: ↑12 Sep 2024, 23:54

Despite having Chris Catalyst with us, we never considered that as the next move. Chris’s destiny is to be a guitar player. It’s not to nurse the Doktor.

(??? this seems self-contradictory)

Stumbled over this one too. Doesn't seem to make much sense. Maybe Mark remembers what Von was trying to say here?

A clipped way of saying, "Chris as Nurse just happened, because Davey needed subbing. We had never really considered Chris for the part, because he's destined to play guitar"?

If that's the correct interpretation, why is Chris still doing it? I mean, you could literally get any anonymous rando to hit Return

Indeed, moreso as Von brings up the whole guitarist-first bit, unprompted.

Von still sounds haunted by the last tour. Best surprises there? Kai came in - and Chris was in since the first show.

Nursing may be a double-duty nowadays. The Dok needs upkeep and monitoring, and so did Von last year. Chris knows both.

Couple of thoughts:

1. I do not, under any circumstances, wish to start a broader discussion on this and raise it only in the interests of wanting to get it right, but I have seen an interview with Ben in which it's claimed, quite overtly, that Kai identifies as man who uses he/they pronouns. I'm generally doing my best to go gender-neutral-by-default in my day to day life, but Von's anecdote would appear to suggest that Kai's overall gender (such as these things are) may be a little less binary than Ben suggests. I'm not really a fan of Kai's other work so am not particularly aware of whether this has ever been addressed (not that there's an obligation) - would somebody be kind enough to tell me whether "he" is appropriate? I'd like to be able to edit posts on those occasions where my stream of consciousness outpaces my typing.

2. All that said, the image of Eldritch introducing Kai to his cat is entirely hilarious and entirely on-brand.

3. Panic Is An Option sounds like an exciting reason to pay close attention to the tour

4. I do agree that Better Reptile never felt fully developed, and it would be delightful to see a more robust version of that, if it comes to that. I'm sure new or unfamiliar material will be deployed sparingly across the tour, if deployed at all.

5. On the tale of Dylan's exit and what transpired - I think I'm more or less satisfied that I don't need more about this story. I'm prepared to open my mind to Kai as they become a permanent fixture. Something went bad, someone responded badly or did something untoward, life goes on.

6. If we are going to be silly little gossipy people, what do you suppose Ben's "Character deficiency" is? Is it a reference to being alcohol-free or is that an inference too far?

7. It is actually reassuring to see an honest evaluation of 2023's tour efforts. It never really washed, for me, those arguments that he was past it, or lazy, or what have you. I knew there had to be some reason, and I knew it was likely the boring, prosaic reason of "life, and what bodies tend to be like on the further end of it", but it's nice to hear it talked about in terms of just "Yeah, that's a thing that happened, and it sucked, and we don't like that it happened, and on we go".

8. I'm entirely intrigued by what his speaking voice sounds like "an octave up".

9. Actually quite pleased - not that one would expect anything else from Mark Andrews - that no time was wasted on another perfunctory question about recording.

10. That last line about doing psychedelics in Thatcher's Britain is very very very very funny.

A question for Mark, if he happens to see this. Has Eldritch shared his view with you, regarding what you propose to do in "Here"? I wouldn't ask you to give details; I'm just curious as to whether he has an opinion on it at all, to your knowledge.

Fallon wrote: ↑16 Sep 2024, 09:11 Couple of thoughts:

1. I do not, under any circumstances, wish to start a broader discussion on this and raise it only in the interests of wanting to get it right, but I have seen an interview with Ben in which it's claimed, quite overtly, that Kai identifies as man who uses he/they pronouns. I'm generally doing my best to go gender-neutral-by-default in my day to day life, but Von's anecdote would appear to suggest that Kai's overall gender (such as these things are) may be a little less binary than Ben suggests. I'm not really a fan of Kai's other work so am not particularly aware of whether this has ever been addressed (not that there's an obligation) - would somebody be kind enough to tell me whether "he" is appropriate? I'd like to be able to edit posts on those occasions where my stream of consciousness outpaces my typing.

I don't know Kai personally, so their pronoun preference isn't clear to me either however I know people in my personal life who are open to both Gender-Neutral, and Gendered pronouns (i.e. He/Him/They/Them) this could be the case here. Ben has known Kai for longer than Eldritch, so it's possible that is that case; I know Ben has a lot of respect for the LGBTQ community (as well as Von) so I don't think he would intentionally misgender them. Von's anecdote could be from when they were first getting acquainted and wasn't sure himself which pronouns Kai preferred. Hope this helps a little bit

Fallon wrote: ↑16 Sep 2024, 09:11 If we are going to be silly little gossipy people, what do you suppose Ben's "Character deficiency" is? Is it a reference to being alcohol-free or is that an inference too far?

Yeah I wondered what he meant about this too, but I figured it could just be struggles with alcoholism which Ben has been open about in the past. Because of course, just because your sober doesn't mean it's not challenging to keep it that way, addiction is a hell of a thing to kick coming from someone with an addictive personality myself.

Fallon wrote: ↑16 Sep 2024, 09:11 6. If we are going to be silly little gossipy people, what do you suppose Ben's "Character deficiency" is? Is it a reference to being alcohol-free or is that an inference too far?

I hesitate to bring this up because this is the kind of thing that many here would dismissively laugh at, but...

G. I. Gurdjieff, the famous oddball spiritual teacher of the early 20th century, said that everyone had a "Chief Feature", meaning a huge "blind spot" in their personality, i.e. something so fundamental to who they are that they can't even see it. But it's pretty obvious to an outsider who's paying attention.

I know this because Robert Fripp of King Crimson, who came out of that spiritual tradition, has often talked about the Chief Feature - "character deficiency" - of various people in the band. His examples of Chief Feature have included:

- "I'm the one the public came to see"
- "I want another go at it"
- "I won't commit"
- "I can't decide"

And he emphasises that all these people are great musicians and great guys, just... with a big blind spot. And you can't really get rid of it, the best you can do is be aware of your blind spot and accept feedback on it.

Of course, Von is resolutely not into any woo or mumbo-jumbo, but maybe he's independently developed a similar heuristic. And I'm sure that many of us would have many helpful suggestions for Von about what his Chief Feature is!