Guitarist BERNIE TORME Discusses GMT Project

DioMessageBoard.com recently conducted an interview with Irish guitarist Bernie Torme (GILLAN, OZZY OSBOURNE) about his new band GUY-MCCOY-TORME (GMT),also featuring his old compadre from GILLAN, bassist John McCoy — who has worked with Joey Belladonna, SAMSON, and the UK SUB, among others — and drummer Robin Guy (whose credentials include FAITH NO MORE and BRUCE DICKINSON). An excerpt from the question-and-answer session follows:

Q: So how did GMT come into existence then?

Bernie: John McCoy and I used to talk on the phone around new years every year, and say we really should get together and have a play this year; it was probably because we forgot to send Christmas cards or something. We've been doing it ever since 1989. We always forgot about it two days later. Then Paul Samson [SAMSON founder] tragically died of cancer a few years ago, and it really hit both of us in a major way; we were both friends of Paul. We decided that we had to finally actually get together to have a play before one of us snuffed it, to see if the magic still lived, and John phoned Mick Underwood (GILLAN's old drummer) for us to get together for a blow. That was a lot of fun, but we tried recording it and it didn't really work out too good; it seemed to be a bit too much like reploughing the same furrow, with all the same ifs ands buts, ruts and boundaries. I personally really did not want to get involved in a less good continuation of what had gone before in GILLAN. I don't personally believe in living on past glories. I didn't think I could cut it at all in that sort of situation, so it seemed like something that I didn't really want to get into. No reflection on what others get off on — each to their own — but reformations or part reformations are not something I could have any faith in. Around that time I had a band called ANTIPRODUCT recording a track called "Good Vibrations" at in my studio in Kent, with Danny McCormack from the WILDHEARTS/YO-YOs on bass and Robin Guy on drums. Alex Kane from ANTIPRODUCT is a friend, and he said to me, "You gotta see this drummer, man. He's something else." So I went and saw this crazy muppet doing a take of "Good Vibrations" keeping perfect time while bouncing his sticks off the ceiling, the walls and the window and screaming his head off when he did a fill! I was just sold! I'm very into drummers anyway. I instantly wanted to play with Robin — loved him — so I called John and sent him a tape, he came down and we had a blow with Robin, which was just wild. Meanwhile Alex had blagged me into doing a Cliveaid show at the Ruskin Arms with him, so we sort of co-opted Robin and John, and it was GMT's first gig (plus Alex Kane) and pretty magic."

Q: The new [GMT] album has a very "live" feel to it with few overdubs that I've noticed. Did you purposely want it this way and did it take long to write the songs and record the album?

Bernie: Well, yes. John is a great frequencies and ideas guy, and I'm a bit opinionated in terms of production vibe; meaning, how you record something, since I really don't believe in "production" anyway, so we don't really step on each other's toes. He thinks he's producing and I don't believe in it! I thought about all of the records I REALLY, REALLY love (not just the music; there's lots of great music recorded in ways I don't personally like) — the ones that touch me: from Elvis at Sun studios and early RCA, to Hendrix with the GYPSIES to the first EXPERIENCE album to Frank Sinatra with Nelson Riddle to Chuck Berry to Buddy Holly to early AC/DC to every folk tracks I love (and I love folk; hey, I'm irish) to the RAMONES to early MOTÖRHEAD to early BEATLES and WHO, ROLLING STONES, ZEPPELIN, INCREDIBLE STRING BAND, BOB DYLAN, CHIMES OF FREEDOM, JOHN COLTRANE. Hey, it's just people playing in a room! No click track, no technical wizardry, just good mic placement and good quality gear to record the human chemistry and magic. And the accidents and mistakes are the best bit — they are the magic. I own the studio we recorded at, I was engineering too, so that's how we did it. Rock band, jazz recording technique, record us as is, just like Jimmy Page and the ROLLING STONES did, but do exactly as we do, and it sort of worked very well. Being the people and players we are, the choice for me was "Do I aim to make it sound 'good' and produced and conventional, or do I aim to make it sound sound like us, three very individualistic character style players doing exactly what they do naturally, i.e. make a deafening racket and overplaying to f**k, and record it in a stripped down old fashioned way?" we were solely aiming at pleasing ourselves, so, of course, it was the second choice! We were not in any way trying to make a great conventional polished record, just to record what we do as musicians as well as possible and see if that sounded good. I really see no reason for overdubs by default, though there are some on "Miss The Buzz" and some other very little bits. But if the band — me, John and Robin — didn't sound good doing it as was, why overdub it? And if we did sound good, why overdub it? I really believe if it ain't beautiful naked what's the point in wasting time with it, and dressing it up really won't help! I know a lot of people love "Bohemian Rhapsody"-style layering, but frankly I think it's had far more of a destructive influence on music and musicians than any drugs ever did. It did not take long to record or write. The ethic was simplicity. The basic tracks took no more than two weeks. It took a while to arrive at the lack of overdub approach and have everyone happy! The mixes took a while, mainly because it was a new approach. The songs really just grew in a small space of time. A few were older. For example, "No Justice" and the riffs for "Bitter & Twisted" and "Vincenzo (Bella Grande Pumpo Del Amore)" .

Visit Bernie and GMT at www.gmtrocks.com.