Paul Roland Meets The Velvet Underground
'Gothic psych baroque rocker waxing demented as only an Englishman can.'
(Goldmine, USA)
"I was rolling west on Route 66, just outside of Fairville, no more than a couple of clicks,
when the sky turned blacker than a biblical plague and the night descended like the axeman's
blade." (from 'Bates Motel')
Fancy a detour off the musical highway this autumn? Cult English baroque rocker Paul Roland
(who was once described as 'the male Kate Bush' by label mate Robyn Hitchcock) has left the
mock gothic grandeur of his past albums such as 'Danse Macabre' and 'Duel', the Edwardian
proto-
'Grimm' to plug his electric guitar in and thrash to death such titles as 'I Was A Teenage Zombie',
'Tortured By The Daughter of Fu Manchu', 'How I Escaped From Devil's Island' and the title
track Bates Motel . Someone has evidently been listening to The Cramps, The Ramones,
Iggy Pop and Johnny Cash!
"In the late 1980s I interviewed several members of the Velvet Underground for a national
English newspaper and at the end of the interviews I asked Nico, Sterling Morrison and
Maureen Tucker if they would be interested in recording with me and they seemed genuinely
enthusiastic. So I wrote some songs for them and sent the tapes over to the states, but there
were technical problems that couldn't be resolved due to the incompatibility of the tape formats
at that time. There was no internet then so submixes on metal spools had to be shipped over for
them to add their parts and these weren't compatible with the American studio that Sterling
was using at the time. So the songs were shelved, until now. I had spoken to Sterling several
times on the phone and he had written back saying that he was keen to record and he liked the
songs, particularly the structures, I remember, but I didn't pursue it, thinking that we had all the
time in the world to get together. Then sadly he died and soon after so did Nico. Then my own
music went off in a more psych-
But recently after making a number of intimate acoustic albums I was itching to rock again and I
thought it was time to dust off the songs I had written for them and complete those which I
hadn't finished. 'Bates Motel' is not Paul Roland immitating the Velvet Underground - that
would be pointless - it is the album that I would have made with Mo, Sterling and Nico had I
been a bit more aggressively ambitious and made sure the opportunity wasn't lost."
For those who might find the pace rather bracing, be assured there are also a couple of spacedout
psych tracks (including a paean to the dark Indian goddess Kali) and a creepy tale or two
with a suitably atmospheric setting - one inspired by a ghost story written by England's master
of the macabre M.R. James ('The Wailing Well') and another inspired by an episode of the
'Twilight Zone' (see if you can spot which one, cult TV fans).
The lighter side of Roland's macabre humour is embodied in a couple of classic Sixties psych
pop track with a twist ('In Love With Myself' and 'Crazy' which we think could have been
written for Green Day), plus a sly pastiche of self-
tinged 'Promised Land' and a typical Roland offbeat Arabian adventure featuring
Curly, Moe and Stagger Lee ("and me with a half-
Khan").
If you are interested in releasing 'Bates Motel' and would like to receive a preview CD contact:
'Gothic psych baroque rocker waxing demented as only an Englishman can.'
(Goldmine, USA)
"I was rolling west on Route 66, just outside of Fairville, no more than a couple of clicks,
when the sky turned blacker than a biblical plague and the night descended like the axeman's
blade." (from 'Bates Motel')
Fancy a detour off the musical highway this autumn? Cult English baroque rocker Paul Roland
(who was once described as 'the male Kate Bush' by label mate Robyn Hitchcock) has left the
mock gothic grandeur of his past albums such as 'Danse Macabre' and 'Duel', the Edwardian
proto-
'Grimm' to plug his electric guitar in and thrash to death such titles as 'I Was A Teenage Zombie',
'Tortured By The Daughter of Fu Manchu', 'How I Escaped From Devil's Island' and the title
track Bates Motel . Someone has evidently been listening to The Cramps, The Ramones,
Iggy Pop and Johnny Cash!
"In the late 1980s I interviewed several members of the Velvet Underground for a national
English newspaper and at the end of the interviews I asked Nico, Sterling Morrison and
Maureen Tucker if they would be interested in recording with me and they seemed genuinely
enthusiastic. So I wrote some songs for them and sent the tapes over to the states, but there
were technical problems that couldn't be resolved due to the incompatibility of the tape formats
at that time. There was no internet then so submixes on metal spools had to be shipped over for
them to add their parts and these weren't compatible with the American studio that Sterling
was using at the time. So the songs were shelved, until now. I had spoken to Sterling several
times on the phone and he had written back saying that he was keen to record and he liked the
songs, particularly the structures, I remember, but I didn't pursue it, thinking that we had all the
time in the world to get together. Then sadly he died and soon after so did Nico. Then my own
music went off in a more psych-
But recently after making a number of intimate acoustic albums I was itching to rock again and I
thought it was time to dust off the songs I had written for them and complete those which I
hadn't finished. 'Bates Motel' is not Paul Roland immitating the Velvet Underground -
would be pointless -
been a bit more aggressively ambitious and made sure the opportunity wasn't lost."
For those who might find the pace rather bracing, be assured there are also a couple of spacedout
psych tracks (including a paean to the dark Indian goddess Kali) and a creepy tale or two
with a suitably atmospheric setting -
of the macabre M.R. James ('The Wailing Well') and another inspired by an episode of the
'Twilight Zone' (see if you can spot which one, cult TV fans).
The lighter side of Roland's macabre humour is embodied in a couple of classic Sixties psych
pop track with a twist ('In Love With Myself' and 'Crazy' which we think could have been
written for Green Day), plus a sly pastiche of self-
tinged 'Promised Land' and a typical Roland offbeat Arabian adventure featuring
Curly, Moe and Stagger Lee ("and me with a half-
Khan").
If you are interested in releasing 'Bates Motel' and would like to receive a preview CD contact:
Soon to be released