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TEN Interview with Gary Hughes
Interview by Salvo Russo
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No songwriter likes to repeat himself.
Gary,
it is a pleasure to have this interview with you, seeing that I am
an old Ten fan. Well, to be entirely honest with you, when we originally started out about 20 years ago I had no idea as to how long we’d be doing this. We’ve certainly had our ups and downs as any band who’s been around for such a long time, but you could say we are quite persistent. As I always say, we came ten years too late, since if we had emerged during the 80s I’m sure things would have been quite different for us. Having said that, I feel very blessed to be able to keep doing this, since I can’t really think of many other bands that are able to say the same thing. So… Here’s to the next twenty years!
The
new album sounds like a throwback to your roots in some sense, What
could you tell me about this new album? Do you actually feel
something has changed? I
would say that the music on “Albion” is just a return to the
pure essences of the classic TEN sound, so your observation is quite
accurate. In regards to the tracks themselves, I have listened to
our fans a great deal over the last couple of years, since they are
quite vocal about what they like hearing from us, so when I started
writing the songs I’ve really tried to cater for their wishes.
Funnily enough though, I found myself in a similar situation as I
found myself back in the early days, where 24 songs became our 'X'
and 'The Name Of The Rose' albums, so coincidentally we ended up
recording 22 tracks, out of which we simply decided (as we did back
then) to divide them into 2 separate releases. The result of these
recordings is of course “Albion”, with a second studio album to
follow next Spring. It is very exciting to be able to repeat history
as we did about 20 years ago! I
noticed that Ten music went through different influences and musical
moods over the years, like epic, folk, classic hard. Do you think
that was due to the different changes involved in the line-up over
the years? Not
really, I would say that it’s just the way I write, since no
songwriter likes to repeat himself. I am an almost compulsive
songwriter, writing constantly, so there’s bound to be a variety
of sounds and influences in our music anyway. Some of this material
ends up in our albums, but I can’t deny the fact that I like
experimenting with different styles. So, as it’s easily
understandable, I have a large number of tracks that do not really
fit to what we’ve established as the TEN sound. Having said that
though, I must admit that every new musician who ever came aboard in
TEN brought with him something different to the table, which is
quite invigorating really. I think that’s quite evident on
“Albion” too, since our new album just so happens to be our
first album featuring our latest additions, lead guitarists Dann
Rosingana and Steve Grocott, who have done a brilliant job playing
on the album. What
do you think about the musical scene today? Too many bands,
widespread on the internet that offer free music and the like. We
can say that many things have changed. Do you have a personal recipe
to stand out? Internet
and social media in particular are very useful tools when it comes
to promoting your music, but this by itself does not actually
guarantee success. I would say that it doesn’t even guarantee
record sales. What’s worse, as soon as the record is out
(sometimes even before) it’s pirated and available for free and
it’s so frustrating to see something that you’ve literally
sweated blood and tears over being stolen before your eyes. When
it comes to TEN though, there are no personal recipes really. Every
time we’re releasing an album we’re just trying to offer our
fans the best product possible so as to justify the fans’ trust in
us by putting their hands in their pocket to buy our albums. One of
the things that seems to work quite well though is offering a
quality package. For example with Albion, and thanks to Rocktopia
Records, we’ve released for the first time a double 12’’ vinyl
collector’s edition which is actually selling really well, so
maybe that’s the format bands need to lean towards today in order
to make people want to buy their product. By offering something very
special and highly collectable. Which
leads me to the next question. Have you ever had a moment of
discouragement looking at the current musical situation during your
carrier? Did you ever think to quit doing music? As
I mentioned previously, we’ve had our ups and downs like many
other bands that have been around for as long as we have. The
longest time we’ve been off the radar was during our sabbatical
years really and that would be between 2006-2011, when most of us
went through some very difficult periods in our personal lives.
I’m just happy that “Stormwarning” signified a very strong
return for us back to the scene and I sincerely hope that we’ll be
able to keep doing this for many more years to come. The
new album features a very special ballad called “Gioco
d’amore”. Why did you decide to sing some parts in Italian? Thank
you for your kind words! “Gioco D’Amore” in fact is my attempt
to do a song with a universal chorus sung in a different language.
It also signifies a first for TEN, since we’ve never done
something like that before. The inspiration came from a Boccelli
concert I caught on TV and I remember thinking how well the Italian
language rolls of the tongue. I really enjoyed writing and recording
this track and I certainly hope I've done it justice.
Let
me mention the winning couple “Vinny Burns-Gary Hughes”. Any
chance you will be playing together again in the future? I
actually had the opportunity to reunite with Vinny about a month ago
during our FireFest performance and we spent some quality time
together. It was great seeing him again after all these years and to
be honest it was quite hard to believe that so much time has passed
since we formed TEN back in 1995. I’m sure that we’ll get to
work together again in the not too distant future, but I can’t
foretell in which form and for what project. It would be a pleasure
though! Now
let me ask you about the production. Modern rock bands are used to
blend electronic stuff, loops, guitars together. I notice that your
new album still keeps the old Ten mark which is, I would say,
faithful to the classic hard-rock sounds and mood. Did you ever
think to approach the modern musical trend? Honestly,
if any of these elements would actually benefit to one of our
tracks, we would be obliged to include them, but only to a certain
degree, since, as I mentioned before, our fans are an integral part
to what we do musically and we certainly wouldn’t want to estrange
them through an unnecessary shift in our sound. At the end of the
day, for a song to end up on a TEN album it has to be of that
certain ilk that qualifies it as a TEN song. Hard Rock and AOR have
always been our two main musical genres if you like, so we’re
always going to be leaning towards them one way or another, even
though we are always happy to include a few twists and turns in the
final mix. One
question on the lyrics of this album: what can you tell us about
them? “Albion”
as an album is not a collection of tracks that’s woven around a
single concept really. Despite its title, which is the poetic Celtic
name for Great Britain, the tracks are recounting different stories
and concepts. For example the album’s opening track “Alone In
The Dark Tonight” is based on Emily Bronte's book 'Wuthering
Heights' and revolves around the idea that a Heathcliff style
character is roaming the cemetery garden of the undead for
centuries, mourning his long lost love, while “A Smuggler's
Tale” is exactly what the title itself suggests. It is based on
Daphne Du Maurier's book “Jamaica Inn” and tells the tale of a
ship which was wrecked on the rocks during a storm. Granted the
opportunity, the smugglers were claiming their bounty by bludgeoning
any survivors in the shallows. It’s a gruesome tale really. If
you could write a song for an artist, who would be the lucky one? There are many artists that I would like to write for but if I really had to go for just one, I’d say David Coverdale. Whitesnake was one of the first bands I ever saw live by the way! Let’s
talk about the tour. Any anticipation about upcoming dates? We've
already got two shows booked for Athens in May 2015, but we’re
planning on putting together more tour dates after we’ve finished
working on the successor to “Albion”, which,
as
I mentioned previously, will be released next Spring. I have to say
we’re all very excited about this and we’re very much looking
forward to bringing the band out and tour for both our new albums.
We’re definitely hoping to see you all there! The
game of the tower is our closing question. You are on top of a very
high tower and 3 other bands are up there with you. You have to push
down 2 of them, saving the third one among: BON
JOVI MAGNUM
DARE Haha,
that’s a very difficult question seeing as both Dare and Magnum
are very good friends of ours. I would have to go with Bon Jovi
though since their name is made out of two words and it’s taking
more space! Thank
you Gary!
Interview by Salvo Russo - November 2014
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