One For the road
The System 7 and Gong guitarist on keeping it real and looking after your back
What was the first gig you played and how did it go?
“I think it was with the first iteration of my band at school, which became known as Uriel. It was at another school, a Dunstable school, at a school dance in early ’67 and I played on a borrowed Watkins Rapier electric guitar. I seem to remember that it went okay – and I think I got drunk after it. That’s about all I remember, now… I think I remember my hangover more than the gig, actually.”
Describe your current stage rig…
“My current stage rig is very simple. It’s a Steinberger GL4T guitar that I bought in 1988 and which I still love very dearly, and a Line 6 POD XT Pro rack unit with a Line 6 pedalboard that does all the effects and provides the tone. I’ve two configurations: I use a studio direct when I play with System 7, directly into the DJ mixer’s line in, and when I’m playing live, doing gigs with Gong or other live projects, I use a Fender Twin amp with the Line 6 set to the guitar amp configuration, which changes the sound a little bit and the gain structure. I like the amp to be set clean – I like a loud and clean amp, so I make all the tones on the Line 6 device. That’s basically it; I’ve tried lots of other rigs of this nature, but the Line 6 works out the best.”
What’s on your rider?
“Drinks rider? A bottle of Champagne – a good quality French Champagne, Moët & Chandon or the like for after the gig. That’s the most important bit, and then there’s fruit, juice, lots of water, some nibbles and some beers – some of the people I work with prefer beer. European bottle beer, though…”
What’s your best tip for getting a good live sound?
“Obviously, make sure you’re delivering something that’s really good in the first place. Then, in most circumstances, it’s better not to have too loud a sound on stage; let the front-of-house engineer have quite a lot of it come out of the PA. That’s a general tip. You’d find most sound engineers would agree with that. The only problem is that sometimes you worry that people right at the front aren’t going to hear it if not much is coming off the stage, but good engineers have little front fills at the side of the stage, angled for the people in the front three rows.”
What’s your best tip for getting the audience on your side?
“If you’re quite well known, one would like to think that they’re on your side from the word go. So what you have to do is then make sure you’re delivering the goods. But the thing is, something very important: you’re not there to give people what you think they want, that’s a blind alley. If you’re an artist, you’re a taste leader, you’ve got to take people on a journey, maybe take them somewhere where they didn’t necessarily think they were going to go. If you enslave yourself to some sort of illusory concept of what you think people want, I don’t think you’ll make it.”
What non-musical item couldn’t you do without on tour?
“A lumbar belt. If I’m having to lift something heavy I put it around my lower back. That’s a hot tip to avoid back trouble – which I’ve had occasionally – so I always carry that around with me.You get really good ones in Boots; they’re about 20 quid. I strongly recommend it. Being no longer a teenager, I have to think about these things.”
What’s the best venue you’ve played in and why?
“I think one of the best small clubs in the UK – if not the best – is Trades Club at Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire. It’s absolutely fantastic. It’s not a large club, it’s got a brilliant sound and it’s actually got a sprung dance floor. So for System 7, I think that’s our favourite indoor venue in the UK. Outdoors, the Glade Stage at Glastonbury I deeply love; I’ve had some wonderful experiences there.”
What’s the worst journey you’ve had either to or from a gig?
“Practically every time I’ve had to drive up the M6! Particularly when they have speed restrictions in the driving rain with massive traffic… I don’t think you can get much worse than that, really.”
What’s the nearest you’ve come to a Spinal Tap moment on tour?
“I can remember one. I developed a really fulfilling sideline in producing North African Arab music, particularly working with an artist called Rachid Taha. I helped put together a large concert in Paris with another Nigerian guy called Khaled and another called Faudel, in 1998. It was in the biggest hall in Paris in front of 18,000 people and we had an orchestra from Egypt – a massive, massive thing – and I was the musical director. We started off with an instrumental overture and then the screen was supposed to rise to reveal us playing. And the damned screen got stuck. There we were, in front of 18,000 people and I was thinking,‘This is Spinal Tap’! Luckily, the tour manager went up a ladder and hit the thing with a hammer and it finally went up… the people thought it was part of the show.”
What’s your favourite live album?
“Ooh, golly gumdrops. It’s really hard to say, but I really used to love the live part of Cream’s Wheels Of Fire when they played Crossroads, so I’ll put that one in. I’m a massive Jimi Hendrix fan, but I must say I found Band Of Gypsys disappointing, but the live side of Wheels Of Fire, that was really top bananas.”
Steve Hillage and System 7’s album Café Seven is available now via A-Wave www.a-wave.com/system7