Gentle Giant

The prog band from yesteryear have had tracks remixed by Steven Wilson and there could be more on the way.

Formed from the ashes of psych-pop hitmakers Simon Dupree And The Big Sound in 1970, Gentle Giant were the quintessential prog band, fusing soul, jazz, rock and classical music into a complex whole. Lack of commercial success failed to deter them, with the band surviving for a decade before splitting up. Major fan Steven Wilson has now remixed selected tracks for the sumptuous Three Piece Suite. Founder member and lead vocalist Derek Shulman, one of three brothers in Gentle Giant, explains all…

How did Three Piece Suite come about? Steven’s worked on our stuff before and suggested doing songs from the first three albums. Going back into the vaults brought back the magic of that period. We were growing up as musicians at a time when it felt like everything was possible.

Gentle Giant once stated that you deliberately avoided being commercial…

That was actually a quote by my brother Phil, who’s always been full of satire, cynicism and irony. Yet there was also a millstone around our necks because we’d had a big pop hit as Simon Dupree [1967’s Kites]. And we were bagged as a prog band. In truth, we wanted to have as many fans as we could.

How important was producer Tony Visconti in your early days?

Tony was incredible on the first couple of albums. He was a teacher too. We didn’t have any money to stay in London while we were recording, so he allowed us to sleep on his floor in Putney. It was fascinating being around him at the same time that he was working with people like Bowie and T.Rex. How close did Elton John, who played keyboards for Simon Dupree, come to joining Gentle Giant?

He was serious about it. We’d told him that we were going to dissolve Simon Dupree and do something new. He said he’d like to be a part of it, even though he was trying something on his own. In fact, myself and Ray [Shulman] went up to Watford with him, just as he met Bernie [Taupin] for the first time. So he wasn’t begging for a job, but he was auditioning, for sure.

How did the band function with three brothers?

It was archetypal sibling rivalry. Phil and I used to be at each other’s throats with Ray as peacemaker. The other members used to hide. We toured extensively with Jethro Tull and Ian Anderson remembers going into our dressing room after one show and walking back out immediately, because we were having such a loud argument about who’d played a bum note. He thought we were going to start throwing chairs at each other.

“Elton John said he’d like to

be a part of Gentle Giant.”

Anything else on the horizon?

We’re looking at remixing Free Hand [1975], with a couple of out-takes. And there’s a 20-album box set of live shows coming next year. The albums were sketches for the live gigs, which offered something completely different to the studio songs.

Will Gentle Giant ever reunite?

No. Trying to recreate something we did decades ago wouldn’t make sense to any of us. You can’t rewrite history and one thing I’d never want to be is a parody of myself. The band was never about cash or a quick killing. Being paupers and enjoying our music was much better for us. RH