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From the Scorpions to
the Sky Academy, Uli Jon Roth has for more than thirty years been an
inspirational and innovative guitarist and performer, and in more
recent years has turned his knowledge and experience to the
educational with the foundation of his Sky Academy.
Roth released his
latest album 'Under A Dark Sky' on September 22nd in
Europe, an album which he not only composed and produced, but also
orchestrated and directed it.
Komodo Rock's Ben
Christo had the opportunity to speak with Roth about not only the new
album, but also his guitar playing, and the Sky Academy itself.
Let's talk about
the new album, Under a Dark Sky. Whereas a lot of artists
translate their own experiences and emotions into music (often as a
form of catharsis), your new album possesses narrative and almost
fantastic elements. From where do you draw inspiration and what's
the starting point in the writing process?
That's
a multilayered question! The easiest part of the answer is: ‘whether
music first or lyrics first?' I can say that both things happen.
With the way I compose the music, there's no method as such. It's
slightly different each time, and I like it that way. Some musicians
always work in the same way and that's how they function best. I
function best with a variety of approaches.
A
song or a piece of music may start almost from any given point.
Sometimes you get almost all of a song in one go or most of it one
go. Sometimes it takes a bit longer. It's almost like a process of
discovery - discovering something that's already there. That's
the way I always see it. Then you make the choices about how you want
it to finally look or sound.
Are there any
writers or artists who inspire you in terms of the subject matters of
your work?
I've
got a very thorough grounding in Art, both in terms of classical
music and visual art and to some degree literature and definitely
alternative philosophy. All of these come into play. Any book you
read, whether good or bad, influences you and slightly changes your
inner workings. But there's no benchmark or overriding piece or
written text that I go back to.
What
I do now, it's the stuff that I feel I have to do. It comes
out that way, on the album I'm talking about things that of
importance to me at the moment. But it's not everyday events - they
usually don't interest me so much. I don't write about going to
the pub and having a great time. I've never found that to be
something that ‘does it' for me.
When
I have a piece of music and there are words with it, I always try to
come up with an organic whole - more or less. The older I get and
the more experienced I become, the more I feel the need for having a
unity between words and music.
It's a really
intangible and abstract concept to translate a theme or an idea into
a sound.
You
made a good point about ‘something intangible'. The intangible is
usually the thing that interests me the most. I wanted a sound that
was good for the album but not necessarily Industry standard. I don't
want all things straight in you face - some things are but others
are hidden layers and texture.
To
me, the things you don't hear; the things that are not on
the surface but the things that you have to interpolate as a listener
are just as important as the things that are on the surface.
Sometimes, they're more important because they contain the
essence and soul of the whole thing. Without that, it just wouldn't
speak to you.
Anybody
who's got the inclination to connect with this kind of essence will
get some pleasure from it, but it's certainly not for everybody.
It's not music that entertains you. It's not something you can
listen to whilst your having your porridge in the morning. It's
intense and it's meant to be intense.
 Let's touch on the
notions of live performance. In my experience, there are two polar
attitudes present (in varying degrees). Performers either say: "when
I am onstage, I am not me. I am someone else," or "When I am
onstage that is when I am truly me, that's when I am the most
‘me'." How do you fit in between these binaries?
I'm
neither me or someone else, I just become it. I try to really
not exist and go as deeply into the music as I can. I see myself as a
servant music.
As a conduit?
Yes,
it's something that flows through me naturally. I tend to
completely forget about myself, which is good, because the last thing
I want onstage is being too self-conscious. That messes with your
playing and becomes a barrier between yourself and the music. So
onstage I become un-self-conscious. I know I've a band to
lead and there's an audience there...onstage I'm a host and there
are guests there. I want to establish a rapport with the audience.
It
may look as if I'm withdrawing when I play, but at the same time
I'm aware of the audience and I enjoy their presence, because it's
as if we're making music together, I'm just the executive
element. But I'd certainly play differently if they weren't there
because of the psychology of the moment...it's a metaphysical thing
that's going on. It feels is like a very natural role to me and I
like being onstage.
Finally, I'd like
to discuss the Sky Academy, where you specialize in guitar tuition.
As a guitarist looking at styles of playing, I've always felt that
technical virtuosity is a physiological exercise -
Yes,
almost anybody can learn it.
Eight months in a
room with a metronome, it's possible to get to get up to to high
technical standard. So how to you encourage innovation and conviction
in students? How do you get them to inject personality into their
playing?
This
is exactly what Sky Academy is about. We're touching on subjects
such as inspiration - where does it come from? How do you attract
it? How do you work with it? How do you free yourself from all these
obstacles that are between you and the music?
A
lot of the obstacles are inside the mind or sometimes they're
physical, by doing things in the wrong way. But you ask ‘how?'
Well, the Sky Academy works in such a way that it's a very
free-flow format. It's not like a guitar clinic where they're
teaching you licks and chops and taking you from A to B. It's more
like a musical awareness kind of thing. I'm trying to shine the
light on the things that usually are not spoken about, in
terms of teaching.
The
guitar playing community have enough good teachers out there who can
simply teach guitar and all that is very helpful. But the Sky Academy
is filling, I think, a niche and it speaks about a lot of the other
things.
But
we also speak about the technical things, as it all goes hand in hand
- I see it all as an organic whole.
And
when certain things don't function, the entire thing suffers. It's
my kind of task to point the finger at certain things that I become
aware of when I'm listening to a student and gently guide them away
from that.
It's
very effective with a lot of people although, again, it's not for
everyone.
-
Uli
Jon Roth will join the Scorpions as their special guest on the bands
upcoming UK tour in October.
Full
dates are:
October
2008 City Venue
Box Office
Monday 13th Glasgow
Academy 08444 999 990
Wednesday 15th
Manchester Apollo 08444 777
677
Thursday 16th Southampton
Guildhall 023 8063 2601
Saturday 18th
London Hammersmith Apollo 08448
444 748
Sunday 19th Wolverhampton
Civic Hall 0870 320 7000
Tickets are £35
each and may be subject to booking fee.
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