Hi Everyone!
Here is is, translated! Doug, let me know if I got anything wrong and I will post a correction. Moosie OK'd it from his side!
Enjoy! No more Alta Vista silliness! LOL!
Lordlatem: Enchants last album, Tug of War, has really sublime production. One of the best Ive heard. How did you get such results?
Doug Ott (Guitar): Lots of work! (laughs!) I didnt do badly learning on the job. En fact, I believe the main reason for the success of the production comes from the updating of the recording equipment that Tom Size and I use in the studio. We worked in digital and the result of recording the different instruments was phenomenal. Our equipment on Blink of An Eye made the sound thicker whereas here it is smoother. Thus the balance of the instruments is, in my mind, better and at no time do they overlap.
Lordlatem: Were the drums, as usual, the hardest instruments to produce?
Doug Ott: For me, the drums are always all or nothing. Either it is very good or its a total failure. Because of this I let Tom do whatever he wanted! I did it in the past but I found that it was a crappy (pain in the ass?) job to do! (laughs) So I left it to him to do and it went very well, since the results are excellent - definitely better than on prior albums.
Lordlatem: Tug of War is encoded in HDCD which enables you to really appreciate the the production...
Doug Ott: Totally! Especially if you have a HDCD player. With that it is actually extraordinary. The sound quality is incredible. Any band is free to record an album using the HDCD process but of course it is more expensive But its well worth it. Once you hear the final result, theres no comparison. The first of our albums we recorded this way was Break. The HDCD process gives an extra kick to any album.
Lordlatem: Concerning the cover of Tug of War. It has details recalling your discography. Is this a sign towards such as Marillions Fugazi or Rushs Moving Pictures which were done the same way?
Doug Ott: Its funny that you ask! In fact, the story starts with a mistake. Nothing of that was planned. The very first version showed nothing but the text and the mirror and the reflection. There was nothing on the walls. Then I asked Thomas Ewerhard, the artist, to put a clock on the wall for decoration. He added a clock, but it looked too new, so I said No, make it an old one, one with roman numerals. He did that, and when I saw the result I said to myself it reminds me of the cover of our album Time Lost. At that time, I proposed that he choose something from each of our albums and incorporate them into the illustration for Tug of War. After make a few small changes, I love the final version and we have the new cover! When the album was released a journalist said to me it reminded him of Moving Pictures. I hadnt thought of that before but I agreed with him. Then I remembered Fugazi and since then I love the cover even more. For the fans its a kind of small detail that is fun to notice. I remember that at the end, Ed (note: Ed Platt, bass player from Enchant) and I looked at a poster of Fugazi trying to find the most minute details it recalled from Marillions discography, the lizard and all. It was cool!
Lordlatem: Speaking of Marillion, can you tell me your thoughts? You have toured with them and your style of playing is a little like Steve Rothery
Doug Ott: He was my model for years. I adore those guys! (laughs) I was always a fan and then later we toured with them. Steve Rothery worked on our album Blueprint of the World. He was one of the first guys I listened to just for the melody. During the 80s the guitar went hand in hand with speed. I didnt escape this rule; I attempted to follow the fastest players. When I bought Real for Reel, the only album I could find at the time, I got a glimpse of a new style of playing solos that was completely different from mine. Initially, I didnt completely understand, and then I heard Kayleigh on the radio and I said to myself, this was the coolest and most moving solo I have ever heard! I wanted to do the same. Moreover, when I relistened to my demos, I said to myself this was great to play fast; that it got on well, but what was the point of it? What message was it sending? My style of conceiving music had changed
Lordlatem: Did Kayleigh had your favorite solo .until you heard Easter?
Doug Ott: Ah, of course Easter is truly THE solo. It kills me every time I listen to it. But Kayleigh is a blow to the heart of some sort. (Note: Doug begins to hum the solo from Kayleigh). They way Steve plays this solo is fantastic he literally makes his instrument cry. The sense of melody, which one also finds with Journey, made such an impression on me from the time I was an adolescent that I automatically hum the solos rather than the vocal lines. (laughs) I said to myself that there had to be a reason that slow solos stuck in my brain so easily. Because of that I began to play in this fashion.
Lordlatem: Why havent you done any covers of Marillion if you like the group so much?
Doug Ott: Funny you say that, because we did a cover of Easter several years ago, in 93 or 94 if I remember correctly. One day, just for fun, I proposed to the other members to choose a song to cover: five guys, five songs. The result: Tom Sawyer from Rush, Easter from Marillion, Thin Line from Queensrhyche, Would? from Alice in Chains, and a piece of funk that Ed had suggested that I dont remember anymore. Oh, we also had On the Loose from Saga too. We played all of them in the studio in fact, just for fun! One day when we were playing a concert in Belgium, the power was cut. When it was returned we began again and the fans were surprised to see us again. It was transcended (HUH ???) and they wouldnt stop calling for encores and we had nothing ready for them. We then swung out the covers. Everyone loved it and it was terrific! If we tour as a headliner I think we will repeat doing some covers. It would be fun for the fans and for us as well.
Lordlatem: Lets talk a little about the tour with Spocks Beard. Hows it going?
Doug Ott: Unfortunately were done in four days. But everything has gone very well. In 1998 we also played with Spocks beard. Ted (note: Ted Leonard, singer from Enchant) and I are the only survivors from that time. For us, its super to see them again because they are really great. Moreover, we can see Spocks Beard every night which is not bad! (laughs) We also appreciate the chance to see California Guitar Trio. We share the same dressing room thus theres a good camaraderie thats developed between us which is extremely nice. Lets add that the audience has responded attentively. It has been five years since we last played a concert, the audience has traveled so as not to miss us. Tug of War is our best-selling album so its all good!
Lordlatem: Since Enchant is the opening band, one could presume that the majority of the audience did not come to see you. Do you watch them to see if they understand your music?
Doug Ott: Sometimes (laughs). We are used to opening for other bands since that is what we have always done. Except that at home where we have periodically done a concert as the head line. We have opened for Marillion, Eric Johnson, IQ, Camel and for Dream Theater and every time we see people who wonder about our music and ask who we are. But at every concert someone comes to us and says, I have never heard about you but you are damn good! I love you guys and Im going to buy three of your albums! Because of that its great to play with other bands. It lets us convert fans! I think its rare that people only move around for the opening band. Myself, Ive discovered bands this way! To get back to the questions, its clear that I see blank stares from the audience. But thats normal because we are progressive. The music is more complex than a guy who plays four chords over and over. You need to pay attention when listening to us.
Lordlatem: To finish the interview I will give you names of songs that you dont play in concert anymore. I would like to know why and to to get your opinion on these songs. First off: My Everafter.
Doug Ott: Of course we thought about playing it. But one of the reasons we dont is that the guitar and keyboard parts are really VERY difficult to play. Moreover we try to spare Ted by not playing titles where he must sing so high. In this case, it quickly destroys his voice. Not to mention that he has a hell of a lot to sing and it would be stupid to limit it with tough songs. And then we just recruited a new keyboard player and we didnt want to grill him so soon (laughs) with the most technical songs. We definitely thought about including it on this tour but we would still have to play it over and over. (laughs)
Lordlatem: Catharsis.
Doug Ott: We simply played it too much. It is a great song, extremely emotive. Ive always liked it. It is the very first song of Pauls which I heard (Note: Paul Craddick, former drummer for Enchant). He wrote it on the keyboards and I was won over immediately. But you know, Blueprint Of The World is filled with so many good tracks... It makes choosing the tracks pieces from this album the hardest because each one has his favorite title; each member has a preference to listen to, one that he prefers to play, and then what is requested by the fans Everyone has a different answer to the question. Thus considering the difficulty of the choice we decided to change our minds and suggested other tracks.
Lordlatem : Colors Fade.
Doug Ott : We had it in our setlist and had rehearsed it. Then we learned that we were only playing for one hour. Thus we had to remove certain songs - Colors Fade, in fact, just like King and My Enemy.
Lordlatem : Nighttime Sky.
Doug Ott : Played too often! Catharsis and Nighttime Sky are two tracks which were done five years before Blueprint Of The World. We played them until exhaustion. You could say the same about The Oasis or The Thirst. Without counting that, Nighttime Sky has the mark of Paul and that following his departure the other members of the group were more interested in the songs that I had written.
Lordlatem : The last, Broken.
Doug Ott : Wow, that a great one! I did not expect it! (pauses) I believe that Broken never came off very well live. We played it, however, but each time we got the impression that the audience did not understand it or did not appreciate it. We thought if we should be playing to please ourselves or to please the fans. I said to myself that to write music is already rather personal and that it was necessary to think of playing what fans like most of all. There are certain songs which we play that even our biggest fans the ones with Enchant t-shirts! dont like. Broken is one of these. A few years ago we decided to finally leave it off to the side.
Lordlatem: Ok thank you! Do you have a last word to say to the Immortal ones?
Doug Ott : And well thank you! Thanks for buying our albums and thanks for your support. Enchant fans have always been loyal and that is very touching. I hope that you like what we do and we await you at a concert! It is most important.
Here is is, translated! Doug, let me know if I got anything wrong and I will post a correction. Moosie OK'd it from his side!
Enjoy! No more Alta Vista silliness! LOL!
Lordlatem: Enchants last album, Tug of War, has really sublime production. One of the best Ive heard. How did you get such results?
Doug Ott (Guitar): Lots of work! (laughs!) I didnt do badly learning on the job. En fact, I believe the main reason for the success of the production comes from the updating of the recording equipment that Tom Size and I use in the studio. We worked in digital and the result of recording the different instruments was phenomenal. Our equipment on Blink of An Eye made the sound thicker whereas here it is smoother. Thus the balance of the instruments is, in my mind, better and at no time do they overlap.
Lordlatem: Were the drums, as usual, the hardest instruments to produce?
Doug Ott: For me, the drums are always all or nothing. Either it is very good or its a total failure. Because of this I let Tom do whatever he wanted! I did it in the past but I found that it was a crappy (pain in the ass?) job to do! (laughs) So I left it to him to do and it went very well, since the results are excellent - definitely better than on prior albums.
Lordlatem: Tug of War is encoded in HDCD which enables you to really appreciate the the production...
Doug Ott: Totally! Especially if you have a HDCD player. With that it is actually extraordinary. The sound quality is incredible. Any band is free to record an album using the HDCD process but of course it is more expensive But its well worth it. Once you hear the final result, theres no comparison. The first of our albums we recorded this way was Break. The HDCD process gives an extra kick to any album.
Lordlatem: Concerning the cover of Tug of War. It has details recalling your discography. Is this a sign towards such as Marillions Fugazi or Rushs Moving Pictures which were done the same way?
Doug Ott: Its funny that you ask! In fact, the story starts with a mistake. Nothing of that was planned. The very first version showed nothing but the text and the mirror and the reflection. There was nothing on the walls. Then I asked Thomas Ewerhard, the artist, to put a clock on the wall for decoration. He added a clock, but it looked too new, so I said No, make it an old one, one with roman numerals. He did that, and when I saw the result I said to myself it reminds me of the cover of our album Time Lost. At that time, I proposed that he choose something from each of our albums and incorporate them into the illustration for Tug of War. After make a few small changes, I love the final version and we have the new cover! When the album was released a journalist said to me it reminded him of Moving Pictures. I hadnt thought of that before but I agreed with him. Then I remembered Fugazi and since then I love the cover even more. For the fans its a kind of small detail that is fun to notice. I remember that at the end, Ed (note: Ed Platt, bass player from Enchant) and I looked at a poster of Fugazi trying to find the most minute details it recalled from Marillions discography, the lizard and all. It was cool!
Lordlatem: Speaking of Marillion, can you tell me your thoughts? You have toured with them and your style of playing is a little like Steve Rothery
Doug Ott: He was my model for years. I adore those guys! (laughs) I was always a fan and then later we toured with them. Steve Rothery worked on our album Blueprint of the World. He was one of the first guys I listened to just for the melody. During the 80s the guitar went hand in hand with speed. I didnt escape this rule; I attempted to follow the fastest players. When I bought Real for Reel, the only album I could find at the time, I got a glimpse of a new style of playing solos that was completely different from mine. Initially, I didnt completely understand, and then I heard Kayleigh on the radio and I said to myself, this was the coolest and most moving solo I have ever heard! I wanted to do the same. Moreover, when I relistened to my demos, I said to myself this was great to play fast; that it got on well, but what was the point of it? What message was it sending? My style of conceiving music had changed
Lordlatem: Did Kayleigh had your favorite solo .until you heard Easter?
Doug Ott: Ah, of course Easter is truly THE solo. It kills me every time I listen to it. But Kayleigh is a blow to the heart of some sort. (Note: Doug begins to hum the solo from Kayleigh). They way Steve plays this solo is fantastic he literally makes his instrument cry. The sense of melody, which one also finds with Journey, made such an impression on me from the time I was an adolescent that I automatically hum the solos rather than the vocal lines. (laughs) I said to myself that there had to be a reason that slow solos stuck in my brain so easily. Because of that I began to play in this fashion.
Lordlatem: Why havent you done any covers of Marillion if you like the group so much?
Doug Ott: Funny you say that, because we did a cover of Easter several years ago, in 93 or 94 if I remember correctly. One day, just for fun, I proposed to the other members to choose a song to cover: five guys, five songs. The result: Tom Sawyer from Rush, Easter from Marillion, Thin Line from Queensrhyche, Would? from Alice in Chains, and a piece of funk that Ed had suggested that I dont remember anymore. Oh, we also had On the Loose from Saga too. We played all of them in the studio in fact, just for fun! One day when we were playing a concert in Belgium, the power was cut. When it was returned we began again and the fans were surprised to see us again. It was transcended (HUH ???) and they wouldnt stop calling for encores and we had nothing ready for them. We then swung out the covers. Everyone loved it and it was terrific! If we tour as a headliner I think we will repeat doing some covers. It would be fun for the fans and for us as well.
Lordlatem: Lets talk a little about the tour with Spocks Beard. Hows it going?
Doug Ott: Unfortunately were done in four days. But everything has gone very well. In 1998 we also played with Spocks beard. Ted (note: Ted Leonard, singer from Enchant) and I are the only survivors from that time. For us, its super to see them again because they are really great. Moreover, we can see Spocks Beard every night which is not bad! (laughs) We also appreciate the chance to see California Guitar Trio. We share the same dressing room thus theres a good camaraderie thats developed between us which is extremely nice. Lets add that the audience has responded attentively. It has been five years since we last played a concert, the audience has traveled so as not to miss us. Tug of War is our best-selling album so its all good!
Lordlatem: Since Enchant is the opening band, one could presume that the majority of the audience did not come to see you. Do you watch them to see if they understand your music?
Doug Ott: Sometimes (laughs). We are used to opening for other bands since that is what we have always done. Except that at home where we have periodically done a concert as the head line. We have opened for Marillion, Eric Johnson, IQ, Camel and for Dream Theater and every time we see people who wonder about our music and ask who we are. But at every concert someone comes to us and says, I have never heard about you but you are damn good! I love you guys and Im going to buy three of your albums! Because of that its great to play with other bands. It lets us convert fans! I think its rare that people only move around for the opening band. Myself, Ive discovered bands this way! To get back to the questions, its clear that I see blank stares from the audience. But thats normal because we are progressive. The music is more complex than a guy who plays four chords over and over. You need to pay attention when listening to us.
Lordlatem: To finish the interview I will give you names of songs that you dont play in concert anymore. I would like to know why and to to get your opinion on these songs. First off: My Everafter.
Doug Ott: Of course we thought about playing it. But one of the reasons we dont is that the guitar and keyboard parts are really VERY difficult to play. Moreover we try to spare Ted by not playing titles where he must sing so high. In this case, it quickly destroys his voice. Not to mention that he has a hell of a lot to sing and it would be stupid to limit it with tough songs. And then we just recruited a new keyboard player and we didnt want to grill him so soon (laughs) with the most technical songs. We definitely thought about including it on this tour but we would still have to play it over and over. (laughs)
Lordlatem: Catharsis.
Doug Ott: We simply played it too much. It is a great song, extremely emotive. Ive always liked it. It is the very first song of Pauls which I heard (Note: Paul Craddick, former drummer for Enchant). He wrote it on the keyboards and I was won over immediately. But you know, Blueprint Of The World is filled with so many good tracks... It makes choosing the tracks pieces from this album the hardest because each one has his favorite title; each member has a preference to listen to, one that he prefers to play, and then what is requested by the fans Everyone has a different answer to the question. Thus considering the difficulty of the choice we decided to change our minds and suggested other tracks.
Lordlatem : Colors Fade.
Doug Ott : We had it in our setlist and had rehearsed it. Then we learned that we were only playing for one hour. Thus we had to remove certain songs - Colors Fade, in fact, just like King and My Enemy.
Lordlatem : Nighttime Sky.
Doug Ott : Played too often! Catharsis and Nighttime Sky are two tracks which were done five years before Blueprint Of The World. We played them until exhaustion. You could say the same about The Oasis or The Thirst. Without counting that, Nighttime Sky has the mark of Paul and that following his departure the other members of the group were more interested in the songs that I had written.
Lordlatem : The last, Broken.
Doug Ott : Wow, that a great one! I did not expect it! (pauses) I believe that Broken never came off very well live. We played it, however, but each time we got the impression that the audience did not understand it or did not appreciate it. We thought if we should be playing to please ourselves or to please the fans. I said to myself that to write music is already rather personal and that it was necessary to think of playing what fans like most of all. There are certain songs which we play that even our biggest fans the ones with Enchant t-shirts! dont like. Broken is one of these. A few years ago we decided to finally leave it off to the side.
Lordlatem: Ok thank you! Do you have a last word to say to the Immortal ones?
Doug Ott : And well thank you! Thanks for buying our albums and thanks for your support. Enchant fans have always been loyal and that is very touching. I hope that you like what we do and we await you at a concert! It is most important.
!!
