Forget Your Certainties

The short version of the interview with the indomitable Niki Gravino (Maltanow, 12th October) can be digested here.

We should have the long version up soon too.

More tea, vicar?

Hannibal's Children

Rough Trade goes African. Read about it here.

Story of a Charming Man

The third feature from the Maltanow's Rough Trade Series brings you DJ Bob Pisani, his music, overcoats and cartoons. (10 August 2008).

Dig it here.

Fortunes Untold

The second feature from the Maltanow's Rough Trade Series brings you Ira Losco and a pack of tarot cards. (13 July 2008).

Dig it here.

Renegades of Plonk

The first feature from the Maltanow's Rough Trade Series, featuring Mathematikal (15 June 2008).

Read it here.

Happy Birthday Winter Moods

Happy Birthday Winter Moods

Ivan Grech shares anecdotes and secrets of 20 years of Winter Moods with Wayne Flask

The grey hairs have almost run riot, although, admittedly, the dreaded process of hair loss has never threatened Ivan Grech. Nor has his age. His burly, 1m90 figure scoffs the myth of the skinny modern age rockstar; his eyes ooze confidence and his voice, borne with the stress of four studio albums and twenty years of Winter Moods, sounds as reassuring as ever.

That same voice is one of Winter Moods’ unique trademarks, starring from their early ‘Marillion’ years to the open spaces of Morning Ale, then to the arty class of Butterfly House and, finally, to the sentimental overtones of Ordinary Men.

By and large, twenty years have gone by and Winter Moods’ heart is still firmly rooted in the urbane ambience of the Cottonera that raised them and shaped their lives. Twenty years on, they are still doing what they like most, and once the tools of the trade have evolved, their sound has become clearer, with enough degrees of verve to leave an indelible effect on their music.

* * *

It is uncharacteristically sunny in Gozo, considering that Winter Moods have the mysterious power of the rainmaker that has accompanied them wherever they went. It’s Sunday morning and I am quietly penning my questions on the rocky hills to the right of Xlendi bay. My hands smell of salt. There is hardly a noise, hardly a movement. Soon enough, though, I have to be on my way to meet them: PR at 1 will see them have an informal lunch with radio competition winners.

The WM entourage has woken up to a slow morning. There are a few complaints about headaches, eyes are a bit heavy and throats are slightly sore. That night, at the XS Club, the best Winter Moods show in a long time was a fitting tribute to their twentieth anniversary. Seamless, from start to finish, they carried the audience with them through their meandering journey in history and emotions, with a new refined set that has brought them a few more joys.

I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that most of the thousand or so who crowded XS got goosebumps during their rousing performance, a show that included their everlasting Sarah and an unplugged version of Xemx among the highlights. It was, of course, an experiment that worked and, undoubtedly, one of the most convincing Winter Moods of the last few years.

All this talk of years prompts me to point out to Ivan that no one is getting any younger.

“Musically we are definitely still very young, and I feel the same about myself. I’m still a bit of a kid within, I’m always fooling around, and so are the others,” says Ivan. “Since we started recording thirteen years ago we’ve matured a lot, and we’ve done so together. Although we’ve had lineup changes, I think the main factor that has kept us together was our friendship.”

Interesting. Is their friendship so personal, enough to help out, say, with the occasional flat tyre?

“Yes, very much so. Our families are good friends with each other. We’re like brothers. Up until a few years ago I used to meet the guys every single day and to this day I see them more often than my relatives. Our partners are very supportive also. They knew that music was an important part of our lives and that we couldn’t live without it. I mean, it’s not easy, considering that Joseph has three children, and we really admire him because he manages to find time for everything.”

Twenty years ago it was a completely different story than today. Ivan is pleased to take a quick jog down memory lane to recount the early days of Winter Moods when their affections for prog-rock took up most of their time.

He grew up in a family of music connoisseurs. “My brother Alex was in the band club, Norman was a fan of Genesis, Asia, Pink Floyd, Joven was into Led Zeppelin, Queen and Deep Purple, and my sisters Josette and Edmea had other tastes altogether. My mother, too, made sure to keep me in touch with music. In the midst of all this ‘cocktail’ I was exposed to a number of different styles – and Winter Moods was a balance between the creative and the commercial.”

“The first Winter Moods was Joe and Steve [Caruana Smith]. Etienne [Robinich] was a sound technician at first and the singer was a guy called Jesmond Attard. This is around the end of 1986. They had already played in Maltasajf of 1984 as Shades of Darkness, and they also used to play the occasional wedding.” (Steve once had the misfortune of fainting during a reception and collapsed onto the drums). “Etienne eventually took over the keyboards from Arthur Stanicic, with whom I had never got on really well.”

The first Winter Moods also included James Vella on drums, and the band would record their eponymous debut album in 1995, shortly before the arrival of Melvin Caruana on guitars.

The six piece remained unaltered until November last year, when Steve left the band for personal reasons. “The first repercussion was personal, we loved Steve and we’ve always had a great time with him. The second repercussion was on the music. The songs on the album were recorded with two guitarists and we had to find a way of playing them live with only one. We had to resort to technology and the use of loops. Melvin worked really hard to adapt but I never doubted he would do an excellent job. Our live act sounds raw in comparison, and we’ve become tighter as a whole even though we lost out on a great guitarist.”

“We tried to convince Steve to stay on but he simply had no time. He couldn’t attend rehearsals and that for us was the biggest setback. He had lost a lot of commitment to the band, and he was getting a bit lazy too. I’m sorry he’s no longer with us because he was a great, great guy to have on board. I am thinking of having him back for a couple of songs at the next gig.”

And, as we talk of lineup changes, here’s the little-known story of another, particular birthday party.

* * *

Two years ago, John Bundy’s A3FM was still broadcasting strong from the 101.8FM frequency. Winter Moods were the main act of the first birthday party.

A few hours before the show, the band is getting ready at Etienne’s apartment. The host is busy preparing our Spaghetti Bolognese. There is something missing though, a strange lack of buzz in the air. Etienne chides Steve again for smoking in the kitchen, but that, from the whole evening, is the loudest note he will strike.

After the show the atmosphere is more relaxed. Noise levels are much louder, some booze is flowing, and in a corner of the Blues Room Ivan is whispering in Joe’s ear: You can’t leave this band. This is what you’ve started, you can’t go now that you’ve reached everything you’ve ever dreamed of. And Joe understood perfectly what those words meant.

“At one point Joseph was going to quit altogether. If he left it would have been a big blow for me. He’s our devil’s advocate. He questions a lot – he questions the band in a constructive manner. He always pushes the limit, and what we think is the top is never enough for him. Ultimately the one that keeps us all together. It has been like that since we were younger. I have a very special relationship with him.”

Ivan also revealed that around the same time James was about to leave the band too, and that replacements were already lined up. They were never called for the first rehearsal.

* * *

Soft keyboard and guitar noises are arriving from the stage of the XS Club. We are halfway through the show, there is an eerie hush in the venue. The interlude slowly fades into the introduction to Marigold, probably the shiniest gem in Ordinary Men with its elaborate, sleek, heart-rending moments, as close to perfection as they could get. A thousand voices sang along, word by word, enchanted.

The pressures and jolts of being a class act are long forgotten now. They are shaping their intricate tapestry, weaving emotions and notes. Ivan is at one with the crowd, and so are the usually detached Melvin and Joe. “I started to attach myself to Gozo after the death of my father, who hailed from Ghajnsielem. There’s this sort of bond with the Gozitans, and some will remember the great show we’ve had over here on New Year’s Eve.”

Thankfully, they have elaborated on their set, becoming more involved with their audience as a whole, adding the acoustic set and taking a few hints from the occasional DVD. Luckily, it doesn’t stop there, as fans will be able to catch the band at the Valletta Waterfront on the 30^th April.

Ivan describes it as ‘The Big One’. “It will be great. Everything will be set up the way we like it, and many people who have missed us at nightclubs will be able to see one of our shows in a completely different setting. There will even be a ferry service from Cottonera to Valletta.”

* * *

Winter Moods have, fortunately, not resorted to the outmoded gimmick of the encore. The music is over. The lights have gone down. It’s three in the morning, and perhaps at their age they shouldn’t be up so late. But, thank God, they’re doing what they know best: ageing with grace.

Wayne Flask

April 2007

The Long Interview, Vol 2

The Long Interview, Vol 2

Wayne Flask’s second long chat with Ray Mercieca and The Characters

It’s a quiet, uneventful Tuesday night. Last week, fireworks from the other side of Balluta rocked the buildings and set off scores of car alarms. Tonight, however, the low volume bluesy atmosphere of what is, ostensibly, a Steve Urpani playlist, is a more welcome company.

Steve knows what his guests would like for their second round of drinks. They are known faces around here, their voices familiar, their mannerisms easily recognisable. The telly is showing Arsenal play in the third round of the Champions League qualifying against Sparta Prague.

Ray Mercieca swivels on his tool, his trademark baseball cap pointing upwards towards the box. “What’s the score?”

“One-nil.”

“Nah… Walcott? I don’t like Walcott. He’s overrated…”

Everybody has opinions. Ray Mercieca is certainly not the man to hide them behind his little finger, and he will never stop from telling you precisely what he thinks. You ask him the most basic of questions and he’ll give you the most detailed of replies, forgetting nothing, leaving no stone unturned. His charisma, English accent and occasional ‘f’ word, make him one of my favourite interviewees. And, when he talks, you listen, and find it very hard to look away from the quasi-idealistic gleam that lights his eyes.

Gino Micallef and Antoine Griscti, Gaggu for friends, are the other two fifths of The Characters sipping their whiskies at Muddy Waters. After all this time, I’m sitting with the band I thought I’d never see again, as if it were too good to be true.

We’re generations apart, I’m still a fan, they are still pumping energy into their music. Catch one of their concerts, anywhere, and you’ll see that a long hibernation – pause, as they will say – hasn’t got any rust settling into their joints.

Muddy Waters was the place where Steve Urpani set the ball rolling again, after a long time. Ray had just reunited the Rifffs after releasing some of his own solo material.

“With the Rifffs it happened because Rayvin was in Malta at the time, so we… took the opportunity. The Characters was a different story though. I was playing an acoustic set up there (nodding to the diminutive stage) and these two next to me… they conned me!” he laughs. “The magic, the energy, they were still there, after we played we knew we could still have it all.”

Sitting next to the singer, Gino Micallef is relishing the return of his bass swinging days. “We really enjoyed playing together that night. I think was the right time to get together again and start working on bringing The Characters back.”

A slight hangover is in the air, but Ray’s freewheel is working alright. He explains why this long awaited reunion, in 2007, was so simple. And he had the right motives, too.

“I was writing music that was somehow Characters’ music, because that vision was always there. To be honest, I was not at all happy with all the s**t that was going on in Malta, and a lot of people were sitting inside at as well. So I said as long as we have something to say, we try and do it, and Gaggu made it very clear that we don’t play anything unless it is of pure quality and not too commercial, and we all felt the same way.”

“Me, personally, whatever I was seeing [in the local scene] was lazy, no excitement, it was just as if too many people were listening to an album and copying it, making it their own.”

Would you dare accuse someone like Ray of being old, of trying to resurrect a myth that should have been left alone?

“It wasn’t time to move on, no. At the gigs I could see all the energy in the audience and I hadn’t seen something like that for years. But at the end of the day The Characters have always been about that, and I’m sure a lot of people wanted to see us [play live] again, even the old songs. Maybe they were a bit shell-shocked when they heard the new songs, but we believe the music is good fun.”

With Adam Bonello on guitars and Antoine Faure on keyboards to complete the lineup, they set on writing new music, releasing So Alive in what was a relatively busy summer. A song that embodies their spirit, the Characters magic that never really vanished, opening with trademark melodic guitars and Ray’s You’ve got to say what you want. Not quite in the mould of their older classics, though, the new Characters have polished themselves a bit more. Sign of their ageing nicely, perhaps?

Says Gino: “After a few rehearsals we already had the new songs sorted. It’s such fun, it’s like we never stopped. I mean, we’ve played with other musicians and bands, but being onstage as The Characters – it’s special!”

“We were perhaps a bit more ear friendly then, now we are back in a different manner, with a bit more vengeance in our music,” says Gaggu.

“So Alive is a bit similar to what we were doing before we stopped. We still have that thing about us, but the next single will be completely different. Just wait and see that…” says Ray. Should I bet?

I caught The Characters’ for the first time after their reunion at Valletta, where they played as a supporting act for The Wailers. They played with renewed vigour, probably just having some serious fun, surprising some of the audience with the way their classics were sounding.

“We never decided to re-arrange the old songs, I’d say it just happened. Probably it’s the way we’re playing nowadays, or else we must have forgotten what we were playing and we just thought this should be the right way. You can play those songs in any way, and people would still want to hear them, so, why not?”

“I mean, I’m having a lot of fun playing, Ray is writing some fantastic music like he’s never done before. It’s like we’ve found the right groove,” enthuses Gino.

Ask them what their aims are, when they intend to release so and so, what they are planning long-term, and Ray will cut you short with a curt reply: “As long as we have something to say and we’re still relevant – and as long as we have the energy to live up to it.”

“We can push or force ourselves to do things, but we’d run the risk of becoming boring after a couple of years. It wasn’t that we were boring in the 1990’s, but at the time we had a few issues, personal ones especially, that we had to iron out. Those times are over now, and we’re back with better music, that is in a way easier to express in front of the audience,” says Gino.

“Gaggu was the one who always wanted the Characters to be a non-commercial band, and when I was doing music for the Rifffs I often asked myself, at the back of my mind, what Gaggu would say about it.”

After some years apart, they have matured on the personal level as well.

“Today we are five people who have a tremendous respect for each other, and we’ll have no clashes over our music, so it will have its freedom, we’ll let it decide and do the talking for us. That’s the greatest thing we’ve achieved. We discovered things about us musically and personally that we never knew before, maybe because we were younger.”

“We had a lot of pressure to do things. People expected a lot from us. And we also had a lot of clashes then, now we have learnt the lessons and we’ve become more patient with each other,” adds Gaggu.

Yet, added to all this, there was another incident that caused The Characters to split. Ray admits it was a particularly bad time for him.

“It took us long to get over Mike’s [Williams] death. Speaking for myself, it took me a hell of a lot of time. It wasn’t easy, he was a guy who was always part of the family.”

Steve reappears from behind the bar, this must be the third round. Or is it the fourth?

I ask them about the local music scene and the reception they got from the radios. Ray cannot really complain, but he does have some words to say about this:

“The media has become so commercialised, but that’s because they have to survive. At least they still play local acts, who maybe get more airplay if they’re sponsored by some big name or other. We don’t have anyone to sponsor us for airplay but we still get backing from various radio stations.”

“Unless you are within those certain guidelines which they have laid down, you don’t get played. [Turns to Gaggu] – You don’t agree with me?”

“Yes, of course I agree. If you are too awkward or alternative, without those catchy commercial tunes, you don’t get much of a chance to be heard on air. It’s about being clever enough to find a sound in between.”

“With the Rifffs it was hard to get airplay, and I think much of the interest came thanks to the audience and its SMS’s,” said Ray.

“Foreign DJ’s have come here and have no history of Malta and of what used to happen here 30 years ago when there was nothing here, only one national radio station and one TV station, and dictate what should or should not be played on local radio when they’re not locals themselves. They should not turn their noses up to anything local when they don’t understand how hard it is for local musicians to buy instruments and get in the recording studio… there’s no industry here, end of story.”

He’s not talking to me in my mother tongue, but I need not point this out to him.

“Maybe, yes, I am an English immigrant and you can tell me I’ve no right to say this. Well, I am half-Maltese, I’ve got Maltese blood. I haven’t come from Canada two years ago with my family in tow and decided that Malta should become Canadian, or Australian, or English or French. I don’t agree with that. You have to accept the culture of the Maltese, and respect the values of those who have been pioneering the scene, and give them courage, and faith, to try something new.”

His favourite up and coming band: Drive.

“They’re a bunch of great kids. I look forward to see them write and experiment more with their own music.”

“Then Subculture, it’s really great to have Woody and Bahri around, perhaps there should be a DJ who is ready to play their songs and that kind of music. The audience should have the final say whether they want to hear more of that or not, instead of DJ’s who play the same music 23 times a day. There should be a DJ who can watch out for new talent. I mean… they even tried to shut Brian Micallef down, you know, he’s our equivalent of John Peel, and if John Peel weren’t around there would be no U2 today…”

* * *

The second long interview in three years is over. We stop talking about the Characters now, resorting to more mundane topics.

“Are you okay, boy? You’re a bit too quiet,” says Ray, throwing an arm around my shoulder.

I smile, and point to the telly. Arsenal are finishing off Sparta, 3-0, and Walcott is the only Gunner to pick up a yellow.

Wayne Flask

September 2007