Interview with musician, Andy Bell

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A interview from 5D Music & Theatre writer Maria Robertson.

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Many of us hear the name Andy Bell and think Erasure but there is also a Welsh musician and songwriter by that name, who’s music we have all probably encountered in one way or another.  He was bassist for Oasis, he was in Hurricane #1 and Beady Eye, he’s in Mantra of the Cosmos, he DJs, he’s an integral part of Ride, and now he has a new alias: GLOK.

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This is a much more electronic sound with funky names like Pulsing, Weaver, Projected Sounds.  The songs sound like their names too and its really hard to listen to them without physically reacting in some way – the foot tapping or head bopping comes even when you try not to because you are listening through headphones in a public place!  I know, its happening right now!

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Ahead of his upcoming live album Gateway Mechanics, and his tour which starts next week, we were lucky enough to get the chance to ask him a few questions.

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GLOK is an interesting name for a project, Google suggests a gun whereas my head went to a glockenspiel, so my first question is: why GLOK?

I was translating my surname into different languages. I tried various languages – the Russian for bell is kolokol which I used as a song title, but settled on the German word for bell as my artist name, it’s glock like the gun, so I changed the spelling to make a unique word.
So you weren’t far off !

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You have been involved with various different bands and projects (playing guitar and DJing) through your career: Oasis, Ride, Mantra of the Cosmos, Masal and now GLOK. Do you have a favourite, or if you could not possibly say do you have a dream aspiration or collaboration?

Ride has been my longest running band, my first and also my last, so I have to go with Ride. We started as mates in school and have ended up in our fifties playing together in the same line up, still conjuring up great musical chemistry so that’s something pretty special.

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GLOK is a much more electronic sound than playing a bass guitar, what effects pedals are essential to take on this forthcoming tour to recreate the sound of GLOK?

For the GLOK live sound I take the multi track mixes of the songs, re-create versions without guitars and often with radically different arrangements, really stripped back because that sounds better live, and then I just play guitar through an effects pedal board that I have christened “The Space Station” which has loads of pedals – Cry Baby Wah, an Ibanez Compressor from the 1980s, and various Old Blood Noise / Fairfield Circuitry pedals along with delay, reverb and fuzz.

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My son is working on Uptown Girl chords for his Grade 4 acoustic guitar exams – what’s the best advice you can give an aspiring musician?

In the beginning it’s all about practise until you break past the initial period where your fingers are really hurting, after that point you’re basically over the hardest bit and it’s all about following your inspiration. I wish your son all the best, he’s chosen a noble profession.

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I saw on Instagram you gave a shout out for a book on Touring and Mental Health which looked very useful for musicians. I wondered what you are reading at the moment? (I am a Librarian by day, I can’t resist asking!)

The new John Robb book about Gothic music, Psychonauts by Mike Jay, I also recently read Come my Fanatics by Dan Franklin.

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You’re about to head out touring again, do you have a favourite story from any previous tour (that can be shared publicly?!)?

I’ve been going out on tour pretty regularly for the last 30 years or so. There are so many stories, but I’ve forgotten more than I can remember. One day I will have to get a hypnotist to make me remember it all because I have a terrible memory for places and gigs. It’s quite easy to be on tour and not know what city, venue or sometimes even what country you’re in. But this will be the first ever GLOK tour so I will be focussed on taking it all in, playing some cool venues and meeting some new people.

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Fascinating stuff!  If you would like to be one of those new people he meets then get tickets quick!  

Thank you to Kyle Dale for setting up this opportunity, I must admit this is my first time interviewing a musician so that’s another tick for my bucket list!  I am looking forward to the Aberdeen date and trying to catch a glimpse of Andy’s Space Station!  I will report back afterwards of course, but rather than suffer FOMO at that point, why not get involved now?!  Further information and tickets for the tour: https://linktr.ee/AndyBellGLOK

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Maria Robertson is the Chief Music & Theatre Writer for the 5D Pop Culture Website and provides reviews & coverage of local Aberdeen music & theatre gigs. She’s an experienced writer for numerous sources and is a self-confessed live gig addict ever since seeing The Counting Crows at the Barrowlands in 1994.

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