Interviews

AnalogPlanet editor Michael Fremer first encountered Discogs founder Kevin Lewandowski back in 2013 at the giant Utrecht Record Fair in The Netherlands. Lewandowski was there to promote Discogs and of course to buy records.

Stewart Copeland has always followed the beat of his own drum — or, rather, he’s always been the consummate rhythmatist who’s unwaveringly laid down his own style of drumming perpetually in service of the song at hand. And now, the sonic fruit of his latest twisted muse, if you will, has manifested itself in a solo project somewhat cheekily dubbed Police Deranged for Orchestra, consisting of ten classic and deep-cut Police tracks rearranged — or “deranged,” in Copeland’s titular parlance — as released in its 1LP form by Shelter/BMG this Friday, June 23. During a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Copeland discusses how he opened up the dynamic range with all the Derangements he came up with for this album, how he shepherded the “perfect” snare, and just how meticulous he got when he wrote out the entire Deranged score for each orchestra member to follow. . .

An exclusive and extraordinary interview with Gary Wilson conducted by Frank Doris

Ian Hunter is a survivor. Not only that, but the veteran British vocalist of Mott the Hoople fame and a lengthy and fruitful solo career shows no signs of slowing down at age 83. The keen evidence laid out before us are the ten balls-out rockers populating his latest solo album, Defiance Part 1, released via Blue Cat/Sun Records on April 21 on black vinyl. In a recent Zoom audio interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Hunter discusses what he means by recording his music “back to front,” why Mott the Hoople’s version of “All the Young Dudes” endures to this day, and how Jerry Lee Lewis first got his juices a-goin’ to become a killer performer and recording artist. Don’t be shy — read on to get fully bitten by the Hunter mystique on vinyl. . .

M.F.:Now that whole "Dynagroove" thing. Do you want to....

J.P.:Well, I'll dispose of it quickly. Some of them were great, great recordings too.

M.F.:Recordings yes, but....

J.P.:Yeah.

M.F.:Once they got on to disc though....

J.P.:Well.

M.F.:The difference was in the cutting, correct? It wasn't in anything else.

J.P.:It was in two places, basically. It was in the cutting, but it was also in the mix down, because the head of our engineering department came up with a device to make the translation from a high level of listening to a moderate level of listening that most people listen to. And to make that translation from listening to it at high level to low level or lower level, it changed the whole ear characteristic change.