(Talks at Google - Peter Gabriel - October 2nd, 2012)
[Applause]
Hi there,
[Introducing] Peter Gabriel, Google - Google, Peter Gabriel.
[Applause]
So this is another Talks at Google event and we're very, very pleased
to welcome musician, artist and activist Peter Gabriel today.
We are going to have the great chance to ask him questions
about his current tour and the 25th anniversary of "So"
which is going to be released actually at the end of October,
on October 22nd,
and we'll have also some chance for the audience to ask him questions as well.
So why don't we get started?
You 're here on tour, in the middle of the tour.
And what was the story behind the tour? How did it come to be?
[Peter Gabriel] Well, there were a number of things,
I mean I have never really done a retro tour before
and I was pretty resistant, you know.
I know Robert Plant quite well and we were chiding each other
on who was going to succumb to the big money first.
Anyway, I went to see the Beach Boys do Pet Sounds
which I always used to love.
And that convinced me that to see one of the records you enjoy
from start to finish was an actually good thing.
And that coincided with some nice offers,
so that was an easy decision.
I'm actually going to take a sabbatical year
with my family.
We've got a teacher coming out with us
and so it helps underwrite that sabbatical year as well.
There were a number of reasons but,
I decided to bring back the band that originally toured that record
and so that's been fun and we're actually having a great time.
We do the evening in three parts.
The first part is based on the idea that the process is often as interesting
if not more interesting than the final product.
So we start off with an unfinished song
and then we do sort of rehearsal mode with the house lights on,
that's the starter.
Then the main course is a few songs,
more electronic or electric versions of things
and then the last chunk, if you can get through all that
you get your dessert which is the "So" album.
So that's how it works.
[Interviewer] Specifically about the "SO" album,
you're playing, the actual tour is called "Back to front"
and that seems to be the sort of the format you just discussed
but playing "So", the track order that you have now
That wasn't the original track order, correct?
Well, this is an interesting diversion about technology,
because although I'm a big fan of vinyl
I was also a great fan of the digital world
because suddenly we could get more dynamics in the music
and there were restrictions in the vinyl world.
For example, the track "In your eyes"
I always wanted to go at the end of the record
But it has a good bass line there.
To get a fat bass line on a full vinyl record,
you can't put it near the end.
You have to have it nearer the beginning,
So, it went on the start of side two just because there wasn't enough room
for the needle to vibrate as it got close to the center.
so, then, when CDs came along, I was able to take that track
and put it back on the end where it always should have been.
And on this release that's coming up, it's a couple of variations.
As I understand, there's the CD itself rereleased and remastered
and that's the third time you remastered that ...
Yes, as long as people keep buying it we'll remaster it (audience laughs)
And then, it's going to be a comprehensive boxed set
that's got both CDs, material that hasn't been released yet
and also a DVD with some concert footage, and you've been sitting on this,
this has been in the stores...
(Peter) Yeah, we'll throw any old shit in there.
Hey, it was old, get it in.
No, but there were a couple of things we were waiting for the right day,
You know, you always get more interested in the latest thing
so we'd sort of forgotten about that.
Also we shot the film, the show, 25, 26 years ago
Scorcese had been producing
and he had got this wonderful cinematographer doing it
and we hadn't realised quite what we had, So we went back to the film,
I mean tons of film cans had to be carefully resurrected
and then we took all the data off the film
and then had a much better resolution version
of that concert that we had done previously.
(Interviewer) And the actual production of "So"
and also some of the videos documenting that...
Over what time period did that actually happen?
From when you thought about the album you did originally
to getting it out the door?
(Peter) So on this latest thing...?
(Interviewer) The original.
I think that just sort of happened as things came up.
There wasn't really a brillant master plan.
You know, when we finish this then what else do we need to do?
We were trying film things,
I mean, again, if you have the opportunity to have two gigs in the same place
then it makes filming a lot easier 'cause you can do the set up,
and all the mistakes you make on the first day
you can try and sort out on the second day.
And we did that in Greece as well.
So, when you're approaching songwriting,
maybe at the time you're approaching songwriting,
With regards to "So",
did you have a list of songs and then say, "OK, right,
I'm going to select these musicians to start working with"
or were you writing and recording at the same time?
I'm always writing lyrics until the day it's released, really.
I'm slow with those, but there were a few ideas.
In fact, I had forgotten this but Manu and Tony said
that Sledgehammer was an afterthought.
There was a taxi, waiting to take Manu back to Paris
and we had an hour left.
I think I said, I've got this new idea that maybe we could just put a demo down
and that was it.
I mean we carried on working on it cause it felt great,
but it was quite an after thought.
And then Sledgehammer also took on a life of its own
when it came to the video which you worked with Arvin on and others
My son, first, straightaway said,
"The chickens! That looks just like Wallace and Grommit!"
How did that come to be?
Actually, the man who did the chickens was the man who created Wallace and Grommit.
And I was working with this brilliant director
Steven R. Johnson and he brought in the Quay Brothers
who is a fantastic sort of dark East European looking animation.
And I saw they've now got a big thing at MOMA in New York.
And I bought an AARDman animation who were from down the road in Bristol.
Steven and I had a couple of weeks just bashing through ideas
and then we bought in the others.
And it was a really exciting creative brainstorming.
That's always been one of the things I most enjoy about what I do
is working with people from different backgrounds,
often smarter than I am and just cooking something up.
So that was a great experience, but quite painful too
'cause we did everything the old fashioned way
frame by frame.
So when you see a sky moving across my face
that has been painted frame by frame
and the skin gets very raw.
And when you're under glass with a lot of raw fish,
on day one, that's fun, but day two ... at least you put the blame on the fish.
And that video I think is actually the most played video
ever on MTV.
I mean, granted, they don't play
quite as many videos these days, but still the fact...(laughter)
but that's a huge accomplishment.
Having been relatively young at that age,
It was so different from anything that was out there.
And it set a standard for an experience
that was getting you into the mind of the writer
and the artist in a different way.
An entertainment value that wasn't just for the sake of entertainment
but also telling a story.
Yeah, I think that what was great about videos then
is that there were people who wanted to watch them
and there was a budget and there were no rules.
So you could do what the hell you wanted
and there was no one there to say "No, this is the way we do it."
Back to songwriting, I want to ask