A Conversation with Mike Batt – HuffPost 7.18.11

Mike Ragogna: Hi Mike, let’s chat about your The Hunting Of The Snark reissue.

Mike Batt: My pleasure, Mike. Well, I should point out, and I’m sure you already know this, but “The Hunting Of The Snark” was originally written as a poem by Lewis Carroll. I merely took the poem many years later and used it as the basic inspiration for my project. I quoted it with actors, Sir John Gielgud and John Hurt, alternately between each track so that my piece contained some of Lewis Carroll’s work. All of the music and lyrics were newly-written by me, and I consider them to be illustrative lyrics which somehow get the original spirit of the poem without directly quoting it.

MR: That’s great. Let’s cut to the chase here–what is a “Snark”?

MB: That was a question that Lewis Carroll was asked quite frequently, and he said that he didn’t know but that the best interpretation he had heard was from a lady who said that she thought a Snark represents the pursuit of happiness. That was the description he liked the best. Each character on the adventure–and there are originally 10–has a name that begins with the letter “B”…The Baker, The Butcher, and so on. They get aboard a ship in search of the Snark. The way I’ve treated it, my album consists of about half the material that is in the stage version, which we created in England, but you still get the same basic story from both. So, all of them embark on this journey in search of the Snark and, in my mind, each of them has a different idea of what they’re searching for. The Banker is looking for money, and so on. The Bellman and The Baker are the two protagonists of the piece, The Bellman in particular because he is marching through life with no perception of danger existing and consequently don’t come into contact with any. For instance, he was marching through a jungle and the snakes and other predators would get out of his way. The Baker, who is in my opinion the other protagonist, recounts the story that his uncle told him, that if the meets a Snark, that’s fine, but if he meets a Boojum Snark (another kind of Snark), he would vanish away and never be heard of again. Everyone else on the journey is surprised to hear about a Boojum Snark, but The Baker is the most fearful and turns out to be the one that actually finds the Snark. Though, when he finds it, all he says is that “it’s a Boo…” which of course we take to mean that he found the Boojum Snark. Which reminds me that I should mention that this is a nonsensical piece on a very interpretive level, but it is funny nonetheless. John Lennon was a great admirer of Lewis Carroll and his work and based a great deal of his work on Lewis Carroll’s writing.

MR: That’s right. What do you feel the main message of this particular piece is?

MB: Well, I think there was a very general and open message that’s not hidden at all in the poem, which I hope I’ve accurately translated into my piece and that is that everything is different based on the person observing it–meaning and perception are in the eyes of the beholder. Ten people can look at the very same thing and see ten very different things, and I think that’s what the poem is all about.

MR: Nicely put. Let’s talk about all the talented people you got to participate in this project. How did you assemble this batch?

MB: Well, I discovered as I was putting this cast together that my presumption about the project was correct–if I could get one or two big stars, that each consequent star would be easier to get. (laughs) The reason being that no star wants to be the one carrying the project. So if someone asks, say, Bruce Springsteen to sing on a project where he would be the only star, it’s less likely that he would say yes. However, if he knew that Barack Obama was going to be singing a solo in it as well, he’d be more likely to say yes. (laughs) I was already working with Art Garfunkel. I had had a big hit with him with a song called “Bright Eyes,” which was a hit big hit everywhere but America. But to have someone like him who was not only a massive star, but a fantastic singer, already in the studio working on “Bright Eyes,” I figured that he was not only the biggest person that I could ask, he was also the nearest. So, one night I asked him if he would be willing to lend his voice for one of the songs and he said “Well, let me hear it.” When he heard it, he liked it and agreed to do it. Then, I was able to call Sir John Gielgud’s agent and say that we were doing this project with Art Garfunkel and the London Symphony Orchestra and ask if he would be interested in joining and he was. I mean, we are only talking about a day’s work, so it wasn’t that big of a time or financial commitment, which is great because I had to keep a close eye on the budget.

That was all back in ’83 or ’84. Those two artists served as my bits of bait to others, so that when I went to Roger Daltrey who is a big star in England and Deniece Williams and others, they realized that this would be a fun project because it was a fun project where everyone could shine. It wasn’t just a one-person project. Simply, the fact that Lewis Carroll wrote 10 characters meant that there was something different for everyone. My percussionist, Ray Cooper, who is a well known percussionist having worked with Sir Elton John among others, knew George Harrison and ran the film company that made all of the Monty Python films. One day I asked Ray if he might play some of the tracks for George because I really wanted him to be a part of it and about two days later Ray rang me back and said that George would love for me to come up to his house so that we could lay the track down in his recording studio. So, it was sort of like magic–it all just kind of fell into place.

MR: Nice. On the other hand, because of your incredible career and all of the great work you’ve done–including all of your solo albums with the London Symphony Orchestra–it should have been no surprise to people that this was going to be a pretty ambitious project, no?

MB: Well, I don’t want to put myself on the same level as Art Garfunkel, who has had massive success all over the world including the US. But success as an artist and a songwriter has generally eluded me in America, with some exceptions. I wouldn’t expect my name to be a magnet for people in the States at the moment or at any time, really.

MR: And this was quite a landmark record overseas.

MB: Yes, indeed, and I’m releasing it on my own record label now. I started my own record company about seven years ago and it’s one of the most successful independent labels in Europe and the world. We’ve got an office in New York, but we haven’t really started properly in the United States yet. This record is one of our few releases–we don’t have that many yet, but it was one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. I’ve got to say, this record was made way back in the ’80s and being an orchestral arranger, conductor and composer, I made it my business to learn as much as I could about conducting and arranging. Although, if you put me down at a piano, I will play the blues more naturally than anything else. That’s my genre, really. I was brought up on The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Lovin’ Spoonful–I could go on forever. But my real life’s passion is to make an orchestra sound good.

MR: You did the orchestrations for the movie Watership Down, didn’t you?

MB: I actually scored the “Bright Eyes” song for it. I did do some scoring for it, but it wasn’t the main score. I was a bit disappointed when I wasn’t asked to do that score, because as a young composer, that would have been a great feather in my cap. But, yes, I have scored quite a number of films and I’d love to do more. So, if there are any directors out there who are wondering who to use to score their next epic movie, they can call you and get my info. (laughs)

MR: Nice, 15% for me. (laughs)

MB: I am, however, very busy and very expensive. (laughs)

MR: (laughs) That’s great. Now, let’s talk a little about the DVD component of this new release. It’s the Royal Albert Hall performance, right?

MB: Yeah. The DVD is a subsequent performance at the Royal Albert Hall, where Justin Hayward, who is a friend of mine, fills in for Art Garfunkel, and Billy Connelly stood in for Cliff Richard. So, with one or two substitutions, we put on a costumed concert with the London Symphony Orchestra all dressed up as sailors. It was a royal benefit in aid of a charity, which is the only way you can really get a big cast like that out for a live show. Unless, of course, you’ve got the money to throw away. (laughs)

MR: You also produced one of Justin Hayward’s albums.

MB: I did. He and I also made an album together called Classic Blue. It is just an orchestra and voice, no rhythm section. That is such a great way to present a singer. I mean the voice, then, has so much space and the orchestra can be heard as well. I love working with rhythm sections in my everyday music, but I like to set myself a discipline in arrangements where the rhythm has to come from within the internal movement of the parts and the voice just sits within it. We made an album with Justin that was quite successful. We did songs we both loved like “Blackbird” by Paul McCartney, “MacArthur Park” by Jimmy Webb–things like that where we could let the orchestra riff for a while and show a bit of muscle. We also did more lyrical songs like “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys, so it was great. It was an album of covers, which we felt we could do in a way that would make them Justin’s own as a singer and I could have some fun with the orchestra.

MR: You’ve also, as you already mentioned, worked with some really great artists like Cliff Richard, right?

MB: Oh, yeah. Cliff is just a wonderful technician when it comes to singing. If you say to him, “On the syllable of that word, do you think you could put a tiny bit more vibrato?” he’ll just do it. It’s also something that Sir John Gielgud had–not so much that ability, but more of a willingness to take direction. I think that comes from an artist who is very aware of his own ability and wasn’t affected by some young record producer telling him how to sing.

MR: Mike, with all of your experience and history in the music business, do you have any advice for new artists?

MB: Well, the old adage about it being only part inspiration and a great deal of perspiration really has a lot to do with it. You can’t really ever tell how good you are or are not going to get, but the main tools you need are ambition and resilience. Without making yourself a complete pain in the butt, you have to have faith and keep going. That, to me, is the most important thing. You also have to be sincere rather than cynical. If you just want to get into this business to make a lot of money, you’re unlikely to succeed. And if they do succeed, they won’t have had nearly as good a time as those people who have a sincere passion about music and art.

MR: Very, very nice. I really do appreciate your time. I hope we can do this again sometime.

MB: Yeah, that would be great. And one day, I hope to bring a performance of The Hunting Of The Snark and see what Americans make of it in the flesh. (laughs)

Transcribed by: Evan Tyrone Martin