A Conversation with Peter Frampton – HuffPost 6.18.14
Mike Ragogna: Peter, the last time we spoke, you mentioned you were about to score a ballet and now you’ve released Hummingbird In A Box, its companion album. What have the adventures been leading up to the ballet and this particular project?
Peter Frampton: It all started a few years ago when the Cincinnati Ballet asked if they could do choreography to four of my songs; three instrumentals from Fingerprints and then “Not Forgotten” from the Now album. I said yes, but then I got incredibly busy, was out-of-town, and never got a chance to see it. They sent me a DVD, so I finally did get to see it, and I was blown away with the choreography and dancing. Then Victoria Morgan and I got together at the headquarters to watch a rehearsal for a new performance they were going to be doing–I think it was Carmen at the time–and she asked if I would perform live on stage with my band, saying, “We’ve done this once before; we had a band onstage and we choreographed to their live music.” I said, “Yes, I’d love to do that.” There are three segments in the ballet, about 20-to-25-minutes each. I asked her, “So I let you know what music I do live and you choose the choreography?” She said yes, and I ended up writing the music for the middle 28 minutes, seven different pieces. They were floored that I would want to do that, but I did it. We performed with them in April of last year; three shows in Cincinnati at the Aronoff Center. We were on stage, Adam Hoagland was the choreographer, and the whole thing was just phenomenal. Then I went on tour with the Guitar Circus, and after finishing, they used the music for the Cincinnati Ballet at The Joyce Theater, a performance last week in New York. So when I got off the tour, I went into the studio and finished the tracks that we’d played live, and we heard the finished music playing live in Manhattan. Gordon Kennedy–who wrote the music with me–and I went up there and saw the first night, which was phenomenal. So that’s the genesis of the music, and of course the by-product of that is that the album’s going to be available on June 24th.
MR: Are you going to be distributed through Universal due to your long-term association?
PF: No, we’re doing this one through RED Distribution.
MR: There’s a fair amount of instrumental playing, if not songs, on this album. How did it feel playing this one back?
PF: Actually, there’s only one complete instrumental on this, which is called “The One in 901.” All the others might have long instrumental sections, but they all have vocals at some point. Basically, it flows. Adam Hoagland, the choreographer, said to me, “Give me a beginning, a middle and an end.” That wasn’t a lot of help, so Gordon and I just wrote what we felt would be good, for us and the dance. But listening to the whole thing all the way through, I’m very happy with it.
MR: Did you do any visualization as you were creating this?
PF: Not really. There were certain licks and riffs I chose specifically for movement. “Hummingbird In A Box” is probably the opening figure to that. I just visualized dance; I could see it happening, so it was great to visualize it for real when we played with them.
MR: Were you careful with the lyrics when you were coming up with them for this?
PF: Yeah, we were just telling the story of what we felt. Lyrics are lyrics, it’s a story, and the choreography was definitely tailored to the lyrics as well.
MR: Because of your association and connection that you’ve had now with ballet, is this the first time your mind’s been opened and broadened to ballet?
PF: I’ve always admired ballet; I definitely have a new love for it now, because I’m privy to what goes into it. Everyone loves a good dance–you’ve got the shows on TV everyone watches, like “So You Think You Can Dance”–and there are some incredible dancers in this country, in the various ballets. I just saw the Nashville Ballet last night. So yes, I am going to more ballets! I do appreciate the talent and the movement and what they can do with their bodies. I can barely run now [laughs], and I don’t want to crouch down anymore, or I might not be able to get up! They have these bodies that they’ve tuned to perfection, and it’s pretty amazing what they can do. I love it. I’m going to go to more ballets now around the country and hopefully around the world.
MR: Does this open your mind up to wanting to do other mediums beyond ballet?
PF: Yeah. I love anything different, you know. I’ve always wanted to do film music, so that’s always in the cards. If someone ever asks me to do that, I’d love to do that. I’m not talking about just writing a song, I’m talking about scoring. That’s definitely something I’ve always wanted to do. And the instrumental record I should do next… I just gotta be doing all different stuff. And I know the Nashville Ballet wants to take me out to dinner, so maybe there’ll be something else for dance as well. What I would like to do is to eventually write enough work that’s specifically to be performed with an orchestra. I’m not talking about just scoring some string for “Baby I Love Your Way.” I’ve done that, it’s okay, but it wasn’t written with strings in mind. It’s good, but I’m talking about, from scratch, coming up with an idea, talking to someone at the symphony here in town and maybe saying, “Look, I want to write this, can you help me score it for an orchestra?” I’m friends with Ben Folds, and he just did his piano concerto here in two different sets of performances; one was just with a symphony, and then he told me he was doing it again with the ballet in Nashville. He did all the orchestrating; he’s brilliant and classically trained. It was phenomenal and hysterical. He put a lot of humor into the music and it was very modern. The dance was tremendous. So that made me think, “Now I want to do it differently next time.” I want to push myself, do something I’ve never done before.
MR: You also mentioned that you’re working on another instrumental project after this?
PF: I’ve already recorded a couple of tracks. I’ve got little folders of different tracks. Now that I’ve got my own studio down here in Nashville, the world is my oyster.
MR: You’ve also got some of the world’s best players there, in case you want to hobnob.
PF: Well, I’ve done that. The very first session, I didn’t know if the studio worked yet, and I’d just invite people, saying, “Look, I don’t even know if this will work, but come by and have a jam.” I brought all my friends from in town and we had a blast. We did a blues number. In fact it was a Buddy Guy number. We had a fantastic time and it sounded great, and it was like a “Studio warming.” The beauty is that you can call someone up on a Monday and they’re probably free one day that week and you’re going to get a session in and get a couple of tracks done.
MR: Peter, what advice do you have for new artists?
PF: If you’re unique, people are interested in you. But it’s very difficult sometimes when those music business people who could bring you to the masses are looking for something that just happened. Unfortunately, if you sound like somebody else, you might have one hit or something, but if you’re not unique and don’t have your own style… Make friends, don’t follow them. That’s the way to be a successful artist, I think. Maybe in today’s market, that’s the wrong thing to say, but for me, I say be unique as possible and don’t kowtow to people who say, “Well, we need you to do this.” No. You should do what you want to do, and that’s how things become trends.
Transcribed by Emily Fotis