John Payne (gps) Interview by Josh Turner

JT: I wanted to start by finding out… I’m very interested in this album and I really like what you did there. I always like to see the music live. Do you have any gigs that are coming up?

Yeah, we just in fact, we started rehearsals yesterday. We’re going to Europe on the 23^rd of September and first dates on the 25^th. We’re doing a tour with Y&T. Just a short tour. We’re playing in the UK. We’ve got ten dates in the UK starting on the 26^th or 25^th, the 25^th of September.

JT: Actually, I read about the group, you know the group GPS, and I read that it was going to be entitled One.

Yes.

JT: I’m wondering, why did you decide to change the name and maybe I’m asking the obvious, but why did you go with the name GPS? What does that mean and everything? {For the record, I made the connection, but thought it was a letter short, possibly with a greater explanation.}

Well, we came up with One, because it was sort of, um, the band had just finished working on an Asia album or halfway through an Asia album when Jeff left to do a, ringing out with the Asia guys. So, we thought we’re actually really united, the three of us. That’s how we came up sort of with the name of One. It was to actually be a united front. What happened was about a week after deciding on the name and releasing it on the Internet, we came up with the name GPS, because there was five bands called One. {Don’t forget the Neal Morse album as well.}

JT: Hmm.

{He chuckles.} In any case, with the Internet now, everybody that seems to have a guitar, seems to register a name, you know?

JT: Right. {I laugh.}

They all ought to get together. So, we then found a couple of Internet sites that have band registrations and we came up with about another thirty different names and every single name was taken. We then looked around. Our manager at the time said, “Well, initials or your surnames: Govan, Payne, and Schellen.” He said, “Well, how about GPS?” I wasn’t so sure of it at the time and I really didn’t like the name, particularly myself, until I saw the logo.

JT: Hmm.

Then once we got the logo sorted out, I really liked it. It’s a bit of a strange thing; it doesn’t really mean a hell of a lot. It’s the initials of the guys in the band and also the GPS satellite stuff.

JT: Okay.

That’s really how it came about.

JT: Personally for me, I think it’s a very clever name for a band, but I also see that you have Ryo Okumoto in the band. Would you consider calling your next release RPG’S?

{He laughs.} Someone said call it POG’S or something. Cause the name was chosen before Ryo was even in the band.

JT: Okay.

It’s funny, but I think with any name after a short while, you don’t even see it. It becomes synonymous with the music and if you’re going to choose a name, if someone says I’ve got a good name for a band, Pink Floyd or Deep Purple…

JT: Right, right.

They’re really names. {He says so in a certain tone almost as if he is trying to convince me.} Once you hear the music, you just think, with Floyd you think of this wonderful landscape of sounds. So, it is an odd thing naming a band.

JT: Definitely. So, we’re talking about Ryo Okumoto. Is he an official member now going forward?

Yes, he is.

JT: Okay.

He’s obviously still in Spock’s Beard and very much, we’re friends with the guys in Spock’s Beard. We don’t want to interfere with what’s going on with his work with that band. All the guys in Spock’s Beard do different projects as well and Ryo’s commitment touring-wise is actually quite small in Spock’s Beard.

JT: Hmm.

We are coming from a different angle. We really want to have quite a large touring aspect to this band and we also want people to know that this is very much a band, not a project. So, we’ve got a three album deal with InsideOut. We very much want to tour and release more albums and videos and everything.

JT: One thing about your band, you have quite a bit of chemistry. How did you find Ryo and decide to bring him into the fold of everything?

Well, we’re with the same record company as Spock’s Beard with InsideOut, which is one interesting thing. The second was that they actually did some work with our management. Our management was helping them through a short period of time and also, the label, the guy that runs the label, Jim Pitulski; he used to manage Dream Theater for awhile.

JT: Okay.

Throughout the Images & Words period.

JT: Oh, wow.

I speak to him a lot about decisions of whom to use and stuff like that. Ryo was his first choice, he said. He’s in L.A. He’s great player. I’m sure you’ll get along with him. So, I said, well, look, give me his number. I’ve got three days free in the recording schedule. Let’s see if we can get a track out of him in three days.

JT: Okay.

So, he came down to the studio and in two and a half days, he finished the whole album.

JT: Oh, wow. That’s pretty amazing.

Yeah.

JT: The rest of the band members, you’ve got a history that goes back a little bit further. How did you actually meet these other guys?

Well, Guthrie I met in Asia {the band, not the country I take it} when we were looking for a guitarist for the Aura album. That was, I think, 2001. Michael Sturgis, who we’ve worked with for a short while, who drummed on a few Asia album, was teaching at a music college in the UK. He said, “There’s this great guy. He’s not been in a band before, but he’s just this incredible player.” He came along to the studio and we locked on immediately as players and friends and, you know, to this day, I still think he’s one of the most incredible guitarists around. He’s an absolutely amazing player. With Jay, we were recording again an Asia album called Silent Nation and when we did the demos with, we did three demos with a guy called Billy Sherwood who you may know was in Yes and had a band called Conspiracy. Jay was working at his house. Jay actually did the drums on the demo. So, he actually did three demos for Silent Nation and then we kept in touch and we’ve been friends since then. During the last Asia tour, which was a Scandinavian tour with Ronnie James Dio, um, we used Jay on drums. So, he was actually in Asia for a short while.

JT: Hmm… {pause} I’m interested in asking you some album-specific questions in relation to Window to Your Soul? I think you guys put out a really impressive album.

Oh, thank you.

JT: It kind of surprised me, because it’s a new name. When I was listening to it, I was like, “What is this? It’s absolutely amazing.” 

Thank you. 

JT: I want to start by asking, you named the album Window to Your Soul and that’s also your first track. What’s the explanation behind the name and why is that the opening song and the title track? 

Yeah, I very much had a vision as with the cover, which you may notice is with John Kalodner on the cover. John Kalodner was very focal for a long period in the whole American music, in the Rock field since the eighties, because he signed Aerosmith. He signed Asia. He signed Foreigner. He signed Journey. He signed all these great bands when he was at Geffen, at Sony and Atlantic. Very much, obviously the Window to the Soul is through your eyes and the vision on the album cover is of a Leonardi Da Vinci-type character looking at TV with all the modern things hanging on the walls and it’s sort of a past-future-type reference. The track was one of the last songs that I wrote for the album and I’d written a hell of a lot of songs beforehand. This track, I was just messing about on the way to the studio one day and I had the idea of Window to the Soul. It came, it was one of these things. It’s a song that came about very quickly. Sometimes it’s the best songs that happen very quickly. 

JT: Hmm.

It’s very much a different direction for us. It’s way heavier than anything that Asia would have done.

JT: Aha.

I think it’s just that track in particular helps us get a wider audience, certainly review-wise.

JT: Aha.

We’re even getting reviewed in Metal mags. So, it’s been an interesting journey.

JT: The thing is you actually answered a lot of questions that I had {he laughs} cause I didn’t make a lot of these connections at first. So, that’s interesting how you approached that. I would like to comment on the fact that I believe it’s a great track to start the album; just by the way it starts. It immediately hooks you in and you’re obviously familiar with this music, but for somebody who’s not heard it before, you’re sitting there kind of at the edge of your seat trying to figure out where this music is going to go.

Yeah.

JT: Just the way you bring it in vocally and then you start in with the riffs and everything. It’s really kind of exhilarating actually how the album starts. So, I think it’s a good choice. I just wanted to hear kind of what your thought process was.

I very much think an album should be quite dynamic, you know, you got a soft ballad like “Written on the Wind.”

JT: Right.

We’ve got something really, really, you know, heavy like, “Window to the Soul,” but what’s interesting I think with GPS’ direction, you’ll have the same thing happening throughout the whole song. You’ll have a huge dynamic and have a really heavy section then a really light section and that’s GPS’ sound. That you go from a soft Moog and keyboard section to some really heavy guitars. That’s sort of part of our signature.

JT: Definitely. I’m curious, what’s the story behind New Jerusalem?

Well, it’s one of my favorite tracks on the album and it’s more about, I tend to like writing about songs where the listener can draw his own conclusion and there’s like ambiguity in the lyrics. So, that one person thinks it means one thing and another person thinks it means another thing. To me, New Jerusalem and the actual meaning of the word if you look New Jerusalem up in an encyclopedia or whatever, it means a utopian place. Obviously, with a lot of things that are going on, it has a lot of different references to vertical things that are going on there, you know. I think it’s, as I say, one of my favorite songs on the album.

JT: Yeah, it’s cool. Why do you say heaven can wait? What are you singing about there? {Referring to the song Heaven Can Wait.}

It’s supposedly a sort of reference to someone that almost has a near-death experience.

JT: Hmm.

They have a lot of good things left to do in their life, but it’s basically not their time.

JT: Interesting. That’s cool. Also, what do you mean by the phrase, “You gave us friendship, we gave you rules,” and what does it mean to be written on the wind.

This song has a little bit to do with the regional settlers coming to America. If you see the beginning, “The second letters to the words we travel”  is basically when the regional settlers came over from England and from Europe, but the original, it’s like the whole original Thanksgiving, you know, the Indians helped everybody out the first year. Then of course, from the European structure, the structured way of living, they gave the Indians a set of rules basically.

JT: Wow... Who or what is the objector?

The Objector, this is an interesting song. It’s about; I really like that song particularly.  Some people don’t like it.

JT: It’s different.

It’s quite black and white how people, how they feel about the song, because it’s got that Latin feel and everything on there, but The Objector has to do with being a conscientious objector. Now my father had a great uncle and he was an objector in the First World War and he’s a conscientious objector. He didn’t want to go to war and so he was locked in a prison for six months. Then after that eventually, he was sent to the frontline in France where his life was at stake. He was about 48 hours in and I think he lived about two days and then got killed. That’s what they used to do to a lot of the conscientious objectors during that period.

JT: Okay, who came up with that funky beginning to that song?

Um, I did, yeah. I wanted something that was like an Egyptian scale, but that had a sort of Latin feel, a little bit like a Toto thing almost.

JT: Right.

I sort of went and gave it to the other guy. It developed into this cool neat riff and as I say, I particularly quite like this song.

JT: And actually what’s happened all your life in All My Life. What’s that one about?

I think that’s pretty much, they get certain real structures like, you know, you’re told one things right all your life and then you realize as you get older, it’s not. Again, the rules, everything’s right, the governments are right, the religions are right, and then as you get older you find that maybe some of those things aren’t that right. So, something that you believed in, you later find out, you were actually deceived for political reasons or whatever.

JT: Right. Yeah, I mean, it’s very introspective. I like that song in particular.

Yeah.

JT: Also, who are you singing about in the song Gold?

Cleopatra.

JT: Oh, okay.

Funny enough. {I chuckle.} I had just seen an old version of Anthony & Cleopatra with, um, I think it’s, um, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Actually, there’s a film. I don’t know when it was made, probably the fifties or the sixties. It’s such an interesting story and there’s like so much around it. Did she really like him or was it just a thing to get land and stuff like that? So, I thought it would be interesting to write a song around it. That’s really how that lyric came about.

JT: That’s interesting and kind of along the same lines, who are you actually reminiscing about in that song “Since You’ve Been Gone” and what has actually happened the time that this individual was away?

It’s not really about any one particular person. It’s just about something that would happen in someone’s life rather than after a split of a relationship or a friendship. They don’t actually use the negativity of that, use positive so that you gain strength through it rather than making you weaker. It’s sort of like a strong statement rather than a weak statement after some sort of split.

JT: Hmm… For me and probably a lot of fans would say the same, you’ve got very strong melodies, but you’ve got very intelligent lyrics as well.

It’s something that I’m really, really strong about. That lyrics are very important. I’ve always wanted to have big hooks in songs and strong choruses, but so much material today in, especially chart-wise, there doesn’t seem to be a hell of a lot of meaning to the lyrics and all the bands that I liked as a kid like Genesis particularly, there’s a lot of depth in the lyrics and it’s not just, “I love you babe,” sort of thing. {I laugh.} There’s cleverer ways of saying that. We try and have some form of, you know, deeper lyrics and I think that you can tend to listen to songs a lot more if they are deeper and go through and sort of every time you listen to it, you’ll hear something new. So, uh, to do an album is a great thing and it’s something that’s another milestone in your life. I think you should really give it 100% when you do something like that.

JT: Definitely and then brings me to my favorite song on the album. It’s the song, “Taken Dreams.” Just like you started the album and reeled a person in, you really, at least me, you blew me away with that last song. That’s my favorite song.

That’s amazing. Lot’s of people said that.

JT: A lot of people have said that?

Yeah and I thought that song was going to be the bones track. That wasn’t even going to be on the album.

JT: Really?

I did write it quite early on in the stages of the album and it’s, um, an interesting lyric as well, but… It’s about some people that I’ve met that have been, you know, sailing really high on life and then suddenly it all gets taken away or like a couple of friends of mine were great musicians in bands and then they winded up dying and stuff.

JT: Hmm.

It’s an important song to me lyrically and I think from it’s sort of humble beginnings of just on the acoustic guitar, it’s come a long way and that’s cool that you like it.

JT: I’ve played that for people who are mostly into instrumental music, Jazz Fusion-type of fans.

Yes.

JT: That’s a song that they can really engage with. Those riffs are just mind-blowing and I just like the way it builds up and it ends the album on just that right note.

Yeah, I think it’s cool that Ryo and Guthrie do the solo duet all the way through and it’s really, I don’t know. It sounds very together as a band. I think that track, I think more than any album I’ve ever done, this is the most rehearsed.

JT: Uh.

Before with Asia, we’d write the songs and put them together in the studio whereas this one we spent a long time in rehearsals honing the songs and making sure they sounded right live before we even did one bit of recording.

JT: Yeah, a person can obviously tell. It starts out perfect. It’s got the right meat and potatoes in the middle and it’s just ends on that proper note. It leaves you gasping for air in a way. It’s really that kind of an album. Even just the way the tracks are laid out, it’s great. I’m curious too. With all these great songs, what would you say is your favorite song on the album?

I don’t know really. It changes cause there are so many different shades in the album. It depends on your mood sometimes, but New Jerusalem I do like. I do like The Objector and I do like Taken Dreams. So, some people like “Window to the Soul”. To me, it’s probably “New Jerusalem”.

JT: That’s one of my favorite, but “Taken Dreams” is just, that’s my overall favorite and I just like the way it comes right at the end. One other thing I wanted to talk to you about is that your style and technique makes me think a little bit of Russell Allen from Symphony X. Actually, now that I’m talking to you, I’m noticing another phenomenon that I noticed in my talks with Allen. Your speaking voice and your singing voice are astronomically different. A couple questions in here…

No-one’s ever asked me that. I’m really surprised they haven’t in all the years that I’ve been doing interviews.

JT: Hmm.

People haven’t said that and I always wonder that when I hear people speaking and hear them sing. Some people do sound very much like their singing voice. I don’t think I sound at all like my speaking voice, especially if I’m doing high rock stuff.

JT: Right.

It’s strange how your vocal chords change from one thing to another. Some people don’t, but I know that I do. I think that’s a very valid question. I’m surprised it’s not been asked before. Symphony X, I know are one of the most successful bands on our label.

JT: Aha.

I haven’t heard any of their stuff yet.

JT: Yeah.

But, I know from talking to the label that they’re a really great band.

JT: Okay. That’s interesting, you answered all the questions I had in relation to that without me asking them. {He laughs.} But, the thing is you just have such a powerful voice and now talking with you, your voice is kind of subdued. It’s kind of shocking. It’s kind of funny in a way, but it’s equally impressive as well. We have some singers in my family and that’s the one thing they always talk about is taking care of your voice. Not wearing it out and resting and when it comes time to perform, that’s when you let it go. It’s amazing that you can do that and that probably explains why you’ve had such a long successful career and why you can come out with an album like this and just let your voice go like that and then just talking to you, you seem so calm.

I’ve tended to look after my voice, you know, rather than, the one thing I usually do on tour is I don’t speak very much during the day. I drink {he pauses and I laugh} tons of water.

JT: Yeah.

I don’t usually drink any alcohol too throughout the tour {he must have read my mind} cause it’s like if you’re pushing your voice, there’s a muscle there and it’s like being any form of athlete. You have to look after it. Otherwise, it will go. I know a lot of people that were good singers maybe when they were 20, but by the time they get to 40, their voice is gone and very much I want every year to get my voice to get better. I’m constantly trying to increase the range or increase my power.

JT: Definitely.

I don’t see why you can’t still keep getting better.

JT: Certainly. I’m curious. How long have you been involved in music professionally?

Really, probably for about the last 25 years. I mean, I started playing when I was about 6 or 7 and when I left college, I went straight into being in a band. So, I’ve never really known any other proper life, you know. It’s something that has been constantly with me. It was not a sort of difficult decision to make. I was going to the university to be in research. Actually, I’m very interested in animals and stuff like that, but I opted out to join a band.

JT: Hmm.

...much to my parent’s dismay. But, this is what I wanted to do and it’s always been what I wanted to do. Never has it been a question that I’ve really wanted to do anything else. It’s something I’m very passionate about.

JT: {pause} When I would think about who your influences would be, either current or from the past or just would want to come up with some comparisons, like I said, I’d probably think of Russell Allen. Who would you say are influences past and present? Just like who’s affecting the way you sing, how you write, and that kind of stuff?

Yeah, very much that, um, I grew up in a period where there was fantastic singers. Loads of fantastic singers that were my heroes have now luckily sort of become friends, because I had the great opportunity of working with them.

JT: Hmm.

I very much come from a Rock-Soul background. So, I’ve listened to a lot of Soul music when I was a kid. Even going back to people like; my parent’s listening to Nat King Cole, but people like Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. Um, but then, I was very much into bands like Free and Paul Rogers, I think, has one of the greatest Rock voices ever. If you actually listen to his influences, they’re like Sam Cook and Otis Redding. Going on Sam Cook, if you listen to Steve Perry, who’s another one of my favorite vocalists, his biggest influence was Sam Cook. And, uh, my other favorite vocalist is Ronnie James Dio. I mean, he’s got a great voice.

JT: Right.

We got the pleasures, you know, to tour with Ronnie for a couple of months at the end of last year. He would at the side of the stage at the end of most shows and stuff like that. We got very friendly. The guy, the guy still sings amazingly with incredible power. {He gets choked up here.} I like vocalists that have huge ranges and also the power. Ronnie can sing very softly, but he sings really powerfully as can Paul Rogers.

JT: Okay, I also want to cover some aspects of your songwriting and we were already talking about this, but what comes first with you, is it more the melody or the lyrics or does it just depend on the song. Can you just explain this?

Nearly every song I’ve written over the last 10 years has been done this way. I have this battered old acoustic nylon guitar. I do it to make it as difficult on myself sound-wise, so that I’m not working on production. If you strip it down, it’s going to work on the piano or the guitar and that’s very much how I start writing. Basically, what usually comes in my head is a chord structure and a melody. Then, I just get a little tape recorder and just record that bit. Sometimes the lyric comes within; I just sing a lot of scat lyrics, anything that comes into my head. Sometimes something pops up. Usually there’s a little germ or something in there, but then the lyrics are written actually quite a lot later on.

JT: The interesting things about the songs is, I mean, that I find the songs, every single one of them, to actually be very radio-friendly, but I also hear a certain progressive element in it.

Yeah.

JT: Is that kind of what the intention is?

The intention really is to do what I wanted to do. To do music that I like and not follow any trends. The same with everyone in the band. My whole thing is being, cause I produced the album as well, is actually saying to everyone, be yourself. Do what you want to do. That’s what I like to hear. I think, you know, progressive elements are great and it’s more progressive than anything I’ve ever done, but my main thing is there has to be a strong chorus, a strong hook, strong melodic line in there, before you go into doing complicated time-changes and stuff. Some Prog bands, the complicated time-changes and stuff and the mathematical exercise of it are very important in the song. I think it should be the other way around, you know, once you’ve got the song, you’ve got the skeletal structure to hang the rest of the stuff onto and you’re away.

JT: Yeah, that’s definitely a good way of thinking. Curious, how long did it take you to kick out this album?

We started it in February. February, March, April, May, June…  It was roundabout five months.

JT: Wow, that’s impressive.

Most of that time was spent on pre-production. The actual time of putting the parts down, you know, were very quick, but the pre-production was a huge amount of work.

JT: Maybe this is kind of premature, but what else can we expect from the studio? You plan on doing more albums with this particular outfit?

Yeah, I mean, we’re going to tour this as much as we can and the minute we finish touring then we start working on the next album. I’m constantly writing all the time, so, you know, I want to be prepared for the next album and try to carry on with the tradition of the area of music that we’re in song-wise. I really want good things for this band; because I think it’s very genuinely a band in the right mode. That people have gotten together, not for financial reasons, but just because of their love of music.

JT: {pause} Do you have any plans for live albums or DVD’s cause I think that would really work well with this particular band.

We were talking about it today actually and yesterday, we are going to do it next year when the tour continues. We’re going to do a live DVD. So, those people who can’t get to see the show, I think it’s going to be quite interesting to see the musicianship of the guys, particularly Guthrie and Jay dueting lots of things. Yeah, that’s definitely in the works, the DVD.

JT: I actually like to ask artists this particular question, um; you’ve obviously seen the movie Spinal Tap?

Yeah.

JT: Can you recall any Spinal Tap moments from your career? Just some sort of mishap or something funny. Just something memorable that could make it into that movie.

Yeah, um, {he clears his throat} there is always going to be, you know, strange things. I remember coming into the foyer of a hotel in France and this French woman was shouting at a guy in a tree. On the inside, they had a tree in the inside of the hotel. I look up this tree and this particular person is usually quite subdued and stuff… and Steve Howe’s 15 feet up a tree singing to this lady who’s cursing him in French…

JT: Oh, wow. {I’m laughing}

…a love song on his Martin Acoustic and it’s one of the most bizarre images I’ve ever seen in my life. {I’m not laughing only because I’m in shock and still trying to process what he’s just said.} And, we’ve had some other sort of funny Spinal Tap moments when we were on tour last year and the tour bus was parked on a hill. I was at the back watching a movie. I thought this is really strange. We’re reversing down the hill and there’s like three of us on the bus. It turned out the driver got out and left the brake off. We were coming down backwards down the freeway and we ended up in the ditch. At the time, it was scary. Looking back on it, it’s one of these, you know, comedic moments. There have been so many, but the Steve Howe one was very funny.

JT: Yeah, I can imagine seeing that… you know, I wanted to ask you some of your personal tastes and you can kind of treat these as short answer questions.

Sure.

JT: I’ve got a handful of these, but I wanted to start by asking, and this is a pretty difficult question, what would you say is your favorite album of all-time. If you want to provide a short list, that’s okay too.

Um, Breakfast in America is a stunning album. Abraxas by Santana. Bridge of Sighs Robin Trower. Free Live is a great album. Frampton Comes Alive! is a great album. At the time, I really like Raised on Radio by Journey. Foreigner 4. I think that really got me into songwriting, that album.

JT: Hmm.

Although I know it’s not particularly progressive or anything, but I really think that’s Mick James and Lou Gramm were at their height, um, musically, and The Royal Scam by Steely Dan.

JT: Oh wow.

That’s quite a cross-section for you.

JT: Yeah, that’s good and also along the same lines, who would you say is your favorite band?

{pause} That’s a very, very difficult question.

JT: I know.

{shorter pause} I suppose if I talk about influences as a songwriter, it’s particularly Foreigner 4. That era of the band was one of my favorite things, but also a band I didn’t mention that I really liked, um, a singer that I didn’t mention. Glenn Hughes is a friend of mine. He’s a great singer.

JT: Mmm.

I really like the Burn era of Deep Purple and I went to see them as a kid and it was just one of the most amazing shows I ever saw. Blackmore is an amazing guitarist and you had Coverdale and Hughes both singing together. Both great vocalists. So, that era of Purple is probably one of my favorite times.

JT: Just to get an idea of some current musical tastes, what’s the last CD that you purchased or just gave a lot of spin-time?

There has been so little that I’ve been into musically lately. I heard what I thought was very interesting on the radio, a couple of tracks by Tool the other day and they sounded really cool.

JT: Hmm.

With regards, going into anything lately, I’ve not done that. The radio here on the West Coast is obviously, the Classic Rock stations just play the old stuff and the rest of the radio stations hardly play anything new. Where music is going at the moment, I don’t think it’s in a great place. So, that’s a question that I can’t really give an answer.

JT: Have you had a chance to attend any concerts as a fan?

In the last month, I was supposed to go and see Kansas on Friday Night to see the guys cause I know them well and I’ve toured with them. Because there’s been such an intense period since I was on the road constantly last year. We did 120 gigs and soon as we came off tour, we went to the studio and up until August, there wasn’t any time to actually even attend any. When you’re in the studio, it’s for a long, you know, 15 hour-a-day thing. So, I’ve not attended any concerts other than the ones where I’ve played on bills as regards to a package thing. So, I’ve not really attended any concerts for the last 2 years, because I’ve been constantly on the road.

JT: I just wanted to ask a few questions that are not related to music to get an idea of where some of your influences are coming from. I just have a few of them here and I just pose them in terms of favorites… What would you say is your favorite movie?

{No hesitation.} Young Frankenstein.

JT: {I laugh} Oh yeah, that’s a good one… And then, do you have a favorite TV show? 

My favorite TV show is an English thing. It’s sort of finished now, but it’s called Blackadder.

JT: Huh, I know what that is.

Have you seen that?

JT: Yeah, I believe I’ve seen that, yeah.

It’s probably on BBC America.

JT: Right… Do you have a favorite book?

As a kid, I read all the usual things, you know, like Lord of the Rings and stuff like that.

JT: Huh.

I was so into outdoor life that I was mainly reading a lot of references on animal and encyclopedia things. But, I suppose to cross-reference that, one of my favorite books was My Family and Other Animals, which is by a guy called Gerald Durrell. He’s this big conservation magic guy. That’s really one of my favorite books.

JT: Getting back to music, I just have a few questions and then we can wrap up here.

Sure.

JT: I’m kind of curious… What’s it like to actually hear yourself on the radio? Is that still kind of peculiar to you or how does it make you feel to hear that?

It’s cool when you’re driving down the road and you switch on the radio and you can hear one of your songs. It’s a great feeling. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen so much these days like it did before cause of the whole where can we play these songs. {In some ways, this might be a good sign in terms of the quality of his music when you consider what’s on the radio these days.} Although funny enough, that this album seems to be creating quite a lot of interest and we acquired a lot of radio across the states in Europe now already. I just did a whole show, which was a two hour special, where they played the whole album in British Columbia yesterday. I’m so used to hearing my voice singing-wise that it’s very easy to listen to myself. It doesn’t bother me, which I know a lot of people when they hear themselves talk or sing, it bothers them initially. The only thing I can probably equate it to is that I have not done that many videos. It weird me out a bit seeing myself in music video, but hearing myself vocally doesn’t weird me out

JT: What’s the worst part about being a musician?

Probably two things: One of them, the worst part about being a musician for myself is having to believe in yourself. Constantly trying to believe in yourself through difficult times or whatever. There’s a very fine line where you think, you’ve done something good. I’m never pleased with anything I’ve ever done. So, I think, yeah, that’s nearly the blight and nothing’s ever finished as far as I’m concerned. It’s like I’m very, very critical and a lot of musicians are very, very critical and very insecure about their talents. The other thing is the financial seesaw that you go through being a musician, because you don’t have regular lining. It’s tends to be peaks and lows. So, that’s probably the two most difficult things?

JT: You’ve probably been approached by a lot of fans. Good or bad, what’s the most memorable fan interaction you’ve had?

One of the most incredible things was on the last Asia tour, we played in Spain and the band never played in Spain before. We played in this; I think it’s called The Gaslight or something that’s close. I’ve never heard of it. The capacity was about 1200 and they managed to get 1500 people in there. The place was ramped and they knew the lyrics to all the new songs as well as the old songs. I didn’t realize we had that following there and I remember a song we’ve got called, “Military Man.” A whole verse I didn’t sing. I just let the audience sing. {I chuckle.} As you know, like 1500 people singing was a very, very cool experience to ever have, especially, you know, it’s 15 years into the career of that band for me.

JT: That’s great. Also, I have two questions here that some people can identify with.

Yeah.

JT: These are personal questions, but do you follow sports and if so, what’s your favorite sport and who’s your favorite team?

I don’t follow sports as much as I did. When I was at college, I used to do boxing and rugby.

JT: Okay.

They were my two favorite sports. I still quite like boxing. There was a real cool boxer in England called Prince Naseem Hamed.

JT: Yeah, I know, I’ve heard of him.

He was like a little mini-Muhammad Ali, very cheeky and very clever. Rugby, I used to play for a team called the London Irish, which I still support in some sort of way. For most of the other sports, like English Football, it doesn’t really do much for me. Even all the time I spent, still not really got into American sports. The whole idea of whistling and screaming in a sports bar {I laugh} doesn’t really do much for me.

JT: That’s funny and it’s interesting that you bring up boxing, because my father was the last NCAA boxing champion.

Wow!

JT: Yeah. So, I’ve got a somewhat famous family myself. My oldest brother is an opera singer. My mom and sister have been talent agents themselves who have worked with a lot of famous comedians. My dad was a boxing champion.

Wow.

JT: I have a big family. There’s other people doing various other things… My youngest brother is going to be running in the marathon in DC. He might continue competing in other races as well. So, we’re all over the board.

Wow.

JT: One last thing that I’d like to ask you, which I think now this might register as another question that nobody’s asked you, but I’m curious, do you have any pets?

Wow, yeah, {caught him off guard with this one} I mean, obviously from talking to you earlier, I’m animal crazy.

JT: Ha.

I’m living in Los Angeles now in an apartment and it’s like pets abandoned. It’s like one of the worst things that could ever happen to me, because when I came from the UK where I had a recording studio, which was a residential studio with three acres of ground. At The Verve and The Oasis, we record there. We did a couple of Asia albums there. If you got one, I’ll tell you, I had ten ducks and geese. I had chickens. I had two ferrets. I had four South American Ostriches, which are Rheas. These are huge birds. I had a goat. I had a Pony. I had a Horse. I had three sheepdogs. I had a Ragdoll Cat and I had a Blue and Gold Macaw, an African Grey Parrot, and a Southwest Cockatoo. So, that’s quite a few animals.

JT: Yeah, it is. {Whoa! That’s all, I’m thinking. I guess this is why I ask the question. Actually, at one point I considered being a vet and while I didn’t have all those large animals, I had approximately 30 pets at one point when I was younger. I’ll have to tell my mother about Payne’s assortment.}

One of the most incredible creatures is the African Grey Parrot. They talk, but they actually learn language like a human does and they will actually talk to you, things they want. My parrot used to ask if he could come out the cage. He used to tell me he was hungry and stuff like that. I used to take him down to the pub on my shoulder and he used to tell me when he wanted to go to the toilet. They’re unbelievable creatures and there’s been some research done with one called Alex at a university in America and they’ve got huge vocabularies.

JT: Well, we’ve finally made it to the end. I just have one question that I like to wrap up with.

Yes.

JT: Do you have anything that you’d like to say to your fans at this time?

Well, just that, um, I’d really like people to give this album a chance and listen to actually, really seize it. Like the title “Window to the Soul” you can see the way I produced this album as well you can see each individual person’s talents and they’re quite focal. It’s not full of overdubs like a lot of Rock albums are done nowadays and now you’ve got the ability to have hundreds of different tracks. I just encourage people to go to our Internet site musicbygps.com or there is a MySpace site as well, which I’m not quite sure what the name of it is at the moment. And, you can check out and download a couple of songs and just to give the thing a listen. They’ll find that we may appeal to them, because there’s quite a cross-section in this album musically.

JT: Okay, well, I want to tell you, it was a pleasure talking to you.

It’s mutual.

JT: You also put out an excellent album.

Thank you.

JT: It could very well be the best thing that you’ve done and that says quite a bit. I think we’re looking at one of the albums of the year here.

Oh, thank you.

JT: It’s a great album and I think fans are going to be very excited once they hear it. Hopefully, once you get out and tour and everything like that, people come out and see you. Hopefully, I get a chance to see you as well. Speaking of putting out live albums and DVD’s, I’ll be looking for those as well.

Well, you’ve got my email. If we’re playing in the area and you want to come bring some people, just email me and make sure you’ve got tickets and passes and we can have a chat.

JT: Definitely. I actually travel a lot myself, so a lot of times I’m able to see concerts and stuff outside the area as well.

Wicked.

JT: And so, that’s pretty much all I have for you.

Great interview. You’re cool.

JT: Yeah.

Thank you.

JT: Just enjoy the rest of your weekend.

You have a good weekend.

JT: You too.

Okay.

JT: Goodbye.

Bye, Josh. Bye.

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