INTERVIEW WITH OWEN TROMANS

We are starting a new stage of interviews at our brand new website. Maybe the best person to begin with is Owen Tromans, who is not only a good friend, but also an artist we've admired with devotion for a long time. He was the frontman of a tremendous band called San Lorenzo (now re-grouped), and has also released some talented and high class solo albums. Besides, other San Lorenzo members have also taken part in different musical experiments over the past few years. Nick Stanley (drums) is still a member of an interesting and promising project called Tybalt. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Hamblin has been the bassist of Panda Love Unit, whose members have recently (and sadly) separated.This is an email interview (consequently lacking in spontaneity and all that) but I reckon it's worthy and interesting.As I mentioned, after three years since San Lorenzo split they've just decided to put the band back together. We take this opportunity to pose Owen some questions...

What were your plans/hopes/intentions/ambitions when you started doing music?

I started as a music fan first rather than as a person who was good at music at school. I always hated music lessons but I came to love music through listening to my Dad's old records and listening to the radio. I used to like Michael Jackson and Prince a lot when I was a kid. I still listen to Sign O The Times. It's an incredible record.

The thing that really got me hooked on music was hearing Reverence by Jesus And Mary Chain on The Evening Session. I remember I was talking to Duncan from Tybalt after school when it came on the radio and I was just like "what is THIS?". So I went out and bought it and we soon started buying other singles we would hear like 100% by Sonic Youth or stuff by bands like The Senseless Things and Power of Dreams.

Duncan and I both really wanted to make music but didn't know how so when we started we would just record ourselves making sound effects on my mum's old brown tape recorder. We would be playing Blue Room by The Orb in the background and making all these crazy noises and that was our music!

Eventually we got hold of some cheap instruments and started trying to write music. I have loads of tapes of us playing everything we could get our hands on and making this really strange lo-fi sound that was mostly improvised. Then we formed Fused which eventually included Nick and Liz from San Lorenzo in the line up. Liz went to the same school as me and Nick was the cousin of Duncan's friend. We played live around Birmingham and the black country and "released" a cassette which we sold at gigs.

When Fused split up Nick, Liz and myself got San Lorenzo together and we played our first show in 1998.

I don't think there was ever a plan for any of us other than the need to create this music.

Which is your opinion of the UK and International music scene right now?

I think music is great right now. There's lots of interesting stuff around. You may have to dig around for it but it's out there.

What does it mean to be "independent" these days?

"Independent music" is a subjective term. For some people it would mean Fugazi and for others it would mean Travis you know? It's not something I lose sleep over.

How do you think will affect John Peel’s death to the “underground” music scene?

I used to tape John Peel's shows when I was at school and I heard so many great bands for the first time on his programme. He was a big supporter of San Lorenzo and I'll always remember hearing him play our stuff.

I hope that the BBC will keep an outlet for underground music going. I've been told that there are good people working behind the scenes of the John Peel show that could do that. You are never going to replace John but they should have a show that gives time to music that otherwise wouldn't be heard on a big station. I think that's the main point. It's part of the BBC's job to play new, exciting and interesting music.

What kind of role has the internet regarding music these days? How do you think the internet has affected the “underground music scene”? Is downloading killing music? Do you have any strong feelings sympathetic to or against?

I am one of those people who likes real artefacts like records and books. I could never read a book online. It would drive me mad. I do listen to music online a lot when I'm working on the computer or something but records and CDs have always appealed to me as objects. I see the packaging and liner notes as an extension of the feeling of the music and I think you get a greater sense of that when you have the thing in front of you rather than as an image on a screen. For example, the handmade sleeves that we did for Box of Tapes really enhanced the album and that wouldn't have had the same impact if it was just available for download.

I think the internet has forced corporations to sell their releases at a reasonable price. The cost of mainstream records seems to have come down a lot in the UK recently. So I don't think downloading is killing music. It's not like people don't like music anymore. It may be killing a few profits but in general I think the internet is a great way to communicate with people and hear new music.

Is your music “marketable”? What is "selling out" for you?

Making a living from music would be a great thing. If you were in a position where you could make your music exactly how you wanted without interference then that would be even better. I don't think that happens very often though.

Again "selling out" is just another cliche isn't it? It's a very subjective thing. I have no problem with making money through selling records and playing live but that doesn't mean you have to rip people off and put your music in adverts for Burger King.

How do you feel when your music is labelled with genre-tags? What are your thoughts when you’re compared to other bands/artists?

I'm usually confused by comparisons. Like Billy Bragg. What's that all about? I suppose comparisons are a good marker by which people who haven't heard you can judge whether they might like your stuff but to me they don't mean much. Sometimes a review will make you think because the writer has come at the music from an interesting angle or with some honest thoughts but that doesn't always happen. Like I say, I understand why people use comparisons, I do it myself when describing bands I like.

You have released different albums…How do you feel your sound has progressed from one to another? I think that your solo stuff has improved a lot over the years…What do you think?

I think it has improved too. I think I am getting better as a writer but it's difficult for me to judge because I am so close to it all.

The intrumentals are getting less in my solo stuff. I guess that's one progression! There were lots on Box of Tapes, two on From a Lost Library, one on Place and there will only be one on the next release too. I guess that's me becoming more confident with my solo voice and lyrics because they are both different to my San Lorenzo self. A song like The Fisherman's Daughter could never sit on a San Lorenzo record.

In terms of the sound of the records I think that I take more time over that now. We really didn't know how to record San Lorenzo until near the end of the band's first life. I think any new San Lorenzo recordings will benefit from the experiences we've had with recording since the band split. In the studio a lack of time and money always holds you up though, I can't spend ages mixing something or tweaking guitars. You have to work quite quickly compared to bands on major labels and maybe that's a good thing.

Have you been really inspired/influenced by anyone? Where do you find your inspiration? Do you think your music has influenced someone?

I get inspiration from all over. Sometimes books will make me want to write something. For example, Some Trust is based on a Raymond Carver short story and There is no Progress is based on some stuff Jean Baudrillard wrote. I've been putting poems to music for a while too, some beautiful Japanese poems and some Poe. That's why it was cool to do something for the album of James Joyce poems on Fire Records.

As far as music goes I grew up being influenced by lots of people. I still want to make my guitar sound like Neil Young on Weld. That sound is probably second only to Tom Verlaine's guitar that I speak about on Like Rheticus.

Hearing my Dad's Nick Drake albums made me force myself through loads of practice to get good at fingerpicked guitar so that's quite a specific influence I suppose.

I don't know if my music has influenced anyone. Quite a few of the people who I see at shows and who speak to me about the records are musicians so maybe.

How do you go about writing songs? What are your lyrics about?

Songs happen in different ways. I can spend a lot of time on words, playing with them now and again over a period of months but equally sometimes I just write something in ten minutes. There's no set pattern.

I often write about people I know and this strange world around us (although perhaps that isn't obvious) but equally I might sometimes want to invent a fairy story like The Fisherman's Daughter. So I suppose the lyrics can be about lots of different things. For example, on Place Some Black Plan is about a man who convinces himself that nature is conspiring against him and destroying his life in some predetermined way but the song before it, The Spanish Flag, is just about meeting a girl in the street.

There are recurring themes in my songs which are probably quite easy to pick out and there are even recurring characters in my solo songs but really songs can be about anything. Having said that they are all about something. I never do the nonsense lyrics thing.

How important is the producer’s work in your records?

I have never really had a producer. I have only had engineers who have suggested their ideas. I don't have much time in the studio to make records so I have learned how to get a good sound quite quickly. In Italy we made Place in two weeks which was the longest I had been in the studio constantly. That was cool because it gave me time to play around with ideas a little. However it was also scary because you are in a different country with these local musicians and you have two weeks to make a record and how you go about it is up to you! It's quite a lot to deal with.

Is there any kind of “concept” behind your records? Who decides the artwork? Is it important to you?

I think a lot about what I want the artwork to be like on my records. Most of the art is done by Chris Summerlin of Reynolds or Matt Dornan of Comes With A Smile magazine. They both really understand what I like.

The order of the songs is really important as well and even little things like pauses and hidden tracks all add to the feel of the thing. I've always loved all the things that go along with records, even back when I used to play my parent's Beatles records and find the photos in The White Album or the cut-outs in Sgt. Pepper's.

How is your live set in comparison with your recordings? How do people react to you live shows?

San Lorenzo is more aggressive live than on record I think. Alan Bearos said after a gig last week that it was like unleashing primal forces. I think we really throw ourselves into the music and try and give the best, most honest performance of the songs.

When I play my solo stuff with a band it's a looser sound, especially on a track like John's on the Bridge which can go in loads of different directions. I enjoy playing alone sometimes too because then you have the most freedom to create and play with the music onstage.

What is your local scene like?

I'm not part of a local scene but I think there are lots of people across the UK in different places who are playing music together and forging alliances of various kinds. I don't think it's so much about where you live anymore.

You have your own record label called Sacred Geometry… How is your relationship with other labels that release your stuff?

My relationship with Gringo and Bearos is very good. Also I have done some stuff with Fire Records and they are great too so I haven't ever had a problem with a label.

I love to talk about music so I feel the nees to make this question…What other things do you like musically? What’s on your stereo right now? What kind of bands/artists do you like at the moment? What were the last records you bought?

The last record I bought was Rivers and Bridges by Steffen Basho-Junghans. I am really interested in people who just play live with one instrument, often improvising. I like the spontaneity of it and the way you can communicate emotions really directly.

I really like The Edmund Fitzgerald at the moment, they supported San Lorenzo in Birmingham and they rocked.

Right now I'm listening to Yoko.

Why did San Lorenzo end? Why did you reform now? Now that San Lorenzo has reformed…What results can we expect of this new stage?

San Lorenzo ended because it just felt right for me at the time. I think we were all ready to do different things and I was moving down south too so it just seemed time to split.

I was playing live and recording with Nick on the solo stuff anyway and I suppose I really wanted to play that San Lorenzo music again. All three of us are really close. We have been friends playing music since we were kids and we have this strange connection which I think is important to keep going. Hopefully there will be a new record and a tour at some point.

Has there ever been a time when you felt like calling it a day, that all music-related things were too much trouble? What makes you carry on? Do you see yourself keep doing this for another ten years?

It is hard to keep doing music when you have to work full time as well but I only ever think about giving up my work, I never think about giving up music! The main problem is not having enough time to do all the things you want to and having to turn shows and other things down because of work.

I think I will make music for as long as I live.

Has After Rome definitely ended?

Yes. I love those two guys but that's the way it is. I think we could have done really well but in the end real life took over and people couldn't commit as much time as was needed to make it work. I am proud of what After Rome did though and we had some really good times.

Finally, what are your upcoming plans?

I have a new solo EP coming out on Keep Recordings of Tucson, Arizona in March/April. It's called Your Heart is not Broken at the moment and it will feature 6 tracks including the full 12 minute electric version of John's on the Bridge. The James Joyce LP should be out on Fire Records around that time as well.I would also like to do a San Lorenzo UK tour in the summer and maybe come to Spain and Italy too because I know we have supporters there.

Needless to say that we would love to have Owen and San Lorenzo playing live here in our country.We're looking forward to that.Until then, let me recommend you this...

Owen Tromans solo Discography:
Place (LP.Bearos records 2004), From a lost library (LP.Sacred Geometry records 2002), Box of Tapes (LP. Sacred Geometry records 2001)

San Lorenzo Discography:
The Sea is a map (LP.Bearos recors 2001) Nothing new ever works (LP Gringo records 2000) Life without mountains (Single.Gringo records.1998) Three songs for the winter (EP.Sewing Box records 1999) Sports Biscuits (Single.Bearos records 2001)

Panda Love Unit Discography:
Fireworks to stick us together (EP.Awkward records)

Tybalt future Discography:
A subtle change for emphasis (MLP.Purpose Built records)

Fernando Pérez Herrero.