MICHAEL HARRIS INTERVIEW

by Miltos Libitsounis of ROCK HARD magazine (GREECE)

April, 2007

    The members of Thought Chamber are Ted Leonard on vocals; drummer Rob Stankiewicz; bassist Derek Blakley; myself on guitar, guitar synth, piano, and keyboards; with Bobby Williamson guesting on keyboard solos. I can’t say enough about how stellar all my bandmates’ performances are on the record! 

Our vision is this: strong melody and songs first and foremost; challenging musicianship on top of that; sonically, employing a “groove” in the rhythm track not found in a lot of heavy prog, a jazz influence in some of the song breaks, rapid fire hard panned “ensemble” licks split up between several instruments, using a very distorted Hammond B3 sound with delay on it, playing many of my own solos with a non distorted tone, and lastly, never losing sight of the element of dynamics (which is quite often lost on modern recordings in general).  

The original idea for the band was planted by my manager, John Purdom, back in the late 90s. John felt I should put together a progressive “supergroup” to exploit both great musicianship and vocals, which could bring more attention to my music, having been mostly instrumental. Eventually I put an ad out on the internet which Ted Leonard responded to. I immediately went out and bought an Enchant CD and thought, “wow, what a voice!” Ted & I were in very different locations, but in spite of those logistical limitations and of us both being involved in other bands / projects, we continued to send demos back & forth for several years until we had a record’s worth of material. At that point I called up my friends, Derek & Rob, and found they were interested in being a part of the band as well. And now we find ourselves anticipating “Angular Perceptions”, our debut CD’s release worldwide this April 3 (2007) on InsideOut Music. 

 

 

 

Well I have always been a fan and composer of progressive music, along with many other styles. I’ve written many progressive instrumentals on my solo CDs, although those recordings have been quite diverse and not just “prog”. And although I think that kind of diversity is fairly well accepted in the instrumental guitar realm, I have consciously focused more on a single style on each of my latest 2 discs, “Orchestrate”, and the Thought Chamber debut. I would say my biggest progressive musical influences are all included in Thought Chamber’s music: Rush, Kansas, The Beatles, Yes, and ELP.

 

 

It’s never easy composing anything for me, as I’m as meticulous as it gets and not easily content. Then you add the fact that this is progressive music, and I think that is challenging for anyone. The whole idea of prog is that it can’t be easy. It’s all about pushing the boundaries. But the real challenge for me is while I’m making the music technical, to still make it tangible at the same time. I find there’s way too much prog that is “prog for prog’s sake”, and I feel you need to keep that balance between melody and technique.

 

 

 

It’s very encouraging to hear that you like the mix and production. That was achieved by being very patient and listening over & over. Derek was a big help with the mix. He’s as meticuous as myself, and that’s a positive thing when you are trying to get the best results possible. Sterling Winfield was great to work with, and Gary Long remastered the record several times, but we could never beat this particular master that Gary just nailed, so that ended up being the one.

 

 

Haha, very much so…I mixed that one by myself, so it was a painstaking process, not to mention the pre-mix stuff (composing, demoing, and recording.) But truthfully, that’s the way I am with all my recordings. If I’m going to have to live with something the rest of my life, then I’d better get it right.

 

 

Well, take an instrument like bass guitar. I demo everything before I bring in musicians for final tracking, so at that point I have 2 choices: I can record the rest of the bass myself, being able to keep some of what I already have, or I can hire someone else to start completely over with the bass, which still involves me showing them and / or transcribing a lot of the basslines. So it’s easier to just do it myself. The other variable there is the benefit of having a real bassist, which I do like, and will always consider. On “Orchestrate”, I asked at least 2 bassists if they wanted to play on the record, but neither followed through, so since neo orchestral is not a genre that requires something beyond my grasp with the bass like pop / slap, fretless, or a unique tone, then I was content to do it myself. As far as keyboards, the whole idea was for me to orchestrate the arrangements with string sounds, so I did that myself on keyboards or guitar synth.

 

 

Matt is always incredible to work with. We’ve been friends for years, and have worked together on several of my previous instrumental recordings, as well as “Orchestrate”. He’s always creative, optimistic, and open minded. If you want to hear some of his best work, check out SURGEON, “Encyclopedia of the Insane”. The drumming is insane!

 

 

David is very regimented, a very strong work ethic. Lots and lots of deadlines, and I respect that. That’s what it takes to “get it done” in this biz as a solo artist or band leader. I know some people who don’t have any deadlines and they are still waiting to get their first record out.

 

 

Well, if you like the Zanister, I must say you have to give David credit, as he wrote it all, except the intro to the 1st record (and 2 bonus tracks), which I wrote. He kind of marketed Zanister as a “band” effort, but it was really his vision all the way. As far as the short career, it’s difficult to sustain a band that is not located in the same town and not supported by a big budget, successful touring, airplay, a large fanbase, etc.

 

 

I have a metal record that is nearly finished, DARKOLOGY, for which I am auditioning vocalists. I want to do a fusion instrumental CD when time allows. But my priority now is the 2nd Thought Chamber record, which (WARNING: SPOILER) will include both a sci-fi epic and the return of Mr Qwinkle.

 

 

Well, I think the world of Vitalij. He is a world class musician and a world class human being, and that’s a rarity nowadays. Beyond being a true virtuoso, VK is incredibly prolific, but not at the expense of having a beer and kickin’ it with ya at the end of the day. His quality of life is very high. He goes out there and grabs it by the horns. Yes, I am disappointed that the guitar is not higher in the mix, but that is Vitalij’s decision and I respect it. In listening back to his previous material, Greg Howe, George Bellas, and Tony MaCalpine were not loud in those mixes either.

 

 

Revenge was also composed by Vitalij. With all due respect to the exceptional musicians I’ve worked with over the years, that is the way I do most of my bands / projects as well. Most bands and musicians are probably better collaborators than people like Vitalij and myself, and I respect that, but I compose best on my own, and likewise, when I play on someone else’s record, I appreciate the fact that it’s 100% their brainchild, and I definitely would not expect composers’ credits.

 

 

Everyone involved seems eager to take this as far as possible. Right now, we’re just seeing what kind of response we get with the debut, and taking it from there one record at a time. The fan feedback so far has been phenomenal!

 

 

Absolutely. Beyond good music, this business is all about networking and friendships. IOM has the established contacts necessary to promote our record to the right channels, thereby allowing the band to focus on what we do best, make music. And they are a great bunch of people on top of that.

 

 

Yes! In retrospect, it did feel like a bit much instrumental material, especially considering progressive music already contains a lot of instrumental sections in the vocal songs. But I wanted to exploit the incredible talents of Rob, Derek, and Bobby, and we were able to do that with the 2 instrumentals, “Mr Qwinkle’s Therapy” and “Accidently On Purpose”. We envision just one instrumental next time around.

 

 

Much thanks Miltos!!!