1. How did your adventures with music begin. Did you have any training by any teachers or are you self taught ???
I started music with mouthharp, as my father is a very good player of> it. Then I went to the Academy of Music in Belgium and started to> learn> percussion. When I went to the university I had to stop this because I> couldn't put my drums inside my small student room. So I started the> trombone and the saxophone. But studying both instrument was a bit> complicated and I ended up choosing the sax. I went back to the> Academy> to continue my study of the instrument and theorical stuffs. Then I> went to some jazz clinics where I studied harmony. After that I> studied> various ethnic instruments, such as balafon, ken, chanai, etc... In> the> end I started the piano, as an autodidact, as a wonderful tool for> composition matters.
2. Where did the name Finnegans Wake come from and does it have a deeper meaning ???
FW is the name of the 'magnus opus' of James Joyce and we chose the> name to honour this great XXth century novel. It is also the name of> an> old irish song and also the subject of a seminar of the french> psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. All three meanings mattered!> > > > 3. How did the adventure of Finnegans Wake begin, how did you meet and decided to start you awesome band ???> > > > During the eighties, I played a lot with a jazz septet, in Belgium,> called Lost Exit. After the band stopped, I stayed some years without> playing and then, suddenly, I had the idea of recording some tracks,> as> new directions were coming into my head. By chance, I met Alain> Lemaître one evening in a restaurant and he told me that he had> started> a recording studio in his house... So we decided to give it a try.> Then> I called my old friend Jean-louis Aucremanne, with whom I had already> played some gigs in duets piano/sax. And that was it... We made the> first CD.> > > > 4. What music do you yourself listen to, and is there some kind of music that inspires you???> > > > I listen to every kind of stuff, from garage rock to contemporary> avant-garde classical music, passing thru irish folk music, free jazz,> opera, heavy metal, hard bop, renaissance music, and whatever...> > > > 5. If you should mention 5-10 records that have meant something to you and your music, what would they be???> > > > - Henry Cow: In Praise of learning> > - Miles Davis: Jack Johnson> > - Olivier Messiaen: Quattuor pour la fin des temps> > - Rock Bottom: Robert Wyatt> > - Maurice Ravel: pièces pour piano> > - Herbie Hancock: Crossings> > > > 6. Are you all full time musicians in Rational Diet or is music your second job ???> > > > Music is my second job. Today, it is impossible to earn a living with> that kind of music. Very few can. You cannot count anymore with record> sales as the download is now the rule.> > > > 7. What are your plans for the future and what will be the next release from Finnegans wake ???> > > > The next FW will be ready in the beginning of 2010 and will inaugurate> a new phase in the band history. We left the old writing formulas to> experimentate with other compositional structures and we'll see how> those things will grow...> > > > 8. If a new listener were> about to buy his first recording with your music, which one would you> recommend as the best introduction to your music???> > > > Hard question as the projects I've done are quite different from each> other. I would say that if the person likes classical music, she could> start with the "Che Vuoi?" piano pieces CD or the double "Play La> Chance" chamber music project; if she likes prog rock, it would be> FW's> "Yellow" or "Green"; if she likes chamber rock, FW's "Pictures", "4th"> or "Blue", if she likes electronic music, Xeno's (one of my pseudos)> "Them", and if she likes more adventurous stuff, FW's new one that> will> be available on Fazzul record label, "The Bird and the Sky above".> > > > 9. At your concerts and on your records as well, how much is improvised and how much is planned before you start?> > > > Everything is written. We tried some alternative writings, leaving> more space to the instrumentist, with the new project...> > > > > > 10. What's your best advice for young aspiring musicians?> > > > Divide his activities in as many different directions possible.> > > > 11. What are your funniest and worst experiences performing in front of an audience?> > > > The worst was when I had to play at a party, years ago, and this party> was really full of alcool. it lasted for hours before we could get on> stage and when that happened, I was so drunk that after blowing one> note in the saxophone, I knew that it wouldn't work that night. So got> off the stage and put the instrument back in his suitcase and went to> sleep on the spot.> > > > The funniest was when we played with Lost Exit in a kind of> agriculture> fair and the audience was composed by people that really didn't dig> any> jazz. So we were there playing and could see the faces of the people> in> the audience with giant interrogation marks above their heads. It was> funny and, above all, surrealistic!> > > >
