MLF-116B

GREG LAKE IN HIS RECORDING STUDIO INTERVIEWED BY MURRAY LERNER

CLOSE OF UP GREG LAKE PLAYING THE GUITAR. CLOSE UP OF HIS FINGERS STRUMMING

INTERVIEW PAUSES WHILE LERNER TALKS OFF CAMERA WITH SOME OTHER BACK STAGE PEOPLE. SHOT IS ADJUSTED. GREG LAKE STRUMS GUITAR. CU OF HIS HANDS

SOMEONE OFF CAMERA ASKS TO START PART OF THE INTERVIEW OVER. GREG LAKE SPINS CHAIR AROUND FOR A DRINK

GREG LAKE IS BACK IN THE CHAIR - INTERVIEW RESUMES:

Greg Lake 20:08
It's the pieces are based around keyboard playing, you see, not around guitar playing. And mainly I was playing bass, you're in those things. So, you know, they don't illustrate well, on acoustic guitars.

Murray Lerner 20:19
I shouldn't have had you get a bass

Greg Lake 20:22
there, which which I could do, but you see, again, with a bass part wouldn't mean a lot without the relative music.

Murray Lerner 20:28
So let me ask you this. (Off camera talk about turning on air conditioning) And also that I gotta ask you, you said that. Pet. So how did you what? I find the question, but I have asked it in my milestone, what is the function of the bass player in a group

Greg Lake 21:02
essentially, I think it's supportive, really, the bass player is a supportive role. It's a bedrock on which the music rests, you know, during progressive music, the years of progressive music, it became more and more integrated with guitar playing really a lot more active, you know, instead of just essentially basic lines, it became a lot more fluid and, and I was a guitar player before I was a bass player. So I kind of naturally took to playing more on a bass, which was fortunate in the context of a three piece band, because you need more music really, from every everybody, because there's so few people.

Murray Lerner 21:49
How did it relate to you got beyond though? Just applying the rhythm, didn't you?

Greg Lake 21:55
Well, yeah, I mean, the bass in ELP, I think, was more complex and, and served other posts very percussive, for instance, because, you know, as I said, there was with a three piece band, you have to do as much as you can possibly do. Because otherwise the music would be relatively empty.

Murray Lerner 22:18
But how about your vocals? I mean, that's you were you were the vocalist. Really?

Greg Lake 22:24
Yeah. That was it, it was it was a certainly, you know, a normal singing playing role. But in the context of, of European based music, rather than blues. And so it was very different than classical playing bass. In classical music, there's a lot different, you have to work with the given music. And sometimes you're singing against very complicated baselines, which is, which provides quite a challenge.

Murray Lerner 22:57
How do you solve that challenge?

Greg Lake 22:57
Practice, you just have to practice and work at it and, and develop a kind of independence rather, like a piano player has an independence with the right and the left hand. So bass player singer has an independence with playing the bass, and singing with feeling. They're two totally different occupations. And generally speaking, when you're singing, your bass playing becomes subordinate. Really, you just have to make sure that you've learned the part properly, and basically do it automatically.

Murray Lerner 23:32
But how did you know this when you form a group to knew that there would be contradictions, that sense between the various roles that you're playing?

Greg Lake 23:43
Well, yes, I mean, but that was part of the fun of it. I think part of the challenge of making it all work with just three people. It was a bit of an adventure. And sometimes it's very tricky. And we had to work hard to get the music sounding full. And solid. It's very easy in a three piece band for for there to be holes and for the music to start feeling uncertain. And so that took some some working out. And we did used to rehearse a lot. And that's how we developed a lot of intricate stuff by simply by going over it so many times and working through it until it was, you know, clicking,

Murray Lerner 24:31
not to the layman like myself, it seemed that you know, it was totally random, wild playing that you were doing when I was at the concert. Yeah, and so it didn't. But obviously, later on, as I got to know your work, I realized how much musicianship was involved.

Greg Lake 24:52
I mean, that's the object of rehearsal. Really, you rehearse until it does just feel instinctive. And you don't have to think about what you're playing, that you think about trying to put as much feeling into it, and interpreting it as well as you can. But yeah, I mean, it was it was a great deal to do with the preparation.

Murray Lerner 25:17
What do you think about an audience do you care about, you feel anything about the reaction of an audience, having an audience,

Greg Lake 25:25
I feel about an audience, I learned a long time ago that an audience is actually one person, to each person in an audience, as they watch you perform, they are just one person, you are essentially performing to a lot of one people, you know, so I always think about performing to an individual, rather than to a mass of people. Because it's a personal experience. And I feel that's the best way to communicate. If I if I thought, you know, otherwise, it becomes like a, the Isle of Wight, for instance, or just a huge blanket of people is, is has no feeling has no meaning. But an individual is something you can talk to almost have a conversation with. And in this case, you're talking with the music and you're talking, you know, through expression.

Murray Lerner 26:22
I mean, weren't you thrilled at the feeling that there was a largest

Greg Lake 26:26
watch? Just today?

Murray Lerner 26:28
Yeah, he was, he can do that. Well, let me ask you this, isn't there a thrill? Or? Oh, yeah, it's in terms of the size of that event.

Greg Lake 26:39
It is thrilling. A large audience is always thrilling, the sound of a large audience is thrilling. But when you're playing, and when you're actually trying to, to express feeling, you know, then it comes down to a very personal thing. And that large audience really becomes one single person. And so that's why I often feel very nervous before I go on. Because you're looking at the the audience's in entirety. But once I start playing the will those nerves just drop away, because it is just really to one person that that you play,

Murray Lerner 27:17
you care about that one person of what his or her reaction is?

Greg Lake 27:22
Yeah, absolutely. I think that, you know, it is what I do it for I play music to enjoy that reaction. You know, if I was just playing and there was no reaction, I suppose. I would soon stop it is it is the joy of transferring emotion from myself to someone else. That is the joy in music.

Murray Lerner 27:48
I know some some performers are affected by that. And some aren't really, you know, yeah, miles? I don't think he did. But theoretically, he wasn't, you know, yeah. I don't believe that. But on the other hand, you're not really feeling your audience. If it's large. I just look at one person.

Greg Lake 28:05
Well, that's right. And I'll which often do you know, I'll find one person in the audience. But I think, yeah, there are there are other motivating factors. I mean, sometimes you play for the challenge of making something work. I mean, other times you play just for the sheer feeling, you know, other times it's, you can play and it's more demonstrative. I mean, some of the things that ELP played, were not very feeling for, but they were very clever and sounded impressive. And one of the things that often used to be said about the band is, you know, wow, how do you manage to get that sound with only three people. But that was kind of challenged. That was a fun in that challenge. But deep down, I think you want to feel that when you leave the stage that somebody has been touched emotionally? Do you feel gratified if that's happened? And you don't if it's not happened?

Murray Lerner 29:04
Well, we have enough tape left for this role. or should we. We've got two minutes. All right. What what do you feel about music about? Um, what is what do you feel about being involved with music? Why are you interested in music as a life?

Greg Lake 29:23
No, I love music in and of itself. It always fascinated me I think that something which passes through the air, which is invisible, can communicate feeling. I think it's there's it's almost like electricity, and that is a wonderous thing. And when I was very young, I would be moved by certain songs and certain performers. And that's what intrigued me originally about music. Because you get into it further. There are as other aspects to it, which also become fascinating. And the whole idea of a show of a performance is is fascinating. Slacker machine. You know, if you've got it all worked out correctly, it works beautifully. There's a joy in that alone, you know, but the deepest satisfaction is if you're playing a song and you see somebody moved by it, I always think that's it, you know, that's the highest pinnacle, I think you can achieve is to is to move someone emotionally.

Murray Lerner 30:33
Change tape and I want to get more into music