Steve Hillage

http://www.a-wave.com/system7/

Steve Hillage has a well-earned reputation as one of the most inventive artists in electronic music, and as a guitarist who has boldly explored the outer limits of his instrument.

Career highlights include a three-album stint with Gong (including the influential 'You' LP), and solo projects including 'L' (produced by Todd Rundgren), 'Motivation Radio' (produced by Malcom Cecil with TONTO) and 'Green' (produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason).

He's also worked as a producer, manning the controls for acts including Simple Minds, Cock Robin and The Charalatans.

Currently he's at work on an exciting new album and DVD project with System 7, inspired by the Manga graphic novel series 'Phoenix' by Osamu Tezuka, and featuring collaborations with Eat Static, Jam (of Jam and Spoon), Son Kite, Slack Baba and others.

Hello. Thanks very much for taking the time out to have a chat with Camel Audio. To begin with, could you introduce yourself?

I first achieved musical notoriety as guitarist with psychedelic band Gong in the 70s and then with my own solo albums. I switched to record production in the 80s and had success with Simple Minds, Cock Robin and later The Charlatans and French Algerian singer Rachid Taha. I got swept up by the dance music revolution of the late 80s and resurfaced artistically with my partner Miquette Giraudy to form our dance music project System 7.

How did you initially get into music?

Music has been part of my life since a very early age. Piano lessons from age 4, switched to guitar from age 9, electric guitar from age 14 (as well as classical guitar lessons - I can read and write music on the guitar). First rock band at school at age 15, and I got my first recording deal for my first band, Khan, at age 20. For a short period (before leaving to form Khan) I was at Canterbury University, and it's there that I became part of the 'Canterbury Scene', through contacts with the bands Caravan and Soft Machine who were based in Canterbury.

You're widely known as the guitarist for Gong, as well as your solo projects. How do these differ from what you are doing now in System7?

System 7 represents a considerable progression from our 70s work, and is the fruit of full absorbtion of the flowering of dance music culture in the 80s. Superficially you could say the evident differences are: programmed drums instead of live drums, few vocals and lyrics, fewer big guitar solos, and more abstract use of guitar in a fully electronic context. But we're still the same people - our basic orientation is similar - and some of the more psychedic sounds we use are pretty similar.

You worked with Todd Rundgren on the 'L' album. How was working with Todd?

Todd was an inspirational producer, and it was an exhilarating experience working with him. At the time he was very much a producer with his own sound and we thought his sound would enrich our music, which of course it did. More recently Todd has incorporated some more electronic elements into some of his newer sounds - I'd love to collaborate with him again at some stage.

Can you tell us about your experiences working with Malcolm Cecil and TONTO (on 'Motivation Radio')?

Miquette and I were fans of the first TONTO album, 'Zero Time', and we also loved the production they did for Stevie Wonder. Working with TONTO and Malcolm was a dream come true, and we learned a lot about electronics in music.

How did System7 come about? Is there a specific message you're trying to bring to the world through this project?

I suppose, like many musicians, we're trying to provide a powerful bolt of energy to help people find the power within themselves to resist the negativity that is so prevalent these days.

What projects have you used Camel Audio software on?

Camel Audio software will be much in evidence on the new System 7 album 'Phoenix', which will be released in November 07. In fact the main Camel user is my partner Miquette.

What do you like most about Cameleon 5000?

Miquette loves the intuitive and 'undulating' qualities of Cameleon, and she's also been experimenting with the re-synthesis and morphing funtions. She also really likes the way it's not heavy on the processor - unlike some other well-known plugins we could mention.

What do you like most about CamelSpace and CamelPhat?

There's a particular colour and a subtlety there that makes these plugins completely unique. There's bits of Camel on almost all our new tracks!

Do you have any technical tips for using Camel Audio products that you can share with our users?

Firstly we find CamelSpace and CamelPhat ace for treating my guitar, which is a fairly unique sound in itself but can be warped in surprising ways by these devices. Secondly, because we use a multi-computer setup (synced by MTC), sounds created on logic with the Camel plugins get transferred to Protools HD which allows them to be further treated and cut up. I'm sure we'll discover some extra tricks as we progress along the way.

What are your plans for the next year?

The most important thing for us is our new System 7 'Phoenix' album. It's completely inspired by the manga graphic novel series about the Phoenix myth, by Osamu Tezuka (one of the founding fathers of Japanese manga culture) and includes collaborations with Eat Static, Jam (of Jam and Spoon), Son Kite, Slack Baba and Japanese animator Koji Morimoto. The new album will be released in November 2007. We'll be visiting Japan several times in the next year both for live gigs, promotion and also for the next stages of this ongoing project.