JOHN PRATT
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 2nd September 2011.
John Pratt is a veteran of the music stage, having been performing since the 1980s. He has now released his first solo album, and it's rather special.
Read on to find out what the man has to say for himself...
Hi John, thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
John: Very well thanks. The pleasure is all mine Jon.
How and when did you first get into singing, and how quickly did you realise you had a talent for it?
John: I started singing at an early age, by the time I was 7 or 8. I sang in Glee Club, Chorale settings and performed for my parents and their friends at parties. My parents were incredibly talented musicians. My mother was an accomplished pianist, my father, a brilliant organist. Though neither did this as a profession, music was always a part of our home. I guess I could tell I had something going on, but my families' encouragement was a big part of it.
How quickly did you start writing and performing your own material?
John: In my early teenage years, around 14, I am sure it was lyrics first, as I had no formal training in instrumentation at that point. I played in a band with some classmates and friends in high school and it was fun, dances, etc. but clearly, I knew where I wanted to go with this.
You fronted bands including Roxbury Drive and Firefly. How successful and rewarding was that part of your career?
John: Depends on your view of success. I was in some very talented bands before Roxbury Dive that were from San Francisco and the Bay Area. That success was making life long friends whom I play with all the time to this day. I moved to Los Angeles in 1979 and joined up with an amazing group of musicians from Pasadena. Then I went to the East Coast to join with another group. Eventually, I met up with Roxbury Drive.
Roxbury Drive was an amazing band who's live show was awesome. We had a loyal fan base and played for three years in Southern California. The Roxy, Whisky, Troubadour and other notable clubs were our home and we sold them all out. But never saw a dime. Period. We were literally the last band to never pay for a stage spot. "Pay to Play" as it was called back then. We made money but never saw profit.
You’ve also spent time working on Film and TV scores amongst other things. Anything people may be familiar with?
John: I realized in 1988 that music was changing (as it should). I also realized that while I really liked the direction it was going, I was not going to change my style. That seemed contrived. So, in 1989, I went back to school and studied Film Scoring at UCLA with the greatest teacher, Don Ray. You get a professor like that maybe once in your life. It was a difficult course and I struggled, but succeeded. I had already been doing TV scoring and film trailers and doing them well, but this was a crucial step in my career.
My favourite film is "Park" a hysterical dark comedy, and then "Decade of Love". Both were directed and written by Kurt Voelker. Kurt is one of those directors that has to be included in the scoring process. He is one of my great friends and I look forward to another opportunity to work with him again. My newest scoring gig is a 10 part series for The National Geographic Channel called "Rock Stars". It's not about music, that is the big hint. It will be airing in November 2011. As far as my other scoring, my clients are all over the map. Nationally and internationally. I often tell people you haven't heard of me but you definitely have heard me.
How long ago did you start work on your debut solo album “Turn The Page”? Is it a recent thing or something you’ve always wanted to create?
John: When music transitioned in the late 80's, I was well into developing my sound. I knew there would not be a place for some of this but I was not going to stop creating it. I bought the old EMI Records/SBK Music recording studio on Sunset Boulevard in 1990. I named it Lovell Brooke Recorders after my niece and nephew. I owned it for 6 years and that was where some of the music that defines me now was created. Ryan Greene was the Chief engineer at the time at EMI's new facility a block away. We were brothers from Roxbury Drive (Ryan was our soundman and I got him started; mixing in the clubs in LA in 1984) and continue working together to this very day. John Thomas was introduced to me through Michael Alemania and you can see where this is going. Michael was my scoring and business partner for almost 20 years. Firefly's "Where you Gonna' Run" were demos that Escape Music heard and picked up for distribution. There was no band, just me being the catalyst between all these great players.
The songs on "Turn The Page" started somewhere slightly before this time with "Searching For The Answer". That song has always defined me and I wrote it in 1987. All through the following years I kept writing as a sidebar to scoring. Scoring taught me the discipline required to be prolific but the writing was always the outlet. The songs were recorded in great settings, with great players, but were always filed under "if only... and what if?..." .When a dear friend of mine who used to be the head of EMI heard these cuts in 2010, he encouraged me to take them back into the studio and re-record them and release this record. I spent 2 months refining and choosing from about 25 songs. I probably would never have done that if it wasn't for him. He said "you need to mark this moment in your life" and so I did. He was right.
It suggests in the promo material the album contains a mix of old songs rerecorded and a few from the cutting room floor. What is the origin of the various songs, and were any written specifically for this release?
John: "Searching For An Answer" is the oldest, you already know about that, but the most recent songs are "Yin Yang", "Forgive Me" and "Still Here".Those songs were conceived in the last 18 months. When these were written the hope was to release them someday, but things took off after my friend encouraged it. Everything else was written somewhere in between.
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
John: They are all different.... the common thread would be imagery. I see music, always have. That is why I love to score film and TV. It is just the way it connects in my mind. There was no format to creating a song; there is to scoring sometimes, but with songwriting, it comes from a place of introspection and reaction. I believe it has to be an organic process that connects you honestly to your soul. I don't want to make it sound so esoteric but it has to be.
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
John: My life and how it connects to the world. Pain was always easy to process into music for me. It usually is for most writers. Not necessarily my pain, but people I love or even people I witness. Lyrics are something I don't take too lightly. Sure, I have written trite crap over the years, shallow stuff, fit a niche kind of thing. We all did at some point. In the 80's it was a lot of that, "party" this, "girls" that. No regrets though to any of it. I own that. But, as you get older, lose loved ones, understand how much others mean to you and so on, the early stuff doesn't matter. Life experience cannot be contrived, you have to live it and that takes time.
Are there any particular tracks you rate above the others?
John: Ahh ...they are like your children. Each one means so much to you. You raise them, cultivate and nurture and then send them off into the world. Your only hope is that don't come back to bite you in the ass...
How did you assemble the various musicians involved in the project?
John: These are my brothers and sisters. Michael Alemania and I have been working together since 1987. I have learned so much from him on so many levels. John Thomas is one of the greatest musicians of all time, literally. Ron Wikso and I have done 4 albums together and he is amazing. Bob Gilles is not only a gifted songwriter but a multi talented musician. Lance Morrison and I go way back, he is amazing. Chris Trujillo and I have been great friends since we were both in Roxbury Drive, we fought the good fight together. Angela Alemania is one of my favourite singers and was the original duet voice on "Trust your Feelings" from the early 90's, Angela sang on a lot of the 100 plus songs I composed and placed with Michael for Television and Film. Wally Minko is my new friend and wow! What a genius! Deena Russo is a new friend too and she just wails, pure and simple. The string players, Erlinda Romero and Ira Glansbeek were amazing, they were perfect. Erlinda is the teacher of my favourite musician on the album, my son Justin. Justin had to be a part of this album and it meant everything to have him playing violin on "Still Here". To have been so fortunate to have this all come together with the enormous effort of these gifted players was unbelievable. To have Ryan Greene produce it was pure magic, but also the only choice for this record. He is tremendous.
Do you have plans to perform these songs live?
John: Yes! We need the support to get out there, but everyone on this album wants to take it out on the road. My hope is we can.
Are you already thinking about a second solo album, or is that likely to be way off in the future?
John: Already started on that!
What has been the highlight of your musical life so far?
John: My son playing violin on this record. To see yourself in your child is an indescribable moment. To talk to him through the talkback, watching him through the glass, it was as if everything I had ever done, every gig, great or hideous, every hope, every disappointment was justified at that instant. It's his choice to do this as it was mine, and he has a million times more talent than I did at his age. He can sing too........
Any question you love being asked that I’ve missed? If so, what’s the answer?
John: You covered a great many of them Jon.....But I guess the best one is why? Why do you stay in it? The answer is simple. It is the greatest gift ever given to me. I hope I have earned the right to be here. But it isn't that, it's meeting someone who says your work affected them, made them think, feel something they never felt or haven't felt in a very long time. Then just when you think you're all that, someone says you suck. That's good too. Because it makes you want to go out and kick some ass (hopefully your own). To not matter, that would be the worst.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
John: Back to work.....
Anything else you would like to mention?
John: Please read the lyrics .... on everyone's Albums
Thanks for your time.
John: Thank you Jon.
Thanks again to John for his time. You can check out the Rock Realms review of his album "Turn The Page" by clicking here. Make sure you buy it, you won't regret it!
Artist's website(s): John Pratt | Facebook
