Paul Clark

The first instrument that I learned to play was drums at 9 years old. It became the foundation for my sense of timing and although drums are no longer my main instrument, I still enjoy getting behind a drum kit when I can. I learned to play guitar when I was 12 years old and here is the story.

I have an uncle called John and he could play guitar. He could play ‘House of the Rising Sun’ and nothing else. On 4th November 1977 my uncle showed me the chords to this song and gave me the guitar. It was a cheap old nylon strung acoustic. I played it over and over but I got it in the end and this was the beginning of a love affair that has lasted ever since. I still have that guitar and I’m teaching my eldest son Alex (7 years old) to play it. He’s trying to learn the James Bond Theme and not doing too badly. I’m sure he’ll get there in the end.

I was too young to actively follow progressive music during the early 70’s as I was between 5 and 11 years old when it was at its peak. This means that I was a little too young to go to gigs. As it turns out it was the same uncle that was listening to Yes, Genesis, Deep Purple, PFM, Trace and ELP and this was where a 5-11 year old acquired an ear for progressive rock. At the time all of my little friends were into David Cassidy, The Osmonds and Sweet etc, something that I could not understand. Also, my grandfather was introducing me to Classical music (particularly Eastern European composers). Give a young boy a guitar with a head full of Yes and Tchaikovski and an independent streak that is contemptuous of fashion and see how he turns out. That sounds like all of the ingredients for a rock guitarist to me. It wasn’t long before I was learning more on the guitar and playing along with Genesis bass lines on my acoustic.
A year later it all changed. I discovered electricity and Motorhead, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Hawkwind, UFO and Led Zeppelin. Don’t laugh I was only 13. But this is where I learned to ‘riff’ and find my way around a few blues rock licks. I joined my first rock band at this time called ‘Aquila’. We had no songs so I wrote them. We had no singer so I ended up doing it. I played my first gig at this time. “No turning back now”.
In 1978 some older friends took me to see Black Sabbath play in London. The support band was Van Halen. This was a ‘life changing’ event. I didn’t know weather to give up or go home and practice. It took until the early 80’s to learn to play ‘Eruption’. It was one of those ‘try it, leave it and go back to the Sabbath, get a little better and try it again’ things that lasted for a few years. Once I’d figured it out I was so proud of myself that I called a friend “come ‘round to my place and check this out”. He came to my place but he brought an album with him. It was Rising Force by Yngwie Malmsteen. Once again I was blown away. That set me on the technique trail. I was hungry for all of it, Malmsteen, Satriani, McAlpine, Vinnie Moore etc. The Mark Varney stable of advanced ‘shredders’. I know that people cringe at these names now but I did learn an awful lot about discipline, accuracy, trickery, theory and I developed a taste for learning Baroque music and applying it to the electric guitar.
After playing in several rock and metal bands I became disillusioned with the whole shredder thing. I felt as though I was being judged on every guitar solo in the same way as a gymnast. It was as though a good solo had to contain the complete set of techniques available to be a good one. I found this constraining and I needed a change. That’s when I discovered Jazz Funk. I spent the following years playing Funky Rock and then pure Funk. Clean rhythm guitar sitting in the rhythm section as an extension of the percussion. I threw in the odd solo but it was not stuck in a set formula. It was fresh and great fun. There was no need to impress, just get into the grove and enjoy it. It was here that I really learned a great deal about playing across the beat and phrasing. It brought out the drummer in me. Eventually I needed something extra. I found myself missing rock music but I still enjoyed the grove. In the early 90’s I found Yessongs on CD. I hadn’t heard it for years but as the live version of ‘Yours is no Disgrace’ is one of my favourite songs of all time so I thought that I’d get it and give it another listen, all be it for the first time in ten or more years. The thing that amazed me was that it was rock with a funky rhythm section and it was so beautifully written that I was blown away all over again. It was like going back home. This time I was a much more developed instrumentalist and musician. None of the original substance that attracted me to it had disappeared. If anything it sounded better than before. The next step was to go back through all of that stuff and I found that I love it more know than ever. Albums such as Yessongs, Going For The One, Relayer, Foxtrot, The Wind and the Wuthering, Chocolate Kings, Trace, Strangers in the Night, The Trick of the Tail, 2112, Permanent Waves, etc. This music contained everything that appealed to me. It had really great drummers that could grove, there would be heavy and light moments, tempo shifts, unusual time signatures, key changes and in some cases, all of this in the same 15 minute song. What more could I want.
In the early 90’s I did get into Dream Theater. The technique is all there but I’m not so sure about the song writing. Their good bits are really good but there is a lot that is not to my taste. These days I still listen to the old stuff but I do like to mix it with Satch, Vai, One Minute Silence, classical, blues, be-bop, fusion, trance, funk. If I like it, that’ll do for me. Although it’s mostly rock music that ‘flicks my switches’ I’m not constrained to just one thing. That’s not healthy for a musician.
Let’s talk Cross. I think it was 1994 (or 93 I’m not quite sure) that I’d had a little bit of a falling out with one of the guys in a band. It was a funk band. I’d had enough. I got a music paper and saw an ad for a rock guitarist. It was time to go home to rock.
I went for the audition in London. I wasn’t quite sure if I liked what I heard as it was not quite what I was looking for. I do recall the old guy with the electric violin making some great sounds and I thought that he was a great player. It was John Dillon that really did it for me. How could someone with such a terrible looking technique play so well and generate so much energy. I still don’t understand how but it works. At the time I had no idea if they thought I was good or bad or indifferent. Johnny was helping me load my kit back into my car when he said to me “do you know who you’ve just auditioned for?”
“No” I replied.
“David Cross.” He said.
“Who’s he?”
“He used to play for King Crimson.”
“Oh, the 20th Century Schizo crowd. Very clever stuff but it’s not really my kind of thing.”
A few days later I got a call saying that they’d like to try me out for a while and see how it goes. I like progressive but I’ve never been a big fan of the experimental stuff as I like to work things out. After a while I felt as though I began to get my head around the way that David works and I really enjoyed it.
Working with David is hard work, inspiring, soul destroying and just ‘out there’.
Hard work because he’s always searching for that something which is very hard to find. When that something is found it really can be quite something but the searching isn’t all that easy but worth it none the less. Inspiring because of the times that it really comes together. I’ve been on stage with David many times and I know what to expect. His playing standard is very high and he can be very unusual and unorthodox (sometimes more like a guitarist). Every now and again David has a great moment (considering his own standards) and when they occur it is a truly great experience. On those occasions it’s easy to get the “I’m not worthy” vibe and it makes you feel so proud to be part of the same band.
Soul destroying because, I guess, the nature of the music. Writing and playing with David is never going to be easy. That’s why there is only one David Cross. When things went well they went really well, but sometimes things did not go quite so well and the whole thing could get quite painful. I’d just hang on in there waiting for the ‘really well’ bits. ‘Out-there’ because of the times that it all came together. I do recall playing Learning Curve on more than one occasion and getting ‘out of it’ on the music alone. For all of the music that I have in my collection, Learning Curve is one of my favourite songs of all time and I feel proud and fortunate that it was me playing on it.
Eventually, I felt that I needed to write with more order and composition and the band tended to do a great deal of improvisation in a manner that was not to my taste. I think that the band sensed this and would have found my writing style too constraining considering the way that they go about their business and what they stand for.
I was beginning to write in a style that does not suit David so I was keeping it for another time and another band. I’d expressed to Sheila Maloney a few times that I was not comfortable with the way things were and I guess that the rest of the band got together and figured out that I was no longer the ‘right man for the job’. When I got the bad news I was a little sad but in another way it allowed me to carry on with my own music which made me very happy. I formed a band called Siberia (which I’m still in today) and I’m really enjoying it.
The really great part is that no feelings were hurt and I’ve remained friendly with all of the band members. I still record with David as I ended up doing most of the playing on Exiles although I was out of the band by then. When David records his next album I think that I’ll be playing on that too, which is something that I’m really looking forward to. If David decides to ‘go live’ again he knows that I’ll be there if needed. To sum up, although David’s music was not the kind that I imagined that I’d end up playing, I really enjoyed it and I learned a great deal in the process.
How can you not.