Introduction

THE YOUNG NEO CLASSICISTS

Why has your music changed totally?
KLIVE: We were influenced by punk and new wave music, especially bands like Joy Division, at the time of our first album. But we started to stop expressing those sort of influences in our music. I think we've kept on changing musically, because we've been trying to create our own identity. The first album bared all our naivety and innocence to the recording process and showed our first exploration of making music.

What made your music change?
Klive: Just ourselves. Over the years we have chosen to write and express our music in a more classical vein. We used military snare drums and guitars when we started, but found the guitar too limiting for our musical needs. It was then that we decided that it was the classical influence that we wanted to express in our music.

Will the new album 'L;Esprit' also be classical?
Klive: Yes. The influences are still there, but we've introduced more voices on this recording and overall our identity is becoming stronger and stronger.

Did you learn that sort of classical essence from seeing the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra?
Klive: Yes. Well,I suppose I was greatly impressed by the sight of a sixty/seventy piece orchestra - that magnitude of strength and the ability to express sorrow and joy so beautifully had a profound effect on me.

Do you produce your records by yourselves?
Klive: We do produce our own records, altho we work in close relation to the studio engineer. Many of the production credits are shared between us and it's important to have a strong working relationship with the engineer - ideas are created, tested and then a decision is taken. We are very discerning whilst in the studio.

Was a promotional video at the time of "When Cherished Dreams Come True"?
Klive: The 'Cherished Dreams' video was never created as a promotional video. It was rather a visual collection of images relating to the music from the mini-LP. We sold copies privately and gave to friends. It was a very limited edition like the record and was a document of our beginning as a band.

Is "Timbre" East European folk music?
Klive: It's a Hungarian chant.

I can feel Russian influences from some of your songs. "Iskra" is the name of Lenin's newspaper and "Butyrki" is dedicated to Mayakovski.
Klive: Yes. Specifically that twelve inch was intended as a tribute departure of Ant Bennet from the band - he did his own track "Butyrki" -and we worked on separate tracks as well.
Nigel: I think we'd appreciated some Russian art and theatre from the period of Mayakovski and also the films of Eisenstein. Klive: We used those influences, including work by composers such as Shostakovich and Bela Bartok

And is "Trinity" about the Algerian war?
Klive: If you want to be specific, Yes. But the lyrics are about our feelings against war in general. We saw the film 'The Battle Of Algiers' which was directed by Visconti and had music by Ennio Morricone. The effect the film had on us provided the passion by which we wrote "Elegy". The words and music cry out against torture. It is probably the first and last time we will make a statement as blatant as that, but the feelings had to be let out.

Please explain what's the line-up of your stage show?
Klive: It's the four of us - myself, Nigel, Q and Dolores. Q plays mainly the military snare drum. Dolores sings and plays keyboards and percussion.

How about you Nigel?
Nigel: I play mainly keyboards and a little percussion. We swap around for each song.

And you Klive?
Klive: Vocals and tympani, but as Nigel said, we change between songs. The live show encompasses slides and a simple but effective stage set. The importance is on live performance, we don't like to use backing tapes. Obviously, it's quite different from our records. We don't try to emulate the exact recordings, it's a completely separate thing when we play live.

Have you played in many countries?
Nigel: Germany, Holland, France....

And England?
Nigel: Yes, but we have much more demand in Europe at the moment.

Were you a drummer?
Q: Not as such. When I was very young, I used to beat drums in Scotland. But I hadn't done any drumming for years and years. So it took me a long time to get back the rhythm.

How about Dolores' profile? Is IN THE NURSERY the first group for her?
Klive: She has worked in many arenas. She has travelled and lived in Germany, Spain and France, to name a few. We first met Dolores in Scotland in 1985 and this is her first involvement in a musical group. The inspiration to work together has been through friendship, similar passions and ideas.

Your recent music is brilliant, but I can't see, how can I say, something like your existence or raison d'tetre, message from your music.
Klive: Our music is stained with a reason, reasons for our existence. The music is a form of belief, it is our form of understanding, our means of expression. Take it away from us and we yearn it. This music is our lifeblood - it is the truth from within our soul.

What is the ultimate point for IN THE NURSERY?
Klive: The ultimate point is...never to be ultimate. Never to reach perfection or at least never to touch it. The joy is in constantly striving. When we have reached all that there is to learn and understand, then that is the time to stop and finish our activity, but I'm not ready to end it.

This interview took place between ITN and Kenji Kikuchi during the year 1989