Interview with Stephen Palmer of Mooch from 2010

In 1998 my wife and I moved away from the London area to the Westcountry (the south-western part of England), where I worked with local musicians for many years. Andy Garibaldi released the fourth Mooch album In Search Of The Acid Metal Grille in 1999 on his Dead Earnest record label, and the album was well received. By then I was also working with a friend of mine from university days, Pete Wyer, who is an amazing guitarist, and now has a reputation as a modern classical composer. Pete and I keep in touch, and he still contributes to the band's albums. During those early years of the new millennium Andy was unable to release music on CD, but as it happened I was taking time out to work on my "other career" as a science-fiction author.

By 2005 I had moved to Shropshire - where I was brought up, and where my parents and sister live - and Andy Garibaldi was keen to release the sixth album Gaiaspace; the year previously I had self-released on CDR the album Flight Of The Dub Voyager. Alas, 2006 marked the end of the road for Dead Earnest Records, so I linked up with John Sherwood of Ambientlive Records, and in 2007 we agreed to release the double CD space-rock concept album Dr Silbury's Liquid Brainstem Band. The album got some fantastic reviews, so I was really pleased, but at this time my personal life was extremely difficult because of a serious illness suffered by my wife; recording and preparing the album got me through that nightmarish period. At this time I was getting into 'sixties music and becoming curious about the songwriting process, so I changed tack radically and began writing and recording a trio of 'sixties-influenced song based albums: 1967½, "1966" and 1968a. These were released on Ambientlive Records, to mostly positive response. I can't sing, so I worked with local singers, including Chris Gill of the gothic progressive Band Of Rain. That turned out to be a good move, and Chris and I have collaborated on various projects ever since. Some of my fans, inevitably, were confused by the change in direction, but I reassured them that the space-rock heart of Mooch was still beating!

During 2008 and 2009 I began writing and recording the new band album, The Pagan Year, and this was released on February 15 by Ambientlive Records.

When, in April 1992, I was thinking of a name for the band, I settled on the word "mooch" as a quirky, not-very-serious name. Had I known how the band would progress I would have chosen something more sensible! But I do like the word. In the US "mooch" means to steal or take, but in Britain it means to lounge around not doing very much. I thought this was an appropriately relaxed word to choose for what at the time looked like being an ambient/space project.

In the mid 1990's I became interested in paganism. I'm an atheist and also involved with environment issues, so it had a certain attraction. As a non-spiritual person however I came to paganism from a skewed angle. My motivation was to experience the environment from an Earth-centred perspective, and paganism was one way of doing it. Because of my non-spiritual stance I sometimes describe myself as a part-time pagan, but my interest in what it has to offer is sincere.

I'm particularly interested in the "wheel of the year," which is the annual cycle of eight festivals - two solstices, two equinoxes, and the four Celtic cross-festivals Imbolc, Beltane (May Day), Lughnasadh and Samhain - that modern pagans observe. The album journeys through a pagan year via eight tracks, each 15-20 minutes long, contained in two CDs. “Imbolc” is minimal, as befits this cold, gloomy time of year, whereas the “Vernal Equinox” is a little more lush. “Beltane” is warmer and a bit more bouncy, while the “Summer Solstice” is vigorous and exuberant. “Lughnasadh” is hot and heavy, while the “Autumnal Equinox” is complex and stormy. “Samhain” is stately and elegiac, and then “Yule” returns the listener to a cold, electronic sound for the winter solstice.

One feature I wanted for The Pagan Year was a special guest on each track, again to emphasise the character of each time of year. “Imbolc” features the British electronic musician Jez Creek, who is one of the most energetic and noteworthy supporters of the British EM scene. I've known Jez for a while - he played alongside me at the launch gig for Gaiaspace in 2006, and he was one of the guests on Dr Silbury's Liquid Brainstem Band. The two equinox pieces feature sung chants, and these were done by Chris Gill and Linda Harlow. Chris is a brilliant guitarist, and has sung my songs since 2007, while Linda was one of the trio who sang the "1966" songs.

The track “Beltane” is made complete by Bridget Wishart, who not only sang but also played saxophone and EWI (electronic wind instrument).

On “Lughnasadh” I wanted to work with Alex Pym, who has for a long time been part of the Ozric Tentacles extended family, and now plays guitar in that amazing space-rock band Dream Machine. Alex came up two two smoking electric guitar solos.

As for “Samhain,” the central portion of that track is enriched by my long-time collaborator Cyndee Lee Rule, the American electric violinist. Cyndee has been one of my most enthusiastic and important collaborators for some time now.

Finally, on “Yule,” I asked John Sherwood to play synthesizers, and this he did to great effect.

I'm really pleased with the album. I does everything I wanted it to!

I dread to think. Music keeps me sane. Though I've made virtually no money from it compared to writing novels (and, of course, my day job), I can't imagine life without it. Music for me is emotional self-expression, and integral to my way of life.

The sound of my mind, as interpreted by me and whoever I'm working with at the time.

I got in touch with John Hackett last year through a mutual friend, and it would be great if he played flute on some of the Britannia Street songs. He has told me he's interested, so we'll have to see how that progresses.

 I think the Internet has devastated music over the last decade. The problem is that music - and other content, such as video, or even text - can be shared instantaneously across the world, which inevitably creates a culture of acquiring content for free. The Internet has released this genie and it is never again going back into the bottle. I think there is a positive side to the Internet for bands, and that is the freedom it brings in terms of self-expression, presentation and fanbase, but I would say the down side is far more significant. It is impossible now to make a significant income unless you are already part of a huge band, have a phenomenal stroke of luck, or know Simon Cowell.

My big worry is that the destruction of music by the Internet also hits writing, but I think authors have little to worry about at the moment. Part of the technological advance of music has been the progression from tape to vinyl to CD to pure data. It is a progression of format. This however should not affect the book, as it is already a perfect design that can't be improved upon technically in the way, say, vinyl records were. For the moment, authors are safe. However, as soon as an author has a book available in electronic form they are in danger. Google books is already chewing up authors and spitting them out. I fear for the future of human creativity.

Just lately I've been playing music by Bernard Xolotl (Californian globe-trotter who records cosmic electronic music), Bo Hansson (of Lord Of The Rings fame), Midlake, very early Tangerine Dream, Toumani Diabate (Malian master of the kora), Konono No. 1 (Congolese street musicians), Emiliana Torrini, The Future Kings Of England and The Byrds. The last CD I bought was a greatest hits compilation by The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. I'm about to buy the new Midlake album!

I attend a local electronic music event called “Awakenings” that showcases British, and occasionally European, EM talent. I've played at the event a couple of times. The last big bands I saw live were Space Ritual and Amon Düül 2, who did an amazing night in my local home town of Shrewsbury. Nik Turner wandered around the venue before going on stage like he couldn't sit still even for a moment.

 Great film, that! Well, there haven't been many because Mooch don't play live much, but I suppose Cal Lewin destroying the bass speakers at a Cambridge venue in 1995 would be one. Cal had a particularly good sub-bass sound that he'd programmed, and it trashed the venue's cabs. That was not one of our best gigs - it poured with rain, hardly anybody came, and we got paid almost nothing. Gigs, eh...?

The novel is set millions of years in the future and has a strong environmental theme, as does most of my work. My style of writing is what you might call "elliptical" - I don't give much away, and a lot of the substance of the novel is beneath the narrative's surface. The plot follows two women, both of whom seek wisdom in the wrecked environment that is the planet-wide city of Urbis Morpheos. A mysterious man assists them. One woman hopes to bring the return of nature by denying all artifice and manufacturing, while the other seeks to overturn the artificial environment on its own terms. How they fare is the tale I tell.