Peter Gabriel--Press Conference, Supper Club, New York
City (September 24, 2002)

[first few minutes not recorded]

PG: But . . . no, I did, I mean it was a funny thing with "Don't Give Up," which was a while back now, but
all sorts of people wrote to me and told me things that [tape garbled for a few seconds] that song . . . that they had used it. In one case somebody thought it kept him from suicide, and someone else from drugs, and it was a strange lot of stuff coming back. And I started to think about how people use music as emotional tools--like if I was looking at my record collection, what would be my emotional tool kit, and what would I be missing? And I thought at the moment, well, if somebody dies, and I send them some words, I would send them music, and I guess you try and write songs . . . that would be my grief song. So there was sort of stuff like that going on, but otherwise it was sort of "first finished" and those that seemed to go together that determined what went on "Up." And the title came a long time before the songs, so it was sort of irreverent.

[unheard comment]

PG: Well, I agree with that. [laughter]

Question: Ken Richardson from Sound and Vision Magazine. Two questions, if I may. I read somewhere that there were going to be two different segments of the tour, maybe not immediately but eventually, but one segment would be, of course, the actual production and the other would be just a (concert/concept?) performance. Is that true? Are you still going to be following that plan?

PG: Well, we ended up (during/doing?) the last tour ____ start small and (going?) large, and it worked that way, because I love to do big visual things, and working with Robert LePage was a lot of fun. But at the same time, it's quite good just to get up naked on
the stage like this and . . . well, not just naked, maybe, but . . . [laughter] ______ (fairly easy?). Butthe first thing that we're going to do is the bigger tour, and that would be this ____ big ____ thing and____ everything.

Question [same person]: Okay. The other thing I was reading about, you're the first person to put the surround sound mix from an album on the Internet. This will be available in a surround sound version that you can download. If that mix has already been done, the question should be obvious, then, will this be able to be pulled up at any time on a hard disk version, ____ or a CD or some other way, and have you given any thought to going back to your past catalogue to remix some wonderful albums with the _____ from the _______ (recorder/reporter?) ? [laughter] ?

PG: It's amazing what you can get for five dollars. [laughter] Thank you, but I like (finding?). We spent a lot of time between (making pictures?), in my case a very long time between pictures, and sometimes you can't really get people inside it ________________.
The potential for 5.1 is great, I think. I mean, I think most people don't get it right in cars. Half the world can't put up a stereo properly, better than what, five, six speakers, and . . . but if you get it right, you know, you can sit there and you can hear everything, which is still pretty hard to do in stereo. And you're inside this world. And I think that's what I love to do, is kind of create pictures
with the music. So there is a version which went out on this Friday on the _____, on the ______ last week, I think, and that . . . I think the mix is still needing a little bit of tweaking, as always, so I think when we go back now I'm probably going to fiddle a little bit more and then I hope to sell it like a product. And I would like to be able to get ____________ satisfied.

Question: Mike (Bentwick?) from Mobile _________ magazine. I'll second that in the car. That's my medium, and I'd love to hear it better. Actually, I'd like to ask you a question about video DVD, especially since you worked on new design plans a lot. Do you have plans to release any of your previous work on DVD, and also what do you think of DVDs?

PG: Well, I would like to do some more stuff on DVD. Do you mean 5.1, or . . . or just . . . yeah, I mean I did this vision stuff, so chances the film work obviously get that once you're in a sort of surround situation in the home. Because I do think it's probably films that are driving the sales of these 5.1 systems, because everybody wants a home cinema system now, but I think music will benefit from that, and we should be able to sneak in through the back door. So yeah, I'd like to do a lot more with the soundtrack stuff because I was doing design for, sort of, environmental response.

Question: [unintelligible question - possibly about directors with whom PG would like to work?]

I (might take up?) stuff _____ of anybody's. I really love all the stuff, (it seems?) that art, cinema, (stuff that ______?) ah, ah . . . (Friends?) always think there's a (mask?) [laughter] (fading list?), but (Fred ____ ?) would be there, ___________, __________,
Hitchcock . . . all of this, got the director-based stuff, and similar to a lot of other people's (taste?). But when you have great directors who know how to use _____ music to ____, it's just a wonderful thing. ________.

Mac Cat: Are you scheduled to do anything between now and the beginning of the tour?

PG: Just to rehearse and get it right.

Mac Cat: OK.

PG: We're going straight to the (ring?) and (weekend?). And we're setting up in a military airfield which is about three miles from the studio, so I think we're sharing our preparations for the war in Iraq. [laughter] One of those things I don't think should be taking place.

Question: Has music been a healing force in your life, and has it been in your family by having your daughter in the band, if that's not too personal?

PG: We come from a "nepotism works" standard, [laughter] and I think it's (done wonders for us?), keeps the nepotism (flowing ____ and so forth?). If I was an undertaker, it would be wasting (some?), and . . . but it's fantastic for me to have my family, a real pleasure. [Someone brings Peter some wine and water.] Ahh, reinforcements. [laughter] A word from my sponsor. [laughter] So I have my eldest daughter, Anna, to work the video, and my youngest son, Isaac, screaming in the background. [laughter]

Question: Any apprehensions about introducing her to life on the road and the excesses of the rock world?

PG: I feel it will be fully a family operation this time around. So actually, ______, (they're happy?) with all that now (but the right _____ opportunity?).

Question: A couple of questions regarding the tour specifically. First of all, ________ regarding Robert Le Page's involvement, and also, obviously, your (fellow?) who has a history of supporting alternativepolitical initiatives. I'm wondering if you were given
any chance of perhaps going with a different promoter other than Clear Channel Entertainment, which has come under some criticism for ________ (practice?)?

PG: Well, firstly, I don't have apprehension. _________, I don't think (my record?) ________ has been a while, (therefore I'm not _____?) to ask them. I think I like an open market that's, you, know, I get. . . I love it when I talk to various musicians, we (recall?) barking and (grinching?), and (we have a?), I thought, "Well, (write about this, and then maybe we'll bring ______ our purpose _____?)?" But I think it's, you know, it's good to have some competition, I think I (gained?) some competition now, too. So based on my inquiries, I felt very comfortable within this.

Question: [faint speaking, evidently reminding PG he hadn't answered the question about Robert LePage]

PG: Sorry, Robert LePage. He is, I think, one of the most gifted people around working in and theatre, film and art. For me it's a real pleasure. His . . . for those people who don't know his work, it's . . . his theatre stuff that I was introduced to is wonderfully . . . there's beauty, it's elegant, and it's great to look at. So I think we've done ____ like going to the theatre, it's a whole other experience. And he's very innovative, so the process is working. We had a show, actually, which was going to be here at ____ (kind of to raise ____ awareness?), but it was called "Zulu Time," and it was something we started about aviation, the world of aviation, the aviation alphabet (off the ground?) was shown, and (second?) we had a section of that. But it's a sort of arts-and-science cabaret, and so one of the things that enabled us to do was to slow down and invite all these certain people that we were interested in. And quite a lot of them showed. Unfortunately here it was set up last September, and because it has a foreign (non-American in it?), the show was canceled rather quickly. So I hope we will get another chance to bring it back, but for me that'spart of what's great about working with Robert, is that there's always a lot of introductions, there are all sorts of points, and bringing people that interest us.

Question: You have lived in Real World here in England . . . [rest of question unintelligible]

PG: In that year we started up something called WOMAD, which was "World of Music, Arts and Dance," because we couldn't find music that we were getting psyched about from around the world. There were maybe two record stores in London, and it was harder still to find the right schedules to have a festival, and that led us to Real World Records (label?). And we used to do this
event where we would try and invite a lot of musicians at WOMAD and a lot of other musicians down to the studio. And it was sort of a bring-your-own-studio party, like a big date, [laughter] (a chance to see?), and we had different sessions going on. And people
would sniff around like animals just to see who they wanted to work with and arrangements they wanted to try and put together. It was a fantastic time and I still hope to do it again, but we've not really found a successful way to really make it pay yet, so which would _____ that to turn into a TV program. But it's a lot of fun. Just . . . ah, yeah, over there, in back a bit. But on the "Witness" question, too, I just want to give them a plug, because (Gillian?) is here somewhere. Oh, there she is, just coming up. So if
anyone has any more questions concerning Witness, you know, they've done an amazing job getting documentary evidence on cameras, which then gets used to change laws, and arming activists with computers. So any plugs here they want to give us would be much appreciated, and she's the lady with all the answers.

Question: Have you (thought?) enough about the stuff that needs to be explored to (see if?) there is anything on the new album that you don't think you will be able to play live?

PG: In fact, we played it here earlier. [laughter] And fucked it up. [more laughter] That was "My Head Sounds Like That." That was the song we didn't think we'd do. It was a difficult one, if you like, and I thought we would boldly go where no one has gone before. But . . . the other one, of course, is "Signal to Noise" with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, because sadly he's no longer here. It never quite worked . . . I mean, we're going to try and put some of him on video, because we . . . it's just a staggering piece of work that he gave us there. But it has another sort of big string section, and we haven't solved that.

Question: How about "Sky Blue" and "The Drop"?

PG: Um, yeah, "The Drop." I haven't tried that yet, but I'm hoping to learn, or relearn it, because Iforget how to play the music. And then "Sky Blue," again that relies heavily on the Blind Boys of Alabamaat the end, and they really sort of lift the heart and soul of the thing, and . . . we were looking at trying to get them to help, but I think that now isn'tgoing to happen ____, at least not . . . we'll
probably try and fit what we have on film to, sort of, we may have a little television wheeled on stage. To bring in new guests. And Hukwe Zawose is another that we're trying to get, so that's complicated, getting a Tanzanian. But I think we still have a chance with
that one.

Question: Peter? Dave ____. Awfully glad to be here. In regards to the tour, are you going to be taking anyone out with you, and if not, as far as all the talented people you do have on the record, are you planning to do any sort of WOMAD package for possibly
this summer?

PG: Well, I just mentioned Hukwe and Charles Zawose, which is Z-A-W-O-S-E. They . . . I mean, they don't actually do something on this record, but there's a song which will be on the next one which is one for which we're going to have them work with us and maybe have them guest on some other things. So I hope very much that they will be there. Otherwise, yeah, we're still working on it. In terms of us with Real World or WOMAD on the road, we tried a couple of times to do it over here, and although it's worked really well in other countries, it was very patchy and (if?) not forget the biggest show of the year in San Francisco with one hundred ten thousand, there were a lot of other cities we were under-performing and losing money. So I still very much believe in the possibilities of WOMAD U.S.A., and we've been doing a little bit in Seattle. But I'd love to see that fan out a little bit, because it was, I mean . . . for anyone who hasn't been, there's stuff that surely you won't like, but I challenge anyone not to find something that they love or discover that's important to them.

Question: You're doing this, a round stage in a central, multi-tiered pavilion. Why are you doing this, and how will it affect your performance versus when you use a proscenium stage?

PG: Well, last time we had two stages, which was like a male stage and a female stage, and it was also sort of urban and country. And this time we're sort of switching it ninety degrees and having a sort of "up" stage and a "down" stage and putting it in the center. So it's a sort of . . . it goes along with the "Up" theme, and we hope to play with that.

Question: Mr. Gabriel, (Jeanne?) ________ from the Toronto Sun. I had a chance to talk with Phillip Noyce at the film festival in September, and he was telling me about the soundtrack for Rabbit Proof Fence, and that your goal was to make music from the earth. And I just wanted to know, first of all, what attracted you about the film and what you were trying to do, and in fact if the making _________?

PG: Well, the first thing is it was a collaborative project with David Rhodes and Richard, who is standing in the room here, and we were trying to get . . . originally the idea was to try and see if we could build the stuff out of sound effects, because quite often the music and the sound effects are kept separate. And that . . . I mean, that led us down some roads. Like, for instance, there were slowed-down, manipulated bird calls from the film, which then become like these beautiful brass-like noises. But we didn't keep to it, and started using other elements as well. What attracted me, I think, was that it was a sort of simple story, it was going to be sort of done in an independent way. Then Miramax, you know, picked it up, but they certainly weren't around at the beginning, and it's a story that I thought was quite moving. These three kids that, in the time in Australia, they had a policy not to have any half-castes, so kids, half-caste kids, were pulled out of their families and put in these institutions. It was pretty moving stuff. I mean, not unlike what went on in this country, actually, with Native Americans. But these three girls had walked, nine to fourteen years old, the two [sic] of them nine, eleven and fourteen managed to escape. And remembering that there's a rabbit-proof fence going all the way from the south to the north of Australia . . . and they lived near the north end . . . they traveled the whole way across the continent, and it's a remarkable story. In fact, in real life, some of them . . . two of the women are still alive, and one of them . . . well, the main character, she actually was taken back pregnant, separated from her kid, whom she never saw again, andescaped a second time, took exactly the same journey and managed to walk, to (hang out in freedom?), at the ____. I recommend it.

Question: David ______, _______ Broadcasting. I was wondering if you'd done any further work at the Atlanta Language Research Center, and how you got involved with that, and how you also got Paul McCartney involved with that?

PG: I've been fascinated, like a lot of people, with these stories of apes learning English either with sign language or with symbols, so I was following some of this on the Internet and then thought, probably at a time when I had the record companies calling up asking for a record, that I should go and see if I could play music with them. And I called up the Language Research Center, and I spoke to Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, who's the main researcher there, and she said, "Yeah, would you like to try some musical stuff? Then come on down." So I went down about five times altogether, mainly on my own. And I would sit at the kitchen area with a keyboard and one of the apes would be just on the other side of the glass. We started sort of improvising together. We tried some rhythmic things, some melodic things, and I was just blown away. (Panbanicia?), particularly, was the __________. She asked . . . they had a big, heavy sort of . . . the keyboard is not an ideal interface, but I asked her to play with just one finger, which . . . she did one finger of both hands. I asked her to play on the white notes, and then I thought, ""I'll write something in A minor so the white notes would work," but she then started making very distinct choices, and turning up with melodies that I thought were fantastic. And so I got very excited about it, and (for someone that has only just begun, I hope we do more now that we've done all this stuff?), and I can spend a little more time there.

Woman's Voice: We can take one more question.

Question: Peter, Bruce (Eliot?) from Launch Media ____ Music. This (walking?) through an area of so many songs have become standards for your band. Is it difficult having a new album? Do you want to play as much of it as you can and yet satisfy people who want to hear the hits?

PG: That's the same thing I think every musician has every tour. And I think it's a time issue. In my experience, the first sort of six to eight weeks people are getting to know the new stuff, and it's still pretty strange. But to _______________, I think, takes a long time to get into a lot of stuff. But then after that period, then you hope people will be more familiar. So I imagine somewhere around the middle of the tour I will get the most hostile reactions to things, and . . . [laughter]

Woman's Voice: Thank you very much.
PG: Thank you.

[Applause.]