Steven Wilson interview (2021)

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Steven about releasing an album during the pandemic, falling out of love with the guitar, the origins of his new album The Future Bites, living in an electronic world, Eddie van Halen, King Ghost, an exciting songwriting process, making the characters he writes about believable, creativity and technology, the internet changing human nature, the decline of truth and reality, positive change, the year 2032 an consumer culture, curiosity being under threat.

Video interview with English musician, singer, songwriter and producer Steven Wilson. FaceCulture spoke with Steven about releasing an album during the pandemic, falling out of love with the guitar, the origins of his new album The Future Bites, living in an electronic world, Eddie van Halen, King Ghost, an exciting songwriting process, making the characters he writes about believable, creativity and technology, the internet changing human nature, the decline of truth and reality, positive change, the year 2032 an consumer culture, curiosity being under threat, the notion of rebellion changing, and a lot more! (07/01/2021)

[juanpablorodriguez]

Time Lapse

0:55 How hard was put out an album in a pandemic?
3:10 How was the starting point for "The Future Bites"?
3:35 Thougts of Steven on the Guitar
5:08 Thoughts of Steven on the sound of the "TFB"
6:08 Thoughts on Classic Rock/Metal Solos
8:15 Thougts on the passed away of Eddie Van Halen
9:35 First song purely electronic music on the Record "TFB"
11:30 Enthusiasm on not writing on the guitar
13:50 Struggle on the lyrics on the album (Specially 12 Things i forgot)
16:24 How Technology its gonna change human comunnication, beaviour and emotions
18:05 The illusion of self thruth on the social media. (fake news, etc.)
20:00 On Veganism and Vegetarianism
21:30 The concept of the "future" on the album
25:00 What its the best way to live with modern technology?
26:20 The dangerous side of the comfort zone with modern thecnology (videogames, etc)
28:10 Are the old times better?

Cheers from Colombia Friends!

[kcb]

Always love listening to SW speak on current issues. I've definitely spent a lot of time on video games, but the older I get the more I am leaning towards the opinion that they are a waste of time. Not always of course, because people can definitely have meaningful experiences with video games, but I do think that people might be sacrificing valuable time that couldve been spent learning other more practical skills.

Got an email this morning that my box set and other goodies had shipped out. I cant wait to get my hands on it. I have decided that I am going to avoid listening to the album before I receive the physical product. I want it in the lyric sheet in my hands for the first time i listen. Im 22 and this will be the first time ever having that kind of experience. Steven mentioned in the interview people always having nostalgia for their teenage years. strangely i have nostalgia for times when I was not even alive.

[guilhermegarcia]

Martin, THANK YOU for this interview. Intelligent. I'm dying here.. I graduated (philosophy) and I get my master degree (philosophy) last year... and this interview it's amazing.. And I watched the docs about Unabomber, so I got it instantly. Hugs from Brazil!

[bruffyb]

There are still great guitar based bands, I feel that classic rock is tired but there are still great bands that utilise the guitar beautifully.

[tomigoi]

Guitar shredding and video games are specifics but they're not the problems. If we look at the bigger picture, I think what we're really talking about here are abusiveness (in case of guitar shredding) and addiction (for video games.) Both of these two traits are bad, in whatever practice you apply them to; shredding and games unfortunately are used as talking points here. 

There are shredding guitar solos by Guthrie Govan in albums that Steven produced, and he approved it, because it was done sensibly. He talked about losing oneself in imaginary world, but aren't music, books and movies, all are his favorite hobbies, also imaginary? He was quick to voice his opinions and like most of us, was prejudice. I am confident that Steven himself would agree that being abusive and addicted to anything is not good, and fairly convinced if we refrain from playing fast all the time, or got hooked in games 8 hours straight, things will be just fine.

Isn't the true message of this album is just that: technology and modern life is not a bad thing if we do not abuse it and get addicted to it?

[iavh]

Do we really need more fake celebrities? What else is Wilson supposed to say if Eddie's death didn't affect him? Was he supposed to lie or kiss ass? Eddie's death was as sad as anybody's death. You're not obligated to care especially when you didn't personally know the guy.

[RuudPeters]

Interesting view from Steven on our struggle with technology and the (possible ?) bleak future of it all, especially for our children. We are living in a weird chaotic 'interbellum'. Will we lose connection with everything that made us human so far: curiosity, creativity etc. Thanks for this "philosophical" interview ! Oh yes.... looking forward to hear the new album as well 😄

[notan]

I remember when Steve said he had forsaken the idea of family for his music, and I always felt that the fact that he was "okay" with it wasnt truly honest. And now all of a sudden he has a wife and kids and Im so happy for him :D

[SoundMuzak]

When I look back in my life one thing I regret its spending so much time playing videogames and being so much behind a computer in my teenage years... and I'm afraid that I will regret in the future looking back to these days that I still am so much behind a computer. There's always an excuse to why, but afterwards what's left is the realization of having wasted so much time.

I have a love/hate relationship with technology and have to admit that, although I use my phone and internet a lot, I would prefer a society without these things.

[agemoth]

His speaking voice reminds me of Tony Robinson from Blackadder! 😂

[stevemuzak]

To all offended Eddie Van Halen fans: He didn't offend EVH in any way. He even said that Eddie was an extraordinary musician. He just haven't been touched by his death. Not everyone needs to be upset just because you're upset. Chill out

[sergiomarcano]

I love listening to Steven Wilson talking, but he must be a very very difficult person to live with 😂😂😂

[jeanjacqueslundi]

This is why I don't like most people. That a guy like SW can make a comment on HIS PREFERENCE AND IDEAS when it comes to Van Halen and have a bunch of people with pitchforks going for his throat.

How was THAT not a valid opinion? You may not agree, but if we aren't allowed to have such we are not gonna be very creative. I wonder if Van Halen never made a comment concerning a genre or artist in the same

God I hate most people....

[sergiomarcano]

If You live in Venezuela like me, there is no space to worry about bying, the one and only thing day by day is how yo get food, that is all.. Everything beyond that is so out of the question, You just don't bother no more, I don't know If this is good or Bad, but thats how it is.

[OzzyVanHalen]

Eddie was so much more than a "Shredder"

[raheelsaeed]

King Ghost is definitely one of the two best tracks of Steven’s solo career; up there with Happy Returns

[LeeBarry]

The problem I've had with abrupt philosophical 180s is that they quickly lose steam. I've eschewed acoustic instruments before, but always felt homesick for them after dalliances with electronic music. I've delved into microtonal music and made me feel ill after a while.

[francescodomenichetti]

I really enjoyed this.
It's nice when he talks about animal rights\veganism. Here in the UK I am finding a wonderful community about this.
But i definetly not agree about videogames.
I played them during my childhood \ teenager years and I am still curious about the outside world.
But, as he said, when you are costantly under the attack of hate\fake news, videogames\books\movies\music can really save your mind.
Videogames are just another form of art and expression.

[bruffyb]

I'll have you know my son has travelled the length and breadth of Hyrule. Destroyed Ganon and gave peace to the people who dwell there.

[fpsqt]

Eddie's legacy was a generation of copycat shredders because people totally missed his point. He was a far better rhythm guitarrist and overall musician than his fast playing in solos. His weird solos and fast playing were more like "hey, look what I can do with this instrument, innit cool? Ok now back to my arsenal of KILLER rhythm compositions that absolutely NO ONE can create with so much versatility and finesse as I can". Of course other folks could never touch what Van Halen was all about (the actual songs), so they just tried to copy the weird fast soloing. Eddie has stated several times that he went "Oh Jesus. what have I done", when seeing dozens and dozens of copycat guitarrists just playing fast for showing off. Eddie didn't like it as well, he knew people missed the point