The Newest Strawb, An Interview With Dave Bainbridge by Judi Cuervo

DAVE BAINBRIDGE:

In 2015, Strawbs added yet another Dave to its line up in the form of Dave Bainbridge, a multi-instrumentalist and composer who mans the keyboards (and sometimes guitar) while still maintaining a hectic recording and touring schedule with Celestial Fire (featuring Sally Minnear, daughter of Gentle Giant’s Kerry Minnear), and Lifesigns (which includes John Young who was Strawbs’ keyboardist during 2010) as well as a schedule of solo shows.  Until 2016, Dave was a member of Iona, a progressive Celtic rock band with a global following.

Dave’s first live performance with the band took place somewhere between Miami, Florida and Grand Stirrup Cay in the Caribbean during the 2016 Moody Blues Cruise aboard The Norwegian Pearl.  Landlubbers can hear his earliest contributions, recorded in 2015 and released in 2017, on The Ferryman’s Curse, Strawbs’ first album of all new material in eight years.

Dave found the time, presumably between guitar solos, to respond to a few questions about Strawbs 50^th Anniversary Weekend and more!

You’ll play a major role in Strawbs 50th Anniversary Weekend in April!  50 years…  I suspect that 50 years ago you were in your Mickey Mouse pajamas, playing chopsticks in your family’s living room and not groovin’ to Oh How She Changed.  Am I close?

Ha ha! No! Though my first guitar when I was about 2 was a Mickey Mouse guitar!  I was nine 50 years ago and already listening to my older sister’s record collection (when she was out!).  She had some great records:  Beatles, Vanilla Fudge, Jethro Tull, Jimi Hendrix and several blues albums. It was a great musical grounding, along with the classical piano lessons I was already having.

When did you first discover Strawbs?  Before joining the band, were you familiar with their work?

Yes, of course I’d heard of them, but like a lot of people, mainly knew Part of the Union which, of course, wasn’t very representative of the band’s music as a whole, and the track Hero and Heroine with its  brilliant chordal riff. I also knew that Rick Wakeman was in Strawbs before he joined Yes and I was a massive Rick fan in my teens, even writing a piano piece in honour of him, in his flowing style! I did hear some other tracks when I was a teenager, and the main thing I remember was how great Blue Weaver’s playing was–I especially loved the way he played Hammond organ.

But I was so immersed in bands like Yes and Deep Purple that I didn’t take the time to really listen to Strawbs music until much later. As an aspiring musician at the time, I was into music more than lyrics. However, as I grew older I began to appreciate lyrics much more, especially when I started writing them myself and realized what an art there is to it.  So when I was asked to join the band, a lot of the music was still new to me, but I immediately loved it, especially Dave Cousins’ amazing lyrics and the big dynamic changes in the music.

Your addition to the band attracted a good number of Iona fans to Strawbs gigs during their 2016 North American tour.

Yes, I’m still waiting for the commission! 🙂

Is there considerable crossover between Iona and Strawbs fans?  Do you think your Iona following would enjoy the 50^th Anniversary Weekend? 

Good questions and the answer to both is yes. As soon as I started playing gigs with the band, people would come up to me and say they were fans of both bands, which was really nice. Both bands combine folk, rock and progressive elements and often have songs with lyrics that are spiritual in some way, so there are a lot of things in common between the two. I really hope that some Iona fans will turn up at the 50th weekend as I know they’d like it. In fact, I’m sure some Iona fans will. We toured several times on the east coast of the U.S., including New Jersey, and always had a strong following there.

Your performance schedule and your various projects make my head spin!  Do you ever worry that you’ll arrive for a Celestial Fire gig all ready to perform Lifesigns material?

Ha ha! Well it hasn’t happened yet! I try to compartmentalise practice for the various bands, really focusing on whichever one is coming up soonest. I’ve always been involved in several live projects simultaneously so I suppose my brain has adapted somehow!  So….what is this interview about? 🙂

Speaking of Lifesigns, did you know John Young—Strawbs’ keyboardist for Strawbs 2010 Canada/ UK tour—before you joined Strawbs?  Do you ever share Strawbs keyboardist stories…and can you share any here?

John and I had met briefly in 2000 or 2001 when Iona were playing at the Classic Rock Society’s Rotherham Rocks festival, and John was doing a solo set. After that I didn’t see him again until about 2 1/2 years ago, when Strawbs were playing at a venue near where he lived. The day before, one of my keyboards had developed a fault and Dave Cousins suggested we call John to see if I could borrow a keyboard from him. Being the generous person he is, John duly obliged and turned up at the venue with one of his keyboards, saving the day!! We kept in touch after that and soon after he asked me to play guitars on the Lifesigns Cardington album. Nico, the Lifesigns guitarist, had by then left the band and John asked if I’d like to join, which I was thrilled to be able to do, in between Strawbs activities. We have become good friends in the past couple of years.

We have talked on occasions about our experiences with Strawbs, but no specific stories come to mind. It’s more general observations. We both have huge respect for everyone in the band and the amazing legacy of all that great music.

From what I understand, you’re writing the orchestrations for the 30-piece orchestra that will accompany Strawbs during the weekend’s Symphonic Strawbs segment.

Yes, I am!

Is this your first time writing for an orchestra?  What are some of the challenges? 

I’ve written for orchestra before. When I was at music college I did a few orchestral arrangements as part of the arranging segment of my course and I passed with distinction so I must have done something right! I used to write a lot of music for short films and corporate productions and quite often this would be orchestral in nature, covering many styles and periods. Usually there wasn’t the budget for a whole orchestra, so I’d use keyboards and samples to replicate the sound of an orchestra, but whenever I could, I’d also add at least some real strings or woodwind players, etc.

In 1999, Iona did a big concert with The All Souls Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London, for which I did most of the orchestral arrangements. This was recorded and released as the album Woven Cord. That was a big thrill. I’ve also written a few things for string quartet for film and album tracks and in 2009 I co-wrote a guitar concerto with acclaimed classical guitarist Nick Fletcher (who plays with Steve Hackett’s brother John), called Iberian Fantasy, which I did the orchestrations for. This came out on Nick’s album Cathedral of Dreams.

The main challenge is making sure that the orchestral arrangements really enhance the songs and are not just an add-on for the sake of it. And also that the balance of the instruments works live. With recording and sampled orchestral sounds, you can if you want, for example, have an oboe louder in the mix than, say a trumpet, simply by turning up a slider on the mixing desk. But playing live one has to think more about the natural balance within the orchestra.

The other challenge from a live standpoint is getting the balance between the band and the orchestra to work. We have a 30-piece chamber orchestra, rather than a full-sized, 90-plus-piece symphony orchestra, so we will have to do a few things we wouldn’t normally do at a Strawbs gig, such as use perspex screens around the drums and the loud guitar amps to minimize the sound spilling over into the orchestra’s microphones.

Aside from the symphony—and I assume that seeing your orchestrations come to life on that stage would be an extraordinary feeling—what are you looking forward to most at the Strawbs 50^th Anniversary Weekend?

Yes, I am looking forward to hearing the orchestrations played live. It would have been great to have had a real orchestra on the Ferryman’s Curse album, but we didn’t have the budget, so I had to use keyboard samples. So, hearing a few tracks from that album, in particular, with the real orchestra will be a big thrill.

I’m really looking forward to the whole thing and hearing all the various combinations of musicians. I’m especially looking forward to meeting one of my early keyboard heroes for the first time, and to be working with the other past members of the band. It will be great too, to hang out with many of the Strawbs fans who have become friends over the past few years. It will be a real celebration of 50 years of amazing songs and I’m honoured to be a part of it.