Barrett, Nick (Pendragon) (October 2005)

An almost likely heartfelt confession for an artist who looks sincere and gentle like few others. It seems that Nick Barrett brilliantly survived the hard times and he is now ready to rock once again. He only needs something to believe. Let's see.

Igor Italiani: Hello Nick, how are you doin'?

Nick Barrett: Hello Igor. I'm doing fine, thanks. 'Scuse me if I'm a little late with the interview call, but the other one dragged a little too far. I hope there are no problems whatsoever.

II: No, there's no problem. It's only a few minutes. So let's start from the first song of your album, which is like a statement: "No Place For The Innocent." You really sense this in the modern world?

NB: Yes. "No Place For The Innocent" is the first true song of the album and revolves around the world that we are taught about is not the world we live in. This song emphasizes what the entire album is all about: a belief, or rather I should say a disbelief, of what goes on nowadays. In fact the last few years I became intrigued by the works of David Icke, who is amongst the ones who claim that the world is manipulated by a certain New World Order, which will submit mankind to slavery once again. There's a certain path that recurs from time to time and author to author, like a conspiracy going on, so it's really interesting. For example when they teach you Darwin's theories in school they always forget to mention that even Charles Darwin, at the end of his life, was not so sure about some of the conclusions he discovered as a scientist.

II: Cool. However, the new album differs slightly from your latest works. What about that?

NB: Right. Until Not Of This World the kind of feel, the formula, portrayed inside the record was almost always the same. With Believe we tried to switch to a new kind of feel, a slightly different sound. For example the influences grew from Pink Floyd and Genesis to Led Zeppelin, Santana, Hendrix, The Who and even some jazz like Al Di Meola. We felt that it was time for a change.

II: Nick, even if the album clearly rocks, you used quite a variety of acoustic passages. Is it something you planned from the start or it came naturally once you were in the studio?

NB: It came naturally. You know, playing with an acoustic guitar is like sitting in front of a piano and just go. You don't have to set a lot of things. With the electric guitar you have to check volumes, effects ? I need the wah-wah pedal ? with the acoustic guitar you just grab it and then go. It's enjoyable to do and very simple. So for Believe I started to write a lot of songs with the acoustic guitar and then I decided to keep them that way. They already sounded great, so why bother to change?

II: Nick, can you tell me something else about the relationship with Karl Groom, who is depicted as the unofficial 5th member of Pendragon?

NB: Oh sure. Karl is a great, great guy. It's very hard to find a guy like him, I have to tell you this. He is very dedicated and has a gift in finding the perfect sound. In fact, the band in which he plays, Threshold, have some incredible stuff, but most of all a top-notch production. However he is an easy going person and he is incredibly good fun. Pendragon really love to work with him.

II: OK, let's return to the official band. This year marks its 20th anniversary. I read that on the horizon are both the re-issue of your first work (The Jewel) and a celebrative show, too. Can you talk about it?

NB: You read it right. The Jewel is coming off right now as a re-issue, while the commemorative concert for our 20th anniversary is somewhere along the road. I think we will do something later this year or maybe the next, 'cause now we are focused on the promotion for Believe. However we will probably do a DVD out of this concert ? or should I say concerts, because I hope to do maybe a couple of gigs, one in England and one in Poland. Let's see what happens. You know, the real difficulty is to gather every past and present member of Pendragon, because I would love to mark this concert as something really special for us and for the audience, too. So it's a problem with time and the location, because some members of the past are not full-time musicians anymore, so they have to take some time off their families and other priorities ? but we will do it. I really think so.

II: I hope so, Nick. However your website is full of information and comprises six languages. So what's the band stand on music and internet?

NB: Well, my opinion on the web is that it's either good and bad. It's not so good when someone downloads music and the band misses out on royalties. You know, Pendragon is a small band, and it's always a struggle financially. The downloads are hurting the small bands, you have to believe me. They're not hurting the majors so much. We have so many difficulties going to tour, and it depends on the downloads, too. In fact organizing a tour is really frustrating much of the time. We have to "fight" sometimes to find a "true" promoter who might be interested in bringing the band abroad. Is it possible, for example, that we have no problems playing in South America but struggle mightily to obtain a date in Scotland? Just around the corner? However, returning to the internet, it's good for the promotion, 'cause you can speed up the entire process if you want. But on the other hand sometimes you find people that waist no time in giving quick and inappropriate comments on your music. It happened recently with us.

II: Let's return to the live environment. Pendragon will hit Europe with a complete tour somewhere in the near future?

NB: I hope so. We will work on it once the promotion of Believe is OK. I think that an appropriate date could be May 2006. You know, it's strange but recently we always find the venues already booked for months in advance. Incredible. However we will do it, and I hope to include Italy among the places. I would love to play there.

II: But do you think that the next album will see the light of day four years from now or it will arrive a little earlier?

NB: Sure, sure. The next album will arrive much sooner than this. You know, the last two albums were released slower than what I hoped for one particular reason: in the past 9 years I had to fight enormous problems. Personal problems. I got divorced, than I had financial problems and after that physical problems. I got depressed, too. You know, all these things take a toll on you. Someone succumbs. I recently read, for example, a book about Peter Grant, the famous Led-Zeppelin manager who went through drugs and depression. It's a journey, and you have to endure it and then settle your life. Put your troubles behind you. Now that I've managed to do that I'm much more relaxed and at peace with myself. I'm ready to rock once again.

II: Nick, I'm happy to hear that. All the best. Thank you very much for your time and I hope to see the band in Italy as soon as possible. Have a nice weekend.

NB: Thank you Igor for your time and interest in Pendragon. It was a pleasure. Have a nice weekend, too. Hope to see you at the next Pendragon concert. Bye. Bye.

Discography:
Fly High Fall Far (ep) (1984) (OOP)
The Jewel (1985)
9:15 Live (1986)
Kowtow (1989)
The R(B)est Of Pendragon (1991) (incl. Fly High... ep)
The World (1991)
The Very, Very Bootleg - Live In Lille, France 1992 (1993)
The Window Of Life (1993)
Fallen Dreams and Angels (ep) (1994)
Utrecht... The Final Frontier (1995)
The Masquerade Overture (1996)
As Good As Gold ep (1996)
Live In Krak?w 96 (1997)
The Masquerade Overture (digi-pack w/bonus trk) (1999)
Once Upon A Time In England Vol 1 (1999)
Once Upon A Time In England Vol 2 (1999)
The Round Table (1985-1998) (1999) (Sth Am. mkt)
The History: 1984-2000 (2000) (Polish mkt) Not Of This World (2001)
Acoustically Challenged (2002) The Jewel (remastered) (2005)
Believe (2005)
Pure (2008)
Concerto Maximo (2009)
Passion (2011)
Out Of Order Comes Chaos (2013)
Men Who Climb Mountains (2014)

Live... At Last! (VID) (1997)
Live...At Last And More (DVD) (2002)
And Now Everybody To The Stage (DVD) (2005)
Past And Presence (DVD) (2007)
Concerto Maximo (DVD) (2009)
Out Of Order Comes Chaos (DVD) (2012)