The Vernon Reid Website
Interview with Vernon Reid
interviewed over cyberspace by Carl de Souza

Vernon Reid was kind enough to give an interview to this website, to keep us up to date with what's been happening. The interview was conducted over cyberspace recently. Many thanks to Vernon for his time.

C: Vernon. Thank you so much for your time for the interview. Firstly, how are things going at the moment? Did you enjoy your tour of Europe? Did "My Science Project" perform to your expectations?

V: Life is good. Always strange but good. The tour of Europe was great. We had a lot of fun.Everyone played great and we had some trippy nights indeed.

C: About MISTAKEN IDENTITY, an absolutely beautiful album. Did the album turn out the way you planned? Would you say that the album, and your new style, is closer to the real Vernon than, say, the Living Colour albums of old?

V: I was very happy with the way that Mistaken Identity turned out. I actually recorded forty or or so pieces towards the making of it...I feel like mistaken I.D. freed my head up in the way that LC used to, in the days before we made records...I should'nt really compare them because the solo stuff and Living Colour are closely related but completely different. I was happy in LC when it felt free. I'm happy again.


C: The MISTAKEN IDENTITY theme involves finding ones true self; letting go and realising that it?s spiritually important to find out who you are. When did you realise that these emotions had to come out, and was this album the first outlet?

V: After the last tour (`93) I realized that I was in fact living a lie, pretending that everything was great, when in fact it was a dark and lonely time for me internally. My marriage was already ending, and relations in the band, though friendly and cool on the surface, were weirdly passive/aggresive negative in actual fact. I say this without accusation or blame; I take responsibility for my role in the dysfunction of these relationships. The process of making Mistaken Identity was incredibly healing; but the thing that really "saved my life" was composing music for the master-choreographer Bill T. Jones' 1995 season. The piece that I worked was the second half of an evening piece entitled Still Here, which dealt with issues of mortality, illness and recovery. I shook me to the fact that we have only a limited time to live and love and do our work. Life's Too Short. Whatever happens now, it has to be emotionally real, no matter how fantastic the scenario. Still Here/Mistaken Identity put me on this path.

C: Part of defining the individual involves original thought; finding avenues which others haven't taken. This has been a great facet of your latest works, and it succeeds fantastically. Using new instruments (Harvey Starr's instruments; , Leon Gruenbaum's Samchillian Tip Tip Tip CheeePeeeeee ) has also allowed you to be especially creative. What's it like to work with these new instruments? How do you go about creating the new sound?

V: I'm alway's looking at gadgets and the new fangled...Design has alway's been something that's meant more to me than the hype of modernity; the new sound designs represent a new realm of possibility. I'm very proud to be associated with Leon Gruenbaum, inventor of the Samchillian Tip Tip Tip CheeeeePeee and Harvey Starr, with whom I've colllaborated on the creation of the Z-tar and V- tar. The other thing that's vital for me is programming. The unrealized potential of the collusion of programming with improvising is staggering...My method is not to have one; often the song comes firsat and the sounds are secondary. But other times a great sound will spark melodies, riffs, chords- whole songs. I just try to stay aware and in a creative flow and not dictate to much the part of me that's creating. The othet way things happen is through collective jamming/improving. My Science Project is a great vehicle for that.

C: Does this new sound involve a transition away from the Living Colour sound? Would this explain changing your amp to Roland? Are you still using the 'Digi Tech Whammy 2 pedal'?

V: Even though it's different, rock is still a huge part of the sound that I am now. Whatever "rock" means.

C: Do you consider your music futuristic? Are you helping alternative music find its identity?

My music is Now-istic. No, I'm not that grand.

C: You were one of the first artists to use CD-EXTRA. Will you continue the trend with the next album? Will you continue to seek out new forms of multimedia? Did you get tips judging at Palo Alto?

V: Definately. Absolutely. Palo Alto was great. I just was me computer to stop crashing....

C: Possibly the ultimate form of media for the present and future is the Internet. Do you see the Internet as a potential problem or as another method of people power?

The Internet is possibly the greatest wellspring of crap in the history of the world---but I dig it. If it doesn't collapse under the weight of it's own self congratulating Hype, the potential for it is deep.

C: Do you use the net? Where do you surf? What are your favourite sites?

V: Yes. InfoSEEK and Altavista are good. The Internet Crime Archives, Deb & Jen's World Of Useless Facts, Weird Places On The Net, are but a few...

C: What are you working on at the moment?

V: A bunch of stuff--I've started producing records for other artists as well as working on my own projects. The latest production is the wonderful Maliian artist, Salif Keita. I just composed music for the choreographer Donald Byrd, and I'm doing some playing with singer/songwriter Mark Anthony Thompson. I'm also working on BluesBlasphemy a jungle/triphop old blues remix project for Sony.

C: When will we hear the next Vernon Reid album? What can you tell us about the album? Will it include some of those 40 missing tracks you would have liked to see on the first album? Will it include the brilliant all-star cast of musicians that we heard in the first album?

V: Sometime in `98...I have no idea..I've been working with a singer named Moses and have been doing tracks with DJ Logic.

C: About the man himself, what?s a typical day for Vernon Reid? What do you do in your free time?

V: Try to have a life and juggle everything else.

C: What tapes/cds do you have at the moment in your car stereo or in high rotation at home?

V: An advance copy of Mitchell Froom's incredible new record "Dopamine", a brilliant new R&B artist named Rachid's record "Prototype", and Radiohead's fantastic "OK Computer".

C: About Living Colour, do you still keep in contact with the guys?

V: Yes, we've actually gotten together to talk. It was cool.

C: Would you help other members of the band in their solo efforts?

V: Sure.

C: For Living Colour to reunite, you said that everyone must have a sincere change of heart. Just what exactly would it take?

V: We would have to have something overpoweringly compelling to collectively say. Or red rings around a bright green moon. Whichever comes first.

C: What have you taken with you from the Living Colour days?

V: Be careful of what you wish for...Other than that a lot of laughs and great RnR moments.

C: What was your favourite/most memorable concert?

V: Roseland on the "Stain" tour. Australia/New zealand 93---almost all of the Vivid tour---The Stones and some of LaLapalooza.

C: Will we ever see "The Ambience Guitar Method" by Vernon Reid or other such books? Will we ever see an autobiography? Do you keep journals of your tours and experiences?

V: Maybe. Hah. I manaGED TO KEEP A JOURNAL OF THE MSP TOur. I'm so proud of my
self.

C: Your music reflects the emotions that a lot of people go through. You said on MISTAKEN IDENTITY that Soundgarden's "The day I Tried to Live" kept you going. Is there any advice you would give to struggling individuals out there? What about struggling musicians?

V: Never Give Up. Cry If You Have To. Don't Give Up The Fight. Laugh. A Lot. Listen.

C: Your ideas at the moment involve being reconnected to freedom. Your life has indeed involved a lot of struggles, one of those being opening the eyes of a sleeping America that perhaps didn't want to be woken up ("Rock? n ? Roll is black music and we are its heirs"). What's it like now to be free again? How do you let yourself go?

V: The weight of the world is not my job. I'm not doing anyone any favors by carrying it on my shoulders.

C: Getting political, you have always been on top of the political game. What concerns you at the moment, and what should we look out for?

V: Environmental Racism. Everyone is afraid of another viral pandemic like the influenza disaster of 1918. Dehumanization and emotional Zombiefication.

C: Do you have any tours coming up soon? (Personally, any immediate plans for Australia)?

V: maybe in the summer...I'd love to come back to the region.

C: Once again, thanks for everything.