Article by Beverley Knight
https://www.sosallyplays.com/post/pearl-of-wisdom-an-interview-with-gordon-raphael
Like a hardback book of enlightenment stood on its spine and left to drop open; between each page, light streaming out, cutting through dust particles in the room, listening to his life stories, equipped by his warm, approachable demeanour is a joy to behold. We appreciate that history-altering chapter well: you know, The Strokes chapter. And we respect it; shower it with adulation, we sincerely do. But amongst the instalments before and after, there is much to ascertain and gather about our torchbearer: Gordon Raphael.
Art makes up every fibre of his being; a bona fide flush of contentment from wearing his artisan title blazes upon all he graces. A short while ago, Gordon savoured a chat with his father, gathering enticing gems of his childhood and evoking memories of yesteryear.
He told me that I cried a lot as a baby (Still do, I just cry through my songs now, with loud guitars and synthesizers!). My mom noticed that if I cried, and she held me so that I could see a painting on our wall, I would suddenly become quiet. My grandma Minnie used to get so excited when I painted or drew something; she called me her Sunshine; that’s how I learned that making art could put smiles on people’s faces.
Then, when I was in kindergarten – around six years old – I won a Red Cross art contest with a painting of a birdhouse that had an entrance and exit, just like they had in our school. There was a party to celebrate this art contest; I wore a white shirt and a bow tie and got my picture taken in front of my painting. My art teacher, Mr Moody, was so happy and smiling, and so was my mom. He learned an esteemed lesson that may benefit us all: ‘make art, and you get to dress up, have your picture taken, and everyone smiles at you.
As far as he comprehends, no member of his family had a considerable liking for art. But Gordon recalls a consequence that ‘blew his mind immediately’: Around thirteen years of age when impressionable, he uncovered two paintings living inside a Time/Life book about the Prado Museum in Madrid. Firstly, The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder painted circa 1562, depicted a breathtaking world of fantasy and fiction that we had permission to study, to enter.
A perfectly painted portrait of a million skeletons attacking priests and peasants with swords and flames, with the whole countryside erupting in fire. Well, I never thought about any of that kind of stuff before, but there it was right in front of my eyes. It just tripped out my young imagination, incredibly.
The other painting in that book that drew me in, like a power-magnet, was The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch– created between 1490 and 1510. This was a triptych in which the left panel portrayed some ultra-detailed Hell scene in which musicians were being eternally tortured on various musical instruments, including a drum, a harp, a flute and a mandolin. That alone was perfectly satisfying to my rebellious rock ’n’ roll mind.
In the right panel was a Garden of Eden scene with Jesus hanging out with Adam and Eve. It was a bit too peaceful for my liking, but next to it, in the centre, was the most fantastic orgy scene with masses of people in natural ponds, naked in the flowers, in strange bubbles and surrounded by mythical animals. What a magical and imaginative piece of art it is, and I’m still deeply affected by how those images nourished my artistic nature.
Strangely enough, two months later, when studying in a creative writing class, his teacher, Mr Bruce Saari, unveiled the painting Landscapewith the Fall of Icarus by Pieter Breughel to teach his impressionable youths about the topic of subjective reality.
In this painting, the ploughman, the sheep, the ship are all painted big, up close and personal while the main subject: poor Icarus falling out of the sky into the sea because he melted his wings by flying too close to the sun, well, that’s painted as tiny as can be, in the background.
From aged ten onwards, Raphael feasted on ‘new revolutionary rock and roll’: Beatles, Mothers of Invention, Hendrix, Cream, The Doors. There was no turning back; he possessed an unshakable belief that this would be his fate: ‘making poetry and loud, insane new sounds’; there was never doubt from him.
My best friend, Steve Kirk, asked me to join his band when we were both 13 years old, as a piano player. We played shows, which led me to my second band, third band etc. Music didn’t come as naturally to me as painting, but it felt more urgent, and so I had to go through countless trials by fire to eventually find my own path into songwriting, singing, guitar playing and forming my own bands.
While making his way through high school, our philomath enriched his soul by playing in bands – nose stuck in books and lugs wrapped around records – which all fed into Gordon’s natural ear for deciphering music. Records, records and more records never let him down, ole faithful vinyl friends; the songs and singers were precious friends and teachers, and by 19, he ventured into songwriting, recording the work a couple of years later.
Having three finished Gordon Raphael songs on a cassette tape was like a holy fire, which gave me the pure zeal to record the next ones and the next ones. Already by that time, I was only interested in really weird sounds, sounds that would hopefully convey the kind of qualities that I was having under the influence of Marijuana, LSD, Magic Mushrooms and Peyote. The goal: to induce a trip for listeners.
My Arp Odyssey synthesizer, old Echoplex, phase shifters and flanger pedals- all helped me achieve my Day-Glo rainbow-tinted dreams. I had a weird ego problem that said I didn’t need a regular job nor money if I was making such cool sounds. This did annoy and irritate my close friends that saw me raiding their refrigerators and borrowing their recording equipment.
The plus side was, by obsessively recording five or six new songs per week, the tone blends and lyrics were becoming entirely magical. I would start the day with nothing in mind. Then layer brand new sounds and make stuff up. Until, by two in the morning, a few new songs were added to my cassette.
He was giddy to see what would materialise on the tape the next day. Within those first three years of relentless writing and recording, music matured into an astral home from which he was whisked away on major escapades; this was not make-believe. By that time, people in my Seattle scene were aware that I was making many strange songs, and not everyone had the patience to check my work out, nor did everyone appreciate it. No. It didn’t bother me too much because I really felt that I was now a channel for new music and heavenly sounds: this was a source I could tap into seemingly, every time I played with my instruments.
In my Seattle music scene growing up, I was blessed to meet and work with a number of crazy, wild geniuses. Some of their names are Brian S. Phraner, who patiently helped my musical mind to grow, Steve Kirk, who could play guitar like Hendrix in early teen years, and then went on to compose in his own style. Tor Midtskog, guitarist in my band Colour Twigs, he made fun of me a lot, but introduced me to so much important music and wrote incredible parts to some of my songs.
Oddly, there is a set of songs Gordon has written over the years that he has recorded and re-recorded up to seven times. Each version features different musicians and recorded in various places of vibrancy: Seattle, New York, Berlin, London, Corfu and Greece. The songs are Seven Stars, I Said, Substitute Music, Never Shoulda Started, Strong and View From Blue. I just started making EPs with all the versions of each song together in chronological order. Since I have heard each variant hundreds of times, I believe that a few hyper-focused followers of my musical output might actually enjoy these compilation EPs.
USA, Germany, UK, the list goes on and on. Numerous exotic locations have all illustrated their way of producing sound and art. With our cultured experimenter travelling often, he submerges himself in all offered, empowering it to colour his work. Sometimes found out where needed his purpose the most. Berlin I loved because I could ride my bicycle everywhere, which was a huge feature of my growing up years. On the other hand, that city had absolutely no need for my production skills, nor my actual songs. I played a total of three shows there in 15 years, which were muted, unexciting, small gigs.
On the other hand, I went to Argentina a few years back and played 20 shows over two months! They were so so rockin’, and the audience was sweaty and on fire: the way I need ‘em to be, for sure. In the early 2000s, I had some great shows in London when TobyL, founder of Transgressive Records, and I ran The Basement Club at Buffalo Bar. I was in a phenomenal band called Sky Cries Mary in Seattle during the grunge times, and we had sensational shows in the best theatres and venues in our city. That band and the one tour I did as keyboardist for The Psychedelic Furs was the only time I really saw HUGE audiences go mental while we were onstage; special highlights for sure.
(Read the Whole Interview by Clicking the Link: https://www.sosallyplays.com/post/pearl-of-wisdom-an-interview-with-gordon-raphael