So! More interviews

Colour of Dreams.

An interview with Steve Overland . by Jim Goodliffe .

Well a few people have described it as Crowded House with attitude, but it's always really

difficult to put into a pigeon hole, 'cos it's kind of classic pop with energy. I suppose, I was very influenced by the Beatles and all of those kind of band's, just because of their song writing. I love the tunes. I've always been into really concise, well written pop tunes. Right through FM, if I think back to the early days, a lot of FM stuff was really just pop songs with heavy guitars in. I would probably say, classic pop music with a bit of attitude, would be as close as I could get. But again there's some stuff on there that's got all the influences from Tamla, Soul as well, especially with the singing. So it's quite across the board where the influence has come from and everybody will have to form their own kind of opinion on what type of music they think it is.

It's certainly not AOR rock. It's not that!

Whilst the style is different, the soul is still very much here. Is this a reflection of your musical influences?

Definitely, I mean the thing with me is that I am useless with technology. I'm not one of these people, who sit at home and gets a drum patter, gets the grove going and goes right 'I'm going to build that over the bass'. I actually still sit down. I've got a dictaphone and I've got an

acoustic guitar. If I play the song and it's nice to sing for me and I think the melody's strong. That's how I do it and so it's got to have some kind of feel to the voice, for me to do it. Songs like 'This time', on the album are just out and out my thing. I wanted to do an old 70s soul tune, like the sort of song that was around then with the Stylistics, which I was very into. I've always had a varied musical influence right down the line - Paul Rodgers influences with the voice, from that era of music I was into. Hopefully it comes out on the record. I hope the soul is still there and I hope I can still keep it there.

Is the directional change a conscious decision to try something new or an evolvement of you song writing?

Both. Initially there was no decision. I wrote a couple of new tunes during the latter stage of FM, and it was quite evident that I couldn't make these songs sit on an FM record. It's not what people would of expected. I've got to be fair to the fans. It was a decision for me to say right, obviously I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to write the riffy type of songs. It was more strummy kind of pop songs, catchy part of the tunes that I wanted to do. So it wasn't a conscious decision, but then, as it went on, I was quite conscious of the fact that anything which started to resemble FM, I didn't want to do. Because FM where a great band in their own right and there would have been no point at all in me re-hashing the FM kind of material. That band had their time, they were a great band, there were always a lot of great times and they were all great guys. It was more conscious as I went on, writing this kind of material, to stay clear of that. But it all just evolved from all the different styles. I just sat down to write some songs, I didn't think 'look we need one of those kind of songs' or 'I need a song with a real heavy riff'. I just wrote the songs.

Did you write most of the material?

Yes. Pete also had a hand in songs like 'Baby Blue'. Pete comes up with some good ideas. There's not many drummers write, but he sits down and plays a bit of guitar. He comes up with an idea and then gives it to me and says "how about this? There's about three or four on the album that I wrote with Pete. All the rest of them are me.

Was Pete going through the same musical transition at the same time?

We've been together for 20 years (on and off in bands) so I think we kind of knew that between me and him, we couldn't really take FM anywhere else. We'd done eight albums, we'd done the live album, we'd done everything. We were getting to the stage where we could hold our own, go out on tour, but it was only just, because we could't get played on the radio. Because of the categorisation. There was nowhere else to take it to be honest. So I think he realised it too in answer to your question.

Pete- We went along together really. We've known each other for so long, he's more like a brother. We both wanted to do the same thing. He still stays at my house, singing his bloody head off annoying all the neighbours! With FM it was getting harder and harder and harder. It wasn't actually enjoyable because it was such hard work. With 'Dead Man's Shoes' we

basically fluked it. It was a real struggle.

The material is mostly upbeat. What's it like to play?

Yes, it's great. As I say, it takes a lot more thought than the FM stuff. Sounds change within the track all the time, whereas with FM you'd have a guitar sound throughout the song. With this stuff, lots of different sounds and textures come in and out of each song. It takes a lot more thought - so you can't do so much of the 'foot on the monitor and tongue out'!!

Pete- It's a lot more dynamic. When we did the album I had to change the whole style of my drumming which was a bit daunting in the first place because I literally hadn't played the drums for over a year. I was always a really loud drummer and now I'm probably one of the quietist drummers there is. It was just nice to do something completely different. It's just a bit more interesting with the light and shade of things, the dynamics.

Pete's been referred to as the ultimate drumming showman. How are you going to calm him down on tour?!

He's done it himself. He's calmed himself down. He doesn't need me to do it, he's even using lighter sticks instead of those telegraph poles that he used to use!!! He's calmed his kit down. He's got a good personality on stage so it will still be him, but I don't think he will be standing on his bass drum and running around the venue like he used to with FM!

Pete- Age! I loved FM. It was really good fun jumping on the kit. I think it would look a bit stupid now. Also my knees are shagged!! I still believe when you play live you should be entertaining and put on a show!

The vocals are undoubtedly Steve Overland but they seem more integrated into the melodies and the overall tone of the music?

I can't do blues rock licks in pop songs. They don't work. Also it doesn't fit. It's not what should be happening in those songs. So I've had to. It was easy 'cause that's what I wanted to do.

I mean with FM it was always like get a riff, loads of licks over the top of it and do the Paul Rodgers bit. That's always how it was. It's not like that in this type of music. It actually has a nice structured melody and I don't feel that I am having to go off into some vocal acrobatics to get the thing to happen. The melody, I hope is strong enough to carry the tune, without me putting loads of vocal licks all over it. That's what I hope.