home back to interviews	THE BIGGER THE BETTER Paul Wrightson – November 1998
	He seldom gives interviews. For The Cage however, he is more than willing to make an exception. Therefore we sat down in the dressing room of the Paradiso and with a lot of noise in the background we had the following, very interesting conversation with Mr Wrightson. Is the Paul on stage different from the Paul off stage? Yes! Why? Watch the show and find out! Why is he different? The Paul off stage is very shy, which makes life quite difficult sometimes, like when I’m doing interviews for example. On stage he’s just a totally different person, confident and it satisfies a need I don’t have an outlet for satisfying in what I would call a normal life. So you need to go on stage! Yeah, yeah. It’s my therapy. You’ve probably heard me saying this many times before, maybe it’s a tired old cliché, but it’s true. That’s my therapy. Is it a part of you, this confident man that walks around on stage or is it an act? Well, obviously, it’s a part of me, but it’s almost like a separate part, and [thinks for a while], no, it’s not an act. It’s something that takes over. Do you think that all frontmen, all singers have to be like that, if they are good performers? Most of the frontmen that I know and that I have met are like that. It’s very, very true that within bands, there’s a certain type of person who will play bass guitar, a certain type of person who will play keyboards, certain type of person who’ll play drums, etc., etc. And there is a certain type of person that will become a front person. Is it something you wanted to do all your life? No! When did you decide to become a singer then? I think when I was about fifteen. I was very much into hard rock: Deep Purple was my favourite band. And I used to sing along with Child In Time and Speed King, you know all those kind of things. A friend of mine at school was starting a band and he didn’t have a vocalist. He didn’t want me to become their vocalist but I just sort of hung out with them until they gave in, basically, and that’s how it started. I did a dodgy deal with a chap for my very first microphone: I was working as an apprentice carpenter and we were given tool vouchers, which meant that a certain proportion of our wages had to be spent on buying tools of the trade. And to ensure this, they give you a voucher for a particular tool shop, Sergeant Tools in Reading which I don’t think are there anymore. And I went and saw the chap there, Mr Sergeant, and said I need a Guarantor, ‘cause I want to buy my microphone on credit and bless his little heart, he said yes. So I didn’t get into trouble at that time from my parents for asking for a microphone ‘cause they would have said ‘no!’. And when you decided that you wanted to be a singer, did you also start to take singing lessons back then or did you start much later than that? I started later. Most people think that they can sing. I soon found out that I couldn’t, so I took lessons. Is it difficult to keep your voice in good shape during a tour? Yes, it is. I mean, on this tour I have not had a drink of alcohol at all. I go running when I can. Unfortunately, I had a throat infection for most of the French leg of the tour, but I still managed to hold it together and that takes a lot of effort and you do have to be very, very fit. Certainly … the type of singing that I do with Arena you’ve got to be in form. And how do you invent those acts, the things you do on stage? The characters are so well written. We have four very, very good writers musically within the band and one exceptionally good lyricist in Clive. And I haven’t got a problem… oh, people say, you know, do you have a problem with singing these songs that you haven’t written and I don’t, because they are just absolutely brilliant songs. You can’t help but want to sing them. They’re crafted. And with The Visitor Clive has taken into account the sort of singer that I am, the sort of person that I am and more or less he has written the songs from my style and my approach, which makes my job very easy when it comes to performing them on stage, because lyrically the characters are sketched out and all I’ve got to do is flesh it out. And how do you change so easily? At least, it seems very easily done… I think that we all have very many different sides or characters all within one person and when I’m performing on stage I just give each particular side of me freedom of expression. Which character of The Visitor is your favourite? My favourite isn’t actually one of the characters. It’s actually the victim, so my favourite part of the show, the one that means the most to me, is The Hanging Tree. Closely followed by Tears In The Rain. Why Tears In The Rain? Ehm… because I feel that it reflects very much a large part of me, that song. Is it still easy to sing then? Easy to sing is not really the right kind of term… It’s not really easy to sing because it’s hurts to sing it sometimes. It’s not just an act I’m putting on, I’m actually putting part of me into these songs and that’s why a lot of people I think are moved by them, because they actually believe what is happening on stage. Every character has life because that life is in me and that’s what’s comes out. It’s sounds incredibly pretentious, but I’m trying to put into words exactly what’s going on. People seem to be more touched by The Visitor then by Songs From The Lions Cage or Pride. Why is that, you think? Well, it’s more a band thing anyway. But the songs are so powerful in as far as I think collectively the band have captured a little piece of everybody that has listened to this album. At some stage within the album you will relate to it; you might relate to the first song, the second song, or whatever bit. One moment in the sixty minutes you’re listening to that and all of a sudden, you think ‘hey hang on, that’s me, I feel like that’, and that what makes the album so special. And what is the most important quality that you need to have being a good performer? Ehm… what is the most important quality of being a performer? I think you need to know yourself. You really do need the motivation and you’ve got to have an understanding, a full understanding, or as full as it possibly can be, as to exactly what it is you’re trying to get across to people. And again, I’ve got to say this… it’s so well written, all I’ve got to do is when I get up on stage is just give myself to the song and the song does the rest. Did you come up with the costumes yourself? Well, obviously the costumes are actually based on Hugh Syme’s artwork. Yeah of course, but who found the thief’s waistcoat that you wear on stage, for example? Oh, I had them made, went to a lady, unfortunately I can’t remember her name, I’d love to giver her a name check… She worked wonders and she just made these clothes, very, very cheaply and I’m very, very pleased with it. And who thought about the idea of the dressing table of the clown? The dressing table was kind of my idea, but that’s gone now because of the restriction on space in some of the stages and stuff. Do you prefer to perform on big stages? I love to perform on big stages! Yeah, I prefer it on a big stage. So, what did you think about the festival you did in Holland last summer then? I loved it. It’s made for you… Yeah, I hate to say these sort of things, because people might get the wrong idea and think I’m a bit of a bighead, but I do love it. Why? What’s different from small stages? What’s different between 5-aside football and a full game of football? Give me a full game of football any day of the week. What’s the difference between playing in the local park and playing in a stadium? It’s just a huge lift. You want Arena to be that big? Yeah, of course! The bigger, the better. Are there any performers you have as an example? Any role-models? I haven’t got any. I saw Glenn Hughes perform and his level of vocal performance is something I’d like to aspire to, absolutely magnificent. The power… you know, he is the voice, he is the song. And that’s what I kind of like to aspire to there. From an emotional point of view, it would have to be for me, Geoff Tates’ delivery style [is quiet for a while]. And that’s it? Yeah, that’s it, really. Give me a hard rock, heavy metal vocalist, any day of the week, closely followed by a soul artist or switch those around, depending on which mood I’m in. Give me a soul artist and then give me the energy of a hard rock performer, and that’s great for me. For me, there are two different kinds of performers. Performers who perform with a voice that comes from their head, who have absolutely, for my money, no feeling or emotion in what they do; it bores me to tears and I hate it. And the other sort of vocalists who really put their heart and soul into everything they do and, yeah, okay, it might not be as accurate, and they might miss a note here and there but it’s the performance side… And give me that please, that’s what I want. I don’t want to be a ‘head-singer’. So for example, you like Fish, cause he does that? I wouldn’t say ‘like’ Fish… I didn’t like Fish in early Marillion at all. That was one of the reasons I really disliked early Marillion. However, as you get older, your tastes change and I’ve heard some stuff that Fish is doing, which Bram and Jaap played me [Overhearing Distant Sounds Interview – eds.] and I absolutely adored it. Fantastic! And what about soul performers? Alexander O’Neill. I usually like a lot of the females… En Vogue, my kind of favourites. Yeah, pretty much, that’s it I guess, those kinds of people. How do you prepare for a gig? Usually, I’m okay till about 10 minutes before we go on, I just dig in… You need to be alone… Yeah, yeah, very much. For me to put this level of performance in, for three weeks, 14 or 15 gigs in a row. I do need space. When you go to gigs, you sometimes see people shout things to the singer on stage (and not always very nice things!). When someone shouts something at you when you’re on stage. Do you let that affect you? I have had people shout out at me from the audience. They’ve called me all sorts of names before. Again, one of the things that wasn’t very pleasant at one particular gig was there were people there who had come to listen to us and knew the album, to other people that came to have a drink and had a great time and laugh and joke. Unfortunately, they were doing that all the way through the show and especially during the quieter bits, Tears In The Rain and Crying For Help IV. They were just sort of laughing and joking, had a good time amongst themselves but it’s very off-putting and you really have to dig in very, very deep, not to draw attention to them anymore than they draw attention to themselves. It’s actually very hurtful and I’m sure they don’t intend it that way, but it is very hurtful for a performer when you are giving yourself to an audience for them to behave like that. It’s kind of rude. I know Mick wasn’t happy about it, Clive wasn’t happy about it, but again… you can’t stop it, you can’t say something… no, you can’t. But it is that sort of outgiving, and having the audience reject you kind of thing. And that’s what it’s like. It’s like being rejected. So what do you expect from the Dutch audience tonight? What do I expect? I never expect anything from an audience! The Dutch audience have always treated Arena with respect and you can’t ask anymore than that. They come here because they love the music that we play and we love to play for the Dutch audience because it’s a huge thrill. It’s kind of like the same in Canada, isn’t it? Yeah, it is. It’s the same… audiences are different the world over. They are. Where ever you’re playing, like the members of the audience are very special. It doesn’t matter where you are, if there’s one person in the audience or a thousand, they’re always special. This might surprise our fans in Hamburg, but you are special… I wasn’t… and I apologise! What’s special about the Dutch audience? It’s a warmth thing. It’s like, for me personally, it’s like going on stage and playing in front of friends. Like you said in the Tivoli, it’s a bit like coming home… It is like coming home! Yeah, it is a sense of warmth thing. They’re very warm, very friendly, very open. They forgive us a multitude of sins when we make mistakes upon stage and we do make mistakes, because one thing about Arena: there is an edge to Arena and that edge being the fact that we perform right to our very limits and doing that, it’s kind of dangerous. This is what I was saying about head performers and heart and soul performers. The head performers, night after night, you are going to get the same level of performance out of them. You know what you are going to expect. Yes, it will be a very high level of performance, but it will be very, very boring, ‘cause they are not pushing the limits. They’re not giving everything, whereas with Arena, every member of Arena, he’s right on the limit there and because of that it can all go horribly wrong. And there’s an element of danger, which I find quite exciting in playing for Arena. And in Tivoli, you played two hours and fifteen minutes and with this kind of show, with this kind of performance, isn’t that very hard to do? As I said, I like to stay fit and I can only speak personally, the boys in the band have not flagged either, they’ve done really exceptionally well I think. But the vocalist job is incredibly hard, ‘cause it is a performance thing. You’ve got to reach everybody at the back of the audience with everything, give it all. And yes it is quite tiring, but very rewarding. It’s great satisfaction at the end of the gig. By: Natasja Gravendaal