Q&A: Louis Vause

It has taken me a while to learn this. All the people like (for instance) David Beckham, who have to bear the brunt of so much criticism week in week out and still perform... I take my hat off to that.

musicOMH: How did you come to work with Graham Coxon (and be signed to Transcopic)?
Louis Vause: We met at mid-day in the Mac Bar in Camden to rehearse some tunes to play there at what was called Louis' Big Easy, in which I would play piano and then invite a guest to join me. We had seen each other around and about Camden prior to that but I was more au fait with Blur as a soundtrack than a visual thing so I had never realised who he was. We clicked both emotionally and musically very quickly I think. Things developed. He gave me his CD and I gave him a test pressing of mine. We liked what we heard. He asked me if I would play on his album. I was delighted to and it was then that we made the arrangements to release Pianophernalia on Transcopic. We gel musically I think.

musicOMH: On tracks like Locked Doors, was it all thrown together as a jam session or were specific parts written for you by Graham?
Louis Vause: No. Locked Doors is one mother of a groove and actually quite difficult to play. Graham sent me his bass, drums and guitar on a CD and I played along with that at home. Then I would ring him and say things like "Is this working" and he would helpfully reply "I don't know". On the day I recorded the piano I adjusted the left hand part by a semi-quaver and we did a take. What is lovely about that is that it sounds like a jam. And I suppose it was...we just weren't doing it at the same time.

musicOMH: Who do you think will buy Pianophernalia? Where should the album be listened to?
Louis Vause: I hope it could offer something to everyone. I remember that when I released and promoted on Radio 4 my video ,"A Beginners Guide to Boogie and Blues" the people who wrote and/or phoned in were mainly farmers doing the milking. I don't know what this means apart from the fact that if you hear a piano player doing this type of bluesy thing the general response is 'I wish I could play the piano'. I also think it would sound good in some unmanned satellite scudding through space to somewhere.

"Once politics was important. It is now regarded
as on a par with Posh and Becks."
- Louis Vause

musicOMH: Did you ever play in Lancaster (where you grew up) now? How do you view the place now?
Louis Vause: Not really. I met some old friends from school when I returned for my father's funeral in 1996 and they all said when hearing of my exploits "But you don"t even play the piano" No - I didn't then. I also didn't swim a length till I was 36. I am a late starter and I think it is probably a result of my dads illness and his anger at his illness in which I would be told on a daily basis that I would amount to nothing. At that age you believe it. Part of me still does. This isn't unusual in a performer. Lancaster itself has lost much of its magic. The centre has been neglected because of out of town mega-stores. It is a mill town though...fantastic Victorian architecture, amidst a rolling, green landscape that shaped my childhood.

musicOMH: Are you still bankrupt?
Louis Vause: Yes... and will be until September 11 2003.

musicOMH: Do you think the legacies of the likes of Gershwin are being overlooked in favour of prefab pop tartlets?
Louis Vause: In some ways Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were "prefabricated pop tartlets". No, in a word. Youth will always set its own agenda. I hear contemporary stuff that I don't go for but I am also impressed by people in their teens now rifling through their parents record collection and coming to me and saying 'I want to learn this Joni Mitchell song . Quality is enduring!

musicOMH: How did having a child, and then having to raise her singlehandedly, alter your relationship with music (if at all)?
Louis Vause: It made it more important to leave her something. To do (or try to do) something from which she would benefit. I am her Dad.

musicOMH: You said "I gave everything I had recording it" of Pianophernalia. Does that mean there won't be another album?
Louis Vause: No... what that means is that I put all of what I am into those specific performances on those particular days. I would not allow release of tracks in which I felt I hadn't done that. This isn't a band ...much of it is just me and a piano. Therefore you focus on that. In a band context I might make a mistake on keyboards whilst the drums and bass did the take of their life and I would put up with that (I'd probably have to).

musicOMH: You've approached a musical career from a roundabout way (via Sudan, teaching, canal boat....). Are you happy with what you see of the industry so far?
Louis Vause: Music isn't an industry the way I see it. Of course it IS ...but it isn't. I don't know. Much of it stinks and much of it is populated with wonderful, committed people. It's far better than the Arms Industry.

musicOMH: What do you do to relax?
Louis Vause: Read, play the piano, draw, paint, go to the South Bank and catch a film, drink wine, make jam and piccallili, cook and do jigsaws.

musicOMH: What's your favourite place and why?
Louis Vause: Edinburgh. I was born there and every time I return I feel happy.

musicOMH: Do you have a favourite London bar hangout?
Louis Vause: Many!

musicOMH: Which tunes do you whistle in the shower/bath?
Louis Vause: Nothing in particular. But I tend to sing to myself when I am going places.

musicOMH: Does politics matter?
Louis Vause: Only in as much as they are ruining the world. Labour or Tory - Blur or Oasis? Once politics was important. It is now regarded as on a par with Posh and Becks, I'm afraid.

musicOMH: What's next for you musically?
Louis Vause: Butterfield 8 gig at the Festival Hall. Other than that I don't know. The phone rings and your life suddenly changes.

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