Interview with Michael Gabriele

MICHAEL GABRIELE OPENS THE DOOR TO A PUPPET'S PALACE
by Tabitha Morse

The following interview with Michael Gabriele (edited) took place on a pleasant Sunday afternoon in August, 2007, as we strolled along the endless pathways of Lincoln Park. Michael had just finished the artwork for his new cd, "A Puppet's Palace," on which he not only wrote all the songs, but also played all the instruments and sang all the vocals. We began the interview at the entrance to the park, and quickly wandered off. Michael walked slowly and would often stop to look at something -- a bird, a squirrel -- and then speak for them, in cartoon-like voices. He was energetic and funny, but would also drop into a most serious disposition when it came to matters he cared about. Michael was never at a loss for words. He referred to himself as "spastic," and said he always had trouble staying focused. This interview reveals a thoughtful, passionate artist, humorous and serious, ready for his next creative adventure.

So, why "A Puppet's Palace?"

I was pretty determined that I didn't want to name the album after one of the songs on it. I don't care for that approach. It's like saying, "THIS is the best song on the album, so we're naming the album after it," and maybe that song will be someone's least favorite. And I didn't want to just name it after me, because someone would look at it and say, "Who the fuck is Michael Gabriele?" So I was thinking it should be something more like the title of a novel. I don't remember specifically when the phrase, "a puppet's palace" appeared, but I knew that was going to be the title as soon as I thought of it. And I always loved puppets when I was a little kid. I had dozens of them. And then I grew up to become one. (laughs)

What do you mean?

Well, the title is symbolic, as well. Welcome to my world. I'm just a puppet, living in my house, as are we all. I think we are all being manipulated in some way, whether it's obvious or not. We've been manipulated since birth, and our parents were manipulated, and their parents before them, and so on. Human beings have always been manipulated.

Manipulated by whom?

Well, from birth you are certainly manipulated by your parents -- which is supposed to be for your own good. Once you begin associating with the world, then you are manipulated by the system, by society, by the media, by advertising, by political leaders, by all sorts of outside sources. How? By being told that this is what is right, this is what is wrong, this is good for you, this is bad for you, this is what you need to have, Blu-Ray is better than HiDef, watch out for global warming and terrorism, communism is back and all this stuff, which is being done behind closed doors, out of our sight. And when it gets channeled out into the world, you wind up taking whatever it is they're giving you, because that's how it has always been. And that's called freedom. So whatever freedom people think they are achieving in the midst of being manipulated is a bit of bullshit, really. We really are living in a kind of Matrix world. If the masses of humanity would become active participants, rather than distracted bystanders, things could really change. Sorry, I went off-- (laughs) What were we talking about? Oh yes, I have this album --

How would you describe the album?

Sometimes I've listened to it and thought it sounded pretty bright and upbeat. Then, other times I've thought it a bit dark. So, I'm not sure how to describe it. I can't listen to it apart from whatever judgments I've bestowed upon it, anyway. I can't be objective about it anymore. I think it's like a collection of short stories. Some of the stories are more personal, but they're all true stories.

You wrote "Imagine What This Girl Could Do" about your wife.

Yes, that song is like a chronology of our meeting. I was gigging at this club where she was waitressing. She used to stand off in this corner, holding her tray, dancing by herself. We had our first date one night when she got out at two o'clock in the morning. We went to Harry's Diner in Warwick, cos it was nearby and it was open all night. I think we just had coffee or something, but that was the night that did it. We've been together for 10 years now.

So how is a song like "A Candle Burning" a personal story?

Well, in the sense that I worry about what is going on in the world. I worry about the future, the kids' future. The world is a fucking mess, but it seems like so many people want us to think its a fabulous place. Human beings are destroying the world, they're destroying each other. And the one's who inherit all the bullshit we achieve today will be the kids. You know, I despise all these politicians and world-leaders who talk about how important kids are, how much they love their kids. Well, if they really loved their kids and thought they were really important, they would make damned sure the world was a safe place for them to live in, don't you think? They're a bunch of hypocrites, they don't care about anything except money. Money and power are more important to them than their own children. Sorry, I keep going off --

That's alright. Are you happy with the new cd?

I think it's funny that we don't really call them albums anymore. You see how the mere advancement of technology makes you old? (laughs) Anyway, getting back to the album. There are some things about it I really like, and some things about it I really don't like, but you get to that point where you've got to let go of it, or else it will sabotage your ability to ever do anything new. And I'm aching to do something new.

There's no way to talk about this album without bringing up the Beatle influence.

For better or worse, I suppose. It has always seemed that my music takes on some quality that you hear in Beatle-music. I don't know how you would describe them, either. But I pretty much felt I had purged myself of that Beatle influence hanging over my head when I recorded Reception, which was deliberately recorded without vocals or guitars. Reception forced me to write material that was totally foreign to the "3-minute-song"-structured mind I typically suffered. Having taken that excursion, when I started working on Palace I thought I would just go ahead and indulge myself in making my own Beatle album, so to speak. I didn't plagiarize them, but I certainly borrowed from the sound of their recordings. Things like the rolling, marching drums at the end of "Inside." That came from the ending of "Strawberry Fields," that heavy, rolling sound. Obviously, the Indian-sounding passages in "My Corner Of The World" were inspired by George Harrison's "Within You, Without You," as well as putting a backwards guitar in at the end, something the Beatles did on several occasions. The song "Hi" is reminiscent of the "Penny Lane" horns in the background. So, I admittedly borrowed from some of their studio trickery, but that is part of what gave the Beatles that sound. And there was a certain looseness in their sound, they weren't all slick and polished, and I felt it gave them a more human, intimate sound. When I recorded Palace, I was deliberately trying to loosen things up because the backing tracks (meaning the drums and keyboards) were sequenced. Sequencing is what makes modern pop songs so perfect, and sucks the life out of them, I think. But this is what I had to work with. So I tried to find ways to make it sound less sequenced. There are also an assortment of mistakes that I didn't notice until (producer) Mike Higgins started mixing, and we'd just keep going and see how it ended up. Sometimes I'd fix them, other times I just left them, especially if Mike told me not to worry about it. I prefer to work really fast anyway, and not go over things again and again. It ruins that initial energy, the spontaneity of that moment. To err is human, and now I'm on record as being human.

The album does have a definite 60's flavor to it.

Well, I do believe that the best popular music came out in the mid-60's, and into the early 70's. Music was becoming far more artistic, then. The Beatles had certainly raised the bar. Lennon and McCartney had set a new standard for songwriting. And in the studio, they had a hand in the development of certain recording techniques or effects that are still used today. It was a time of great originality, great experimentation. Vibrant, exciting music was the result. The thing about a lot of music today -- and this is just my opinion, of course -- is that you don't hear much experimentation going on. It seems to me, based on what I hear on the radio, is that everyone is trying to do the "safe" thing, which is whatever sound happens to be popular at the moment is what you want to sound like. In that kind of environment, creativity tends to be stifled. I think the internet is a kind of divine intervention for the more experimental, outside-the-box musicians and other artists, because now you can get your stuff directly to the public, you don't need to be part of the music industry machine. I'm not saying it's easy to do it this way, but I know someone like me is never going to get the support of a record label that pushes 20 year olds, so the internet is the only way I can put my music out there... So, what was the question? (laughs)

Who else besides the Beatles influenced you?

As far as just guitar-playing, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple was my guitar hero. There was something very unique -about his sound -- the combination of the notes he was playing, his technique, and his sound on the recordings -- that really captivated me. I wanted to know what he was playing during those incredible solos. I used to slow the album down to hear his playing slowed-down, and then I could figure out what he was playing. I got to meet him once, I think I was still in high school. By way of a friend, I met him at a night club. I was tongue-tied, and couldn't think of anything to say. I felt like an idiot. Now I wish I could meet him again and tell him what a great teacher he was for me. And I was certainly a fan of other guitar players -- George Harrison, of course. Jimmy Page. David Gilmour. Eric Clapton, to name a few. But Blackmore was the main one.

My other influences were mostly bands: Zeppelin, of course. Black Sabbath. Queen. Jethro Tull. Yes. Genesis with Peter Gabriel. These were the bands I listened to mostly, and often tried to write like them, as well. Especially Yes. Some of my early recordings had a kind of Yes/Beatles sound, which I thought came out rather nicely. And then I once started to write a really long piece a la Jethro Tull's Thick As A Brick. It's still not finished.

Is there anything in today's music that you like?

There are some things I like quite a lot, and other things that are not my cup of tea. I'm a music listener, I'm not much of a dancer-type, so I don't listen to rap and hip-hop. I still tend to like music that sounds like the music I grew up listening to. If something sounds Beatle-ish, chances are I'm going to listen to it. I like Green Day quite a bit. I still love U2. I don't know if either of these bands are still considered "today's" music. I hear some things today, like where the singers are trying to shred their vocal chords, and the band never plays the same part twice, and that's not my bag. It's too frantic and complicated, and I'm trying to attain the ultimate calm and simplicity, you know?

Who do you listen to, besides the bands you grew up with?

I love Sarah McLachlan and Sheryl Crow a lot. I think they are both tremendously gifted songwriters, as well as great performers. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots... Radiohead is amazing. There's a band called the Comas that hijacked my attention for months on end; I haven't listened to an album that much since the late 60's-early 70's. I'm sure there are some other things I like but don't know who they are. I'm terribly uninformed these days. I don't listen to the radio very much, I look for things on the internet. Commercial radio drives me insane with all their commercials. I don't understand why they don't just have some stations that are all commercials, 24/7, and leave the commercials off the music stations. But I really do think the days of the major record label being the only source of new artists are in question. As artists find new ways to get their music to the people over the internet, the people are going to find them, and they won't need to go to Wal-Mart to buy them.

I also have a fondness for film music. I often listen to movie soundtracks while driving. And not the kind of soundtracks that have pop songs in them. I like the big orchestral scores of Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, John Williams, that sort of music. I find it seems to let my mind wander while creating a particular mood, and it paints all these different images in my mind. Some of those images have turned up in my artwork, some of them have spawned story ideas, and so forth.

So what's next?

I've got so many ideas I hardly know where to begin. I've started writing some new songs, which will probably turn into the next album -- uh, cd, excuse me. I'd like to do a couple of videos to promote Palace, and a few shows along the way. I'd like to spend more time doing some art, getting back to actual oil painting, because I've done most of my artwork in Photoshop over the past several years. I've been casually writing a new screenplay, another of my hobbies. I don't know. I have more projects than I have time to do them in. I can tell you, I'm never bored.

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