Interviews

Jim Kerr, lead singer of Simple Minds, is one of us. As a kid growing up in Glasgow, Scotland in the early 1970s, collecting vinyl was of paramount importance, and he got himself a day job just so he could buy records and go see concerts. (Sound familiar?) Read on to find out all the things he said, he said about how important buying vinyl was (and still is) to both him and his Simple Minds songwriting partner, guitarist Charlie Burchill, why it was crucial to shape their new LP Direction of the Heart specifically as a two-sided record, and how important an influence David Bowie albums remain as part of his creative life to this day, and more. . .

British guitar iconoclast Steve Hackett, a key member of Genesis during their 1970s heyday, has since forged a formidable solo career after he left that progressive-leaning group 45 years ago. In Part I of this interview series, Hackett tells AnalogPlanet exclusively about the aural differences between his new 4LP/2CD release Genesis Revisited: Seconds Out & More and Genesis’ original October 1977 Seconds Out 2LP set, which guitar solo of his he considers to be the most well-known Genesis guitar moment, and the challenges Genesis faced in the 1970s when they pushed the boundaries of just how much music could fit on one side of an LP. Read on to find out why the vinyl path is clear. . .

Mike Campbell, the consummate sideman, is now fully embracing his role as the frontman and bandleader of The Dirty Knobs, the long-running sideproject of his that has become his primary creative focus since the unfortunate passing of his lifelong friend and Heartbreakers/Mudcrutch bandmate Tom Petty in 2017. Here, Campbell tells Analog Planet exclusively why he prefers vinyl for his Dirty Knobs releases, how a somewhat inadvertent recurring mono listening situation in his youth ultimately informed his ongoing stereo proclivities, and which Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song he feels will stand the test of time. Read on, into the great wide open. . .

“I’m a bit of a restless soul, and I’m interested in trying new ways and new approaches to things,” says pianist/vocalist Bruce Hornsby, quantifying the artistic scope of the even-dozen tracks that comprise his current, and quite vibrant, May 2022 studio release, ’Flicted (Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers). ’Flicted is now available on 180g 1LP vinyl pressed by IRP in Bordentown, New Jersey, with lacquers cut by Chris Muth. Recently, Bruce Hornsby and Mike Mettler got on Zoom together to discuss why ’Flicted is perfectly suited for vinyl, why Hornsby was so meticulous about the album’s sequencing, and how he and his longtime engineer Wayne Pooley figure out what sounds work best for him in the studio.