The13th AÑO: 5 | NÚMERO 45
UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA
DISCOVERING THE MAGIC THE MGT-AN GENE MARK THWAITE - ASHTON NYTE
Discovering The Magic
Today: MGT- GEMINI NYTE (2018) Interview With
Mark "Gemini" Thwaite and Ashton Nyte by Diego Centuriรณn
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We have already spoken with both of this album that has finally been published. We have had several advances before its publication. And the surprise of the single with the ex Cure Pearl Thompson and our well-known Lol Tolhurst. The truth is that Mark Gemini Thwaite and Ashton Nyte have released their album and with them we will talk about this. Hi guys! Thank you for accepting this interview about an album that we have been following your steps since your respective interviews we have done. Today the album is already on the street. How do they feel when they listen to the entire album? Mark: It was a long time coming… it’s great to finally hear the whole body of work all sequenced and mastered, I think we did a good job, some quality songwriting that we’re very proud of, and a little bit of something for everybody... we wanted the album to be a journey and listening experience and think we achieved it.. Ashton: Yes indeed, I am relieved and certainly happy for it to be out there. While both are known within the scene, since when do they know each other personally? Mark: Back in summer 2015, when I was getting singers together for the first MGT album ‘Volumes’, Adrian Skirrow from ASP in South Africa recommended I check out Ashton and consider him for a song on the album.. Adrian used to be The Mission’s label guy down there. I was unaware of Ashton’s work so checked it out, loved his voice and Adrian put us in touch...
lyrics and the vocal melodies and sent it back to him a few days later. That was The Reaping and the rest, as they say, is history :-). At what point in the recording of the ‘Volumes’ album did you decide to write a new album? Mark: Once we had written ‘The Reaping’ and ‘Jesamine’ for that first MGT album, I kept sending Ashton more demos to sing on and he kept sending back these fantastic completed vocals. We recorded ‘Tear The Sun’ next, and possibly ‘Armageddon’s Sideshow’ and it was obvious within two or three months that we would quickly have a whole album’s worth of material to put out so we left ‘Reaping’ and ‘Jesamine’ on the ‘Volumes’ album and starting stock piling songs for a brand new album. Ashton: It was a wonderfully fluid and very organic experience. We started writing and just kept writing. Yes, we had intended to release it as a new project called "Gemini Nyte" but due to label interventions that became the new MGT album name instead. In any event, the music is now out there. From "Volumes" that we know about this album, how long did it take to write it?
Mark: If you’re talking about the ‘Volumes’ album, that took around 6 months to write, record and release.. as for ‘Gemini Nyte’, I’d say we had two thirds of the new album demoed Ashton: Yeah, after chatting on the phone, by the end of 2015, this was still six months Mark sent me 4 or 5 instrumental demos. I before the ‘Volumes’ album was even releapicked the one I liked the most, wrote some sed… we slowed down a bit then as the label
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advised us they would be promoting the ‘Volumes’ album over the summer of 2016 into 2017, so realized we would have to sit on the new project for a while... but we kept writing and slowly added more songs, in fact we left several new recordings off the final album..
both had archived?
Mark: Some of the demos were brand new for ‘Gemini Nyte’, and some were older ideas I’d had kicking around for a few years, such as the basic demo that became ‘Dystopia’, and the ‘Tear The Sun’ music demo, which dated Did the songs write them for this album back to several years.. but I’d used up a lot or are there remnants of songs that they of my ideas for the ‘Volumes’ album, so much
of the new album was written with Ashton’s voice in mind, we definitely had a blueprint sound created by ‘The Reaping’ & ‘Jesamine’ and made a decision to focus the album in that high energy dark rock direction..
blica on ‘Seconds’ on the ‘Volumes’ album, and the other idea - to cover an ABBA song - was kicking around for a few years actually, but previously I didn’t have a band to record it with... once I came up with the idea to do a solo MGT album, I demoed the dark Ashton: It was all new to me, but for Every wave version of ‘Knowing Me Knowing You’ Little Dream, which was one of my older de- and sent it to my friend Ville Valo of HIM to mos. sing on it... and the rest is history. Due to the success of that ABBA cover, it As is customary, at least in Mark's last made sense to revisit some more covers for work, they have included two covers on the new album, I’d previously composed guithe album, how was the choice? tar riffs on ‘Say Hello Wave Goodbye’ by Soft Cell and ‘Love Action’ by the Human League Mark: Some folks who have followed my back in the 80s, so it was logical to try them career may know of the‘Metalmorphosis’ pro- out with Ashton and the end result is on the ject I was working on back around 1999, ad- album. ding guitars and also new drums and bass to old synth classics by Human League, DeAshton: And then of course we have Atlanpeche Mode, Soft Cell etc… I revived one of ta, which is my favourite of our covers. More these revamped tracks with Saffron of Repu- about that song a little later...
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I ask for a track by track. All The Broken Things Ashton: I vividly remember Mark returning from a tour with Ricky Warwick and sending me the instrumental demo for what would become "All The Broken Things". I think once I had written that chorus lyric / melody is when I knew the new album would be something great! And yes, I love that guitar solo... Mark: Actually this was one of the first things we wrote after we agreed to commit to a whole album together back in late 2015, we saw it as the bastard brother of ‘the Reaping’ and was initially thinking of writing an entire album in this high energy dark rock vein… Every Little Dream
Ashton: This one is actually an older demo of mine which I thought would work well on our album. I sent it to Mark, who agreed and then added his magic and there you have it. Mark: A great track, it always reminded me of Jesus and Mary Chain and once I added the staccato chugging guitars and punk rock inspired solos it nudged it into classic Generation X territory for me.
Dystopia Mark: One of the last songs to make the album. Kind of a Frankenstein of an old demo and then inserted the music that became the chorus, and Ashton did some rearranging and of course added the vocals and lyrics and then it all made sense. The drums were always an issue, always felt the programmed drums made it feel very stiff, but once we got Paul Ferguson of Killing Joke to redo the drums with his amazing feel, it all slotted into place. Was great to get Burton of Fear Factory to guest on it as well. Ashton: Yes, that one took a little re-arranging to make it work. I think because I was hearing it all for the first time, it was easy for me to move things around until it made sense with what I wanted to say lyrically. It has turned out to be quite a live favourite and having Burton join us on stage for that song at The Whisky A Go Go was a definite highlight. Trading Faces Mark: Another one of my faves. Again was written towards the end of the album writing cycle, and started off as a few chord changes recorded on my iphone, a basic verse and chorus idea, which I sent to Ashton... usually I’d demo these full blown productions, but due to time limitations an iphone demo would have to suffice. Ashton saw the potential so then I recorded/demoed it properly in my studio, fleshing out with drums, bass, keyboards and sent to Ashton, who then added an amazing vocal and lyric and then the icing on the cake was Paul’s drums. It’s one of my favourite mixes on the album.
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Ashton: I agree. Probably my current favourite. I think writing it toward the end of the album recording process really helped with the natural evolution of the song. We already had the album pretty much written and demoed, so our creative machine felt like it was working very well by that point. I love the intimacy of the song. Everything Undone Mark: This was a demo I’d originally demoed a few years ago with Gary Numan in mind for the ‘Volumes’ album, hence its more electronic and industrial vibe.. Gary never found time to sing on it..laterI added the heavy riff on the choruses once we considered it for inclusion on ‘Gemini Nyte’, and it became a Nyte/ Thwaite song. Love playing this one live. Ashton: Yes, this also went through a few evolutions. Ultimately it just got heavier and heavier. The Reaping (Reprise) Mark: Anyone familiar with the last MGT album will know this featured prominently on that release, and we recorded a promo video for it for SPV featuring the brilliant Robin Diaz on drums... some folks ask us why we included this same song on both albums.. well, we were impressed by Robin’s drum parts he was adding when we were miming to the ‘Volumes’ programmed drum version back in late 2015, we stuck Robin in a studio to hear how the song would sound with his lives drums, and it was incredible. The problem was that all the tracks on ‘Volumes’ had my programmed beats on it, so including Robin’s live drum version would have stuck out sonically.. Our mastering engineer MaorAppelbaumsuggested we stick with the programmed drum version of ‘The Reaping’ you hear on ‘Volumes’. So we left that live version off that album but I suggested to Ashton that we re-record the guitars and vocals over Robins alternate ‘live drum’ version, plus we added a new guitar solo and new synths and of course a new mix, and that’s the enhanced version you here on this album. We prefer this rocking version! Ashton: Yes, much like Paul, Robin definitely brings a lot to the party. It's great to have this version out there. Say Hello Wave Goodbye Mark: Due to the success of the ABBA cover and warm reception to the Human League cover on the last album, I suggested we include this Soft Cell cover to Ashton. He absolutely nailed the vocal on this one. Ashton: Why thank you :-). I still have an iPhone video of Mark and I recording an acoustic demo for this in his living room, I think to see if I could even sing tho-
se high parts. Needless to say, it makes for some entertaining viewing. The Assembly Line Ashton: One of my absolute favourites. Mark's chord progressions and melodies were the perfect canvas for the story I ended up telling on this one. I love the space and atmosphere of this song. Mark: This one was when we decided we had enough goth rock songs on the new album and were going to stretch the envelope a bit. The intro guitar riff is very evocative of Radiohead to my ears – we’re big fans – but ironically once we heavied up the choruses in a Marilyn Manson style it then became yet another dark rocker! Armageddon's Sideshow Mark: One of my faves on the album. A shitload of guitars on this one, was a real bitch to mix, but it came out great. Definitely paying homage to my heroes Killing Joke and my old band The Mission on this one. Still gives me goosebumps. Ashton: Yes, the song has a thunderous sense of urgency and about 500 guitars. I am amazed there was any space left at for me to sing on it. Tear The Sun Ashton: Probably the most moody track on the album. Lyrically introverted and musically decidedly atmospheric.
Mark: One of the earliest demos that made the record... great atmosphere and space on this one, it almost made it onto ‘Volumes’ as the third song we wrote together, but I’m glad we saved it for the new album.
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Waiting For A Sign
Mark: This song musically started life as a Mission outtake from
the ‘God is a Bullet’ album, I’d sent the demo to Wayne Hussey back in 2006 and he liked it but ended up writing new intro and verse and middle 8 sections so the final song on GIAB didn’t bear much relation to my original demo, which I used for the core of ‘Waiting for a Sign’… as Mission bassist Rich Vernon had played bass on the GIAB version, it was nice to get Rich to record his bass on this version as well..
Ashton: I love Rich and yes, his bass brought the song home. Another one of the dystopian-themed songs lyrically. Hard not be, with the state of the world.
Hide Your Secret Mark: Another song written and demoed towards the end of the album cycle, I think I was paying
homage a little bit to STP here as far as guitars go, theres echoes of The Mission as well in places… as always a great vocal from Ashton, plus our friend Kie Vasquez guested on bv’s to introduce a gospel vibe to the song.
Ashton: This one definitely adds even more diversity to the album. Kie did a lovely job with the gospel vocal vibe she brings to the song.
Atlanta
Ashton: We were both moved by Scott Weiland's passing and I reached out to Mark to do a ver-
sion of my favourite STP song, "Atlanta". I had originally intended to put it out as a solo single, paying homage to Scott. Once Mark started adding various bits and pieces, I knew it had to be a Gemini Nyte song. I can only hope that our love for Scott and STP's work comes through on our rendition of this exquisite song.
Mark: As soon as we demoed this song, we agreed it had to be the album closer. Such a beautiful song, amazing vocals by Ashton, a great way to end the album.
Friends have participated in the recording and in the process, Big Paul Ferguson of Killing Joke, Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, Pearl Thompson and Lol Tolhurst of The Cure, Die Krupps, Richard Vernon. How do they feel when looking at the credits and see the names they have participated? Mark: It’s always an honour to work with some of our heroes, who have become friends over the course of time… I’d already been collaborating with Big Paul on his solo thing and Burton with his Ascension of the Watchers side project the previous year, so it was a logical step to get them on the new album.. Ashton: Yes, it is an absolute blessing to
have these wonderful artists contribute to our album. We know that after the tour of the presentation of the album there are many, many individual projects. We would like you to tell us about them. Mark: I’m continuing to work with Paul Ferguson on his solo material, which I think he’s planning to release as an EP later this year.. I’m still involved with Ascension of the Watchers, and hope to see a new record released soon..also collaborated on the latest Primitive Race album ‘Soul Pretender’ which featured the late Chuck Mosley of Faith No More on vocals throughout, sadly he passed away shortly after the album was released. A great
addition to his legacy. Ashton: I have co-written 3 songs for Michael Ciravolo's "Beauty In Chaos" project. The album features a range of wonderful artists, including Wayne Hussey (The Mission), Simon Gallup (The Cure), Al Jourgenson (Ministry) and many more. Other than that, I have been threatening to release the new Awakening album, for some time now, along with a new solo album. Will there be a new job for this duo? Mark: I think we have potential as a Simon & Garfunkel covers duo, although I do struggle a bit with Art Garfunkel’s high notes.
13 Ashton: But Art had the most original hairstyle ever, which always goes a long way. Mark: Good point, this is true. To finish and thanking them for the interview..Do you want to add something that we have not mentioned? Mark: Thanks to everyone that supported us on the recent tour and checked out the new album, it means a lot! Ashton: Thank you so much for supporting what we do! Thank you so much guys.
The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA