by Alexandra Mrozowska
— Senior Columnist —
One of the most celebrated aspects of music – regardless of the genre – is its ability to convincingly convey stories, whether it’s a tale of life and love you’re way too familiar with or pure science fiction. And if you’re ready for a storytelling journey with a lot of twists and turns along the way, then Nostalgia For Infinity, last year’s album released by Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate might be just right up your alley. The new – and fifth – release of HOGIA as it’s commonly abbreviated was just a starting point for a fascinating conversation Hardrock Haven had with Malcolm Galloway, the band’s singer, songwriter, co-producer and multi-instrumentalist.
Hardrock Haven: Although Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is usually classified as Progressive Rock, your trademark is to combine different genres into a type of sound that’s unmistakably ‘yours’ for the lack of a better word. Where does this diversity come from?
Malcolm Galloway: I’ve always had broad musical interests. As a child I learned the tuba classically, and at school I was in orchestras. brass and wind bands, as well as rock bands. Along with Progressive Rock, I was listening to Classical music (particularly contemporary Classical music) and Metal, and my dad played a lot of Folk albums at home, along with Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and musicals. Mark (Gatland, bass, multi-instrumentalist and co-producer) and I also have an interest in the electronic side of music.
Which genre influence is most obvious varies from song to song, but hopefully it all comes together and makes sense as an album. I suppose whatever genre I write within, there are certain sounds to which I tend to naturally gravitate. For example I’m fond of suspended seconds (e.g. having a D in a C chord), and an element of melancholy, sometimes mixed with defiance.
Hardrock Haven: Nostalgia For Infinity is your most recent album – and fifth overall – that was released last year. With reviewers describing it as the ‘score to an imagined movie’, what do you attribute this cinematic aspect of your music to?
Malcolm Galloway: I am interested in visual art as well as music. We make our own videos for many of our songs, and had great fun playing an unusual gig at the National Gallery, where I’d written a piece of music and video art to go with their Dutch floral paintings exhibition. Despite this, I don’t usually have specific visual image in mind when writing music. Perhaps the cinematic element reflects the way that many of our albums follow stories?
Hardrock Haven: The album’s said to have been inspired by literary works (particularly, the works of Science Fiction author Alastair Reynolds). Would you say then the lyrics are pure work of fiction, or is it more of an observation of reality filtered through literature?
Malcolm Galloway: For songs related to books, I think I am drawn to aspects of a story where I feel I’m writing something from the perspective of one of the characters. Although the specific narrative might be specific to the book, usually the emotional reaction of the character will be something that hopefully chimes with wider situations. The album starts with “Century Rain”, inspired by the Alastair Reynolds book of the same name. The song is from the perspective of a private detective and part-time musician in an oppressive Fascist state. The song starts with him feeling disgusted with himself for turning away when someone is beaten up for their political views. Not wanting to give any spoilers, but it turns out his world isn’t what he thinks it is, and he decides not to turn away any more. That sense of self-reproach leading not to wallowing in self-pity, but to defiant determination to stand up against injustice appealed to me as the emotional core for the song, hopefully without coming across as too preachy.
It is sometimes said that science fiction tells us more about the time in which it was written than it does about the future. A narrative can be both specific to a story, and metaphorical, and the reader can of course also bring their own interpretations. I hope the emotional expression from the perspective of the character in the song seems authentic, even if fictional. I find that when I’m performing these songs live, I feel a sense of getting into that character. For example, while I’m performing “When I Was A Ship” (inspired by Ann Leckie’s novels), I feel quite angry about being a space-ship AI manipulated into committing war crimes, then being betrayed by my creator. Obviously I have relatively little experience of being a futuristic space weapon, but I think many people could relate to the idea of people being manipulated by those in power.
Hardrock Haven: Definitely. One of the themes behind the album is the humankind’s apparent inability to learn from the mistakes of history, which you also pay attention to in the liner notes of the album, speaking about the anthropogenic climate change and possible global catastrophe approaching. Do you think there’s still hope for humanity in spite of that?
Malcolm Galloway: I hope so. It is too late for our past contempt for the planet not to cause harm, but I don’t think it is too late for us to save our species. In our song “Sixth Extinction”, about the mass extinction event we are currently causing, we say ‘we could choose to change’. Change may not be convenient, but it is a choice. If we choose to go on like we have been, it won’t be that we haven’t been warned. We could wait for everyone else, or we could just get on with it.
The worst crises bring out both the best and the worst of humanity. If you look at almost any tragedy, there are some people who turn out to be unexpected heroes. We are capable of great compassion, as well as great cruelty. I don’t think as a species we are very good at dealing with predicted tragedies. We seem to be numb to numbers unless we can attach a face to a crisis. In terms of climate change, it is very likely that there will be substantial loss of life, and displacement of people around the world as some areas become flooded, and others turned into deserts. Nature adapts well to change if given enough time, but we are changing the planet at a pace that evolution can’t keep up with. I think we will cause a great deal of damage to many of our own species, and will sadly cause the extinction of many others, but one of our enduring features is our adaptability. The earlier serious attempts are made to avert this, the less disruptive these efforts will need to be. I suspect that as the consequences of climate change become more visually apparent, there will be more widespread empathy for those most directly affected, and there will be more pressure to fight it.
Hardrock Haven: The other song on the album, “Ark”, has a historical background to it, not only in terms of naval history but also your family history. Beyond that, how much are you inspired by historical events and nuances as a songwriter?
Malcolm Galloway: “Ark” was inspired by my grandfather’s experiences on the Ark Royal, an aircraft carrier in the Second World War. I am interested in history, and listen to a lot of historical audiobooks. I often hear something and think I’d love to write something inspired by that story.
Many time travel stories involve someone from the future coming back to give a warning, allowing us to avoid a future catastrophe. There is another form of virtual time travel, but in the opposite direction, that should allow us to do the same – history. So often similar themes recur. The Second World War is an important example to us of both what our species is capable of when we allow ourselves to dehumanize minorities, and how people can come together to stand against inhumanity. Our next album, The Confidence Trick is also inspired by history, and our failure to learn from it.
Hardrock Haven: Can you explain the idea behind the concept of Nanobotoma? Is it only a fictional theme, or perhaps also a kind of a metaphor – and if it’s the latter, is there anything you could call a figurative ‘nanbotoma’ in today’s society?
Malcolm Galloway: The album was written before, but released during the Coronavirus pandemic. Co-incidentally, several songs on the album relate to infections, although in the album these are infections spread by microscopic machinery. Nanobotoma is a term that as far as I am aware hadn’t been used before. I use it to mean a tumor formed by the uncontrolled proliferation of self-replicating medical microscopic devices. The song tells a story of my own, of someone being treated for cancer with experimental self-replicating machines that are supposed to destroy tumour cells. Initially he feels better, but the nanobots form a tumor. If they stayed in just one host, they would die with him, so there would be a selective pressure for mutations that led to such machines being transmissible to others via aerosols. The protagonist of the song is aware that he is supposed to be in isolation, because he is having this experimental treatment, but is being manipulated the machines to desperately crave human contact. ‘I can’t stand the isolation, I need someone to hold.’ The infection is taking advantage of one of the most basic human needs, to spread, leading to a pandemic.
It just occurred to me that the title of the song doesn’t actually appear in the lyrics. There are some words that as a vocalist roll easily off the tongue. Nanobotoma isn’t one.
I think just about any narrative could be seen in various metaphorical ways. In retrospect, there are aspects of the song that seem far more relevant to real life now than they seemed at the time of writing. The metaphor of infection has an unpleasant history of being used as a dehumanizing metaphor by those who want to reduce our empathy for others. I wasn’t consciously thinking metaphorically with this song however. The song was partly inspired by my previous background in neuropathology.
Hardrock Haven: The latter part of the album is the Redemption Ark suite, again inspired by Reynolds’ works, in which humanity is portrayed as divided into “competing factions defined by their relationship with technology.” Would you say technology is more of a blessing or a curse for us these days?
Malcolm Galloway: Any technological development could be used for positive or negative reasons. A social media platform could be used to put volunteers in touch with community projects, or it could be used to amplify hatred. On a personal level, technology has allowed me to make the music I want to make. The kind of music I want to write in the past would have needed a big budget and recording studio – most of my composing is done lying down with a laptop.
Hardrock Haven: What was the songwriting and recording process for Nostalgia For Infinity like, especially given the uneasy circumstances of 2020?
Malcolm Galloway: As I said, the album was written before Covid-19. Usually I write an outline of the piece and send it to Mark. He’ll make suggestions, and usually add a bass line, and/or additional guitar or keyboard parts. I’ll usually then add a guide vocal. Ideally Mark and I then meet up in person to record the final vocal performance. We tend to bounce versions of the song between each other online, until we are both happy with the mix, then move on to the mastering stage. When the songs are almost finished we usually meet up together to go through the song in detail, working on small details. Very irritatingly for those within earshot, we may be looping around one bar hundreds of times while making subtle tweaks to the sounds.
When we are both happy, I then master the track, trying to balance the sound that works best for the song in isolation, while also gelling with the rest of the album. Again this is an iterative process, where I send versions of the track to Mark, and we both listen on a variety of headphones and speakers. Then we typically have what we think is a final listen to the finished master, and then notice a tiny digital click somewhere, and have to go back to the project files and try to work out where the errant noise is coming from, then re-render, re-master, re-listen, and around and around until we’re happy with the track.
Our working method seems to work well for us, and meant that during the lockdown, we were able to carry on with getting pretty much all of the instrumental parts of our next album recorded.
Some of our tracks also include Kathryn Thomas on flute or sometimes on vocals.
Hardrock Haven: Similarly to the rest of your catalog, Nostalgia To Infinity is one of these albums that require active listening experience – do you think there’s still a chance for that in the world of passive music consumption?
Malcolm Galloway: Our albums are written with the aim of there being a sense of direction through the album. Even in the albums that don’t have a specific narrative that follows through the songs, Mark and I try ensure there is a sense of a cohesive journey with the album. It is very gratifying when someone tells us that they have got something out of listening to the album in its entirety. On the other hand, I also hope that the songs work in isolation, and that you don’t need to be following the narrative to get something out of the music. Our music is quite varied, and I’m also very happy for individual tracks to be used in playlists. Sometimes as listeners we want specific types of music rather than a varied album. For example, we have some songs that might work on an exercise playlist, or on a ‘background while working’ playlist, but the album as a whole wouldn’t fit.
Hardrock Haven: Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate is also known as a supporter of many charity events, largely those helping cancer-stricken patients. How important is it to you personally?
Malcolm Galloway: My dad died of cancer a few years ago. We were very close. I also used to work diagnosing brain tumors, so cancer charities are close to my heart. There has been some amazing progress in treatments for some cancers, due to advances in medical science, but there is still a long way to go.
We also co-organise (with Chris Parkins of London Prog Gigs) Prog The Forest, a fundraiser for the World Land Trust, which puts vulnerable habitats into trust to save them in perpetuity, and have done other events for Save The Children. We need to both look after the people currently on the planet, and make sure the planet can sustain people in the future.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of charity work, recently a pre-order for Breaking Bands: Fundraiser Double CD started – the aforementioned double album featuring artists who are going to play Breaking Bands Festival VII in 2022 and donated the tracks to help the organizers to raise funds for the festival after the two year absence related to COVID-19 pandemic. Do you think initiatives like this one can really help the live music industry get back on track after all that happened?
Malcolm Galloway: I greatly admire those who put their time and passion into promoting live music. It can be such a joyful shared experience, and one I’m looking forward to as soon as it is safe to do so. It isn’t going to be easy for independent festivals, venues and musicians to bounce back after COVID, but lockdown has also reminded many of us what an impact live music has on our lives.
Hardrock Haven: Beyond Hats Off Gentlemen It’s Adequate, you also release classical minimalist solo albums. Do your non-rock albums give you a chance to redefine yourself as an artist?
Malcolm Galloway: I’ve been making both classical minimalist music and Rock music since childhood. I enjoy them both, and usually have a Rock and minimalist/classical album in progress at the same time. I had previously thought of them as fairly separate, but have come to realize there are more links between these two aspects of my musical output than I had appreciated, and over time I think they have come closer together. I tend to be drawn to quite melancholic lyrics, which wouldn’t generally fit a very chirpy track. My classical/minimalist pieces don’t have lyrics, so I might be more free to explore a more joyful sound (I don’t think I’m as miserable in real life as I might sound in my songs). Admittedly, they still are usually in a minor key.
Hardrock Haven: Your last classical minimalist album was Transitions in 2019, followed by an EP not long after that. Having added the releases by HOGIA to that – what do you think keeps your creative juices flowing?
Malcolm Galloway: I feel more comfortable and happier when I’m creating. A wide variety of things can inspire a track. Sometimes it starts as a story idea, or I might be reading a book and come across a phrase that jumps out and inspires a lyric. Sometimes I start with a chord sequence, or a drum beat. Sometimes a song just seems to pop into my head, almost fully formed, with just some lyrics to finish. Other songs are almost finished for a year or more, but there is a word or two that doesn’t feel right, and then suddenly the right word comes to mind.
Hardrock Haven: Speaking of creativity, are you one of these songwriters that are writing constantly, or perhaps you create only when necessary – with a specific release in mind and for this very release?
Malcolm Galloway: Most weeks I’ll have done some work on a new song idea, or worked on editing/mixing/mastering. I tend to have lots of album ideas on the go at the same time, and suddenly ideas for one will bubble over.
Hardrock Haven: Looking forward, what are your plans for the near future?
We’re finishing off our sixth album, The Confidence Trick. The album is about our tendency to mistake confidence for competence, and so are vulnerable to being taken advantage of by overconfident people. I think that excessive certainty is an under-recognized problem. The music is all written – it’s mostly just the vocals and flute parts for some tracks that need finishing.
We’re also looking forward to getting back to gigs as soon as safely possible. My first planned gig after the end of lockdown should be Prog For Peart, at the beginning of July. The event is a fundraising festival for glioblastoma research. Glioblastoma is a terrible form of brain cancer, but hopefully with more funding for research there is a chance it can be fought.
Then on 10 July 2021 we’re co-organising Prog The Forest with Chris Parkins of London Prog Gigs at the Fiddler’s Elbow in London. The festival is raising money to preserve the rainforests on which we all depend, but which are being lost at a frightening rate. We’re delighted to be joined by Soft Machine’s John Etheridge, I Am The Manic Whale, Emperor Norton, and Warmrain.
We’re playing at ‘A Sunday In September’ at the Bedford in Balham on 19 September 2021, along with IT, The Emerald Dawn, Abel Ganz, The Gift and Tom Slatter.
We’re also very excited to be playing on the same bill as Rick Wakeman in April 2022 at Hard Rock Hell’s Prog festival at the O2 Academy in Sheffield.
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