RICH LOCK

VOCALS

DAVID BRAZINGTON

GUITARS

DIETMAR SCHANTIN

BASS

JACK LOCK

DRUMS

THOMAS LOCK

KEYS

Thank you very much for agreeing to do this interview. Let’s start with a few questions about the band and label before we concentrate on the debut album. So, Rich, Thomas, and Jack Lock. What is the relationship between the three of you, please?

Thank you for the invitation, Steve. I’m (Rich) the father, Jack is the eldest son and Thomas the youngest.

The Round Window project started off as a duo in 2018 with you and Thomas developing songs. In 2020, Jack joined you, and then in 2021 the band line-up was completed by the addition of David Brazington & Dietmar Schantin. What is the history behind the expansion of the band, please? Was this simply an organic process, something which happened, or the addition of personnel required to realise the music in full?

Jack was with us on an ad-hoc basis when we recorded an EP in 2019 but then decided he’d like to play a larger part in things so that was very much organic and hugely welcome. With David and Dietmar it was very much a desire to push the songs and band as far as we could. We’d tried previously to find band members but there were always obstacles, partly created by ourselves - we needed people who would be willing to commit to getting the best possible outcomes for the music and people often, understandably, weren’t able to do that, which creates frustration. We were pretty much resigned to keeping things as a trio and doing the best we could with what we had when I just decided one day, unilaterally I admit, to try one more search. And it came up trumps. Both David and Dietmar were really fired up, great musicians and, crucially, really committed to getting it all out there at the highest possible standard we could manage. We all had lots of shared influences as well. It was amazing how it all came together so easily on that occasion.

Please provide my readers with a potted history of the musical journey of Rich Lock.

As a listener it all started with Alan Freeman and Tommy Vance while I was still at school. Those incredible rock shows really gave me a musical home and paved the way for the rest of my life. When I left school at 16 my first monthly paycheck went towards a top-notch stereo and the second one bought a collection of Japanese pressings of all the Deep Purple albums up to that date. From there it was the height of the NWOBHM and then the prog revival. So much music to discover which I spent a lot of money and time on. Worth every penny. Gigs galore. I listened to anything vaguely rock and that’s still the case today. Marillion to Mellencamp to Metallica, it’s all good.

I joined a band in the late Eighties, and we played every pub, club, and hall we could get into, including playing to the standard two men and a dog. Minus the dog. At the Royal Standard oddly enough. It was fun, slightly bonkers on reflection and then crashed to a halt, as these things often do. Then came family life which meant a necessary change in emphasis. Until the boys grew and we were able to play together. There’s no better feeling than that and I’m really proud of how this has turned out.

Robin Armstrong of Cosmograf is responsible for the knob-twiddling duties, and his expertise is one of the instantly noticeable facets of your debut album. Indeed, his Gravity Dream label is responsible for the album distribution, so you have joined a stable whose members are Cosmograf, The Bardic Depths, Arrival, Echo Rain, Grumblewood, Dec Burke, and Retreat from Moscow. How did this partnership come about, please? What does this bring to The Round Window party that the band would otherwise have been responsible for themselves?

We contacted Robin back in 2019 after the EP came out and asked if he would consider working with us on the album. He was absolutely fantastic in offering advice on how to improve things from the EP to the album but then the pandemic came along, and everything came to a halt until mid-2021 when we reconnected, and he agreed to mix and master the album. We realised very early on that some of the songs had a lot going on in them and we didn’t want someone mixing who would say “there’s too much going on, let’s remove some of this.” We needed someone who would say “there’s a lot going on here and here’s how we can make this sound great.” We knew with Robin’s track record and skills we would get that kind of approach. It also helped that I knew that Robin had a similar listening background to me so we would have a pretty close musical lexicon to fall back on. It was a great decision as the album sounds superb. Having the distribution deal was the cherry on top because it relieves us of some of the heavy lifting when it comes to having the music available.

Angela Gordon, the ridiculously talented flautist, and vocalist, from Mostly Autumn and Odin Dragonfly, one of my favourite musicians, is a guest on the album. How did you secure her services, please?

Funnily enough, it was one of the easiest things about recording the album. I knew that I wanted a flute on Victory for a very specific purpose and Angela was the first person that came to mind as I’m a fan. I sent her a message and asked if she’d be interested, she listened to the track and within a short time we had three separate flute tracks to choose from in the inbox. Just a doddle really. They all sounded superb, and it was tough to call which one to use. It takes the song to another dimension and I’m eternally grateful to Angela in making it so easy to achieve.

Similarly, the artwork by Paul Tippett, whose work has featured for Lee Abraham & Lonely Robot amongst others, is lavish. How did this part of the project come together, please?

I’ve got so many albums in my collection that have Paul's artwork and design on, so he was always our number one choice. Right from the off, when we told him the name of the band and album he was brimming with ideas. I sent him over the rough ideas behind each of the songs and left him to conjure up his own interpretations; in fact, he pretty much demanded a 16-page booklet so he could get it all in place. No arguments from me. I like how each song has its own image in the booklet with different versions of the window. The cover can be interpreted in many ways as well, which we love; and sometimes argue about.

You describe your music as “widescreen rock”, straddling genres and defying classification. As far as this website is concerned, that is a major attraction for my enjoyment, because I always seek the new and interesting, as opposed to the derivative or unimaginative. So, it would be interesting for my readers if you could provide us with your major musical influences and those of your bandmates (I ask this as there is a clear age range present!).

Lots of crossover for us despite the ages. For David his main man for guitar is Steve Lukather, so there’s that Toto vibe always going on. Dietmar cites Floyd, Jamiroquai and Kate Bush. For Jack it’s Dream Theater and Neal Morse - the two Mikes, Mangini and Portnoy. Thomas cites Big Big Train and Neal Morse. As I said above I have less easily identifiable favourites but if I had to go for the Desert Island three it would be Floyd, Marillion & Rush. Ask me another day and that’d probably change.

Further to this, I tired long ago of progressive rock classifications such as “neo”, “eclectic”, “crossover” & etc. Not only are many of them meaningless in the context of the history of the music, but I truly believe that progressive rock, art rock, call it what one will, has itself moved on, in other words progressed beyond such labels if you will pardon the pun. What is The Round Window’s place within the modern scene?

With the whole “defying” classification thing I would probably say now that’s a little inaccurate, although I did use that word to describe us so it’s on me. I think it’s more accurately “denying” classification because we’ve made a choice to deliberately not force the songs and sound down any particular path and we’ve done that consciously by not shoehorning things in, or taking them out, just to fit a mould.

In all honesty I don’t find the idea of genres to be that enlightening, and in some cases, it just leads to tribalism; I’m not sure we need much more of that these days. Having a broad genre like rock, pop, reggae, or soul can be helpful as a broad descriptor but when you get to the level of alternative and post-alternate and the like you end up with ridiculous arguments about what fits where and no-one arguing has any clear definition of what any of it means.

To contradict myself a little I did come up with the idea of the music being “widescreen” to indicate that our influences are many and varied so I guess there’s no getting away from labels even when you try. I’m happy for us to sit wherever people want us to be. I’ve always loved that old Joe Walsh album title “You Bought It, You Name It.” 

The album is available on Bandcamp and from the label. I am interested in finding out what the commercial expectations you have for the album are. What would satisfaction and/or success look like? Is this a factor in the project, or is it simply a labour of musical love?

Oh, the latter for sure. It can’t be anything else. The only thing we can control is pouring love into the process and drawing love from it. I’m loving answering these questions and hearing Take My Hand on the various radio stations that have played it and I think that’s satisfying and successful in its own, lovely way. If we get some sales that help to support us doing more that would be fantastic, but these are looking like tough times and there’s so much out there for folks to do with their money. Reading Mark Kelly’s book recently when he said something like Marillion only getting out of the red in something like 2006 is revealing. If we break even at some point I’ll dance a jig,

Colchester in Essex is home. What is the rock scene like in 2022 Essex?

There’s a vibrant music scene in Colchester and probably wider in Essex as well, but it’s not one that is particularly inclusive of us and the type of music we play so we’ve kept our focus on recording rather than playing locally. No upset there, it’s a youth driven game with certain music types preferred so it just forces us to take a broader approach. It is what it is.

You are looking to do some live work. Can you share any news about these plans with us, please?

Our main focus right now is getting started on album two and once we’ve got the heavy lifting out of the way we can focus more on approaching live work. We have two main challenges to playing live, the biggest of which is that Jack is the sole professional musician amongst us, so he naturally has a lot of commitments that need to be factored in. Additionally, Dietmar splits his time between the UK and Europe for work so there’s another scheduling consideration. Ultimately, we’re keen to present this material in a live context and embrace that opportunity to spread the music far and wide but I’m not sure we’ll have any concrete plans until the end of this year. Having said that, if anyone wants to offer us an opportunity, we’ll gratefully grasp your hand and make it work.

NOTE TO READERS - THE TRACKS EMBEDDED BELOW ARE PROVIDED ON A “TRY BEFORE YOU BUY” BASIS - PLEASE DO SUPPORT THE ARTISTS WE LOVE BY BUYING FROM THEM. THE BANDCAMP LINK IS AT THE FOOT OF THIS INTERVIEW

Okay, let’s concentrate on a fine debut album. My review of this is published separately on Album Reviews 2022 page of this website. The Window is a very good statement of intent as an opening piece. I think this is especially atmospheric, and very noticeable are the drums, with some complex and pleasing rhythms. Opening an album with an instrumental such as this is a bold move, do you not agree?

Yes, I think Jack said he was channelling a little Neil Peart with this one. Probably the biggest discussion we had about the running order was whether to start with an instrumental and I’ll admit to being the flag bearer for that cause, a lonely cause at times. Some of the themes in The Window repeat in some of the later songs so for me there was only one place it could go and still make sense. I actually used your word there, Steve, as my argument. It is bold, but why shouldn’t it be? You only get one chance to open your debut album so why not make a statement? It also builds a degree of tension which Take My Hand then releases. I eventually managed to persuade everyone else to come around to my way of thinking, but it was touch and go. Robin made me smile when he mixed the track and compared it to John Carpenter - I loved that.

Take My Hand is the first single, and the video is embedded above. It is our first taste of your voice, and very pleasing it is too. There are some fine guitar riffs here by David, and Dietmar’s thumping bass works very well. They have clearly added a great deal to your vision. A fair comment?

Totally. It would’ve been a much lighter, more acoustically driven affair without the two D’s. I can actually hear with TMH how this would’ve sounded had we remained a trio and how that final push to recruit others to the band has really paid off. David’s guitars remind me a little of Neal Schon with the riffs and, as you say, Dietmar and Jack really power it along, especially at the big ending.

Full disclosure, it’s actually Thomas’ voice you can hear for the first verse and the first part of the second and I’m joining in from the first bridge onwards. I think it was Jack’s idea to have Thomas sing the more doubting side of the lyrics (strangely resonant) so we made some last minute changes. I’m hoping we can exploit those mixed voices a little bit more on the second album.

It has a more “traditional” rock feel to it, but with some lush orchestration. The lyrics talk to me of taking a leap into new territory, of staring doubts (the monster) in the face, and simply taking a punt. Could you please provide my readers with the writer’s take.

That middle section with the orchestration was Thomas’ idea and I think we were initially a little uncertain as there was the danger that it lost its momentum. But we added the vocal section to the orchestral part and then developed the rebuild up to the lead-out chorus and it all made sense. We also knew this would be the lead single and that section lifted the song to over six minutes, closer to six and a half, and we worried about getting airplay. We’d released a single from the EP back in 2019 and a couple of radio stations had asked for an edit. We complied and they still faded it at 3.30 so there was no way we were doing that again. Fortunately, all the stations that have played TMH so far have been awesome in just letting it run so more power to them.

The lyric of the song was triggered by a quote from Felix Dennis which then got entangled with Marcus Aurelius’ idea of “what stands in the way, is the way.” So, it’s definitely about taking on challenges, facing your fears and even if you don’t entirely succeed you will have developed.

Among the Clouds has a bit of a smoky jazz feel to it, mixed with some clear pop/rock sensibilities which remind me quite a lot of 80’s bands such as Tears for Fears, and electronica interspersed with more classic progressive keyboards and some crunching guitar riffs. Talk us through this track, please. It strikes me as being a pretty good example in a single five-and-a-half-minute piece of music that combination of varying influences and output the band are about.

You’ve nailed it, Steve. This is probably the song on the album that changed the most from the original demo, which was a pretty straight up AOR type song. Jack added a bit of shuffle to the song and everyone else followed, which is where the varied influences come out and make it its own thing. There were a few concerns raised over the eighties style keyboards, but I love them - maybe we can ride the Stranger Things zeitgeist as well.

From the outset of Victory, Angela’s flute sings to us. This track and her input into it are beautiful, and a real highlight of the album. This strikes me as being a commentary on modern politics and the cult of “leadership”. Initially, please give us your meaning of the song.

I had a clear picture of wanting the flute to be the dove of peace that soars over and above the song and Angie nailed it. That was her brief really, be beautiful over the ugly gentlemen in the lyrics. The lyrics were written back in 2018 and each verse is about a different leader; what’s become interesting to me later is how the lines are actually interchangeable and they all share some similar characteristics as leaders, but more importantly, as authoritarians. It started on a walk one day where I reflected that if those gents realised their agendas and they achieved their goals what would that look like? Everywhere else destroyed except their corner? Total domination over everywhere else? Peace and love for the species? Unlikely to be the latter. Or is it just ruling so you can rule? One of those guys is partially gone now, although one is still making mischief. To say the least.

It is an expansionist and pastoral track at the same time, and the production is especially crystal clear, with multiple layers. David’s guitar especially is emotional, and when his expressive solo is over, Angela leads in with her flute accompanied by the piano, synths, and a deliciously understated rhythm section. Add to these the noticeable backing vocals as well, this track is a real treat. I am curious. Although it would not be possible to wrest Angela away from her bands, have you considered adding to the band on a permanent basis such instrumentation?

That guitar solo is a cracker, and it complements the flute section so well. To your last point, I don’t think we’ll be adding anyone permanently, but we can always ask for guests to appear on the recordings if it fits. Having said that, we may need to think about the live situation and if we want to do justice to some of the songs, having another musician up there may well help. It’s another thing on the live discussion agenda.

I love Dietmar’s bass riff on Out of Time. This piece is very bluesy, especially those guitar licks by David and the keyboard passages by Thomas which accompany your voice which I think is delicately pitched (the temptation for many bands being to shout when understatement is the perfect pitch). What, precisely, is running out of time here, please?

On the original demo that bass riff was just a coda at the end of the song and Dietmar and Jack suggested trying it as more of a main groove. Which panned out well. The theme of the song is a simple encouragement to not put things off as time is going to flow on regardless. To be creative, appreciative, and curious now, while you can. Time will run out and you want to have shined in those spans of moments, to others and to yourself.

Nobody Home talks of there being nothing left at home for the vocal protagonist. It strikes me as being quite a personal piece of music, leaving something behind and lyrically akin to Take My Hand. Please provide the background to this piece. The keyboard solo by Thomas at the denouement is special, again perfectly pitched. The track did not need Emerson style theatrics, but delicate moods, and he provides this very well.

It’s funny that whenever I hear those keyboards at the end it instantly reminds me of Signals era Rush. Probably my second favourite Rush album so it really sends me spinning into nostalgia mode. One thing I don’t think you’ll get from us are twiddly instrumental sections and solos. They definitely have their place, but I think everyone’s instinct in the band during solo or instrumental sections is to highlight the melody and/or atmosphere rather than get complex or technical. Lyrically, NH is about returning to a place in your life, a house you lived in as a child for example, trying to recapture a feeling, but then realising that it isn’t about the place it was about the people, and without them the house is just that, not a home. It’s empty. There’s still a positive to be gained but also a process of realisation to get there.

Avalon, the legendary island where King Arthur was taken to meet his end. Although the lyrical references to the myth are clear, this does not strike me as being a “simple” proggy type fantasy song, but something rather more personal and modern set within the dream and myth of Avalon. It is a very thoughtful piece of music and emotional when you sing of “desire lifts your eyes to the lights in the sky” in that chorus and that stunning passage where your voice sings along with the guitar cry. Please provide my readers with some background to all of this.

I’ve mainly latched onto Avalon as a better place, a place of healing - in the legend, where Arthur went to recover after Camlann. The broad application is all about those moments when all of us long to go to a better place, where the grass is greener. Or where it feels like the grass will be greener to add a degree of doubt. That could simply be a dream of breaking free of routine, or a life that has become stale, as in the first verse. Seeking. Or it could be the reality of escaping a natural or man-made disaster to be safer, freer, or just to be amongst friends. Feeling love. Receiving a welcome and understanding. The song was written in 2019 so when I hear the outro now the questions are: Really, again? How many times?

Another Chance closes the album and is its longest track at nine minutes. Firstly, I am curious as to whether in the writing process, you plan deliberately a longer piece of music, or whether it is merely “how things turn out”?

The latter again. Part of that denying classification desire is all about letting the songs come out as they want to come out. It sounds a little trite perhaps, but they have their own life during creation, and we let them go where they go. For my own writing process, I normally have a reasonably well formed “head idea” of a song and then it’s a case of sitting down and finding the chords and sounds, and it’s that second part of the process where the song kind of takes over and leads. So, I think it’s fair to say that Another Chance was always going to be on the longer side of things because I had a lot I wanted to get down, but it then grew wings a little as we played with it in the studio. I knew from the start that it needed that guitar solo so the only thing to decide was how long David needed to deliver his message in that section. The end section was elongated a little as well because Jack wanted to ride that groove for a few bars more. It goes where it goes.

It is another very thoughtful piece of music. The instrumental passage featuring the guitar solo, but true ensemble, is particularly evocative. The track expands and rocks out when you repeat “another chance” about two minutes out with some particularly expressive synths driving the band. Again, this strikes me as being intensely personal, with the world in your hands, all in your hands.

There’s a duality to this one. The main theme is about making decisions and choices that you then later regret but have no chance to reverse. Some of the imagery reflects the issues around climate change and I’ve tried to link the two without making grand statement about the environment which I’m not well placed to make. As far as the world being in my hands - yes when it comes to personal choices definitely. When it comes to broad issues like climate change, it’s not. So that final set of lines is both a personal statement of ownership but also an accusation that dealing with big issues can only be addressed by those with power and money. If there's a touch of anger, it’s because I have a suspicion that those people see the world as a personal playground which they like just the way it is despite their playing to the crowd and grandstanding about how much they care.

The section at the end was tailored by Thomas so that the keys refer to some of the other themes in the rest of the songs, ultimately ending with a slight return to the opening of The Window.

It is a very strong close to a very impressive album. You must be extremely proud.

Just holding that cd in our hands has been a profoundly satisfying conclusion to a really challenging but very rewarding journey. Almost 30 years for me since I stopped playing in the very first band as well, so it’s taken a while for me to be able to say that. And it wouldn’t have happened without the rest of the guys in the band, Robin and all those people, such as yourself, that do such a great job of supporting music at the less corporate end of the scale.

I believe that you are writing and preparing to record the follow-up already. Is this correct, please?

Yes, we have nine songs good to go for album number two and we begin tracking drums at Aubitt Studios at the start of November. This time we’ll have Robin along with us as full producer, so he’ll be there from the first to last note and helping to make sure it’s a step forward in terms of both performances and sounds.

So, it can safely be said that you all see The Round Window as a long-term project?

Certainly nothing marked on the calendar that says, “stop here.” As long as it’s enjoyable and we’re finding that outlet for creativity then we’ll keep at it.

Thank you very much for answering these questions. I wish you every success with what is a very strong album.

Thank you so much for taking the time to ask the questions, Steve. We really appreciate it.

THE ROUND WINDOW IS RELEASED ON FRIDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2022. AVAILABLE ON BANDCAMP AND RELEASED VIA GRAVITY DREAM RECORDS.