Robert Haigh interview

During the time of production for his release, “Written on Water,” Crouton did this brief interview with Robert Haigh about the past, present, and future. Enjoy.

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Supposedly you went through a phase where you left your 80s work
behind and didn’t want much to do with it. Your recent material
seems to have some connections back to that material now. What
caused this separation and reunion?

Yes! I have heard this too, that I distanced myself from my 80s
stuff. I don’t know where that rumour came from, but it’s not
remotely true.

The whole 90s development came about through changing personal
circumstances. In early 89 I left London, left my job at Virgin
records and later that year opened a record shop in Hertfordshire.
Part of what we did there catered for the burgeoning underground DJ
scene. I was buying in loads of white labels and imports of real
underground techno and industrial hardcore, including the newly
formed labels like Warp and R&S. I realized that this stuff was
coming from the same aesthetic as Cabaret Voltaire, A Certain Ratio
and 23 Skidoo. It was fresh, alternative and really exiting. In fact
it reminded me of the period 79 to 81 of post punk experimentalism.

One day a guy (DJ) came into the shop and played me a minimal
hardcore tune that he had done on a computer. I was so impressed that
I offered to put it out even though I didn’t have a label at that
time. Within a year I had bought the same sort of computer (Amiga
500) for £300 and started experimenting with sequencing. At that time
my music output had slowed quite a bit, I had a handful of unreleased
piano pieces and a few of the sort of repetitive tracks that I had
released on LAYLAH. I tried mixing some of the repetitive themes with
the sequenced drum tracks and after another year of experimentation,
Omni Trio was born.

The intention was to do the Omni stuff alongside producing piano
based material under my own name. In a way, that’s what happened
except that the Omni thing blew up much bigger than I had
anticipated. But throughout the 90s I also kept writing piano and
minimal themes. By the early 2000s the time was right to put the
emphasis on developing this sort of material.

Has Omni Trio run its course? What are your plans going forward?

Yes, that’s all from Omni Trio. In September 2004 I emailed a few key
colleagues and parties who were instrumental in the promotion of Omni
Trio to inform them that that was it. I have no intention of going
back on that decision. I even called the last track on the final Omni
CD; Suicide Loop.

I feel like I’m back at square one. And for me that’s a good feeling.
I can take my time and just explore and experiment without any sense
of pressure or expectation. My next project will be completely solo
piano. I’m really excited about the challenge of sticking to just
piano…. oh, and a few treatments of course.

Also I have a load of DATs and discs with snippets of tunes and
textures, some are just seconds long, others are a couple of minutes.
Some include rhythms, some are just textures and sounds. I’m going to
experiment with this material to see if I can produce a collage that
can work as a unified piece. (It may even surface as a release by Sema.)

“Written on Water” has moments reminiscent of later Harold Budd
work. Is he someone you’ve been interested in long? Do you
consider what you’re pursuing to be ‘ambient’?

‘The Plateaux of Mirror’ is another top 5 album for me, and without
doubt Budd is an influence. Yes, it could be described as ambient. I
think ‘minimal’ is closer (in line with Michael Nyman’s excellent
definition in his book Experimental Music) in that I like to make the
most of limited materials, be that instruments and sounds, musical
phrases, gradual development… etc.

How did your piano pieces get connected with artists on the
LAYLAH records, or Steven Stapleton, etc. Talk about how that
developed.

The LAYLAH connection was through Steve. I used to work with Truth
Club/Fote drummer Trevor Reidy at Virgin Records in a basement off
Oxford St London. Steve worked just down the road in Soho. He used to
hang around the shop and we got to know him quite well. When the
store manager was out we would play the entire album of NWWs ‘Chance
Meeting’ over the shop’s sound system and drive all the customers
out. After a while the basement became a bit of a meeting place for
the experimental scene of that time. Steve asked us (The Truth Club)
to contribute a track for a compilation album ‘Hoisting the Black
Flag’, at the same time I was developing my first solo album ‘Notes
from Underground’ (another one designed to drive the customers out),
and the rest is……….. (a blur actually.)

What are your thoughts on live performance? Is this something
you’ve done or will do in the future?

I haven’t done a live performance since the Truth Club gigs of 1981
supporting the likes of Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and This Heat. I
really have no desire to ever play live again, I’m more into
capturing stuff on tape in the studio.

What is your background in music – formal training, etc.? What
kind of music did you listen to growing up?

I had a few guitar lessons when I was about 9, but that nearly put me
off for life. I really got into playing the guitar properly when I
was 13 or 14 and formed my first band when I was 15 inspired by
Bowie, Roxy Music and Lou Reed.

The album that turned me on to ‘alternative music’ was Faust Tapes
(still in my top 5 favorite albums of all time.) My sister who’s a
few years older than me had bought it only due to the fact that
Virgin had put it out for 50p. She hated it and gave it to me. I
didn’t get it at first (I was 13 or 14 at the time), but I only had
three albums so I persevered with it. After a while I found it
absolutely compelling - it opened up a whole new way of hearing and
thinking about music.

Different sounds have a different effect on people. Talk about how you feel your work has interacted with people. Is there a
theme to how you hope people perceive it and relate to it?

I just have to trust my own instincts. Writing music is like making
discoveries, you don’t so much create music as uncover it. I love
that moment of discovering something that works for me. I then have
to trust that there are others who feel the same.

What are some non-musical interests that inform your work?

It’s hard to answer this. The way I work, the way I have always
worked involves quite a degree of improvisation. I try to not get in
the way too much at this stage. Only later (when necessary) is there
a process of editing and composition. This editing part is also about
trying out different combinations. So I’m not conscious of specific
influences at play. Of course, on one level you could say that a
composition is totally informed by your experiences and perceptions
of the world - a kind of snapshot of where you are at at that
particular point in time.

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More info on Robert Haigh’s “Written on Water” CD can be found here.