I’m
sure not many of our readers have heard of KingBathmat. Can you tell us
a little bit about yourself?
KingBathmat is the artist name of John Bassett, I was born in Walthamstow,
London. I was raised by an ex convent nun and a meter reader, I started
playing the guitar and writing songs at 18, formed a few bands, always ended
up in a bit of a mess, so I decided to make a solo album by myself, that
way the only person I had to rely on was me, and the only one to blame was
also me. After a lot of song writing and studying production and mixing
I made my debut cd, Son Of A Nun and now a year later I have made and self
released Crowning Glory.
How did you come up with the name KingBathmat?
I used to work for a rubber and plastic moulding company in Enfield, London,
along with gaskets, door seals and washers etc, they would produce bathmats
(a bathmat is used in a bathtub or shower, as to absorb water or prevent
slipping), which where then exported. I was in charge of the bathmat machine,
I hated it, I ended up being called "King of the bathmats". I
don`t know why I used that name at first, it just came into my head at the
time, and since then I have stuck with it. Some people hate it, some people
like it.
KingBathmat is a solo project in the broadest sense of the word.
How did you record and finance your second album, Crowning Glory?
Crowning Glory was recorded at my home, I have a studio set up in a spare
room with all the usual gear like a condensor mic, midi keyboards, guitars,
bass guitar, amps and of course a balloon pump! I record everything once
at a time into a laptop, which is then mixed and mastered, using computer
software. I use the Emagic Logic Sequencer. This whole process took 10 months,
I work full time so I spent most of my spare time making this cd. For me
the hardest part recording the album was the five part harmonies on some
of the songs (I was going for a Beach Boy effect), and getting them spot
on and in tune took a while for me. I also spent a lot of time remixing
certain songs to get them exactly the way I wanted them. I had the sound
of this cd in my head from the outset and I would not give up until it was
the way I wanted it. I became much more of a perfectionist whilst making
this album. The only hardware I purchased for making this cd was a new better
condensor microphone, as I knew there would be more emphasis on the vocals,
because Crowning Glory is more centred around songs and emotion rather than
the heavier rock songs on Son Of A Nun. I also purchased plug ins, which
are software effects, which I used on the separate tracks and for mastering
and compression etc. These where purchased because they sounded better and
gave a better quality sound to the final mix. All the other gear was still
around from the making of Son Of A Nun.
The songs on the album
are filled with all kinds of different inspirational sources. In which
genre lies your main interest and with which bands did you grow up?
Well I have a hard time with genres, and in the reviews I have had, the
music has been labelled prog rock, indie rock, psychedelic, pop, brit
pop, singer/songwriter, alternative, AAA ( I still don`t really understand
what AAA is), I think it has elements of all these genres. I sometimes
wish I could pigeon hole the music into one specific genre, this would
make it easier for me to market it. All of these influences are probably
reflected in the wide spectrum of music I listen too, I grew up loving
Guns`n`Roses, then I was into all the grunge music like Nirvana, and Alice
In Chains etc, when I formed my first band the drummer was a massive fan
of a lot of rock bands from the 70`s, and he got me heavily into Black
Sabbath, Rush, Mountain, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, and one of the most
underrated bands of all time, Horslips. I also like Tori Amos, and the
classical and film music of John Barry and Danny Elfman, so its a mixed
bag. Albums that have been spinning recently in my hifi are Radiohead’s
Hail To The Thief, Tori Amos’ Tales Of A Librarian and Queens of
the Stone Age’ Songs For The Deaf.
Listening to the album I wonder how you were able to merge all
these kinds of different melodies, rhythms and references into one great
song. Do you put down a basis for each song and develop it from there
or how do you work?
I have 2 ways of working, the first and probably the best is to sit down
with the acoustic and play some chords and usually the vocal melody will
just appear, I could do this for an hour and end up with 8 different melodies
over different chord structures, I then record them, come back the next
day and listen and pick out the best and most interesting tunes and then
add to it, the lyrics then come much later on. Once the main vocal melody
and lyrics and chords are worked out, I`ll then start working out the
musical arrangement. The other way is to just come up with a riff, on
a guitar or keyboard and then add the vocal melody on top of this and
if your lucky it will just make itself. This way is probably the most
fun......When I made Son Of A Nun I used the 2nd way on nearly every song......and
with Crowning Glory I used the 1st way. If ever my creative flow gets
in a rut, I find summoning the dark forces of evil sometimes helps, as
the devil has some good tunes. Though they don`t come cheap.
It has only been a year since your debut album Sun Of A Nun was
‘released’. What is the biggest difference between Sun Of
A Nun and Crowning Glory?
Well Son Of A Nun was recorded and written on the fly, it was not planned
at all, I also wanted it to be a "rock" album, as in that it
rocks, has plenty of riffs, and sounds like something to have a good time
too. Crowning Glory is more a collection of songs, and some of them are
nearly 5 years old, and right from the start of recording I knew what
all the ten songs on the album where going to be and what order they where
going to be in. So it was all planned out from the start. When I released
Son Of A Nun, it got good reviews and I was pleased by the reaction, but
I knew I had much better songs in my locker that where stronger, and that
is what you have on Crowning Glory.
How important is the
personal computer and the internet for an independent artist like yourself?
I’ve seen your webpage www.kingbathmat.com. Do you maintain this
fine looking website yourself?
Its very important, for instance, Crowning Glory is only available through
the website at www.kingbathmat.com, otherwise I wouldn`t be able to sell
my cd to people from the US, New Zealand etc, anybody with an internet
connection can hear and download the songs and you can instantly have
a fan, you don`t need a label deal to get peoples attention through the
radio or TV, like you would have 10 years ago. As with the website, it’s
designed and maintained by me, I have been studying multimedia for the
past year and a half, it has been very handy too. The multimedia cd that
comes with Crowning Glory was also made by myself with Macromedia Director
and Flash. I also had a lot of fun making the promo video for "The
Final Star" which you can see on the website and on that aforementioned
multimedia cd. I also make a cracking cup of tea.
What are your expectations of your second cd artistically and
commercially?
Artistically I`m very happy with Crowning Glory, also the reviews so far
have been very complimentary. Commercially things could be better, I wish
I had more money to be able to promote it the way I think it deserves.
I would also like to see it in a record shop, get a distribution deal
of some kind, but I have had dealings with independent labels in the past
and present, and I would rather have no deal than a bad one.
Is there anything our readers just have to know about KingBathmat
and its music?
All I say is check out the music on the kingbathmat website, and if you
like it, buy a cd or download an mp3 and be sure to come back, because
there is much more to come, and also more importantly KingBathmat advocates
waking up with a hamburger, because the hamburger is the cornerstone of
any nutritious breakfast.
(Geert Oldenmenger)
© Rockezine Mar 15, 2004 - rockezine
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