I’m on the phone with Richard Neuberg, lead singer and song-writer with VIAROSA. A couple of months ago I received their debut ‘Porous’ mini-album to review and it’s a 5-track sampler that continues to be played on numerous occasions chez Drums.
Richard proves to be both a forthcoming and engaging conversationalist and over the course of our 40 minutes there is much to-ing and fro-ing of ideas and observations that go beyond the remit of the interview, so much so that I’m struggling to get down all the nuggets in time before the next idea gets tossed around.
Richard was there at the start of Britpop but now confesses the 20something period of his life “for various reasons was a write-off”. However, 5 years ago he became enthused by the resurgence of roots music and in particular by the emergence of Americana. It’s a good place to start finding out about the formation of VIAROSA.
W&H: What artists in particular made you start song-writing again?
Richard: I’d never really stopped song-writing but someone gave me a Richard Buckner album (Devotion and Doubt) to listen to and something kind of happened. There was a connection with his music but through him also to some of my old loves like John Martyn and Joni Mitchell. Also Elliot Smith and Nick Cave…and of course Willard Grant Conspiracy.
W&H: Yes, I was going to ask you about Josh Hillman (who plays violin in Willard Grant Conspiracy as well as VIAROSA). Is this current line-up permanent?
Richard: Josh is a permanent member of VIAROSA and his first commitment is to the band. But he’s a musician as are the others in the band and until we start making some money they’re doing other things as well. Nick Simms (drums) is currently playing with Natacha Atlas. At the moment things have to be flexible. I’ve played solo and we’ve also gigged as a two-piece and a three-piece.
W&H: That’s one of the features of the mini-album that I liked, the way a track like ‘Porous’ is just yourself and guitar and then you have a song like ‘Wake’ which expands into this full band sound. Was that a conscious decision from the outset to have that dynamic range?
Richard: The roots of my love for music is just voice and guitar and some of my songs didn’t work with a band dynamic but at other times I’d hear a violin playing in my head when I was writing and there’s nothing like that live experience with a full band behind you.
W&H: Your lyrics convey a strong feeling of mental anguish and turmoil. ‘Porous’ and ‘Where the Killers Run’ convey the sense of being trapped in that predicament whereas ‘Call To Arms’ and ‘Wake’ offer hope and salvation from it. Are you writing of a particular stage in your life or are these feelings and emotions that are constants in your life?
Richard: Hmm. My material has evolved over a period of time. The lyrics to newer songs are more story-based and make greater use mythical imagery. But there is a side to me that is introspective and melancholic. (Laughs) It’s funny ‘cos my friends think I’m quite extrovert and I’m known as a bit of a cheeky chappy. I can tell that they find it hard sometimes to associate the friend with the guy they hear singing these songs. But I need to express that side of me and I’m lucky enough to be able to use music to do that. There are also religious elements which probably accounts for the ideas of salvation although I’m a lapsed catholic and now a confirmed atheist!
W&H: Ha ha. Actually I was going to say that on ‘Porous’ the opening couplet of ‘Hold me like I’m made of holes/ Pouring out and falling in” brought to mind the image of Christ taken down from the cross.
Richard: That’s interesting. I’d never seen it that way, but yes. I wrote that to reflect the idea of reaching a critical point where you can’t take any more to the extent that you become porous and things just go straight through you. For me it’s always the darker tales and songs that attract and seem to say more. I don’t subscribe to the view that music should make you feel comfortable and there’s nothing I can’t stand more than music that is boring.
W&H: Although your lyrics aren’t depressing or so introspective to the point that it’s just navel-gazing.
Richard: (laughs) No. At the end of the day the melody has to come first; that’s the most important thing.
W&H: You said earlier that more of the songs on the full album are story-based like ‘Poor Man’s Prayer’ which uses much of the medieval and mythical imagery you mention.
Richard: Yes, although ‘Poor Man’s Prayer’ is not on the full album.
W&H: What is it about though?
Richard: Well..(pause)..ultimately it is about me: the political is the personal. It’s about persecution and the idea that we are all artists and it’s important that we understand the condition of the artist. And again it’s the feeling of being overwhelmed and the injustice that comes with that. I suppose you could call it Feudal Blues!
W&H: Yeah, where does that medieval and Celtic imagery come from? Is it from books and art rather than music?
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Richard: (bemused) I don’t know to be honest. There’s nothing in particular that I’m conscious of that has triggered that imagery. There’s the Celtic side of things that music like ‘Call To Arms’ draws from and that Celtic influence features elsewhere on the full album. I suppose it’s the implied barrenness of the medieval times that appeals…(laughs) but god forbid not in a Rick Wakeman or Genesis kind of way!
W&H: (mock aggrieved) I used to like Genesis.
Richard: (laughs) I know, I know, me too! (Suddenly) It’s what I love about Gillian Welch: that atonal longing in her voice that projects the idea of barrenness and vastness. Although I’m an urban boy, London born and bred it’s the sense of the big open spaces that draws me.
W&H: You were non-plussed with Britpop. What do you make of the current wave of post punk revivalists like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party, Futureheads etc?
Richard: (sighs) To be honest it just doesn’t appeal. It’s all just a little bit too…..faddy.
W&H: Mannered?
Richard: Yes. But not in the case of Franz Ferdinand who are interesting and who I respect. But music for me has to have some kind of soul. I mean I really liked Elbow’s first album and I love Radiohead but that’s brave music. It’s out there. To me it’s impossible to like music and not like Radiohead.
W&H: Like Radiohead you’re not really a singles band. Is there any pressure on you to write a single?
Richard: No, but you do occasionally think “that could be a single” after you’ve written and recorded your songs. You always hope to get picked up and get airplay, maybe for an advert or for a film. (Sighs) It would just be great if we could get some reviews under our belt: Marc Riley’s show on 6 Music is reviewing the album this Saturday. A licensing deal in Europe would also help
W&H: So when can we expect the full album?
Richard: ‘Where The Killers Run’ will be released in June. To be honest I can’t wait for it to get out there. The album was finished a year ago but for various reasons it’s been held up. We’re slated to start recording the next album in the Autumn. We’re also hoping to perform some more dates with Robyn Hitchcock who we supported last year. And we’re playing at The Borderline in London on 1st June but I’d like to get some gigs outside of the capital. I just want us to get to a stage where I can give up the day job!
It transpires that while members of VIAROSA are plying their trade with other music artists Richard is working for a friend who runs a picture framing business. It’s easy to say but Richard and VIAROSA do have something special in their music that merits wider attention. He hopes – as do I – that Uncut and Mojo will pick up on the debut full album and at least give it a review. It’s not that Richard sounds desperate but he evidently yearns to be able to make music full time and there is a sense that he feels that time is running short now that he’s on the wrong side of 35.
Having spoken to Richard the music of VIAROSA makes more sense but loses none of its enigmatic sound and appeal. Richard is drawn to the resurgence of roots-based American music because of its “pioneering spirit” and its sense of wide open spaces and vast panoramas. Listening to his lyrics again it’s become apparent to me that his use of medieval, Celtic and religious imagery is a way of transplanting that American method of allegorical expression to an Anglicised setting. As Richard himself intimates he is communicating the music of his own soul by projecting its workings onto lyrical canvasses that are necessarily broad in their visual appeal in order to keenly illustrate the complexity and diversity of the internal processes – from pain and persecution to salvation and resolution - that make up this particular artist’s spirit.
That he manages to do this without ever lapsing into self-pity and pretentiousness is a reflection of his strong self-awareness and a measure of his impressive abilities as a song-writer. It doesn’t hurt that VIAROSA also contain some damn fine musicians and when in full flow make a fantastic and moving sound.
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