Interview
The Be-Bop Deluxe icon invites us into his guitar-packed home (with nary an amp in sight) to talk about his endless drive to write and record, and how latest album, Starlight Stories, sought inspiration from his inner child
Bill Nelson is not your average guitar hero. Looking at his extensive back catalogue – from the early solo work, through Be-Bop Deluxe, Red Noise and beyond – shows an artist who maintains a youthful sense of curiosity and a disregard for the categories that can become a creative straitjacket for many. Bill operates outside the mainstream, in a similar way to Jeff Beck or Mike Oldfield in having all the instrumental skills you could wish for but seeking to use these purely for musical expression, rather than as an end in itself. Collaborations with artists such as David Sylvian, Gary Numan, the Skids and Yellow Magic Orchestra, to name just a few, further demonstrate this.
Since 2000, Bill has released an impressive number of albums on his own label, the latest being 2023’s Starlight Stories, and he’s also currently putting the finishing touches to a three-album project under the umbrella title of Guitars Of Tomorrow.
Is it true that your latest album, Starlight Stories, was inspired by books from your childhood?
“Well, I’m a ‘certain age’, 76 this year, and you tend to start looking back. I often go back to my youth or childhood and find things that inspired me then that can translate into something creative and musical in the present day. These were books that my mother had as a child. They were thick like a telephone directory and had lots of classic stories in them, by HG Wells and other people. There were classical tales and fairy tales, a real compendium of different things. Those elements of fantasy stuck with me from childhood and I wanted to get something that felt a little bit like that – but without necessarily referencing them directly. It’s not so much a direct connection between those books and the music, but they set a process in action that helped the pieces come together.”
You’re incredibly prolific. Can you talk us through your creative process in the studio?
“I record virtually every day, usually in the evening, rather than the daytime. I like the sort of space that opens up as the world winds down, as it were. I go in without a definite idea usually and start by putting down some drum or percussion tracks and see what happens, see what the next thing should be or could be – that could be a guitar or keyboard part. I’ve often compared it to decorating an empty room: the first thing you put down is the carpet, then you start moving the furniture in and moving it around till it feels how you want it to feel. The actual tune or song doesn’t emerge until a little further into that process. And then the lyrics probably happen last, which is the opposite to how it
