Extract of Interview in Flash magazine, June 2003 Italy

Interviewer: Giancarlo Bolther for www.rock-impressions.com

How do your records differ one from another?

Thematically my albums are connected by fascination with mythology, poetry and faerielore: vehicles to explore the psyche. Stylistically they’re all eclectic … Combinations change but the principle is the same. There is a slight shift to more experimentation with electronics, but medieval / folk elements remain in songs like ‘The Lily and the Rose’. Emotionally, Alabaster is the darkest of my albums – with Hades at its centre – but affirmation of the human spirit prevails.

Were you satisfied with the finished product? 

I am never fully satisfied with my work. That’s ok. Albums, like children, carry our strengths and flaws; we try to raise them, give them every chance, then they gather a life of their own ….

Which artists have inspired you most? 

(Aside from the obvious…) Favourite classical music is Respighi’s Trittico Botticelliano. I listen widely … One night it’s James Brown, The Kinks, PJ Harvey, The Eels, Shai No Shai, The Legendary Pink Dots … Next it’s Purcell, Arvo Part, In the Nursery or Asian Dub Foundation. Or dark-ambient music by Alio Die, Stephan Micus, Robert Rich or Mathias Grassow. I’m indebted to Renaissance of the Celtic Harp by Alan Stivell. Naturally I listen to the Heavenly Voices scene (e.g.) Vas, Stellamara, Gor, Vox, Dwelling, Ashram, The Moors, Bel Canto, Caprice, etc. I like ‘Shadow, Light’ by Franco Battiato … my favourite Italian singer is Francesco Banchini.

Why do you frequently refer to celtic traditions? 

I’ve denied any focus on ancestral roots; if our souls reincarnate, why be limited by genes or blood? However, the recent death of my Welsh-born father has shaken my heart. Before he died, Dad gave me a Celtic cross. He said it’s the ancient pagan sign of our ancestors: four corners are seasons, circle is the world. He’d called me his “little Boudacia”.

Do you have a philosophy? Your vision of the world is…

To be a Sufi is to detach from fixed ideas and preconceptions (Abu-Said, son of Abi-Khair)… I like inclusion, not exclusion. Open games, not closed games. Compassion, not elitism.