The Hologram People | Interview | New Album, ‘Return to Chapel Perilous’
The Hologram People are Dom Keen and Jonathan Parkes. They recently released ‘Return to Chapel Perilous’ which was inspired by the works of Jean Giraud, Kosmische Musik and film soundtracks from the sixties and seventies.
The Hologram People advise no one to attempt this journey without the correct and proper physical and mental preparation.
The Hologram People are Dom Keen and Jonathan Parkes. How are you guys doing?
The Hologram People are doing very well, thank you for asking.
The lockdown resulted in many musicians being able to create projects that have been on a hold. I believe you found the isolation to be very creative as you finished ‘Return To Chapel Perilous’.
A shed load of music got made during the pandemic, that’s for sure. We are very lucky to both have home studios so it was business as usual in a way, but it was a bonus to not have to find an excuse to miss the odd sunny day and keep working. Our output has been pretty prolific, not only The Hologram People project but also four Studio Kosmische albums and Jon’s other Dreamlord projects have all had recent releases.
It seems there’s an interesting concept behind your album. Can you elaborate on the ideas behind it and to what degree were those ideas transcended into the album?
We started with a concept before we had written any music. It includes both our mutual love for film soundtracks of the 60s and 70s and also the work of the French comic book artist Moebius. We decided to create a storyline for a film based loosely in his world. We also drafted the talented artist Gerry Carnellyon on board for the cover artwork to complete the concept.
So tell us more about the plot.
The story so far… It was the last thing they’d expected: Dreamlord and Komische’s megatube lights up bright red. “Holy hotrods!” Kosmische exclaimed. “It’s only Lord Barleycorn!” The hapless Hologram City duo’s presence was requested… on Level 23 no less. Turns out our man Barleycorn got himself into a spot of intergalactic bother and it’s time for the boys to finally repay that favour. They’ve owed him big time… and Barleycorn isn’t one to let sleeping dogbots lie. Arriving at Level 23 our two detectives receive their orders. They’d barely taken their first sip of an ice cool frippn’eno when Inspector Lee and the Nova Police crash through the walls, lunging right at them.
There’s only one thing they can do…
Where did you record it and what was the recording process like? Did you experience a lot of obstacles during the process?
Dom: No obstacles, we have a nice system for working these days. Either of us may start a track, Jon either lays down drums with basics of the guitars/bass/synths, or I will write something using a drum machine then he will replace it with live drums. Then it’s a total collaboration on the direction of the track until it’s finished, with Studio Kosmische taking care of mixing and production. The only rule we have, if one of us isn’t feeling something, we bin it and move on. We also asked our talented friends to contribute to a few of the tracks, James Burnham (violin & viola), Eddie Goatman (vocal) and Gianni Carlin (flute).
“We make music for pure love”
How would you compare it to your debut release, ‘Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal’?
It’s a steady progression, same potato, different jacket. This one went quite a bit more like a movie soundtrack, whereas ‘Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal’ is our take on a classic psychedelic debut album.
Speaking of ‘Sacred Ritual To Unlock The Mountain Portal’, can you tell us more about it?
It’s hush hush I’m afraid, you will have to traverse the chapel perilously alone to discover the secrets and unlock the portal.
What are some of the main influences when it comes to Hologram People? How did you originally get to know each other…
Influences – anything cool from mid 60s to the mid 70s or thereabouts. We have known each other since childhood, made music for many years before going our separate ways in life… We rekindled our creative relationship some years ago and ‘Sacred Ritual’ was our first LP together.
What would you say is the dynamic between you two?
50/50, we fill in each other’s gaps and spur each other on, like any good creative duo.
Would you please speak about the instruments and effects you use….
We featured our gear list on the sleeve, all analogue instruments, no soft synths for sure…!
Vox Continental 300, Fender Rhodes Mark II stage piano, Arp Odyssey, Korg MS20, Korg Polyphonic Ensemble P, Korg Minilogue, Sequential Circuits Pro-One, Skyline Orchestra string synth,
Jen Electronics SX-1000, Roland TR-77 Rhythm Box, Hayman Vibrasonic jazz drums, Remo fusion drums, LP cosmic percussion congas, Fender P Bass, Fender Jaguar bass, Fender Deluxe Strat, Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG, Vox Phantom, EKO Steel 12 String, Alhambra Nylon Acoustic, mike’s old Banjo, Yamaha Silverhead Flute, acoustic violin and viola, Challen & son Baby Grand Piano and a John Morley Harpsichord.
You are also active in many other bands and have side-projects. Please take a moment and touch upon each of the bands and projects you’re part of.
Dom: I also put out Studio Kosmische releases which lean more towards ambient/drone. I have amore song based project called Holy Magick working with the singer Siobhan Lynch, second album coming out later this year. I also produced an album last year for the artist Hattie Cooke called ‘Bliss Land’ on the Castles In Space label, and another LP of covers with a close pal Eddie Goatman which will materialise on vinyl at some point…
Jon: I run Dreamlord Recordings [the label I set up with Alec Wood] to release the music we make as Korb [kosmische psych rock], Mutante [synth / electronic] and Arboria [acoustic / electric].
What was the last album you bought and in what format did you buy it?
Dom: I got the new Faust vinyl box from my local record store in Brighton, Resident Records.
Jon: ‘Robert and Shirleigh Moog Present Clara Rockmore’ – Theremin, on vinyl.
Have you ideas that refuse to step through the door with you? And what do you do with those sketches?
Dom: Not really! They get sidelined pretty quick if it’s not happening.
What currently occupies your life? Any future plans?
Dom: I’m also a graphic designer so do a lot of the stuff for the releases –and I would love to branch out into film music if the opportunity arose. Producing other artists’ records is also fun, more of that I’d hope….
Jon: we’re busy working on several upcoming releases. Korb have a 7″ lathe cut coming out on the Woodford Halse label soon, we have the Korb/El Hombre Al Agua collaboration album coming out as a joint vinyl release with Up In Her Room and we’re putting together a selected Dreamlord Recordings works for a double vinyl release working with the Fruits de Mer label and we’re just finishing off ‘Korb III’.
Thank you for taking your time. Last word is yours.
Thank you so much for taking an interest, it really means a lot. We make music for pure love, it’s fantastic other people want to hear it too.
Klemen Breznikar
The Hologram People Facebook
Dreamlord Recordings Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Studio Kosmische Facebook / Instagram
Holy Magick Facebook / Instagram
Korb Facebook / Bandcamp
Arboria Facebook
Up In Her Room Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
