…”TALKING TO PETER GABRIEL, ONE IS struck by how he is as much into technology as music, and deeply involved in the political implications of both. You can see why Gabriel brought out the late Martyn Bennett’s powerful roots-electronic album Grit on his label, Real World, and why he’s excited that his connection with Bennett’s “brave new music” has led to Real World’s first Scottish showcase, at Celtic Connections next week…
…I’ve been lucky to meet Peter Gabriel several times over the years. Once, at an early WOMAD (World of Music and Dance) Festival in Cornwall, before his 1980s Amnesty Tour, we talked in his car about Chilean singer VĂctor Jara and the exile of Inti Illimani. Another time, down at the Real World Studios for BBC Radio 4, he took me and the producer by surprise by rowing us up the millstream that runs under the studios, because, as he remembers now, “it was a glorious day!” The movement of the oars made recording the interview impossible, so we chatted until he stopped mid-river, then were slowly carried back downstream as the tape ran, before he insisted we stay for lunch…”