Dominic Miller and Andreas Lehmann
Dominic Miller – The 7th chord
Andreas:
Today, you have stood by Sting's side for 10 years now, as you began in 1991. Both you and Sting have learned a lot from each other and have developed a strong friendship. Do you believe that you will continue to play with Sting until the very end of his last tour
Dominic:
Actually, I've been playing with Sting for 12 years now, since I started in 1989. It's impossible for me to say whether I will play with Sting forever or never. I always thought that I would stop at the end of each tour, but for some reason, I'm always carrying on touring with him. I cannot possibly answer that question. The relationship we have is very unique. I feel very natural when I'm working with him, and I think he feels natural when he's working with me. If I say I will never work with him again on a tour, I'd be lying. So I don't really know what's going to happen. He's like my older brother anyway. So I think I will probably work with him again because I like to work with him and we work well together.
Andreas:
And he gives you all the freedom you need.
Dominic:
He gives me all the freedom I need. He lets me be who I want to be, which is very important for a musician, especially in a band this size. It's hard to get this freedom.
Andreas:
You have told me in our last small conversation that you plan 2 albums. One of those you will probably record in Japan. Can you tell me a little bit more about the two albums, who was this time your inspiration and how you combine your private experiences with your albums?
Dominic:
Yes, I am planning to do two albums. One of them I want to be just the solo, like the first 2 records kind of thing, just new compositions which I'm slowly working on, a little bit at the moment, but I want to focus all my time on it when I've finished this tour. The other album I want to do is the J.S. Bach album.
Andreas:
The one CD is more Jazz style, the other more classical style?
Dominic:
Yeah, a covers album of Bach, but I want to do it differently with a little bit of production.
Andreas:
So the Bach album is a combination of classical and new music?
Dominic:
Well, no, I want to make it all a Bach album but I want to do the arrangement differently. I want to keep the strictness of Bach's music but use other instruments maybe like double bass and cello and make different arrangements.
Andreas:
You want to play the double bass?
Dominic:
No, I want to get a double bass player maybe. I don't know, but I want to make it different because there are a lot of classical guitarists who do this. And I don't want to be like that, I want to play my own interpretations. So that's going to be a good challenge. But the good thing all about that album, that's already written. I don't have to write it. So that's not going to be too difficult except for good performance. So in my real inspirations for these two albums one is honestly the music of Bach is completely inspiring for me.
Andreas:
Are there any Bach songs that you like very much?
Dominic:
I like the first partita from the Sonatas for violin. So I do that on guitar, it sounds great. I love the E-major sonata which is in the same book. I know a lot of him now; I have a good memory for that stuff. I memorized them. I'm going to do the Ciaccona. I want to use steel-string guitars as well for this album.
Andreas:
No nylon guitars?
Dominic:
Nylon and steel, but I want to do a combination.
Andreas:
Also drummers like Manu Katche or a bass player like Sting?
Dominic:
No. I'm going to use a different style of bass player, I think for this. I don't know who yet. I will think about even doing it on a synthesizer, maybe. Yeah, that's my inspiration.
Andreas:
J.-S.-Bach is one of your favorite musicians. Why do you take classical musicians as your idol and how do you try to change old Bach music into modern music?
Dominic:
Bach is a big inspiration for me. … I've spent so much time in hotel rooms just practicing. And it's good practice. That music teaches me a lot about harmony, and I'm very influenced by his harmonies. It's like perfection for me.
Andreas:
Why not, for example, Mozart or Debussy?
Dominic:
I never liked Mozart, sure maybe I like him a little bit…it doesn't do it for me, I don't know…it's an emotional thing. Mozart's music is uninteresting, I think he's a great musician, but the trouble is, he's Austrian. ;-).
Andreas:
Do you have any problems with Austrians?
Dominic:
No, I'm just kidding.
Andreas:
Many fans have asked me whether you would release a live album. A live album has another liveliness as a studio album. Do you plan to release a CD or DVD of any live performance like in Montreux 1999?
Dominic:
Yes, I would like to do a live album sometimes. But the only problem with live... I recorded all the shows that I did in America; I did 7 shows in America and they are all recorded. On this tour, I did the opening acts 7 times, so maybe I have enough material maybe to put that out. But I don't like doing live records very much.
Andreas:
But don't you think that on a live album the listener can feel more of the emotions of you?
Dominic:
Yes, with a real audience, but on tape, I don't think so. That's two different things, studio and audience. But for now, I'm hungry for the studio because that's my other world and I miss it. I will record the album in my studio and use a good engineer to mix, and sometimes I'll go to a bigger studio to mix, just to get good EQ's and Reverbs.
Andreas:
Your guitar style is very individual. Is this style a combination of many of your favorite musicians or have you found this in a quiet moment of inspiration?
Dominic:
Anyone's style is really a reflection of what they listen to. I mean my influences are very strange. I love Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck, and Bach. I love Spanish music, Brazilian music, Indian music, I like a lot of different things, so I think my style is really a combination of what I listen to. So I think everyone is unique in that way; no two people have the same record collection, so that's like my record collection or my influences are really these people, and it's not just music that influences me, it's like people influence me. I'm more influenced by the interaction between my kids or with friends or with little things that happen if you meet someone. That inspires me to write music. So that's my music that I write and that I play is really, my way of saying of communicating as honestly as I can. And it's not just a style. I don't want to develop a style of playing, but everyone says I have a style now, but I don't really know what it is.
Andreas:
If a Hard Rock band approached you tomorrow, which band would you choose?
Dominic:
I would play with "Soundgarden". I love "Soundgarden". "Alice in Chains". I always liked them. I would play with them if I had to. There are a few bands, I mean "Rage against the machine" is a great band I think. They were a great band. But I think I'm in the wrong generation for that, but maybe the "Rolling Stones", the second guitarist for the "Stones" I probably would consider, and if they give me a lot of money. :-)
Andreas:
Before some weeks, as the support act was cancelled due to illness, you had to play 7 times a solo set. What was the feeling to play on this act?
Dominic:
It was a great feeling to do that. It was a really, really good experience, and the best thing about it was that I was very relaxed because normally when I thought I would be very nervous, I was very nervous before I played, but the audience was so nice, cool, and easy with me that they gave me the chance to take it easy and slowly. And they really liked it.
Andreas:
What songs did you play?
Dominic:
The first song I played was "February Sun"; I just did the intro and then I went straight to "Rush Hour". It was a combination because both were in D. I've played "Do you want me" and "La Boca" from my solo album. And I did "Lullaby to an anxious child", "Foi Boa" from my second album, and we did "Shape of my heart", and Sting came on and sang because I said "I've got a friend here who is going to help me with vocals" and he came on. So that was really good. I finished with that, and then the audience loved that.
Andreas:
Do you have any advice for all guitar players who want to play like you?
Dominic:
What I would say - I mean my main influence for playing guitar was Brazilian music. To play Bossa Nova music's very simple. Real Bossa Nova like "Jobim", playing simple themes like "How insensitive" or "Cobado", which are very simple themes but that's got so many jazz chords and heavy chords. So what I did, really to my style, is using a lot of Brazilian harmonies on the guitar or those kinds of guitar shapes, but then I realized on electric you can use the same shapes but don't play the bass note, just turn it right into arpeggios but using the same harmonies. That's what I found to be my sort of style, but I'm always using jazz type of triads chords. I would never say to anyone trying to play like me, I would never do that. You should play like yourself. I think it's good to be influenced by me, that would be very good like I'm influenced by so many guitarists. I sometimes try to sound like them. And I think that if I would be technical about it, really my sort of technique or theory with guitar playing is really listening to a lot of Brazilian music, and it's the rhythms, the harmonies, the melodic structure of it, and the shape and form of the music is so influential to me, and also I always liked the John McLaughlin approach to guitar arpeggios, I have always liked arpeggios. That all interested me, a combination of tune, some of Jeff Beck's aggression, and of course Jimi Hendrix, the god of guitar for me.