Diesel Park West frontman and chief songwriter John Butler has released a re-mastered vinyl reissue of his critically acclaimed 1997 solo album ‘The Loyal Serpent’. Diesel Park West should need no introduction, but his solo work led by ‘The Loyal Serpent’, is only now getting the wider recognition it deserves.
Palo Santo Records has remastered the album that Q magazine called “intoxicating alchemy of Celtic-like passion” and has re-presented it in a gatefold, double-LP with three bonus tracks. Jason Barnard uncovers the story behind this fantastic album.
Hi John – It’s brilliant to listen back to ‘The Loyal Serpent’, it sounds great. Take us back to back over 20 years to the period the led up to the recording of this album.
The band had ended with Emi and their money in September 92 making us fall back on the indie sector with various labels all very keen and well intentioned towards us. We did three maybe five albums that way. One of them , Freakgene from 95 got picked up by Emi who wanted to resign me as a solo which they did in 96. It was mainly because of the lyrical angle they heard in me especially via the words on that album. So I recorded Serpent over the summer of 96 with Paul Sampson inCoventry and Liverpool followed by a good spell mixing in London at Berwick Street. It came out later in 97 and was ignored despite Chrysalis ( Emi ) giving it a go but it did pick up some really great reviews and has since become well thought of. The first half of the decade leading up to that 81-86 was spent trying to get a situation as a band with a deal and then later recording touring rehearsing drinking when we got one. That whole band major period back then lasted between 87 and 92.
Why did you decide to record a solo album at that moment? Was the band on a break?
I didn’t decide until I was doing it. The “back with Emi thing” had started and so I got going with it. I had a lot of the songs anyway. The band by then had become a different unit to what it was in, say, 89-92. Ian Michie was on inspiration and bass after Geoff Beavan had gone on a sort of freaked out drug leave, guitar players Rick Willson and Rich Barton were in and out although Rich did play a lot of guitar on The Loyal Serpent sessions a bit later. I suppose you might call it a band break but no one ever said we were over as a band and no one has yet. It lives on because it has a deep resonance.
The re-release recognises how well regarded ‘The Loyal Serpent’ is, then and now. Whose idea was it to bring the album to deluxe vinyl?
Salim Nourallah an Texas based artist and his label thought really highly of it and knew the background too, the weird grey stoic background to the story of the band before it.. The album never registered when it came out because it was whacked out miles and miles away from what was going in 97. The domination of everything from Granada land being full on. It was just crazy media wise and anyway who was gonna be interested in me and my album with links and touches to a forgotten Anglo- American form of crafted dust bowel rock. A lot have caught up now which is great because I have moved on!
What songs from it that you feel particularly resonate today? The lyrics of ‘The Days You’ve Made’ really stand up.
Yeah that one tucked away where it is, is a very powerful thing. I have been called a predictor by some and there have been occasions where its crossed my mind that possibly I am but I suspect my insight really comes from a sort of bookies instinct based on my observations of people and the layman study of history politique.
What music were you listening to in that period and did it influence you at the time? ‘Maybe Tomorrow’ has a touch of The Big O about it 🙂 ‘Billy And The Snakecharmer’ has got a great roots feel.
They are the two poles of the album I think. Maybe Tomorrow is a performance song the type of song which comes about through spending a lot of life onstage and connecting via a vocal to an audience. Innumerable one nighters over the years and also a love of classic arrangement . It’s a massive track when you hear it. The actual vocal is the demo vocal over the master backing track. I did sing it again at the time but knew which the vocal was the best alright. To our amazement it fitted perfectly over the master track so I used it. Big 0? Sure thing bet he would have liked it.
Billy And The Snakecharmer came out of the air I mean literally it just tumbled out one session. We were probably fired up and also psyche-stoned when I just started strumming and singing these chords with words coming to me in real time. Rich Barton on slide, a keyes guy named Ian Bramble and the rhythm section just slotting right in there shows how good that line up had become. Very intelligent players. It has a roots feel because that’s exactly what it is a real example of the concept. The lyrics are a subconscious unfolding but I always liked H Rider Haggard the author as a child so maybe there is some of that in there too.
Was there any difference to the writing and recording process to the albums you made with Diesel Park West before and after?
Not in a practical way no but when I was writing the band stuff in the early days and nearly always alone apart from the odd time , I had to envisage the end result which requires the art of being inspirational to band members who sometimes would struggle to see what it might end up being. Once the vibe of the track started to appear it would become clearer. We seemed to know when it was the right take and we would build it. The last instrument that usually went on was the plangent sounding Telecaster which we used to really communicate on to get the parts sounding right. Recording wise that’s pretty much how we continued into the Shakespeare Alabama period when the writing had become more assured. After that whilst it may not seem like it to the greater public there is a back catalogue of wonderful Diesel Park West archival recordings out there in the formats, bandcamp and all.
Who did you work with to record the album?
The shining soul that is Paul Sampson. A producer-engineer in the Guy Stevens mould who would encourage lots of ideas and attitude needed to come up with a great album. He didn’t dismiss any ideas and above all was only too eager to follow a feel and then make a sound from it too which is a brilliant skill. Very inspiring guy to record with a real treasure.
Why did you pick the album title ‘The Loyal Serpent’?
Because of my age and my circumstance at the time I gave a lot of thought- space to the deeper imaginings of our existence. Spiritual imagery and reference were never that far away even in the rockiest music borne situations. I was really going through a bad personal trip and in fact have only relatively recently realised just how much I had been manipulated by the mid nineties. The music too unavoidably carries this with it and the album seems to be both an affirmation of self and a search for redemption the hard way! The title came to me as a reference to this imagery and a play on the upper class household Butler often being called a loyal servant. I imagined there were another serpent before the fall, one we were not told about who was in heaven and who remained loyal to God. I was also drunk.
‘The Loyal Serpent’ sounds like a very personal record, with tracks like ‘Bag of Bones’. What do you think are its lyrical themes?
It is and it should be. Bag Of Bones is a wry acceptance of mortality you know “don’t get too high and mighty mate you are only flesh and bone” I like the way the melody drops around the arrangement on that track. Its defiantly aimed at entertaining the listener but also has a bit of a finger waggle at them too. That said it’s an up track along with the albums other lyrical themes that are personal only in as much that they are my takes on universal issues. Leave Me With The Sinners , Wings Of The Morning for instance.
Can you tell me about the bonus tracks on ‘The Loyal Serpent’ – did you record much material that didn’t make the original album?
Oh yeah I am real glad about that. Work On It was a great one which only stayed off the original release because I got embarrassed by suddenly thinking some of the ad lib vocal on the outro sounded wrong and ridiculously conjured up the unfortunate image of a rather over- well known singer, one whos identity I will never reveal. That’s all it was really a pretty indulgent ego thing. Great track always reminded me of a Ray Charles cut. Also Genius Alert is a piece of whoosh. Michies playing is great on that and its half his track too credit wise. I have never written much with others but when I do it usually works out well. For them.
How do you think your music has evolved since the early days of Diesel Park West?
We are very strong live and the confidence in our actual performance has informed the evolution of the music. It does evolve, it evolves with age and life changes and flame carrying. It comes out of somewhere but the trick is to nail it soon as it does . Get it down and turn it into something palatable, something tangible. We have just recorded our ninth official album ready for early next year and it’s a deliberate rocker. Its an intelligent politicised rock n roll record. How we need one of them!
What are the favourite songs you’ve recorded, solo and with the band?
This Time Baby I Don’t Know and She Called The Cops which are both on the solo album after The Loyal Serpent beautifully entitled “Worthless Bastard Rock” ( its mainly an acoustic album) Yes I Do and Let Go off Serpent. With the band there’s Competition and Natural Things, both on Freakgene , Out Of Nowhere on Shakespeare Alabama was one I always liked, Hot Summer Water from the Decency album. I like a lot of them and dislike a few. I always hated All The Myths On Sunday which is bullshit. Of course personal opinion alters ,but there are some consistently liked ones yeah.
How do you think you and Diesel Park West fit into the 90s music scene – what was Food Records like to collaborate with?
Food were lucky to pick our little demo tape up from the floor of their new offices in Brewer Street April 87. It led to their fortune because we ended up taking them to the resources Emi had to offer. Emi signed the entire Food label in order to get us. The Food people (one now being a Labour politician) were energetic and made a lot of things happen for us in the media prior to Emi but we took them to the money that’s for sure. Later they hit payload with that one big act but nothing like that could have happened without Diesel Park West. One thing they got badly wrong was trying to squeeze us through the normal youth based pop rock channel. We were old guys who could really play, experienced guys but with an edge like the type most women like. I remember trying to convince them they should market us like The Band or The Feat, you know groovy elder statesmen but that fell on uncomprehending ears so off we went doing all these fuckin Chart Show type videos.
The nineties? well in Britain we had the vacuous Blair approved Britpop in the middle which was a no no for us and then earlier just as we go to the States with Fall To Love the Nirvana record comes out and every one has gone grunging. So overall the nineties were largely incompatible with us but the music we made during that decade was highly charged and evolved. All the albums hold up, no matter their budget details, and some of the gigs were electrifying.
How does writing, recording and releasing music compare today – is it easier now that you don’t need record company backing?
Easier to find a place to record because there are so many places to do it but despite the media revolution many of the old gatekeepers are still in place. I don’t care any more about them and their power trip let them get on with it I say. We are all just throwing our balls at the coconut for a short while anyway. Yeah its easier in a way because of protools and all that but beware of them, it’s important not to over rely on them. Writing is and always was usually a type of pleasure yeah but it demands focus in a freedom of thought kind of way. We still need record company backing of some ilk. Financial and understanding of what it is you are doing are two reasons.
What’s next for you and Diesel Park West?
A rehearsal. We have recorded Diesel Nine and now are going to set it up for early 19!
The remastered expanded vinyl edition of The Loyal Serpent is available from: joncbutler1.bandcamp.com
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