A transcript of Mark's interview for the paperback update of "Strange Fascination."

1. When and where did recording begin on the album? What was the general atmosphere in the studio like in comparison to the Earthling sessions?

My involvement in hours... began one evening in April ‘99 when I received a page with a phone number followed by a few 6’ - the Number of the Gabrels. I rang back and David and Reeves were at Chung King Studios, wondering if I'd like to put fretless bass on some of the new songs they'd written. Within two hours I had biked to the studio with a couple of bass guitars, and unknowingly settled in for the next few months.

David and Reeves had been writing and working on the songs which would become hours... for a few months by that point, working in fits and starts in Bermuda and other places from what I gathered from Reeves, whom I spoke with on a regular basis as he had been playing on a number of my sessions with other artists at around this time. David and Reeves had convened in New York looking to wrap up the project. A lot of it was already recorded - basic guitars and keyboards, drum loops and programs, some vocal ideas. My involvement grew from being a bassist, to doing some additional production and recording, and eventually mixing the album.

I hadn't even counted on being involved in this album. Rumors abounded - David and Reeves were doing it on their own in an underproduced ‘homegrown’ fashion, in direct contrast to the last few albums which were of course full-on studio affairs. Also, it was strongly rumored to be Tony Visconti’s return to the fold, and since Tony and I are both producer/engineer/bassists, I figured that I'd be about the last person they'd need to call!

But call they did, and a treat it was. We immediately resumed our groove from the previous times we'd all worked together, so there wasn't any readjustment to be had. We all had fresh jokes, which was nice. The atmosphere was what I was used to with David- generally loose, with the freedom to try what I liked or felt necessary provided it fit into the framework provided.

2. Where you disappointed that Bowie appeared to want to leave experimental music behind on hours given the fact that the album is more a collection of traditionally crafted songs, rather than sonic events?

No, I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. I was expecting a shift in musical direction at some point. He's David Bowie after all..... that's just what happens. In actuality there's a number of sonic events, they're just more organic in nature than on the previous record.

Personally I don't see such a huge difference between ‘Earthling’ and ‘hours....’ Both have very melodic songs, they're just wearing different clothes. To me ‘Earthling,’ and even ‘1. Outside,’ were closer to ‘Station to Station’ than to Side 2 of ‘Low,’ which I viewed at the time (and today) as being the pinnacle of David's experimentation.

3. You had a big input into Earthling. How would you assess your contribution to hours..?

Firstly, I was involved as a musician. Even though I'd been working with David for three years up until this point, to be one of the primary musicians on one of his albums was very fulfilling. My first love is still playing, as opposed to the technical side of things. Though I truly enjoy making records, playing music with people is still what drives me. So, to be a musical contributor on my chosen instrument with an artist of David's stature was a big deal for me.

Secondly, I was asked to finish up the record with them as a co-producer/mixer. Since the songs were already written and many of the arrangements set, my involvement in this area was a bit more subtle than on ‘Earthling’ where we pretty much started from scratch. I tweaked a couple of song structures and did a few edits, added a couple of keyboard parts to David's, tightened up the guitar tracks, etc. Essentially I did a lot of polishing and cleaning up on what they had started, and helped them take the record to the next level.

Another contribution was in the area of rhythm. I recorded the live drums and made them fit with the pre-existing drum programs and loops, in the way I had done on ‘Earthling’ but to a lesser extent. We used two drummers - Mike Levesque, a drummer from several different indie bands who I had used on some recent sessions with Dave Navarro from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Sterling Campbell, who had played on ‘1. Outside’ (and played on the subsequent hours.... tour).

4. Had Bowie changed at all in the two and a half-year gap between Earthling and hours?

I hadn't seen him since early ‘98, and his hair was a lot longer and no longer dyed. He seemed a bit calmer, no doubt due to the conclusion of the ‘Earthling’ tour and surrounding activities. It occurred me then that I'd only worked with him while he was doing either a lot of press or live shows - both very draining, especially while trying to record at the same time. As a result, we spent more time discussing the news events of the day and life in general, a lot more so than on ‘Earthling’ when the pace was a lot more hectic, and we didn't know each other as well. David would tell stories, talk about books he was reading, films he'd seen, and art he was interested in; he loves kids, so I'd fill him in on my six-year-old daughter's shenanigans (when she would visit the studio she would lecture Reeves and David about smoking. They were polite, but it didn't take...).

He'd go on about the Internet.... he was very into Ebay at that time, just amazed at the things people would put up for auction (Reeves would ask him daily if he'd bid on an island yet). And the humor......between David, Reeves, myself, and Jay Nicholas (our assistant) we'd often go off on tangents and be howling for hours.

5. Is hours a deliberate attempt to win back the lapsed Bowie fan, the older fan who liked his seventies work but found his more experimental music of the 1990s less appealing?

I don't think so, that's a bit too cynical for me to swallow. After the last couple of electronic outings, I think he felt like taking a left turn, which isn't really a surprise for him, is it? He's never been one to make the same record over and over, so why change now......

6. Of the tracks on hours which is your favorite and which had the biggest input from you?

‘Survive’ is probably my favorite track on the record. To me it's very epic in a late ‘60’s kind of way, both in its composition and in how the productio n builds and peaks. It's just a great song to me, and has that undefinable something that moves me. As far as my contribution, I'd have to pick ‘Survive’ as well. I suggested a 12 string acoustic part in the intro, and added Reeves lead guitar before the second verse (this was part of an alternate solo which wasn't used) which really sets it up wonderfully. I got the machine rhythms and the live drums to flow seamlessly. And, I played a bass part and did a string arrangement I'm very proud of every time I hear them.

7. The music on hours is very different from the guitar-based experimentalism favored by Reeves Gabrels. Was he comfortable with this new direction?

He sure was. People don't know the many musical sides to Reeves. He runs the gamut from blues to Branca, Vedder to vibrators. I've had him to play acoustic guitar on some of my sessions with other artists (I dare you to print THAT). It felt like David and Reeves were very much in sync with this change in musical direction. Plus, he got his noise rocks off on the B sides.

8. What was it like working on the track, 'What's Really Happening?' Can you describe how a fan (Alex Grant) coped with working with his idol?

That was a fun session. Alex was great. He was there with a friend, and they seemed a bit numb just being in New York and in a recording studio, especially that particular session - there were lights, cameras, journalists, and catering out the wazoo (I actually wore pants as opposed to bike shorts, which left David and Reeves a bit numb). But Alex was fine with David, and a good sport. He and his friend ended up singing background vocals on the track. Still, he seemed to be in a state of disbelief the entire session.

9. A general question, but a biggy. Can you do a track by track resume of the hours album and how each track was put together? You did this wonderfully well for Earthling, and if I can't use it all or the book it would still be great for other sources (such as your web site). Also, any funny anecdotes about the recording of the album? Any moments of stress, disagreement?

‘Thursday's Child’ - As with most of the tracks, when I first came in to play bass there was no lead vocal, just a track of David singing the melody with no lyric, only ‘la la..’ It was a lot longer at this point, nearly six and a half minutes - one afternoon David had a brainstorm about how to compact it, and as it was still in the computer it was simple. It was rhythm pretty much the entire way through, but when Mike Levesque played the drums he added the stops before the chorus. What's funny is that I play bass through this gap, as I'd played before Mike put the stops in, and we never went back to fix it.

David finished his lyrics and did his vocals while I wasn't around. I was finishing up some work with another artist for a couple of weeks in between playing bass and then continuing work on hours..., and this was when most of the vocals for the album were finished. On ‘Thursday's Child’, David did change a few vocals during the mix, and added a couple of keyboard parts in the verses. I added some acoustic guitar in the chorus at the last minute (with the blessing of Mr. Gabrels, I might add). As far as the backing vocals are concerned, David had the idea of a child singing the ‘Monday, Tuesday’ part, so we asked my six-year old daughter Alice come in and sing it. However, Alice wanted no part of it - she said she'd rather sing with her friends than with grown-ups (her class from school had come to the studio on a field trip recently, and I recorded them singing various kids songs and burned them all CD’s. She assumed it would be in the shops...). So, with Alice out of the picture Reeves had the idea of calling Holly Palmer, an old friend of his from Boston who I'd also worked with on her first album a few years previous. We called Holly and she auditioned for David over the speakerphone - he gave her some direction, like ‘more vibrato, less vibrato’, and in a couple of hours she joined us on Varick St. and cut the backing vocals.

Alice later had misgivings about turning down the session once she saw Holly performing with us on ‘Storytellers’ and Saturday Night Live. After all, she could have been on tour with Dad!

‘Something In The Air’ - One of my favorite tracks. It moves in and out of being a ‘machine’ track - drum machine and synth bass in the verses - and a live track elsewhere. David pulled out the ring modulator once again for this one, making his vocal nearly unrecognizable in the outro. It's a wonderful vocal in general, very tortured. Great guitar work from Reeves, not what you'd expect from a man the press calls ‘Mr. Noisemeister’. Sometimes he'd remind me of the Eagles ‘Hotel California’ with some of his lines! We had to mix it twice, the first time I had a very Lennon-esque slap echo on the lead vocal in the choruses which sounded great but didn't wear well over time. At the same time we also added a loop to make the drum sound a little weirder.

‘Survive’ - Again, I wasn't there while David did his vocal. The live drums really added a lot for me - there were only machine drums and loops at first, which were cool but didn't cut it for the length of the track. Mike's drums really made this track come alive, this being his first and only (necessary) attempt at the song. In fact, Mike Levesque played most of his parts in a little over a day.

David had some sax parts in place, which Reeves doubled with a guitar we pumped through a Leslie speaker. On this record Reeves played guitar through real amplifiers, as opposed to the VG-8 direct system he employed on ‘Earthling’. On ‘Survive’ in particular he had loads of different textures - acoustic, 12 string, distortion, jangly, etc.

‘If I'm Dreaming My Life’ - This track was cut entirely live at the Looking Glass Studio one evening. I think the keeper was about take three or so. The group consisted of David on vocal, Mike Levesque on drums, Reeves on guitar, Chris Haskett from the Rollins Band on additional guitar, and myself on bass. >From that session we kept around 90% of David's vocal, only replacing parts due to a lyric change and a chord change in one section. David added a couple of keyboard parts afterward, and then a couple more during the mix. Also at the mix he decided to make his own choir at the end of the song, adding all sorts of vocals in about every range you could imagine. Reeves solo was one take, from the original tracking session. I eventually added an arpeggio part on a Rickenbacker 12-string via a Leslie in the outro.

‘Seven’- This track underwent a many changes until it arrived at the version on the record. When I first heard the track sometime in early ‘99, it was only guitar and drum machine. It seemed very small, but very charming. By the time it was finished we had drums and bass throughout, which made it seem very country. It was not one of my favorites by any means, and at that point I considered it a decent album track but nothing more. After we mixed it David expressed his dissatisfaction with the finished version, so we had another go at it. Sterling, Reeves and I played along to David's vocal, stripping away everything else. We tried out anything we could think of. At one point we were really rocking out on it, it sounded like the Who. At another I was playing the bass line to the O’Jay’s ‘(For the Love of) Money’. It just got silly. David finally got fed up with it all and said ‘Right, NOBODY play!’ To his vocal we added the original slide guitar and string pad, and it was perfect. Sterling came in only at the end, and on brushes at that. During the mix we had Everett Bradley, a singer/percussionist and college mate of mine, add a bit of shaker and djimbe.

‘What's Really Happening’ - This is the track that had lyrics co-written by Alex Grant. When I first heard it there were no drums and no vocals to speak of. The guitar tracks were guides but they had a nice vibe so we kept them. We did one day's worth of work on it - added the drums and added bass - and let the rest be. The only other session where we touched this track was when Alex came for the webcast session. At this time David sang the lead, Reeves did a couple of additional guitar parts, I modified the bass line slightly, and David did the background vocals with Alex and a friend of his.

‘The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell’ - On this track we went for something Reeves and I called ‘bonehead’ - playing the simplest Neanderthal part possible (I’ll bet you never thought Reeves would advocate such a thing....). It's harder to do than you think - it’s always easier to play loads of things. The bass in that song is low and ugly and simple, and perfect. The guitars just chug along nastily, little flourishes poke out now and then but for the most part it keeps under tight, gnarly, control. The solo is boneheaded perfection! The drums, however, were anything but simple. Mike Levesque had been reading a biography of Keith Moon around this time, so I think he saw the opening to let that bit of inspiration rise to the occasion. I think he’s the instrumental star of that track.

The song was much longer than it turned out on the record, it really needed a good edit. When I played bass there were no vocals at all so it was pretty hard to navigate through the chord progression, which was a bit unorthodox in where and how it repeated. So, Reeves took a few pieces of paper and wrote a single large letter on each with a Sharpie, each representing a chord in the song - ‘C’, ‘F’, ‘G’, ‘Ab’ - which he’d hold up at the point I was to change chords. This was less time consuming than writing out a chart, and it also insured that I wouldn’t try any fancy stuff. I also had to tune my E string down to C - I'm still committed to the 4 string, I'm afraid - which required being completely boneheaded just to keep the bass guitar from sounding like a an exercise in flatulence.

It could also be my favorite mix, it really rips your head off.

‘New Angels of Promise’ - We didn't play around too much with this song, as this was the most finished track at the time I entered the picture. We added live drums (Sterling Campbell on this one) and Reeves added one more guitar part. We were going to keep the original bass but then decided on something a little more aggressive and boneheaded.

‘Brilliant Adventure’ - David and Reeves did this in Bermuda, to the best of my knowledge. I never heard it before I did the mix, which took all of an hour if that.

‘The Dreamers’ - This track underwent a few changes in the same way as ‘Seven’. When Mike originally played the drums there were two different drum machine patterns - a half time and a double time, both playing throughout the track. We had him play pretty much with the double time feel, thinking we'd sort it out later. I had played the bass prior to this, going mostly with the half time feel. David and Reeves were undecided about when and where to change rhythms, so when it came time to mix and this critical decision was finally made, Mikes’ live drums didn't seem to fit. I was about half way through mixing it, and David just wasn't happy. This was our one point of stress during the project - we just weren't sure what to do with it. We decided to go with the machine drums, adding Mike in spots, but that didn't wear well after a few days as once again, the machines were cool but couldn't quite carry the track. So when we reconvened in a few weeks to tweak things we had Sterling play drums again, and since we knew where the feel of the song was going to change we were able to guide his playing accordingly. After that the mix was pretty effortless. Sometimes things just happen this way.......

It was during this mix that David made me show off my cycling legs for benefit of all the BowieNet people - David gets a kick out of the fact that I wear cycling shorts about 360 days of the year, and doesn't miss an opportunity to poke fun at me. I can be seen pedaling next to the mixing board in streaming video.

10. Tell me about Storytellers. What anecdotes told by David did not make the final broadcast?

I only saw the broadcast once, so I'm not sure what was left in and what did n't make the cut. One thing that didn't make it for certain was a little monologue that David gave before ‘I Cant Read,’ which wasn't used. He was talking about the overload of information we're facing today, from TV, the Internet, etc., and how people are rebelling against it by dumbing down. It was getting pretty serious, and Mike Garson began playing a very dark accompaniment with a string sound. David broke his monologue, and said ‘Are you hearing what I hear’? and we all broke out laughing.

11. Which was your favorite gig of the small dates promo tour, and why?

I think it had to be Net Aid, with Copenhagen a close second. Net Aid was amazing for me as it was the first time I’d ever played a stadium. I’d never been in front of such a huge audience before, so I was glad David was in front of me! It was worth it just to hear the roar of the crowd when David took the stage to sing ‘Life on Mars’ with just Mike Garson on piano. Copenhagen was the last show we did, so it was bittersweet. We’d all gotten to know each other well, musically we were just getting it really together, and the crowd was wonderful. I could have stayed out gigging for another few months at that point.

12. What is life like on the road with David Bowie? Do you manage to see the cities in which you play, talk to the fans, etc.? What is the pre and post-gig life like in David Bowie's band?

Life on the road with David was great. I’d never done a tour before as a musician - I’d gone to places for a month or so to make records, which is very different - so I don’t really have anything to compare it to, though I suspect we had it pretty good.

Since this was a promo tour, we had time to see the sights of most places while David was doing interviews. He works harder than you can imagine at times like that- he’ll be doing interviews and press all day, then come to the soundcheck and do the gig.

Backing up an artist of David’s calibre was a real treat. It felt like a natural progression - I’d played on the last two records, so why not hit the road for a little while? It was a bit of an adjustment for me to switch to guitar and lead the band, but after a while it felt like a great role to be in, not that far from producing. The performing bug has definitely bitten me, so I’d love to do it again.....

13. Net Aid looked to be a bit of an organizational fiasco. Would this be fair assessment?

Fiasco may be too strong a word. From my point of view it seemed to go off fine. As with any event of this size there's bound to be glitches. It seemed to go a whole lot better at Wembley than Giants stadium, which also looked about half empty. It was a great idea, though I'm not sure that the average person is yet web savvy enough for it to make a huge difference.

14. Did you enjoy mixing the live version of 'Survive' for single release, and what did you do? It's a great song, by the way, initially my favorite on the record. Is a live video, or even a live album, planned?

I mixed down the Paris show in a few days between legs of the hours tour at Looking Glass. I mixed it primarily for release as video promo material for Virgin, I had no idea it would ever be commercially released. Such is the way. I didn't do anything special on the mix, in fact is was a real quickie!

As far as I know there's no live album or video in the works.

15. I believe there's a new version of 'Something In The Air' (my current favorite from the album) to be included on the American Psycho soundtrack and that you remixed it. What did you do, and when we get to hear it?

The directive from both David and Barry Cole, the music supervisor from the film, was ‘dark.’ A few things were immediately obvious- I wanted to get Garson on it, as he’d done a great job with the song on tour and wasn't on the record, and Holly and Emm as well, who were adding backgrounds not in the original recording. I decided to make it more beat-centered than the original, and change feel in the chorus, make it double time. I ended up not using the live drums at all, instead coming up with a few different collages of loops and samples. Lastly, I added a brand new string arrangement with some new Mellotron samples for my computer, and that was pretty much it. It will play over the end titles of the film, as well as be on the soundtrack album, which will be released in April so I'm told.

16. Finally, do you know what David Bowie's next musical plans are? I hear that you will be involved in a project to re-record some of his back catalogue from the 1960s. I enjoyed 'Can't Help Thinking About Me' but isn't a whole album of oldies a rather backward-looking step? Some of David's plans (e.g. the Ziggy 2002 project, the release of the second of the Outside trilogy) appear to be retroactive. Is David taking stock and looking to tie up loose ends before branching out into the new again?

I'm not sure where he’s headed. He’s been thinking about the second installment of the Outside project for some time, but it’s quite a daunting task as there’s just hours and hours of material to sift through. You never know......