About
About Creating Reality
Creating Reality began in 2004 as a collective of artistic individuals with the expressed purpose of providing resources for and enhancing the creativity of, the artistic community, especially in the disciplines of writing and art. After two successful but very busy years in which they ran many writing competitions and awarded prizes at The Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition, the focus of Creating Reality changed. The collective turned their main focus to music, creating a label to release the music of CHAPMAN.
Creating Reality seek to harness all that is good in the changing music business model and aim to release music of quality, joy and positivity
The Amplification of Mr Ballad (CRRX02) is the second release on the label and will be followed by an album by OneFourtyFour in 2011.
An Interview with CHAPMAN
The first question has to be, why release three albums?
There's probably many answers to that question! I was conscious when I was recording 'Amplification' that it was a big leap for fans of my first album - going from a very introspective basically acoustic record to an album of much bigger, positive songs. I can only make the music that I can make but at the same time I didn't want to alienate anyone so that's how the 'The Bare Bones' came about. It set me thinking about reaching out to even more new listeners, so I decided to let 1:44 remix the tracks as well.
Maybe it's not enough these days to just release a record these
Who is Mr Ballad?
The ‘Mr Ballad’ thing comes out of the last album one of my fans coined the phrase on my myspace. When I recorded the last album, my Dad had just died and several other life changing events occurred so it was inevitable that the music was reflective, I was looking back on my life and examining my present in the wake of those events. I was also expressing my feelings about the value of my marriage to me so there were quite a few ballads on there – but to be honest I love ballads! This album is more about how I’m feeling now, since ‘Bombshell’ I’ve become a father and moved out of London, the songs are more upbeat and positive because I am.
I’m not going to start actually calling myself Mr. Ballad though…(laughs) ‘Taxi for Mr Ballad’ , ‘…ah good evening Mr. Ballad table for two…’
In Hum Along, are you considering your own death? You seems to be suggesting that you're thinking about it?
When you lose someone in your life especially a parent, you sometimes have this ‘I’m Next’ attitude and you question your own mortality, but I believe that we are all eternal energy that carries on regardless of our physical body. In ‘Hum Along’ I’m accepting that I won’t always be in this physical form, but I’m questioning what is going to happen afterwards – we all have doubts after all.
'Things are Changing' sounds like a sequel to ‘The River’ from the first album. Am I right?
Yes, The River was about the incredible capacity I once had to self-sabotage anything good in my life! In the last few years I’ve come to believe that we actively create our own reality, so if something bad is happening in my life I’ve created it. It has really changed the way I live my life and ‘Things are Changing’ is a reflection of that and the sea imagery shows that I’ve jumped into the river which has carried me down to the sea which has allowed me to be more expansive and more in control as the captain of my ship.
The Edge of the Island has a strong ‘green’ message is this a subject close to your heart?
Once you have children I think it does become more important the earth is our legacy to our kids but really I believe we have lost our connection with the earth and nature. Nature is this thing that we observe from the outside, we aren’t embracing it, working with it. Now I live by the sea I feel that even more strongly. We are all so wrapped up in the stuff that from a universal view, when you pull back and look, doesn’t really matter. We don’t treat the natural world or Mother Earth or whatever term you want to use, as we should. I think that’s what I’m trying to say…
There are many soul inflections on this record and It Could Get Darker has a Stax /Atlantic feel, has that music been a particular influence in your life?
The benefit of being the youngest of 6 children who are a lot older than you is that you get exposed to a lot of different music from a very early age. I’m really grateful for that grounding. One of my brothers was really into James Brown and it just started from there. I discovered Motown, STAX and really got into Rare Groove, Funk and Northern Soul. I was in lot of bands when I was younger where I was trying to re-create some of these sounds and in my last band, before I went solo, MacArthur, we really went all out for the soul thing, the album we recorded for Artist Network never got released because of the labels financial problems, so maybe this is an itch I just have to keep scratching. I can’t help but produce songs with a soul feel. I’ve actually got SOUL tattooed on the top of my left arm, so it’s always with me!
The Salesman is like a serenade to major record labels; do you have strong views on the way the major labels operate?
It’s no secret that the traditional model that has sustained the majors for so long is crumbling. If you’re a bit tech savvy and you are committed and creative you can carve out a career without the ‘help’ of a major label.
I think it was Ray Lamontagne that said and I’m para-phrasing him here “Major labels sign you because you’re different and then once they sign you they spend all their time trying to make you sound like everyone else!”
When you sign that contract you are virtually signing away the rights to all your music and everybody thinks they have the right to tell you what you should be doing and how you should be doing it and if you don’t generate the right amount of revenue then you’re out.
I was inspired to add the Latin feel to the song after hearing an interview with Terry Reid, when he delivered his classic album ‘River’ to Atlantic in 1973 it was two-years in the making and when the title track had Brazilian influences on it the label were like “huh?? - what do we do with this?”. Ironically, I was offered a gig playing keyboards for him on a few UK dates in 2007, but I couldn’t do it.
Raffi’s song (The Answer is Love) is obviously about your daughter. The version on 'Amplification' goes on a 9 minute journey.
When my wife was pregnant with our daughter, Raffi, she encouraged me to sing to her bump, as studies showed that the unborn child really responds to music. I just started humming this little tune (hums main melody of Raffi’s Song) every day. As time went on I expanded it into a 4 minute song, the lyric ‘Whatever the question, the answer is love’ came to me sitting on the tube one day.
A few close family members had heard the beginnings of it and really liked it, they were having a party so I spent an afternoon remixing it and adding a dance element to it, that was a 7-minute version that was heard that night. People really liked it but said they wanted it longer so I added the choir parts and a further 2mins 30secs and that is the version on 'Amplification'. The heartbeat at the beginning and end of the song belongs to my daughter, I recorded it when she was in the womb.
Is the answer really love?
Definitely. We should add love to everything we do – the difference would be incredible. We’ve even designed a T-Shirt with ‘The answer is LOVE’ on it that you can buy through mrballad.com
It’s a well known fact that you play very few live gigs?
I have a 2 year old daughter and along with my wife they are the best things that have ever happened to me. I want to see my daughter grow up, you can never get back the time you miss. It's very important to me. I want to be a 'hands-on' Dad, they grow-up so quickly. I don't think that should stop me from making music. Do you?
No, but most artists have to play live to survive these days?
I'm just trying to buck the trend. I want to explore other avenues and new opportunities. Without spending long periods away from my family.
What’s with the megaphone in all the photos for Amplification?
Do you want me to stand in front of a Marshall stack? That would be a bit literal wouldn’t it...more than a megaphone anyway!
The Remixes are by 1:44? Who is 1:44?
He's my producer alter-ego everyone should have one! It’s someone I met on a train. He does most of his work entirely with a laptop travelling on trains. He’s releasing an, as yet untitled album on the label (Creating Reality) in 2011, assuming he doesn’t get held up by signal failure or the leaf fall season…
