THE PROG INTERVIEW
KEVIN GODLEY
Every month we get inside the mind of one of the biggest names in music. This issue it’s Kevin Godley. The singer-songwriter, drummer and Gizmo co-inventor met his soon-to-be creative partner Lol Creme at art school in the 60s, where the pair played in numerous bands together, including Hotlegs, which eventually became 10cc. He left the band in 1977, became one half of Godley & Creme, and the pair were soon elevated from pop stars to in-demand pop video directors. He tells Prog about the – ahem – Consequences of the duo’s creative career, the recently released 11-CD set Parts Of The Process – The Complete Godley & Creme, and that time he was mistaken for Paper Lace’s drummer.
Words: Philip Wilding
Kevin Godley: a man with vision!
PRESS
Art-school alumni, one-time prog pop star, songwriter, video and filmmaker, environmentalist, Kevin Godley has, for decades, confounded expectations in pursuit of what might be called his vision (though he’d probably baulk at the idea of being a visionary). At 79, he shows no signs of slowing down; he’s just completed work on an orchestral piece with American classical composer John Califra entitled America WTF?.
“It’s about the current political situation and divide in America,” he says wryly. “It’s very dark.”
He’s also busy working on a musical, trying to finance two screenplays (both of which he had a hand in), and joining a video games company.
Out now:
Parts Of The Process – The Complete Godley & Creme
.
IAN DICKSON/REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
“I’m not one of those people that will retire to the country and paint. I’m not that guy.”
We’re here ostensibly to talk about the expansive new box set navigating Godley’s musical collaboration with former longtime writing partner Lol Creme. Parts Of The Process charts their musical arc post-10cc from the great triple disc/musical folly (argue among yourselves), Consequences –a concept piece that’s as much about divorce as it is meteorological disaster –to their final glimmering pop farewell, 1988’s Goodbye Blue Sky. However, our conversation touches on everything from his former band and writing with Peter Cook, to helping to pioneer the music video revolution and almost working with Bob Dylan.
He’s also just moved house; one he’s still trying to navigate: “I sort of wake up and don’t quite know where everything is.”
For now, he has managed to locate the conservatory in his new home and that’s where he sits down to chat with us for the next few hours.
Consequences
reminds us of Zappa’s
Jazz From Hell
album, in that he was in thrall to making music with the Synclavier, while you and Lol were intent on using your Gizmotron (Gizmo) device, which you invented, to create new sounds on that album. Would that be close to the truth?