AS ABOVE SO BELOW – Interview with Winston
W: The Bad Penny Opera song-by-song interview with Glen Laughlin continues with As Above So Below. I must say that this is one of my favourite BPO tunes and in fact one of my favourite Cherry Bluestorms tracks.
GL: Thanks for that. It is one of our favourites as well. For me personally, I think the guitar part is probably the most emblematic example of my playing. It’s hard to think of The Cherry Bluestorms without this song and we rarely play a live set without it.
W: Tell us about how it works into the story.
GL: Originally, as I inferred earlier, there was a second plot line that involved the cyclical nature of things, from a ceremonial magic viewpoint. I hasten to add that although I am fascinated with the rituals, romance and poetry of some of that, I am no more an adherent or believer in that brand of superstition than am I religious. In any case, the album was becoming unwieldy, so the plot line was reduced to another character Penny meets along the way, to realize again that this was not to be her path.
W: The horns are really effective in this song.
GL: Yes, Andrew Duncan did a great job. It took a great deal of breath to sustain the parts long enough. When Andy came to record the first time, he had just come from a gig. He was a bit too tired to get it done. I figured I’d have to use someone else. But when I checked out what he had done, I realized that the tone was really great and he wasn’t as far off as I thought. Andy particularly liked that song, so when I called him to try again he was really happy. It was smooth sailing from there.