Spiral Dance: An interview

(Editor’s Note: Spiral Dance were interviewed by Folk Tales staff writer Michael Hunter. The two members of the band who were interviewed, Adrienne Piggott (AP) and Nick Carter (NC).

MH: In the thriving South Australian Pagan Folk-Rock scene, where any night of the week there is the choice of listening to several bands extolling the virtues of ancient gods and goddesses, where the radio is full of glorious tunes containing primeval spells and incantations, where to be anything else is as untrendy as it’s possible to be – there is one band that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and that band is Spiral Dance. Why is this so?

Well firstly: oh, hang on. Damn it, I seem to have slipped into some sort of parallel universe there for a moment. Sorry to mislead you. It’s true that Spiral Dance stand out, and it’s true the reason is the originality of their music. But sadly, it is as rare here as anywhere else. Myth and legend in music are never likely to make a lasting impression on the mainstream of society but, of course, that’s not the point. It still speaks to a great number of people on a deep, almost intangible level and the music this band produces does it better than most. Most of the songs are written by lead singer Adrienne Piggott (AP) who, along with guitarist Nick Carter (NC), recently sat down to talk to Folk Tales about Spiral Dance’s history and their new album Magick.

MH: To begin near the beginning, the band has been around for a number of years now.

AP: We’re in our sixth year. We first played in 1993. Basically, Kerryn (Schofield) and I talked about a project when we lived together in Tasmania twelve years ago, about having a band that played this sort of “not occult so much,” I suppose like those influences we heard in Jethro Tull.

We wanted a band that was about magic, myth and legend. We talked about it for five or six years and I went to the UK and when I came back, we did it.

We’ve had a few changes over the years, we’ve had change of drummers, change of guitarist and change of harmony singers. It’s a good group now, I think that’s why this CD came together very quickly as opposed to the first one which took a long time in cutting. I think it’s because we do work together very well.

MH: Magick is their third album, following on from their debut Woman Of The Earth (1996) and Over The Nine Waves (1997). By comparison, Adrienne describes the new album thus:

AP: It’s an interesting mix this time. It’s basically quite rocky, there’s a song there reminds me of something The Corrs would do actually, “Marooned On Venus”; and there‚s a few ballads, and there’s what I think of as a heavy metal number, “Shadow Wood.” It’s all very based on the sun, it’s not a dark album, it’s a very light album. Lots of light, bright stuff.

MH: Live, the band has developed musically, and often emphasises the rock side of the folk-rock equation more than previously. Is that the way it has translated to the recording as well?

AP: Yeah, I think it is, actually. I think we started off with that folk-rock idea, we were rockin’‚ for a while then we went very folk for a while, especially with Over The Nine Waves which had a very Irish feel which was what the arranger was doing, I think. Then he left for a while and I guess we took a bit of a new turn and it’s back to more folk-rock, which is where I want it to be.

MH: Nick counts his influences as Joe Satriani, not that I can play like him, Steve Morse, Steve Vai, a lot of Eric Clapton in the early stages. I come from a rock and blues background. Along with the flute of co-founder Kerryn Schofield, harmony vocals of Nicola Barnes and the steady rock backing of Kevin Sheehy on bass and Lee Gray on drums, this makes for a good mix of power and subtlety, light and shade.

MH: In terms of songwriting, Adrienne lists Jethro Tull as her biggest influence, along with acts such as Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Clannad. It’s interesting to note that one couldn’t really call those acts specifically Pagan, however.

AP: No, I suppose with Tull the album I first heard when I was really young was Songs From The Wood and apart from the musicianship, it was the concept that really appealed to me like the whole woody thing, solstice bells and then Heavy Horses is another one. It’s earthy stuff, it’s where you live, I guess.

MH: This leads on to the question of exactly how the term “Pagan” can be defined in a musical context anyway. Adrienne sees it as something quite natural, certainly not dogmatic.

AP: To me, pagan just means other people, I guess. A lot of people go outside on a full moon, you look at a full moon and go “Oh god, that’s great” and you feel something right in the pit of your stomach. It moves you in a certain way but you don’t understand why it moves you. Or walking on the beach on a really stormy day and you’ve got all this element around you, it’s that sort of thing. That to me is the whole pagan thing. It’s not about reading the right books and ritual. I know that kind of stuff is important, and honouring the Goddess and the earth is important, but that real base stuff.

MH: Is everyone in the band a pagan?

AP: Five out of six, maybe. The women, we’re very much into the whole Goddess thing and Wicca and working in the craft.

NC: I’m in touch with it but I’m not as full on as you guys. Lee definitely not, the drummer. Kevin’s just happy to go with the flow.

MH: What about the audiences you attract as far as that goes?

AP: Mmmm, interesting question. I must say there’s nothing like playing to a good Pagan audience. They’re the best. But we’ve played at big festivals and stuff like that. A lot of people just tap into the music and enjoy it for what it is.

MH: You don’t get negative reactions?

AP: No, because the music is about the joy of the craft, there’s nothing dark in it at all. The only dark song we actually do, or what I think of as dark, is a song called “Shadow Wood” but that’s interesting, Richard Tonkin (arranger, sometime keyboard and accordion player for Spiral Dance) wrote that song after having a really bizarre dream about being caught in a wood or something. It’s more of a folk tale because our songs are about legends and tales as well, so that’s probably the darkest song we have. It’s all very joyful, our music, and positive. I think that’s why people latch onto it.

NC: With this CD and what we’re playing now, we’re drawing more of a wider audience, more general punters, which is good.

MH: As far as touring is concerned, the band plays fairly regularly around Adelaide and has played in other Australian States as well, mostly at festivals. But plans are afoot for a couple of overseas appearances.

AP: We played in Melbourne for the first time earlier this year and that was really good. We were really surprised how well that went. They’ve been in touch with us in Austin, Texas. They‚re amazing over there. It’s huge in America, the whole Pagan scene, I suppose because their religious laws are so much more relaxed, they have the anti-discrimination stuff. They have a Council of Magical Arts over there in Texas and they have these gatherings four times a year. There’s something like five or six hundred Pagans and Wiccans go to these things and they get bands from Europe and all sorts of places to play. We got a phone call recently saying “We’re having a small gathering for Beltane, there’s only 250 of us” and I was like “Oh my god,” so they’ve asked us if we can go over. That’s next year, so that’s nice, that’ll be fun.

NC: We’ll do there and see if we can tee up something with our good supplier and stockist Anne Hill from Serpentine Music in California. See if we can play up there as well.

AP: She sells a lot of our stuff. We’ve just got to save some money.

MH: Mind you, that’s not the first example of overseas interest in Spiral Dance’s work. A couple of years ago, the band received an email from the organiser of a Pagan gathering in the US, saying they had used the title track of “Woman Of The Earth” as their ritual song in a Sabbat celebration.”Hope you don’t mind,” they said. Far from minding, the band was very pleased by the interest shown from afar in their recorded work.

Referring back to the new album Magick, it contains 13 songs, most are band originals, with a few written by friends, plus a cover or two.

AP: The majority are written by me. There’s one written by Richard, there’s a woman called Blackthorn who’s done our artwork and she handed me a couple of songs last year that Nick and I pulled together and took them to the band. “Burning Times” is on there by Charlie Murphy. Oh, and “Witches Rune” which was written by Gerald Gardner, I believe. I wrote about six or seven.

The song “Marooned On Venus” also includes the traditional tune”The Musical Priest,” more often referred to within the band as “The Musical Priestess,” which seems more fitting!

MH: Now, this is the point where it must be said that talking about the music, while important, is not the same as actually experiencing it. The way the intent and the melody come together, the sense of dynamics, the level of musicianship, not to forget the meaning behind the lyrics – all these things are far better experienced than discussed. To that end, if it doesn’t seem likely Spiral Dance will play near you soon, you may do one of two things. Check out their Web site which has ordering information for the CDs, as well as excerpts from some of their songs and a link to their US distributor, or email them directly. They are a unique band and one that lovers of Pagan traditions or folk-rock music will be glad to discover. http://www.spiraldance.com.au/?Spiral_Dance

I am a woman of the Earth
I stand between the sea and the sand
I guide the sun at each day’s birth
I hold the moon in my right hand
I am the nimbus in your sky
Look through the crystal, see me fly.

See them fly, indeed.