Nad Sylvan is one of the great live frontmen in progressive rock, as seen from his time fronting Steve Hackett’s band during his Genesis sets. He is also an extremely talented writer and performer in his own right. Nad Sylvan will release his new, and arguably best, solo work, Monumentata, on June 20 and recently took some time to talk about it.
Please press the play icon for the MisplacedStraws Nad Sylvan interview –
On if he approached this record as a new beginning – Yeah, I was. I was tired of the vampire character. I don’t portray him on stage with Steve anymore either. All those fancy costumes. I felt mature enough to expose myself in a new light, if you like. I mean to show who I am as a person and just so much I’ve gone through since Spiritus Mundi, losing my father last year and my mother been gone long, gone by now, 16 years ago. She passed at the age of 68, she would’ve been 85 now because she was 19 when she had me. It made me think, what actually it made me come to terms with this, the idea of me being the next in line to go one day, because they’re all gone. The older generation, I usually say it in my age, I know I’m a lot older than you, but in my age most people, at least one parent has deceased, most cases, both parents, so, I guess the vulnerability or the questions of life that sort of shine through on this album. It’s not only the song about my pa, my dad, especially the title track, it’s also the quest for love being lonely, being on the road.
Not much more to do than to just travel and sing, it’s lonely, lots of lonely hours in my hotel room. Passing time with composing and have my laptop in front of me and just killing time. It is a new direction in the, and I also wanted to be, I didn’t wanna repeat my musical formula from years ago. I felt like doing something new and I felt like rocking, I felt like rocking out quite a bit. Combining with some pop elements too.
On the title track “Monumentata” – Number one, the song itself. This is a funny, funny thing that can happen to a composer. So usually what I have when I start to write, I have ideas in my head that sometimes they’ve lingered in my head for years, so they start to build in my head and there will be a new section that pops up. “Oh, that gotta go with that bit.” So, sometimes the whole, we’re gonna talk about “Monumentata”, the title track, but this previous song before that, I’m stepping up, that whole song apart from the chorus was already in my head for maybe 10 years. That’s how it works for me.
So, when I started working on the title track “Monumentata”, it was initially a different song. It was the same chords in the chorus, but, and there was a guitar melody that I felt that, “Oh, that should be a nylon guitar. That should be Steve (Hackett) playing it.” That was also a melody I had in my years, for at least five years. I thought, “This is gonna be a wonderful song”. Turned out, and I started working with it, it didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t know, it just felt like the best moments was like almost rehashing some old Genesis vibes, and I didn’t want to go there. I’ve done that. So, I gave up, I was, “Oh, fuck it, I’m gonna trash this song”. Wait a minute. Then I heard a different melody during those chords and the choruses and a new bassline. I had a new chorus. Now what, where do I, how do I write the verses? What do I use? So, I actually went back to the song “That’s Not Me” and took the extended chorus. I don’t know whether you notice it’s the same chord and same melody, but in such a different shape and form that you have to listen carefully, right? You realize, “oh, that’s from, “That’s Not Me”.” It’s a kind of a proggy thing to do, isn’t it? Revisit bits and I just had a new song, and it was quite effortless once I got it going. The idea of having three-part harmony on the choruses that just came instantly. I just heard the layers in my head. It’s gotta be that. So that was a very rewarding moment doing so. I agree it’s probably one of the strongest songs I ever written, let alone the lyrics. I mean, it has a lot to do with the lyrics, the lyric content of losing my dad or what could have been. I fully agree and thank you for that. I really love that song. It grabs a hold of my heart.
On if he had any trepidation about writing such a personal record – There was. There was some moments I was thinking, “Am I gonna let it all hang out?” But this time around, I felt why not just go almost all the way, this is me. This is, I think my fans, my devoted fans I’ve had for years and years. They’re so lovely. They send me gifts. They are just absolutely wonderful, wonderful fans. They deserve to get the real me they get, they deserve to get to know who they’re really talking to, if they’re gonna worship me this much. They gotta know who they’re worshiping. I’m almost quoting Joni Mitchell now, but that’s what she said. But they deserve that.
So, I’m exposing more of who I am as a person. My sexuality, I’m a gay man and I never said anything about it, but I thought, “What the fuck? I’m 66, who’s gonna care?” Most people have gay friends. I just thought that probably people know. They understand. “That must be the case with Nad”. But it was never discussed. It was never out in the open. I just felt like, “Okay, it comes from me now”. So, just so you know, this is me. But that’s just a little fracture of the whole being that I am. It’s so much more to I am. But anyway, that felt like a nice outlet, and I was yearning to do that.
But also, some, some other lyrics. It’s about my life on the road, my search for love. I’d say it’s a quite vulnerable album, but it also got some nice storytelling about other people as well, such as “Monte Carlo Priceless”, with this beaten-up woman who just escapes from Nova Scotia to Monte Carlo has a facelift and comes a prostitute. It’s a nice story and it’s a nice song. And “Flowerland” is about this old hippie couple that is reminiscing about the youth. They were probably at the Woodstock festival at some point, and they’re still together, but they’re old potheads, so they don’t remember that much.
On who joins him on the record – Well, Tony Levin is back, this is the fourth album he plays on. Nick Beggs is back for one track. He played on virtually the whole Courting The Widow album, apart from two tracks. Marco Minnemann is new, but I’ve worked with him previously with Steve Hackett back in 19 when he played with us on the cruises. So, we hit it off and became friends. Then Mirko de Maio on drums, who’s the current drummer of Flower Kings. He played on Spiritus Mundi and he is a good drummer and a very nice meticulous guy. I just wanted him in again for a couple of tracks. Then Felix Lehrmann for the first time, who used to play with the Flower Kings, who’s now been playing with Steve Hackett. He is a lovely man, absolutely big, big heart, sweet and extremely professional guy, very young. He’s only 40, I dunno, in comparison to myself. Who else do I have on? Jonas (Reingold), of course, plays. Then Randy McStine, who I’ve gotten to know through Jonas plays on a couple of tracks and Neil Whitford, who played on Spiritus Mundi on “Flowerlands” doing some atmospheric stuff, some ambient guitar playing. Then Joe Denizon from Kansas, the band Kansas, current violent player, tracked a solo for me on the song called “I’m Stepping Out”…I got Jade Ell and she sang with me on The Bride Said No, and also, I guess they were on, were they on Regal Bastard? I can’t remember now. Maybe they were, but I wanted them back for this track (“Make Somebody Proud”).
On if he set out to create such a diverse sounding record – It just comes. I can’t explain where it comes from. But, I’ve been a songwriter for God, it’s gotta be, oh, it’s over 50 years now, since ’73. So, the influences I have at this age, they’re very vast. They’re lots of, lots of influences that I can draw from, but usually. The way I compose, I dictate a hum in melodies in my phone. Stuff that just comes. I have a vast library of, of ideas, and if one idea comes back, like a recorded a second, a third time, I know, “Oh, this idea is ripe to work with”. So, that’s how I do things. I don’t really care if the album is super coherent, like it’s one mood throughout the whole album. I think it’s more important that the songs are strong.
Also, my way of writing, I don’t hear anyone else write like I do. Combine these elements. I bring in R&B and soul and funk in into progressive rock. You tell me who else is doing that? I can’t hear it. I am definitely not anywhere near the likes of Stephen Wilson, who’s definitely doing his own thing, and I would never want to be, maybe he wants to be Nad Slyvan, who knows? I don’t think so. So, of course I strive for originality, but that’s not, I don’t think about it so much. I just do whatever comes into my head that I like.
On writing this album without collaboration – My collaborations in the past has been very spontaneous. Things like, for instance, on The Bride Said No album, I had co-written few songs with Anders Wollbeck because he was constantly at me. “I got this idea, I want you to sing this, you know, I was listening, oh, we can work with this one. We can work with that”, and it just ended up on the album. With Spiritus Mundi, it was my idea to bring in an Andrew (Laitres) and his song Ideas. Basically, the songs on Spiritus Mundi are his. But I toyed around with them and extended them and arranged and produced them. But it’s basically all his melodies and his chords with me sort of paraphrasing some lines that I thought might work better, or some modulations. I get the writing credits too, because the record wouldn’t sound like it does without my part of it as well. So, if I listen back to his demos, it’s a huge difference. But that was intentional and that was my COVID album. I call it my COVID album because we were locked down, all of us. But I haven’t made a record with my strictly my own songs since Courting The Widow, that’s 10 years ago, and I just felt I had so much material stored or installed. I just thought I’ve got enough music to make a double album if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. I wanted to make a single lp, two sides a perfect lp, and that’s what I’ve done.
On if he plans to tour for the record – Question is how and when. So busy with Steve. It’s crazy. As I’ve gotten older, I also get very tired. I also have some physical problems, sometimes, from touring so much. Right now, I’m fine, but it can be hard. The moment I would think would be most appropriate to bring this on the road is once Steve finally decides to slow down and not tour six months of the year or five months. I need to wind down after a tour. I got a house to maintain and a cat and a boyfriend. I need to sort myself out in between tours. If I go out, it would probably be when Steve has quit or slow down substantially. Also just down to me to forward everything, and to do I need someone to work, do that stuff for me, like in management. I can’t do it.
On his relationship to The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway – That was my gateway to Genesis. 50 years ago I fell in love with The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. I was working my first job ever after I’d just finished school I got this job in a record store just for the summer. A of coworker of mine that just (said), “What are you listening to?” “Ah, I’m listening to Uriah, Purple”, I said. “That’s shit. Listen to this”, and he presented The Lamb to me. I said, “What’s that?” Well, I’ve seen the name Genesis somewhere, I was familiar with the name, but I had never heard any music by them at all. So he played me “The Lamb”, the first track. I got hooked immediately and I wanted, “Can I buy this on a single?” “No, you can’t. You have to buy the whole double album”. I didn’t have money, couldn’t afford it, so I borrowed some money from my grandfather and bought the album and, and played it to death the whole summer. So if you ask me if it means something to me, that’s life’s come full circle to sing those songs, you know? It’s, it’s incredible, really.
