Dead Bees On A Cake Promotional Interview CD

49 tracks of answers to questions printed on back (p/s slipcase) for an open-ended radio interview

DJ promo of David Sylvian answering questions, which are printed on the back of the slipcase.
This way, DJ’s can perform their interview on the radio. Total length is almost 50 minutes in 49 tracks.

Interview conducted by Sally Stratton

David Sylvian Questions for open-ended radio interview

1. Do you like to think of yourself as sitting outside the mainstream of today’s pop music?
2. How influential do you think Japan was as a group and has that influence lasted?
3. Was how you looked as important as how you sounded in those days?
4. Why do you think the country Japan embraced the group so warmly?
5. Was the music you were making then a reaction against punk or did it grow out of the punk ethic?
6. Why do you think Japan was a successful group?
7. A lot of people thought you were mad to split up at the peak of your success. Why did it happen?
8. When did you first come up with Ryuichi Sakamoto and how did that come about?
9. When ‘Brilliant Trees’ was such a big success were you reassured that you’d done the right thing in going solo?
10. How did your solo and collaborative career progress from then on?
11. Why did you decide to regroup the Japan members as Rain Tree Crow at the end of the 80’S?
12. Do you think you would ever resurrect that line-up again?
13. Has your interest in the visual side of being a musician, in videos for example, developed over the course of your career?
14. Have other areas of the visual arts like cinema been more influential
15. Why did you move to the US?
16. There are a lot of references to the elements and the skies and the light in the songs on this album. Do you have a close relationship with the natural world?
17. Do you think something of the clarity in your environment found its way into the lyrics of the songs?
18. At what point did you feel ready to put out another solo album?
19. Did you find that you captured things on this album that would not have been achieved in a more sterile studio environment?
20. You were the writer, arranger, producer and multi-instrumentalist on this album, did you enjoy having so much control?
21. When you went back and put the parts down yourself did you use samples or were you using real instruments?
22. How did you pick the musicians you did use on the album?
23. You mentioned earlier that Ryuichi Sakamoto’s experience of orchestration impressed you in those early days. Did you work together on the orchestral arrangements for this album?
24. Does this album have a theme?
25. Do you think you’re likely to get the ‘new age’ label attached to your music with this album?
26. How did you decide upon the title ‘Dead Bees On A Cake”?
27. You’ve talked about the spiritual motivation behind this album, what was motivating you as a musician?
28. There’s quite a variety of styles on here from blues to jazz to the Indian influences, How do you merge them all together?
29. Do you find talking about your songs a liberating experience or does it make you uncomfortable?
30. Over the years you’ve been involved in many artistic endeavours outside music, is it important for you to keep a hand in with the rest of the arts?
31. Are your children responsive to your work?
32. Where did the album artwork come from?
33. Are you planning any concerts to promote this album?
34. Are there any other collaborations you’ve yet to achieve?
35. Will we have to wait as long for your next album?
36. Let’s talk about ‘I Surrender’ – the instrumentation on this is interesting…
37. On to ‘Dobro #1 … what is a dobro’?
38. There’s a bluesy feel to ‘Midnight Sun’. It’s a very American-sounding track, in fact it reminds me of Tom Waits …
39. ‘Thalheim’…
40. ‘Godman’…
41. ‘Alphabet Angel’…
42. ‘Krishna Blue’…
43. ‘The Shining Of Things’ …
44. ‘Cafe Europa’…
45. ‘Pollen Path’…
46. ‘All Of My Mother’s Names … what’s the significance of the title and was there a lot of improvisation on this one?
47. ‘Wanderlust’…
48. ‘Praise (Pratah Smarami)’
49. And then you end the album with a very reflective track, ‘Darkest Dreaming’.