I never embraced any kind of ‘Rock’ – it came to me in the form of Pete Townshend, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd – I embraced these creators as individuals, but not their music. My main musical influences were, and still are, classic Afro-American jazz from the 1920s and ’30s (actually musical surrealism), and most of the ‘classical’ composers’ works, except those of Britten, Shostakovich and Stravinsky. How about musical influences? How did you embrace Rock and roll? All this bundle of endeavour was my rocket fuel to get out of middle class materialistic Lanarkshire. This connected well with the verbal equivalent ‘The Goon Show’ on radio. Surrealism, in the visual medium, depicted the impossible, dream and subconscious images, often with humour. They were some of my main influences, but see below. You listed Victor Borge, The Goons, Chic Murray (Scottish comedian, deceased) as your main influences. This, supplemented by, “You’ll never be any good at anything!” by my father, caused me to get my head down, or up, and get on with real life – into that university – and out the other side. “Take this boy away – we can do no more with him.” said the Headmaster to my father. I was becoming extremely rebellious and unruly at Hamilton Academy (secondary school) and was asked to leave at around 17. I’m still trying to find out who I became. What college did you attend? Would you say that it had any impact on who you became later on? Composer, performer, sound architect, interactive designer, broadcaster, writer and also lecturer. Then I got more interested in syncopated music in general: the ‘Trad’ (traditional jazz revival) era had started in the 1950s in Britain, so I got a long-neck ‘G’ banjo for my 15th birthday, took the short 5th string off and played it as a 4-string plectrum banjo. I was soon playing bits of simplified Bach and the film theme from Genevieve. I got fairly fascinated by the ‘harmonica/mouth organ virtuoso’ Larry Adler, seeing him on the television, and was given a 12-hole chromatic harmonica, maybe when I became 11. Music was not a big part of life: we did have an upright piano on which he stumbled through simplified bits of Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue and popular melodies from the 1930s and ’40s, “Red Sails In The Sunset” and “A Little Bit Independent” for instance, moving back to ragtime later.Īt what age did you begin playing music and what were the first instruments that you played? We moved to Bothwell, Lanarkshire when I was about 3: my father built a bungalow there. My Birth certificate says ‘Stevenston, Ayrshire’, but my mother always said that wasn’t quite correct: it was Kilwinning Maternity Hospital! Stevenston was where I was gestated. Ron Geesin: I was born on the 17th December 1943 at 6.10 am (Scottish birth certificates give the time). To begin with, when and where were you born and was music a big part of life in the Geesin household? “I’m still trying to find out who I became” In the following interview we will discuss the making of Pink Floyd’s Atom Heart Mother, his latest album RonCycle2, recently released book The Flaming Cow and new documentary. Ron Geesin | Interview | “I’m still trying to find out who I became” Ron Geesin is a composer, performer, sound architect, interactive designer, broadcaster, writer and lecturer.
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