Homelands England 2000

BT Interview

Skye caught up with BT (Brian Transeau) before he played the Home Arena.

Can you tell us what you've been up to lately?

I'm actually just over here doing Homelands. I just played at the Muzik Birthday party and then I'm playing at Bedrock next week cos we're doing a limited edition version of my album. We're playing with John Digweed and Hybrid and a bunch of other guys.

Do you know much about the festival scene here / do you do many of the festivals?

I've done a lot of festivals, its been a while since I've done them cos I've been doing so much stuff in America later, But I've done T in the Park and Phoenix and Creamfields.

How do they compare with the States?

It's really different, I mean you guys definitely do festivals right over here. Like in America we just sort of break things and burn them down really - you know what I mean - I think Woodstock was kind of our prime. But with everybody here it's really cool to just chill. It's really good.

So tell us about your music - whats happening?

Well my album is just getting ready to come out in America on June 6th so I've been focusing on that, and then we'll be repackaging the album for over here. Also I've been scoring a lot of films lately and I've just finished a new movie with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. I wrote for a full orchestra and a proper traditional string section - violin, viola, cello and that kind of thing. I sat down with a paper and pencil and wrote it out for a 60 piece string section. I've been working on a lot of stuff for movies - I just did another song for a Nicolas Cage movie called 'Gone in 60 Seconds' that's out next week, so I've been keeping busy. I'm doing tons of shows in America this year and I've just got back from South/East Asia doing shows in Singapore and Malysia, Hong Kong, Japan and all that. It's cool, I'm having fun and getting around.

Do you go to festivals at all just for the fun of it, or only to play and promote your music?

I've never actually got'n to go to a festival just to enjoy myself so I've never had the traditional punter experience and I wish I had. So many of my English friends have said go on do it, it's so much fun to go and camp out and do the whole thing. I'd love to do it.

Check out the BT photos here.

Interview by Skye.

We also spoke to BT on Thursday 25th May 2000 - when we gave him the t-shirt that he decided to wear for Homelands - read that interview here.