Back in 2014 UK prog rockers Threshold released their tenth studio album, For The Journey. Little did they know it would prove to be their last with singer Damian Wilson, already back for this third stint fronting the band - Wilson would finally leave the band in 2017. Prog chatted with him at the time about his hopes for the new record.
Damian Wilson is the very enigmatic front man of many a prog project, and one of life’s very few ‘nice guys’.
Not only that Mr. Wilson is a genuine lover of music, in all its forms and so dips his quill in many ink pots. Here Mr. Wilson talks Threshold, his hatred for his own voice and a very interesting new venture for a great cause.
You’ve given a few interviews about your latest release with Threshold, For The Journey during which you’ve expressed your enjoyment about working on the record. Is there a reason for this?
I think it’s just the fact that we’ve become really good friends, and it’s the companionship in the band. We seem to care a lot about each other, and we’ve become really close. So we thoroughly enjoy making music together.
This is your second album back with Threshold since 1997, has the dynamics of the band changed since March Of Progress to your current record?
No not really, we just get on really well and we seem to click. We toured a lot before March Of Progress and so that really helped bond us. Sadly when Mac left, we had quite a period before we went into the studio to record. We were also going through a lot in our own lives that we supported each other with which brought us closer together. We’re a very strong unit really.
What is the make up of the band like musically?
We all have different tastes, which is so important in order to make an album interesting or for us as musicians. We realise there’s a certain sound to Threshold which is true to the band, and is down to all of us complimenting each other. I think often with musicians you listen to them play, and they have their own distinctive sound. I’ve just been working on another project, and each musician (including Rick Wakeman) has their own style and it’s clearly them.
Your vocals are one of the many prominent aspects about Threshold’s music.
They’re just annoying vocals really [Laughs] squeaky, thin and annoying vocals. It’s a hard one though, vocal wise I try to bring the best out of myself. But I think most singers don’t like the sound of their own voice, although I don’t tend to hang out with singers. I always wanted to sound like someone else, so when I listen to my own voice and think “this is the worst thing on the album’. But at the end of the day I love singing, I just get lost in my own world.
One of the more obscure projects you’re involved in is Computer Mind, which people may not know too much about.
It’s a project that this young chap wrote, and involves Arjen Lucassen and Marcela Bovio (Stream of Passion). It’s a really interesting project to be involved in, because I do think musicians have autistic traits about them. So yes, I just hadn’t heard of a project quite like this, and I felt that I related to it. My brother works with autistic children, so it’s all around us.