Al Heslop (Creative Control Studio / Heights) [Interview]
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Way back in the day, a little band called Flipcycle were one of the best acts in my local area. Their sets marked some of the earliest times I was exposed to progressive-leaning music, something entirely different from the rap metal and boy-bands that were popular at the time. Even back then, Flipcycle guitarist Al Heslop was already incredible at placing the oddest riffs and licks in precisely the right places, a master of musical timing and tasteful composition.
Since then, Al’s moved on from Flipcycle (and the equally cool but sadly also defunct pilot.passenger) to form Heights – a band who boast not only none-more-prog album titles (their most recent being Phantasia On The High Processions of Sun, Moon And Countless Stars Above) and a trio format including über-bassist John Hopkin and Tesseract drummer Jay Postones, but also a style centred once more upon perfect timing. Every note counts when Al Heslop’s involved, and he’s also been busy making a name for himself as a producer for most of the past decade, running the Bracknell-based Creative Control Studio in the luxurious grounds of South Hill Park Arts Centre. Al’s worked with some of the UK’s most promising underground bands, including my own personal favourites Eschar and For Astronauts And Satellites, applying the same level of painstaking attention to detail to others’ tunes as he does to his own.
For this in-depth interview, TMMP caught up with Al to discuss his past, present, and future…
What’s your earliest musical memory?
I can remember mucking about on an old out of tune upright piano that my grandparents had at the time. I was probably about two or three at the time; I remember trying to write Read more…