Banco De Gaia On the Death of Tibet, The Music Business and the World

"The question is whether those who are still asleep outnumber those who have woken up for long enough to actually wreck the world or not. If the environment and eco-system can cope with us for long enough then we'll evolve and sort things out."

Despite (or because of) being one of dance culture's most intelligent and talented producers ambient maestro Toby Marks has always struggled, whether through external music industry machinations or his own excessive individuality. Coming up alongside early 90s contempories like the Orb and Future Sound Of London his singular vision culminated on one of the decade's best electronic albums, his double CD masterpiece Last Train to Lhasa. Overtly political (its theme was China's ongoing cultural assault on Tibet) and impudently original, it slipped through the genre cracks between ambient, trance and even tribal, starting a downward spiral that almost made him quit music. 7 years later, he's back with his own label and a retrospective compilation 10 Years that includes Last Train's finest moments plus other gems like his Ofra Haza collaboration and his 1991 hit Obsidian.

"If I look at the state of our culture as portrayed by the mainstream media, I think 'No, I give up, we're doomed'," he told Skrufff's Jonty Adderley .

"But then when I think about individuals I know and how I've changed personally, then I feel optimistic."


Skrufff (Jonty Adderley): 10 years on, how do you feel about the old Banco music-

Banco De Gaia: "I've been listening to absolutely everything from 1989 onwards including the remixes and out-takes, to decide what goes on compilation and it's been a really strange process. The tracks on Last Train (to Lhasa) definitely stand out. You might think that after seven years they might sound a little tired but in some way, everything seemed to come together for that album. That's not how I would write nowadays, my style has moved on but there is something about those tunes that makes me think if I wrote them now I'd be well chuffed (delighted)."

Skrufff: Ambient and chill-out music started as a core part of the early rave scene, were you an active raver when you started making music-

Banco De Gaia: "I used to be a jazz guitarist before acid house happened and before that I played in heavy metal bands. I got caught up in the dance scene in 1989 and totally went for it, putting the guitar aside for a sampler. In the early days I was trying to write the kind of dance music that used to be called 'house' but I found that samplers were capable of so much more and my imagination kept coming up with loads of ideas unconnected with dancing. So step by step I ended up making music in whatever niche my sound became."

Skrufff: Around the mid 90s, you're career looked set to take off massively, then you seemed to disappear from the public eye, what happened-

Banco De Gaia: "That's a tricky question to answer though the biggest single factor was record company problems which led to difficulties with promotion. Big Men Cry, the follow up album to Last Train, was also a less obvious album and while it's still one of my favourite Banco albums it wasn't as accessible to a mainstream and club orientated audience. I always thought of it as being more thought provoking and emotional which, to be fair, a lot of dance music isn't. A lot of critics didn't like it and everything started sliding backwards. More record company problems continued over the next two years and I eventually made the decision to take time out and build a studio to re-establish myself."

Skrufff: Did you ever consider walking away and giving up making music altogether-

Banco De Gaia: "Yes, repeatedly and on an ongoing basis, I must admit. I don't find the music industry a nice place to exist, especially at the moment I'm finding it very difficult to reconcile the creative and artistic roles with the commercial side. The money appears to be concentrated in the very vacuous, pop end of the bus Tags

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