Interview with Storm Thorgerson - Part 1

Part designer, part performance art choreographer, Storm Thorgerson has masterminded some of the most iconic album art visuals ever. Though particularly well known for his work with Pink Floyd, he’s worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Offspring and Anthrax, and continues to work for modern acts like Muse, Dream Theater and Mars Volta. He arrived in Sydney this week for the opening of an exhibition of his work in Paddington’s Global Gallery. (All pics: Storm Studios)

Would you describe the main body of your work as surrealist?

I don’t think of the work as surreal so much as unreal. Or, no: really real. Weirdly real. Not unreal at all! Sometimes I think it might be otherworldly or contrary… but it’s very difficult to talk about your own work in these terms. To me they’re just things I think of.

Tell us about your method.

Working for Muse is completely different from working for Mars Volta, but the approach to try to represent the music is very similar. I try to deconstruct the music in order to reconstruct it – I want to find out what obsessions of the musician are reflected in the music. I dig a bit, you know. I wheedle my way in and find more details about what’s behind it.

If you ask half of the artists I work what a particular song is about, they’ll say, “I have no idea…” But some of them have a very strong idea. It’s their idea that I’m interested in, not mine – not because that’s the only way to interpret the song but because it’s his music and his song.

This issue of interpretation applies to your own work as well, doesn’t it?

Yeah, I got an email from someone the other day who said he’s been studying the cover of Wish You Were Here for 25 years, and he said, “I know what it’s about! The man on fire is the devil!” And well, it’s right for him. I would rather elicit some response than none. My idea of it isn’t necessarily what it is to somebody else, which is fine.

Do you hear music differently to us normal people?

I don’t think so. Normally I’m not working. It’s only when I’m working that I switch on the part of the brain that intends to illustrate it. But otherwise I listen like a punter. I saw Leonard Cohen play the other day, which was extraordinary – I didn’t see any pictures, because I’m not working for him.

You’ve been creating the visuals for Pink Floyd since their second album – was that first gig a big moment for you?

Not at the time. It was just an opportunity that presented itself. Actually it was doing Ummagumma that really pleased me, because it felt like it worked. It felt like this was something I could do. Although I think the band liked the cow [Atom Heart Mother] better actually…

Do you think that album art is less important these days than in the days of vinyl?

One of the drawbacks of the digital world is that you don’t have the same experience with packaging. Bands were able to express their attitude by the packaging, and of course you can’t do that so well on the Internet. Album covers may or may not survive, but I think there’ll always be room for ‘visuals’ in music. I might not be doing album covers next year – I might be doing stuff for the Net.

You’ve had to coordinate the flight plan of an inflatable pig, built a house-sized sphere out of American car parts, and lugged 700 hospital beds onto a beach… Have you never been tempted to do it all on a computer?

I think they have a quality that they wouldn’t have if they were done on a computer. It gives me a chance to check it out, see if it works, see if it’s amazing – which it usually is.
 
If you look at Wake Up And Smell The Coffee, what you see is what it looked like. It was more like a performance art piece. We just stood there goggle-eyed as two hundred thousand red balls went down the beach and disappeared out of sight. It looked amazing. You just hope that a photograph will look a bit amazing.

If it’s a photograph of a real event it becomes a performance, in a way. Either a set-up scene like In Through The Out Door or Frances the Mute; a sculpture like Stomp 442 or Division Bell; a stunt like Wish You Were Here or Chrome by Catherine Hill; or land art like Elegy.

Would your work be different if you had Photoshop in the ’70s?

Well, artists are always affected by the medium they work in. But we don’t use the computer much now so I don’t supposed we’d have used it much then. A computer is like any other tool. We use it occasionally for comping and sometimes to clean things up and remove blemishes.

You’ve said that you have no favourites…

They’re all children. I’m reluctant to prefer one. Sometimes I think they’re all crap, but I think most artists are like that. I think it’s impossible to have a body of work and not be totally narcissistic – or be totally paranoid.

Well, you’ve worked with musicians, so you know what you’re talking about.

I’ve no idea what I’m talking about Darryn. I just don’t want to be dull – there’s plenty of that in the world at large. I try to be curious and interesting if I can. I’m not interested in being shocking or provocative for the sake of it – I’d rather be a bit odd. Maybe I am a bit odd.

In Part 2 of our interview Storm speaks in depth about some of his most iconic album covers for Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Cranberries and Anthrax. - UP NEXT

The Taken by Storm Exhibition will be held at the Global Gallery in Paddington, Sydney, this December 4-23 and January 5-13 2009.

Darryn King