HOLV: First off, how are things Tony?

TV: Great. I'm in Lexington, Kentucky in an unbelievable studio, St. Claire. It's big and beautiful and residential. I'm recording Alejandro Escovedo, a sweet rock poet. He's a legend.

HOLV: Let’s talk a little about Kristeen Young’s music, which is both brilliant and unconventional. How easy is she to work with when there just seems to be so much going on with her sound?

TV: She's a very intense person in the studio. She is very smart but very emotional. If things are not going right I'll hear about it. Her writing and unique voice are what draws me back to working with her. We're working on her next album right now, which also features her long-standing drummer Baby Jeff White.

We try to maximize the sound of her piano, try to make it take the place of two guitars and a bass. Jeff is the loudest drummer I've ever worked with and he plays lots of intricate beats. It's just two people making all that noise! For the new album she's written in a more basic style. There are a few songs that can easily be heard on a pop or rock radio station. But some songs are traditional straight up classic Kristeen Young too. She opened for Morrissey's tours for 18 months and she's learned a lot from him. He was always her idol but to observe him night after night and to have frequent philosophical conversations with him seems to have changed her outlook on many things. They became good friends. She was an endless source of fascination for him too.

HOLV: You told us earlier that you are working with Dean Wareham, a big Heaven Or Las Vegas favourite. Do you think he can recapture the form of Galaxie 500 and Luna with his next release?

TV: Dean and Britta are lovely people and very sensitive artists. I think Dean would have to play with his Luna mates again to create that sound. He's moved on. I made two albums with them that I'm very proud of -- L'Avventura and Back Numbers. They were the first people I worked with that recorded some bits at home and brought their hard drive to the studio to transfer it onto mine. In some of their vocal takes you can hear the 2nd avenue bus drive by. I think we'll be making a third album.

HOLV: One record I have an unashamed soft spot for is The Pulsars eponymous album of 1997. To what extent were you involved in it’s creation?

TV: Great guys, the Pulsars. All I did was write the string arrangement for Das Boot. They were great to work with. I don't even have a copy of that. I'm going to iTunes to buy it right after this interview.

HOLV: Kashmir’s album No Balance Palace, which you produced, turned out to be quite a grower, but it didn’t seem to get the press coverage or positive reviews it perhaps deserved. Did you have any expectations for the album?

TV: Honestly, I thought it was going to be a big hit. I think they are one of the best bands in Scandinavia but somehow their record company just didn't do their best to promote them. It's unbelievable because I got David Bowie and Lou Reed to make guest appearances. I think Kasper is a gifted musical poet, the rest of the band are great players. I enjoyed working with them. Copenhagen is serious fun! Maybe not in March, though, when it is sub-freezing weather.

HOLV: How do you choose which bands you work with, is there a set criteria?

TV: I pick bands that are unique. If they sound like some other band I don't work with them. I put great value in musicianship (old school) and songwriting. I like to work with bands that have musicians who actually practice and play very well. I'm very fussy about singers. I've worked with the best and I see no reason to lower my standards. The singer and the song are about 75% of what the audience notices first.

HOLV: In Scotland there was always the argument that Simple Minds could have been as big as U2. And in Wales the same case was made for The Alarm. You were involved in their 1989 album Change, truthfully did you feel you were dealing with a group who could have gone on to earn superstar status?

TV: You know, you've turned this into a jingoistic question. Alarm and Simple Minds are great bands. Almost all bands in the United Kingdom sing with a generic rock accent. It's unfair to think of the Alarm as the Welsh U2, as some people have said. Mike Peters did sound uncannily like Bono, but the writing and playing were quite different. Simple Minds are pretty big, no? U2 hit it really, really big. I have no explanation for why that is. I do know that once the publicity machine jumps on a winning formula there is a flood of super awareness for that product and the rest of us don't stand a chance.

HOLV: Lastly, if you could pick one album you’ve ever produced and do it all over again for whatever reason what would you choose?

TV: That's a good question. I guess I'd like a crack at re-recording the Space Oddity album by Bowie. I was a real novice back then and I did a mediocre job, apart from the track Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud. I hit my stride with him on The Man Who Sold The World, his next album, which a play a lot.

HOLV: Tony, thanks again and all the best.


TV: A Pleasure Hammond. G'night..