Swedish progster, Staffan Tapper, got close to Waterouch mainman, Patrick Salin, during the
process of making their debutalbum "We never went to the moon"



S.T: Explain the title of the record!
The title refers to Bill Kaysings book by the same name,who can resist a
good conspiracy theory (laughs). We put the whole idea that the americans
never succceded to put a man on the moon into a Watertouch perspective.
Instead of going to the moon,the astronauts are watching the launch on TV
while they are dressing up in womens clothing and getting really pissed.
Makes perfect sense doesn´t it..(laughs)

S.T: There are two songs on the record with vocals,where do you draw your
influences lyricwise ?
Ha..ha..After the first question people might wonder (laughs). But seriously
in general the lyrics i write are self experienced and some are just
reflections and opinions on different matters that touches me. I often
prefer lyrics where can you read between the lines, not everything has to
be so obvious.

S.T: Is it important to keep the nordic traditions alive in your music,
or should i say keeping the musical heritage alive?
Does this play a big part in your compositions ?
My ambition with this album was to make an interesting instrumental album because most
instrumental albums suck..The musicians just use the songs (if you can talk about them as songs)
as a platform to show off and it oftens just ends up like some kind of circus,with lack of melodies
and harmonies. Many guitarists fall into the trap of just shredding when composing instrumental
music. I like Steve Vai and Steve Morse because they are an exception to the rule. They can combine
stillness with feeling and they often understand that less is more. The way the cd turned out,
with folk influences was not my intention. If a song is good it´s good whatever the genre and
it just happened to be some folkmelodies in there. But to answer your question, it´s not so
important for me to keep the nordic traditions alive.The only thing that´s important to me is being
true to myself and my creative side. I like all kinds of different music so it´s bound to come
out a little bit of everything,including some touches if folkmusic.


S.T:Tell us about your choice of musicians and producer?
The musicians and the producer are very good friends of mine and they all
are very proffesional in their trade. I mean the producer, who also guests on two tracks,
has won a Swedish grammy, the keyboardplayer is a member of world wide known
hardrock group "Spiritual Beggars" and has also released two albums with his own
hard/prog band Deathorgan.
The drummer has played on Thomas Larssons (ex.Glenn Hughes) Freeride album etc.
It´s really anhonour for me to work with musicians that i consider to be better than myself.
It gives me a boost and my playing improves. And lets not forget the fact that they all favour
a Pint now and then, I mean who could ask for more...

S.T:I noticed that one of the songs, Foxhunt, was partly written by Jan-Erik
Liljeström of Anekdoten. How did that come about?
Foxhunt was originally an old Kajukunumber. Kajuku was a band that Jan-Erik and Per Wiberg
had together in the eightes. I asked J-E if i could record the tune and he said sure.
We changed the middlesection around a little bit in comparision to the original.
Actually it is first time i played with an e-bow and i did the solo in one take.
I think it worked out quite nicely and I also think the song blend in very well with the
other material that´s on the record.

S.T: What about swedish radio promotion of new swedish talent?
I thought that it would get better when the swedish radio monopoly was dissolved. But no!
The indepedent radiostations just play the run of the mill stuff. The same songs from major
recordcompanies over and over again. They say it´s in the publicinterest.
Publicinterest, my ass!
How can the listeners know that there are great bands out there if they don´t get any airplay.
The listeners aren´t given any alternative so that they could choose by themselves.
But now at least we have the internet.

S.T: Could you name a few guitarists that you enjoy listening to and has
inspired your playing?
Ritchie Blackmore is without a doubt one of them! He is superb! First he has a slow vibrato
(i cant stand players who has a fast vibrato) which i think is important when
you are taking the lead. Then he switches from gentle and cool playing to total
agressiveness in milliseconds. I like that very much.Then his guitarplaying is very fluid
and he combines blues with classical scales in a very tasteful manner.
He doesn´t over do it, like for instance Malmsteen does. Then he also uses the slide
in regular tuning very nice. The only flaw that he has is his rhytm playing.
He´s a litte bit lazy in that departement and i´m sure he would agree if you asked him.
Other players that are worth mentioning are: Jan Akkerman, Tommy Bolin, Steve
Vai, Mike Slamer (City Boy), Snuffy Walden etc. And actually there are many good
guitarslingers in my hometown (Borlänge-Sweden). Our producer is just one of them.

S.T:Any chance of seeing Watertouch live in the future?
Hopefully we will play a gig for the closest mourners (laughs) when the cd is released.

S.T: Any material in stock for a possible second release?
Yes, that´s not a problem. I just hope that the album sells enough so i can
afford to record a follow up.

S.T: It´s been a pleasure talking to you.
Anytime Staffan, take care.