First of all I want to thank Andy Labrow for helping me out on this one. It has always been a secret wish for me to interview my favourite prog/sympho singer Peter Nicholls, the lead singer of IQ.

In my review of the album "The Seventh House" I wrote the following:
"After the great second album "The Wake" the singer Peter Nicholls left the band. For the fans of that early time, who visited their concerts (including me) it was a big shock. Something with the same impact as when Peter Gabriel left Genesis some years earlier. Also the music changed a little bit then, they tried to be more commercial. The magic was gone, and we all hoped Peter would return sometime. Years and a couple of albums later, the miracle happened. Peter Nicholls joined the band again, and the fans were awaiting the new album with great eager. That album was called "Ever" and the band had that magic again."

Photo: Andy Labrow

Can you tell me how you look back on the early days of IQ... the years without IQ... and your return with the incredible "Ever" album?
Peter: The early years were a mixture of elation and frustration, highs and lows. We achieved a lot together in the years from 1982 to 1985, and I'm still very proud of most of the work we did together. The mistake we made was living in each other's pockets too much, I think. We had no money and for a long time we all (with the exception of Paul) shared a small flat in north London which put an enormous strain on our relationships and played a large part in my eventual decision to leave. We spent an awful lot of time and energy in travelling all around Britain, playing to anyone who listen to us, and it was a laborious, often depressing, process but there was no other way to do it. We were learning our craft, getting used to playing together and learning how to deliver a performance. I'm the first to admit I wasn't a great performer early on but I had to start somewhere and we all learnt fast. There were lots of magical times...playing at The Marquee was always wonderful.
After I'd left the band I missed it quite a lot, though I devoted all my musical energies to Niadem's Ghost for a couple of years which also had its fair share of frustrations though I really enjoyed the music we made together.
Getting back with IQ in 1990 happened very naturally, mostly as a result of Les Marshall dying. His death really hit us hard and made us appreciate our friendships all the more. We were able to put a lot of our misunderstandings behind us and get back to making music together. Les was a very important figure in the whole story.

Andy told me you are like me a big fan of the "Peter Gabriel era" of Genesis. Do you think Genesis or other bands of the seventies influenced the development of the IQ sound?
Peter: Without doubt. Mike and I met at a Genesis gig in 1976 and there's no question that their music had a profound influence on us. Mike and Martin were also really into Yes, though I was never a fan, and certainly that kind of symphonic, almost orchestral, approach has influenced the music they write together. To start with, IQ was very much the sum of its influences and there's no shame in that. The point is that the music we each listened to in our formative years gave us the impetus to create something of our own which has proved to be popular around the world so I'm very comfortable with owning up to influences. Everybody rips off somebody. What set us apart from other bands in the early days, and still now, I think, is the fact that we also love lots of different kinds of music and those elements have also crept into our music over the years.

With "Subterranea" IQ reached a bigger audience with lots of new fans. Was it difficult to start composing for a new album, when expectations had grown to immense proportions after this "killer" album?
Peter: Yes, I was very nervous about following 'Subterranea'. We probably all were, if we're honest. From a practical point of view, 'The Seventh House' was a very difficult album to make in terms of all band members finding time to do it. Certain members were pushing for us to do it more than others. I wasn't convinced by a lot of the music when we were working on it but I must admit the title track and 'Guiding Light' are definitely among our very best tracks. 'Subterranea' was a huge highpoint for me personally. I loved the whole project, it was the kind of thing I'd always dreamed of being involved in.

How were the reviews for "The Seventh House", and what did you learn from it? Is the road to the new album a different one?
Peter: We had universally positive reviews which surprised me at the time. I've heard from quite a few people that it's their favourite IQ album, that they couldn't get into 'Subterranea'. It's difficult to say how the new album will shape up. At the moment, we have a subject matter in mind which isn't to say it will necessarily be another concept album, just that the songs might look at similar themes but from different angles. We're still trying out ideas and finding our feet with the new material but we've played some new stuff live and it feels good.

The last gig in Holland (Zoetermeer, 13-09-2003) was the best IQ gig I ever witnessed. The sound was great (the volume not too high!) and your voice was in great shape that evening. How did you experience this gig?
Peter: Thank you! I think if I'd started to learn brain surgery 20 years ago I'd hope to be better now than I was when I started, and it's like that with singing. I was pretty lousy when I first began singing but I've improved a lot over the years and I'm more confident about my voice now. I always used to get ridiculously nervous before gigs, so much so that I usually caught a cold and couldn't sing properly. I still get really nervous now but nothing like I used to and I can use that nervousness as an energy for the performance. I enjoy gigs a lot more now and De Boerderij is always a great venue for us to play.

"The Darkest Hour" and especially "The Seventh House" are very special to me. "The Seventh House" was for me the highlight of the evening. Are those songs also special to you?
Peter: Absolutely. For me, the best IQ songs are the emotional ones. The end of 'The Darkest Hour' was written about my father who died several years ago and he's always with me when I sing that song live. 'The Seventh House' is obviously a very emotional track, too. These songs, and others like 'Headlong' and 'The Narrow Margin', are the ones where I can lose myself in the music and they represent our best work. I always strive for that shiver-down-the-spine moment.

IQ was playing some new themes of the forthcoming album that evening. In my opinion the vocal melodies were very delicate and melodic. But the band played also some complex themes. Are you happy with the reactions of the audiences of the mini European Tour?
Peter: As far as I can tell, people were very interested to hear our new ideas and both the tracks we played were well received. I don't think you ever get much more than a vague impression from listening to new music for the first time, especially this kind of music which can be quite complex and not particularly immediate, but yes we were encouraged by the reactions from the audiences, definitely. It really helps us to be able to test new material in a live setting.

Can you tell us something more about the new album?
Peter: At this stage, no I can't, to be honest. It feels quite dark, a little more introspective, but it's unfolding all the time. Sometimes things take us by surprise, almost as if the album is writing itself somehow.

How is an IQ song born... and can you describe the path it has to take (recording process)... to become a track on a new IQ album?
Peter: Traditionally, it starts with a musical idea, which can come from anyone. Mike and Martin have been the biggest writers over the years but John is contributing more now and there have been tracks like 'Out Of Nowhere' and 'King Of Fools' which started out as ideas of mine. If I'm writing on my own I tend to come up with lyrics and melodies at the same time but in an IQ context I generally write lyrics to fit the music. Vocal melodies usually come before the lyrics. In the early days the music and lyrics weren't always welded together too successfully but on 'Subterranea' we started talking about the kind of track we wanted to write before we wrote it because there was a particular atmosphere we wanted to convey or a specific part of the story that needed to be narrated.

How do the lyrics of a new IQ song develop? What is your inspiration?
Peter: I keep a book with me most of time which I use for jotting down scraps of lyrics and possible titles. Inspiration can come from anywhere, I can never predict where it's going to come from. If I'm writing for something specific, for example on 'Subterranea' where we were telling a story, my approach is slightly different in that I'm writing more narratively whereas generally I adopt a more impressionistic approach, expressing my feelings about something.

Is the band still working on a new version of "Tales from the lush attic"?
Peter: Yes, we're looking to release this in 2004, although it's been shelved temporarily so that we can concentrate on the new studio album. Martin has pretty much completed all the keyboards and I think the next thing to be recorded will be the drums. The beauty of this project is that we can all work on it individually as time permits. We'll probably also include a re-recorded version of 'Wintertell' which I wrote at the time but was rejected as being 'too personal'. It was replaced with Martin's piano solo 'My Baby Treats Me Right...'!

The band released an "Official Bootleg" of a gig in Aschaffenburg (Germany). Will there be more releases in the near future? And what were the reasons to treat the fans on this great live show?
Peter: This is an ongoing project. There's no release schedule but there will definitely be other releases in the series. It's a question of sorting through boxes and boxes of tapes, trying to find good recordings to release. The problem with early recordings is that they're generally not great quality. One option would be to compile a disc of rarely performed live tracks, though there is an argument that fans would prefer to have complete shows rather than a compilation of songs sourced from different gigs. Over the years I've maintained the band archive of live tapes and videos. There's no shortage of material to choose from!
We had the Aschaffenburg recording on multi-track so Mike was able to mix it properly. In fact it's a combination of soundboard and audience recordings of the same show. Earlier gigs will have to be transferred direct from original audience recordings on cassette.

Are you also listening to other prog bands, or are you afraid to be influenced by them?
Peter: In all honesty, I'm really not that interested in other prog bands, what you might call our contemporaries. Partly that's because, as you say, I don't want to be subconsciously influenced by something I hear but also because not much of what I hear sounds very exciting. As a genre, progressive rock is often in danger of repeating itself and getting more diluted all the time. If people are into it that's fine and of course I'm delighted that people still want to listen to what we do but, to my ears, a lot of the music out there sounds like stuff I've heard before. I'm sure some people will say that about IQ, and I don't have a problem with that because you can't please everybody, but some of these bands just leave me cold...mentioning no names!

Do you like classical music?
Peter: I do, though I don't listen to it too often. My father was a big fan of classical music and jazz so I grew up in a house where that music was always being played. I love 'The Planets' by Holst and I recently saw a live production of 'Rigoletto' which was excellent.

Photo: Andy Labrow

Do you still have time to draw or paint?
Peter: I draw very occasionally but nothing like I used to or would like to. Having a full time job and a young daughter means that free time is at a premium these days, not enough hours in the day. I used to draw constantly. As a child I was always surrounded by books, comics and pens. One of these days I intend to do some more artwork for a future IQ release but it's really hard finding time to just sit down and do it.

You must have had a lot of fun with the band when you were working on the pictures and text of the "end titles" of the last gigs. The ever present humour at IQ gigs... is this kind of counterpart to the more serious lyrics of the IQ songs?
Peter: I suppose so. If there's one thing that's kept IQ together over the years it's been our sense of humour. Mike especially is known for his humour. He, Cookie and I are still big Monty Python fans and, despite ourselves, we keep quoting Python when we're together, it's part of who we are. We argue a lot when we're writing (especially Mike and Martin!) and things can get pretty tense when there are several differences of opinion but we've always been able to have a laugh. We take the music seriously and present it seriously but the 'outro' film at the end of the gigs is a way of showing that we still have a sense of humour. Dene Wilby, who assembles all that film footage so brilliantly, does a fantastic job. We're extremely fortunate in having such a talented group of people who work with us.

The Abba thing... is this only coming from Mike's mind?
Peter: No, I love Abba, too. 'Dancing Queen' is a classic pop track! Abba and Madonna are unlikely encore choices for a progressive band but we love pop music and it gives us the chance to relax a little on stage. We've always enjoyed playing unexpected cover versions as encores.

The band has always had a big and loyal fan base in Holland, but what about all the other countries in the world (England, Spain etc...)?
Peter: Our following in Europe has always been very good, with Holland probably being our strongest territory, but also Italy, Germany and France. I'm delighted to say we still have a very loyal fan base in the UK, not only people who've been with us for years but also new fans, people who are discovering us all the time which, of course, is very healthy. I was genuinely surprised at the level of support in the USA and South America where the fans are incredibly enthusiastic. We also have our very own tribute band in Japan, called IQ-J!

Do you think there has been a kind of prog revival the last two years?
Peter: I'm not aware of one, though I must admit I was very surprised when The Astoria in London organised Progeny, a two-day progressive rock festival, this month. We headlined the first night and it was a good experience for us. Good also to see Pallas again after about 20 years! Of our early '80s 'rivals', I always liked them and Twelfth Night the best. The line-up for the festival was interesting, not necessarily always what I would have thought of as progressive, but it was definitely a festival that flew in the face of fashion! Maybe interest in this music is building again.

Do you see a bright future for progressive music or do you think the scene will always be small?
Peter: I think it will always be an area of specialist interest.

Do you also have a problem with the fact that people who describe your music want to put everything in a "box"? I mean, in the early days we spoke only about Symphonic Rock music. Now it seems a kind of streaming inside the progressive rock. I like epic Symphonic Rock songs which I find often not progressive at all, but I love to listen to them. And some music which I find very progressive I find not suitable to listen to very often.
Peter: The one term I can never understand, and it's used mostly in the USA, is neo-prog. It seems to me it's used in a derogatory way, as if we're not being truly progressive, in other words re-hashing as much as possible the music from the '70s, using old equipment. We've never been about that. We take that music as a starting point, it was our early influence, but we've always tried to move forward from there, making our music viable now, not just a remake of what's gone before. Personally, I can't see the point of repeating another band's music (unless it's a band like The Musical Box who recreate the sound and look of Genesis to perfection). We all find it frustrating when some critics are more concerned with applying labels than with actually listening to the music on its own merits.

How would you describe the music of IQ?
Peter: We've always described ourselves as being a progressive rock band. We've been deeply unfashionable because of that but that's what we are. Who can say what's truly progressive anymore? It's a generic term which describes the music we play.

Do you want to say something to the readers of progVisions?
Peter: Well, thanks to all of you for your continued support and interest. I'm very proud of the fact that IQ now has a 22-year history, that's quite an achievement. We've outlasted many, many bands and are still making great music together.

Thanks for your time.