John Paul Jones discusses his theater, cultural work in Spain (interview part 18 of 22)

This is the 18th part of the transcript of my interview with John Paul Jones, conducted Dec. 10, 2001.

SPS: You did some stuff [in Spain] in about ’89-’91. What was that all about?

JPJ: It was a Catalon theatre group called La Fura Dels Baus, and basically they were debuting this strange, strange show. … It was all deeply conceptual. It was not like our chaos, but it has some similarities. But anyway, they had musicians along with the show, and they based the show on the music. They actually came in and made some fantastic flamenco music as well. And I produced the album. ...

SPS: And you coordinated a whole cultural expo show in Seville?

JPJ: Oh, yes, the Memory Palace, that was produced, but that was different.

SPS: That was the next year or two [1991 and 1992].

JPJ: Yeah.

SPS: It was a government-organized cultural affair.

JPJ: That’s right. We had four sets of composers. I had two Spanish sets of composers, an American set – Tom and Andy – and I did … for the English side, and I coordinated and produced the whole hour. We spent two months… And it was great! A huge quadraphonic system set up and … "Ah, yeah, we should mix like this." It’s a great sound! Imagine a sort of deep, lone, computer-generated … and songs [inaudible].

SPS: How’d you get that gig?

JPJ: That was through having worked with La Fura. ...

On to part 19: John Paul Jones on the title of "Nosumi Blues" from his solo album Zooma.