Felt's first five albums were reissued last month by Cherry Red Records. The magazine Outsideleft caught up with co-founder/guitarist Maurice Deebank to talk about the band's early days (Deebank left the band in 1985). In the rare interview the classically trained guitarist and mastermind behind Felt's brilliant and ornately textured compositions detailed his frustration with being largely ignored as the visionary behind Felt. Deebank called himself "almost the sole creator" of the music and went so far as to claim he had to teach the other early members of Felt how to play.
Deebank also discussed Felt's critically acclaimed and most popular song "Primitive Painters" and explained how he was hoping to move the band further along that sonic direction:
"Minus the vocals I single-handed created "Primitive Painters" with its epic over-arching structure and its cathedralesque soundscape. This is the direction I wanted Felt to go in; powerful grandiose tapestries of epic heroism. I also wanted to change the way the music was arranged.
As far as both the band and music in general are concerned, there had never been anything like it. It was truly unique in its sound and had the benefit of being both acceptable to the wider public and to the more elitist music listener. It truly was seminal and marked a new age of enlightenment where music composition was concerned."
Deebank said his hopes of expanding the "Primitive Painters" sound were dashed by the rest of the band and claimed the "abusive" atmosphere within Felt along with his mounting frustration and lack of creative fulfillment were the key reasons he knew he had to leave.
The interview also touched on some of Deebank's influences, his incredible 1984 solo album Inner Thought Zone, and more. Read the full engaging interview with Deebank here.
For more on Felt's vinyl reissues and expanded CD sets, visit Cherry Red.
Published March 5th, 2018