In a relatively short time GoGo Penguin developed from an experimental jazz trio into a popular festival band. The three Manchester musicians created their own sound: a clear, subtly distorted piano, powerful drums, ultra deep bass grooves and electronic effects. Since 2016 GoGo Penguin recorded successful albums for Blue Note like Man Made Object (2016) and A Humdrum Star (2018). Pianist Chris Illingworth, bassist Nick Blacka and drummer Rob Turner retired a few months to make a new album. We talked to Chris Illingworth on the phone about the way GoGo Penguin was made.

Did you improvise a lot in the studio?

This time more than ever. We try as many different things as we can. Not until the end of the track we feel if it is good enough to put on an album.  Tons and tons of different possibilities. Each of us has different opinions about how to approach a piece. We try to integrate all these different ideas. This process takes a lot of time.

The Band
The band, on the left Chris

Why did you need more time to make this album than for the previous ones?

In the last couple of years we gathered quite a big fan base. Our reputation increased in a fairly short space of time. The positive thing is that a lot of people are listening to our music. But the flipside is that we were very busy touring and that we couldn’t spend much time at home. We needed more time to explore our ideas.

So you made the choice to stop touring and write music?

We were lucky that we were in a position that we got a call from Blue Note and they were happy that we would take a little time to work on the album. People forget sometimes that we cannot magically appear music we need to explore and to experiment. It was important for us to find our creativity again.

But now you are in the ironic situation that you spent a lot of time making the album but that you couldn’t tour because of the virus. 

We took the time to make our album, we took a couple of months of to see our family and friends. That was amazing. But now we decided to get on the road. This is what we live for, this is what we wanna do, so this situation is a bit frustrating.

GoGo Penguin
GoGo Penguin

The titles of your albums suggest that you are interested in science.

Absolutely. Massively. Since I was a kid I have always been fascinated by that kind of stuff. I am reading a book at the moment: Planetary records, exploring the implications of human settlement in space.  It’s a collection of essays by scientists and artists. About the implications of humans going into space. Their approach is that you look at these things from different perspectives, which a complete picture. One of the essays was written by Buzz Aldrin. And the next chapter is by a beat poet talking about the same subject matter from his point of view. It’s fascinating.

Book
Planetary Records

What is the connection between science and spirituality?

I like the concept of spirituality and science. Wondering who we are and where we are, why we exist. That’s really fascinating. I like the overlaps in Zen philosophy. We all look at the same things but from different standpoints. The astronauts went to space and they could see the whole planet as a single unit. So tiny and so fragile. We should be a singular species that works together.

Have you ever thought about working with a vocalist?

We definitely discussed it. We are not against it, but we don’t feel the need to do it. The same can be said about working with another instrumentalist.  There is still so much we could find between each other and the way we work as a band. We would have to tell this vocalist or instrumentalist how to play. We know how complex it is with only the three of us. It wouldn’t express what we want to say. Everything melts together and it becomes something different. I prefer to continue with just the three of us.

GoGo Penguin Live
GoGo Penguin on stage

Can you describe the Manchester music scene?

Manchester is very inclusive. Very exciting in terms of people join in and explore their ideas. It’s very vibrant in which the way the music develops. It’s an exciting place to live as a musician. We did some gigs in Hong Kong where they told me about bands in Manchester that I had never heard of. Even at the other side of the world they know these bands.

Is your music very different when you play life?

I would say so yes. The main thing that we heard people saying is something about the energy that you can’t get on a record. It’s difficult to capture that. The thing we’ve come closer with this record. We are playing at many different venues. We played in Japan in the Blue Note. It has a history as a jazz club. People are very polite. They clap at the end of the tune. In other jazz clubs were people chatting and cheering. This affects the way that we play. It’s not a two dimensional screen on stage and people watching it. It’s all about the interaction between the crowd and us.

Where did you record this album?

We recorded fairly close to home in a studio in Leeds. We stayed there for a week. It had an amazing atmosphere. We were the last band to record there, they are turning the residential side into apartments. The studio had the best gear and beautiful spaces. There were two pianos in there that I could use. We had excellent producers and sound engineers. It’s great to work with those guys. We have been able to really express who we are. This time it felt like we were pretty close.