British keyboard player & songwriter Phil Lanzon is best known to us Uriah Heep fans, as he’s been a big part of the band for 40 years now. He’s also previously released 2 albums, and his third album has just been issued on CD and digitally, and it is nothing like the band he is apart of or his other 2 solo albums. The Golden Door is a concept album, featuring songs written by Phil. The story is that of Ellis Island, where European immigrants came to America first, escaping the war in 1917. *There are a couple of links at the bottom of the page where you can read more details on the story, as well as the whole plan and concept behind The Golden Door.
I spoke to Phil about The Golden Door, how it all came about, was recorded, and plans to one day get it in theatres. You can order the CD via Phil’s website (store): https://www.phillanzonwordsandmusic.com/shop , as well as check it out online, Youtube, Spotify...
You’ve talked about working with an orchestra before and doing something long term. So where did this all come from? What kind of got it rolling as far as the whole story and getting it to where it’s finished?
Well, I was given, I was given the script by my late partner who passed away just at the beginning of COVID. Many years ago, 15, 16 years ago, he gave me the script and said, I’ve got an idea. There’s a story here, read it and see if you want to make it into a musical. And I said, I don’t like musicals, not my thing. So, so he said, Well, just take it out and read it and pick out one of the characters, maybe, do something like that. Have a go, see what happens. I reluctantly took the script home and read it, and I liked it straight away. The story substance was interesting to me. And I thought, well, I’ll give it a go. So, I started messing about on the piano. I came up with two or three ideas, which he liked very much and said, keep going, keep going. This is like 15 years ago. And over time, rather than go into the details, to put it simply, we spend a lot of time on the script, perfecting the script and the songs for the characters. As years went by, we got more and more songs happening, or a lot more then. And we had a going concern after about five years of slogging away at it, we found it out to context in America, but we couldn’t get a bite in America. And we thought, well, maybe it’s not an American debut idea. It should debut in England, in the UK, and then it could spread from there. So that’s been the idea ever since.
I don’t know how much do you know anything about the story at all!? Or do I start from the beginning?
Yeah, I’ve read most of what’s on the website.
Well, that’s good. That’s great. If you’ve got that information, that’s most of the story. That’s most of everything.
So, what happened during that time, I’ve been obviously touring with Heep and going all over the world. And I put I did shelf the project about five, six years ago, thinking, Well, I’m too busy with the band, and we’re writing stuff; the next album was coming, etc, etc. So I left it for about a year on the shelf.
And then it just occurred to me that that was a mistake, the wrong thing to do. I said, I’ve got to pull those songs out and get them re-recorded with session people bits properly. And because of that, my producer Joan, Joan Lane, when I sent her the finished demos, she was blown away so much. She said, Oh, we’ve got to go all the way with this…So, that’s what I want to hear.
So, we just pushed on from there. What we needed was an album, of course, so I finished off a whole lot more songs as time went by, and selected them and put them together. And that’s the album. And that’s out there now being listened to, because of YouTube now. So I mean, everyone, can now hear the whole entire album with the spoken word sections put in….So you can get a kind of flow for the whole story.
It’s obviously not a rock album. Did you do the demos differently, or the same as you would approach to do a solo album or a Heep album?
Yeah, probably more because the songs are character based, and my other albums are not character based, they’re just rock songs. And because they’re character based, they pull in a different flavour. Obviously it’s a different genre. It’s got some rock elements in it, but it’s not a rock album. I call it a rock and ballads album. But because you’re in musical theatre world, and because of that, you write accordingly. I’m not trying not to be derivative of typical, how do I say typical musical songs that you hear in musicals that can be a little bit twee, a little bit, not really my cup of tea, some of the music and musicals. But I found that the genre interesting more so than ever than anything I’ve ever done.
And because they’re character based, it brings on it’s own life because you know, the story, the script, I’ve helped change the script a little bit over time and worked on that an awful lot. So, it’s really been a work in progress. And I think we’ve reached a stage where now we need a top producer and an investor. And that’s the aim.
I imagine this was probably a little more costly than doing a rock album. Were you there for everything – all the orchestration sessions, all the choir sessions…?
Yeah, absolutely. I’m present on everything; anything going down I’m there. Singers, players, orchestra, conductor, arranging… I’m there all the time. You have to be, you have to be right on it.
How new were you to the whole, working with the orchestra and finding the choirs and the right players?
Yeah, well I have got contacts through my producer – Simon Hanhart, and the orchestrator – John Cameron. These are contacts I’ve been able to acquire. And singers wise, Annie Skates is an agent for an awful lot, if not all of the West End singers. She brought in a lot of people. And my producer, Joan, she knows a lot of people as well. So, between all those contacts, that’s where everyone came from. I don’t personally know them myself, apart from three of the singers on the album, which I have used on my previous albums. But that’s how it’s all come about, is knowing those people, and the combination of people I’ve used, some of which I’ve done before, has proved to work out so well.
I’m really happy with the way it’s turned out. I’ve worked with the string orchestra on my other albums as well, and my, one of my guys who plays keyboards and arranges as well. Lawrence Cotter was playing bass.
Is there a firm plan to do like a live performance of this and get it into the theatres?
Oh, no. Well, we need a producer to create a stage production. That’s what we’re aiming for, right!? We need a stage production. But when that comes along, I shall press up a lot of vinyl, obviously. So, I’m not going to do that for such time that we can get a stage production out of it. And who knows!? We’re looking at theatres in America as well. We’re contacting theatres, going into that area, as well as the UK.
As far as the story goes, do you have like a, are you a bit of a history buff as far as reading? Because I know like with the last album, 48 Seconds, you had the story about the fire and that.
I’ve always been a reader and, I pick up on certain historic things. I think that’s why I like the story, The Golden Door. The thing for me really is it’s, it’s important. It’s a very optimistic piece. It’s an optimistic piece, which kind of points, if you like, to what the immigrants at the time thought they would get in America. So, it’s optimism all the way through, you know, We can’t wait to get there. I’ll get a job… The dream was there. And I think it presents that side of it. And there’s so many American people, Canadian and American people who will have a relative or at least know somebody who was connected with that period in time. And it touches an emotional point, really.
The album is out there on YouTube and that, but is there a plan to kind of release any video or single, kind of something that will market it to your own fans?
I’m pretty sure that that that will come. It’s just very early days as we speak. But certainly, there’ll be movements in that area. I think we’ve farmed the album out to a lot of important people. And we’re sitting on that for a while to see what way we’re going to go.
But yes, is the answer to all those. They will all come.
Do you think when you get to the stage production, anything would change as far as adding more to it or the arrangements?
Yeah, for sure. Stage production in a musical changes every minute, almost. It’s just constant change. And even up until first night, things will change. And even after first night, there’ll be the comments – Well, we need the changes. We need to put that in. There’s no end.
Is there something you’ve been looking forward to a long time as far as even like way back to, I guess, in the 70s, you didn’t, you weren’t in really rock bands for a while there, but?
No, I would never, ever think I would be involved in musical theatre at all. That was never in my mind, ever. But then as they go, you can never say never. And it grew out of something small and became this.
I think it’s kind of similar, as a rock fan, as you get older, you discover more things you thought you would never like or things you thought you would never listen to.
Do you foresee yourself doing more of this sort of thing? Or would you rather go back to doing another regular type of solo album?
I have no idea. I’m actually treating it like my third solo album, because that’s what it is.
Yeah, it’s got your name on it.
But it’s slightly different, maybe slightly different to the other two. But hey, you know, change is as good as the rest! And it’s exciting work, working on a script with characters and making the music that suits that character. And that’s very rewarding.
It’s really an important point to make. Very rewarding work, because it’s so different to a rock band, which in it’s own way is also rewarding, but in a different way. Whereas this is this is new, and very enjoyable. I’d like to do it again. It would be hard to find the right subject matter.
Did you did you find yourself doing a lot of research and then going back and correcting things factually as far as it goes?
Yeah, many, many, many times. I’ve done a lot of reading on it. Now, no doubt, when we make it to the stage production, and it starts getting noticed, and people are turning up to see that, there’s bound to be the odd comment, it’s going to happen – Oh, that bit was wrong. What you said there, that didn’t happen. Or, You missed the bit where so and so happened. That’s exactly what will happen. It’s got to be; It’s inevitable.
What else do you got on the go other than just touring?
Well, this has taken up all my time. I’m at home…I still do my artwork. I put stuff out on my Instagram. That’s really all my time. I haven’t got a lot of time for much else.
Dare I ask if there’s anything on the Heep front? Any kind of recording ?
Oh, recording. No, we’re talking about that. I don’t think there’s anything planned at the moment. That’s all I can say.
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