London, early May. IQ have just returned from some highly acclaimed concert visits to mainland Europe (see box). Shortly before the show for the release of "The Road Of Bones" at Islington Assembly Hall, eclipsed spoke with guitarist Mike Holmes about self-criticism, perfection and serial killers.
eclipsed: It took between four and five years for each of your last albums. Are patience and slowness the most important components of the IQ formula?
Mike Holmes: We certainly don't go about things headlong and in a hurry, that's for sure. However, the five years between "Frequency" and "The Road Of Bones" were by no means planned. First of all, there were a few important changes in the line-up during this time...
eclipsed: ...which we will talk about in more detail shortly...
Holmes: ...there were also a few important anniversaries on the agenda, which we definitely wanted to honour. There was for example the box set for the twenty-fifth birthday of "The Wake", which was flanked by a few gigs. Last year, after thirty years, we remixed our debut "Tales From The Lush Attic", which I'm very happy about. All these activities have prevented us from launching new material.
eclipsed: Did you approach "The Road Of Bones" with a certain approach? Was there a special atmosphere you wanted to trace?
Holmes: No. Except that we didn't want to repeat ourselves. The best albums are those where you don't have the feeling that something sounds calculated or artificial. Anyway, I'm imagining that I can hear something like that. You have to be honest with yourself and follow your feelings.
