Clive Nolan is not only the keyboard player for Arena and Pendragon. He also writes musicals and works on very different projects. With his solo album "Song Of The Wildlands" and "Dark Fables", another collaboration with Oliver Wakeman, the Viking fan now has two new releases on the go. eclipsed met him for a Skype interview.
eclipsed: Where does your affinity for musicals actually come from?
Clive Nolan: My parents owned a lot of LPs, which I always put on. There were a lot of musicals on them, so I guess it's in my blood. Later my parents also took me to the theatre. I liked to be drawn into the worlds that were sung about there
eclipsed: Your new album is called "Song Of The Wildlands" ..
Nolan:... and it is not a musical. It's a concept album! I would call it a secular oratorio
eclipsed: But it certainly contains "musical clichés", doesn't it?
Nolan: You can look at it that way, but I definitely didn't write it as a musical.
eclipsed: It's about the "Beowulf" saga. Why this reference?
Nolan: I have a great affinity for Scandinavia and the Vikings. When I set out to do a Viking project, I came up with the "Beowulf" saga, which is one of the oldest English sagas, but tells a Viking story. The logical choice ...