JB: “Lex Rex” functions not only as concept album but also as a dramatic work: at times I’m reminded of radio plays from the 1930s, at other times of Glass Hammer progressive. Where do you draw the line between that which is a mere concept (a series of songs put together to tell as story) and an actual story (where there’s a cohesive, cogent plot)?

Steve Babb: Well, "Lex Rex" definitely has a plot, and the three sound effects pieces kind of help to pull it along. But they only take up around 3-4 minutes of the album. This is much more of a concept than an actual story though, at least in terms of how it is presented on the album. In my 'fevered' brain, it is a real story from beginning to end. But it is hard to get that story across with only lyrics. The sound effects tracks on the actual album, along with material on our website and content from interviews helps me to tell the actual story for those who care to hear it. Thus, "Lex Rex" is more like "The Wall," and less like “Jesus Christ Superstar.” However, (and in both cases) there are full-length movies to get the story across. I haven't had that luxury yet.

JB: Like certain (special) records, the audience is greeted with part of the story from the moment they first see the album. Has that always been important to you, that buying an album should be an experience for all the senses?

SB: Absolutely. "Don't judge a book by its cover," they say. And yet we all do. I'll never forget how Roger Dean pulled me into the Yes albums and made the whole experience more complete. I wish we could put our CDs into album jackets just so that we could devote more space to the art. But the retailers would have a fit.

JB: How did the writing and recording of "Lex Rex" differ from other Glass Hammer records. If I remember correctly, you’d taken a break from the band prior to this record, is that correct? Did that in any way change your approach to Glass Hammer music?

SB: Well we took a break from prog after “Chronometree” while we made a brief visit to Middle Earth. But Glass Hammer was ever on our minds. "Lex Rex" was a very different album for us because it all seemed to work. We actually had defined a vision and a sound for Glass Hammer that we knew we'd stick with for a long time. It was a magical process really. It took hours and hours to make, but there was joy in all of it. “Chronometree” was a big hit for us. We knew we'd touched a nerve with the retro feel of the album. But we didn't want to use 'retro' as a gimmick even though we actually like that vintage sound. We knew that we somehow had to carve a niche for ourselves, and that the time for experimenting and forever dabbling with our sound was drawing to a close. All of our early albums are so different you see, for a number of different reasons.

“Journey of the Dunadan” was written without any knowledge of the hungry prog scene that was developing at the time. It would have been a proggier album if we'd known! “Perelandra” was more the direction we wanted to go, but “On To Evermore” was an attempt to give Glass Hammer a 'band' image and felt thrown together, even though it was a very difficult album to make. “Live and Revived” was mostly extra material from a number of different influences, while the “Middle Earth Album” was sure to confuse a lot of the prog scene. “Chronometree” was close, but we slacked off in the vocal department and gave the job to an incredible young singer. Sadly, the prog community never warmed up to his sound, though Glass Hammer they loved the album.

"Lex Rex" needed to be a hit. It needed to say it all. It needed to say "Hey! We're Glass Hammer and this is exactly what we sound like!" And it did, and people noticed, and they liked what they heard. And though we may still create the occasional departure like we did with “The Middle Earth Album,” "Lex Rex" has summed us up so to speak. We're doing a follow up right now that sounds very similar??just better. That's the goal??always get better.

JB: You not only compose your music, you perform it and produce it. Can you walk us through Hammer the various steps of where your mind is at as you go through each step?

SB: I own a recording studio where Fred and I employ ourselves producing for a number of clients and artists. We are surrounded by music day and night. Sounds like fun, but it is actually work. But the situation has an advantage in that we are forever hungry to return to our true love, Glass Hammer. We never have the luxury of taking Glass Hammer for granted, and when at last the day comes that we get to work on a new project for ourselves, we do so with much happiness. Now I cannot explain what it is like for Fred, but for me it is like this: I sit at the keyboard with a bass nearby. I dabble with a few ideas over a few hours. Normally I am fed up with myself and hate everything the first day. Day two, when I return and listen to the previous days efforts, I am usually kinder to myself and think, "Hey - that wasn't so bad. Let’s add something to it and see where it takes us." I work and I work and when at last I think something has potential, I'll play it for Fred. If Fred seems to like it then I play it for my wife. If both agree that it is worthy of Glass Hammer, then I continue on until it is done, usually consulting Fred along the way. When the music is complete then I begin to look for inspiration for lyrics. This comes in two fashions; very easy or very hard. While I'm doing that, Fred is busy tracking it and learning drum parts. After a week or so of that we'll start messing with the vocals, bring in other singers, add solos, weeks go by. Each song gets more than 80 hours of work.

JB: Can you give us some insight into the recording schedule of the album, what a “typical” day was like, any particularly interesting things you experienced while recording the record?

SB: While I was at the keyboard writing the music for "When We Were Young" (“Lex Rex”) my wife dropped in to let me know that she was pregnant with our first child! The last few bars were written after I got this news (and after I'd dropped everything to take her to lunch ) and I think it should be obvious to anyone that has heard it that I was a very happy father-to-be.

A typical day runs like this: I write or record parts from around 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 or so. Fred usually shows up at this time and he takes over until around 6:00 while I retreat to the office to set up sessions with other players, or to work on promotional efforts for the album. Usually we regroup at the end of the day to listen to everything, and discuss the schedule.

When the other players or singers come in to record, it takes many hours. And we are both usually present and harassing them nonstop until we get exactly what we're after. At least that is how it happened on “Lex Rex,” and is happening right now on the new project. We are absolutely brutal in the studio. We expect everyone's best, and won't stop until we get it.

Today for instance, Susie Bogdanowicz dropped by for two hours. I presented her with twenty pages of lyrics and printed music. This represents only the last half of one our 'shorter' songs! It took all of that time just to explain how I envisioned the combination of voices, and to find what parts suited her best. Sarah Lovell will come in next week for a similar session, and Susie will actually record her parts the day after that. It will take between three and four hours per girl. Then Fred and I will lay tracks on top of theirs. Now we are up to 12 hours (plus the time it took to teach them the parts) and we have only just done the last half of one song - and only the vocals. "Lex Rex" was done in precisely the same way. In bits, in huge chunks, in marathon sessions or thirty minute bursts. Whatever time we had, whenever we could get the players and singers here, we worked and we worked and we worked.

JB: When I listen to “Tales Of The Great Wars,” “Further Up, Further In,” I’m struck by your grasp of strong narrative: as I said earlier, these really are stories as well as songs. Who were some of the artists that you looked to as you were developing as a writer that you felt were especially strong storytellers?

SB: Tim Rice. "Jesus Christ Superstar" is a great example. Theological and historic crap, mind you, but a great lyrics and music. Tolkien's poems are a big influence as well. Gilbert and Sullivan are another example. I am not actually copying anyone that I am aware of. It is just the desire to tell a story.

JB: “Music For Four Hands (And Temporal Anomaly)” is one of my favorite moment on the album, it takes us out of the “Intermission” portion and eases us back into the rest of the story. Was that something that came early in the writing/recording process or late?

SB: It came so early that it actually predates Glass Hammer. Fred wrote and recorded it over ten years ago. It just seemed to fit in the middle of this album and was something I always wanted to use but could never find a home for. It's just one of Fred's musical 'doodles'. He's amazing.

JB: Do you have any special memories about the writing/recording of “A Cup Of Trembling”?

SB: It was written the day before I wrote "When We Were Young". We actually had another singer on the lead track at one point, but eventually decided that Fred was the best man for the job. There were at least three sets of lyrics, and two different melody lines that were written. Also, Fred contributed the extremely complicated drum and bass breakdown in the middle. (Of course, now I have to play that live, or at least at Nearfest.) It will be a challenge. Technically, it was written at the keyboard. The intro was written first, then came 'the groove' around which most of the song is built.

JB: “Further Up, Further In,” is the longest track on the record. Did you always know it would be that way or did it evolve into that over time?

SB: It was written in a couple of days. There was no plan to it at all, except that Fred wrote the beginning and the end, and I wrote the middle section. In fact, all of our music is written within a few hours. Its the lyrics, the tracking , the vocals, and the mixing that takes up so much time. Creatively, we work like madmen. We wrote all of “David and Goliath” (our children's musical) in just a few days. The entire script was written in only hours.

Some of the tracks on the “Middle Earth Album” were written in less than an hour, lyrics included. It’s those pesky details that slow us down and bring us back to earth. The mere minutes and hours to create "Lex Rex" soon turned to months and seasons to make it an enjoyable album.

JB: "Lex Rex" did quite well (sales-wise) when it came out. Now that’s interesting if for no other reason than you’re doing so much of this completely on your own; there’s no huge label behind you, your advertising is rather limited, therefore you’re relying in part on a dedicated fan base and word-of-mouth.

SB: I doubt we would exist at all without the internet. It is that important to us. But of no less importance is the freedom we have as artists to write for ourselves, independent of a label. Glass Hammer is something nearly sacred to me, and something that I don't care to share with 'outsiders' so to speak. I don't want outside influences meddling with it, or choosing my cover art, or examining my lyrics, or criticizing my mixes. You get the point. Fred feels the same. Glass Hammer represents the opportunity (once every year or so) to say a lot of things and play a lot of music in the exact fashion we choose at the time. The fans like it? Great! If it fails to please? No one to blame but me or Fred.

I have a dream. (Here I go!) If Glass Hammer keeps putting out albums like "Lex Rex," if we stick to our vision, the fans will multiply. One day they will be numbered in the tens of thousands (there are already several thousand right now) and Fred and I can grow old doing nothing less that creating our own music all day long every single day. Our fans are unique. They are not typical prog fans, though in many cases the typical prog fan is also a fan of Glass Hammer. Our fans range in age from 12-55, and actually span both sexes. We have lots of female fans, which I think rather rare for a prog group.

These wonderful folk are willing to follow us down any path we choose, as long as we entertain them. We did our Celtic / Folk / Tolkien album about love sick Trolls and drunken Dwarves, yet we suffered not one desertion. “Chronometree's” 'story about nothing'? They thought it was funny! "Lex Rex" was heady and complicated,but not too much for them. And for the first time in Glass Hammer history, we're letting the fans get together. We were a little behind on this, but we've just added (or a fan took care of it actually) a forum on our website where the fans can communicate and meet one another. This may start slowly, but I think over the long haul it will be a tremendous success, and will only serve to advance the cause of Glass Hammer worldwide.

JB: Christianity plays an integral role in this album (and in your work in general). Do you feel, however, that people can listen to your music even if they’re not necessarily Christians? Was that a difficult choice for you to make as a musician/Christian, that you’d have to face an audience perhaps often indifferent to something you hold dear?

SB: What I have to say lyrically should in no way effect a listener's ability to enjoy our music. I know for a fact that we have many fans who disagree with me on spiritual issues. For goodness sakes, Christian's don't even agree with each other most of time. Permit me to 'get preachy' for a moment because it will help to explain. I believe there is a God and that He inspired the Christian Bible. And that Bible says this: We (mankind) were once destined for something greater but gave it up. However, there is hope (our way back to Eden so to speak) and the hope has a name: Christ. Heaven and Hell await our choice, to accept or to ignore the hope.

So to me, this message of hope matters. How could it not? And it stands to reason that for one who believes this??a Christian??nothing else really matters. Ultimately I just don't care if I am condemned, ridiculed or harassed because of it. Well, that isn't exactly true, because I do care. It’s just that I am willing to take the chance, and the mere threat of it won't get in my way. I write as I feel led. God calls, I obey.

And you will note that most of what we write is not actually Christian per say. [That’s] because I do not feel that our music has to be exclusively message oriented. Sometimes it is liberating to just attempt entertainment.

For instance, I have just written a Glass Hammer song based on an old tale from the Napoleonic Wars. It involves a horse that had a nasty habit of biting people and actually disemboweled a couple of soldiers in a famous battle. It's just a fun song about a really odd topic that I found amusing. It would hardly offend anyone, but then it may not amuse anyone either. And don't get me wrong. I wouldn't have found it funny myself except that it happened two hundred years ago and the original writer of the anecdote put it forth in an extremely entertaining manner.

Back to the spiritual, though: I never want a potential fan of our music to be put off by my beliefs. I want Glass Hammer to be enjoyed by any who enjoy the sound of a well played Hammond organ or the slightly out of tune Mellotron.

So, please never run from Glass Hammer just because one of those lunatic Christians (me) might ramble on a bit about salvation. It's just something that I feel is desperately important. Drunken Dwarves and murdering horses aside.