Maps and legends

>> Charting the terrain of the Legendary Pink Dots

By LATEEF MARTIN

The Legendary Pink Dots. Great. My first Mirror interview and the band happens to be Legendary. Fortunately, I was treated gently by Edward Ka-Spel (aka the Prophet), the group's frontman, lyricist, keyboardist and co-founder.

Since 1980 this Belgian band has transcended every category thrown at them, but words like eerie, mysterious and even haunting seem to stick. The Prophet drops his views on the band's past, present and inevitable future.

Mirror: Twenty-plus albums! Plus side projects! It's almost a full-time job just keeping up with LPD.

Edward Ka-Spel: That is what we live for. It's a 365-day-a-year... um... job is not the right word really... vocation.

M: There are new fans like me, followers since day one, and middle-comers. When touring, how do you choose an all-encompassing set?

EK: It's one of the hardest things. We rehearsed two sets: one which delves into the past and one which reflects the last couple of years. It's a special tour for us, we're putting on these spectacular pre-millennial shows: Twilight Circus opens up--that's Ryan (Moore) from LPD--I do a solo set for another 40 minutes, then the Pink Dots come on for two hours. Montreal is one of those places where we're gonna do that.

M: Have you ever considered writing a book?

EK: Sure, I'd like to write books if I had the time and peace, but I feel there's a lot left in music. And with what we're doing I still feel like a kid at Christmas.

M: Is there any particular toy that you enjoyed as a kid?

EK: I was fascinated by maps... maps of the world, of London where I lived. I studied them for hours. I still have a fascination for them.

M: I feel that albums are like families and songs are children you mould with a particular mood. Is there a re-occurring theme or character, an illegitimate shadow-child that you weave in and out of your families/albums?

EK: Oh, it's full of strands like that, especially lyrically, in the beginning. We'd have characters who would come back with different perspectives later on. In a way, the Pink Dots is an enormous tapestry and everything connected to it is part of that tapestry. We know where we want to go, we just don't know what it will look like until we get there.

M: 'Til you step back and look at it... like a map.

EK: Yeah, but it's an expanding map, there aren't any boundaries.

At Cabaret, Tuesday, October 13, 8:30pm, $13.50+taxes