BILL LASWELL'S WORLDLY HIGH (PART 3)
by S.H. Fernando Jr.
The sorcerer might be able to turn lead into gold, but his powers don't exactly jive in a material world driven by commerce. Devising budgets and being able to market your product requires a merchant's mentality, for which creative minds have little time. Luckily, Laswell's business interests are looked after by several people who are committed to his vision. Tracy McKnight, who runs Material, Inc., Laswell's umbrella organization, says, "We do whatever it takes to get a task done. Bill remains true to what he believes in and that's the best part of everything. Yunno, that's the part that makes you want to get the project done or go that extra mile or do the extra thing." McKnight, who cut her teeth on the Jajouka project, is currently expanding Material's interests into film.
Another general in the Laswell camp is Peter Wetherbee, who directs the daily operation at Axiom. "There so many people who are actively interested in getting rid of Axiom," says the former journalist, a musician himself. "Beyond our own internal struggles, we are fighting the whole industry and the way it's set up because we're totally disregarding that stuff." While sales are slow, and they must spend a lot of time educating their own Polygram sales staff, Wetherbee calls Axiom, "a total wake up call, that's what we're saying to people. Check this, this is some shit you can really sink your teeth into. Yunno, free your mind and your ass will follow, like for real".
A freelance industry player and soldier of fortune for Laswell, Tony Meilandt, who was responsible for bringing Herbie Hancock's Future Shock
project, which produced the hit "Rockit", agrees. "I think that people are getting sick of homogenized crap, yunno, I think there's a backlash.
And as borders become less defined in the world, in Europe, communication becomes easier, that whole thing, then the people who are bringing these
elements together, their music is going to have a very powerful place. And Bill's light years ahead in terms of combining different elements to make
new things."
And he does, in fact, have a business sense, according to long time friend and collaborator Nicky Skopelitis. "There's no way you can coordinate this shit," he says. "I mean his business sense has to do with actually making things happen, which is a great talent, a great gift. There's not too many people who can initiate work, who can initiate activity, who can initiate a relationship with people looking for you to do work. It's a great talent. There's negotiation involved in that. There's vision involved in that. There's an ability to articulate and communicate that feeling that will occur, that you're proposing to someone else, so that you two can work. So he does have a good business sense, and he also doesn't compromise himself in terms of how he’s treated by people in a business position."
Laswell's prolific output comes down to precise organization, professionalism, doing more for less, and sheer drive, as he maintains a pace that would have worn many others out long ago. Says McKnight, "I think what Bill's doing is really showing that someone can work independently and get their ideas and creativity down without being dictated by some bureaucracy that’s not connected with the art, that’s not connected with what's happening."