“David didn’t seem happy about it. I told him he could come with us but he declined”: Tony Visconti reveals Bowie's reaction to Holy Holy, the supergroup that would be performing his songs

Tony Visconti is a true music legend. Since the 1960s, the American-born record producer, arranger and musician has worked with an incredible array of artists, including T. Rex, Morrissey, Adam Ant, The Moody Blues, Wings, Sparks, and Thin Lizzy.

Visconti's most famous collaboration, of course, is with David Bowie, who he partnered with as a producer on iconic albums throughout his career, including The Man Who Sold The World, Diamond Dogs, Low, Heroes, Heathen and his final project Blackstar, which earned a Grammy award for Best Engineered Album.

Tony Visconti is taking his Bowie supergroup Holy Holy on tour this autumn, along with drummer Woody Woodmansey from the Spiders From Mars backing band, Glenn Gregory from Heaven 17 on lead vocals, and Visconti's daughter Jessica Lee Morgan on 12-string guitar and sax.

We interviewed Visconti as he prepared for what will be the farewell tour for the Bowie-inspired Holy Holy band, which he describes as "the real deal!"

It’s now been over a decade since Holy Holy first took to the stage. Can you remember what spurred you to assemble the group with Woody and Glenn?

“We felt that at least a few members had to have worked with David at some point, as most tribute bands hadn’t worked with David at all. In our case we chose the album The Man Who Sold The World, since it was a breakthrough album based on Hard Rock.

“Woody, Mick Ronson and myself were the rhythm section, along with David playing his 12-string guitar. Woody and I felt that this album was special because it was the only album that wasn’t promoted with touring.”

Can you recall the moment you initially told David Bowie about Holy Holy? What was his response?

“When David asked me why we were even doing this, I told him it was because we never promoted it with tours. He responded with, ‘Oh, that’s right.’ But he didn’t seem happy about it. I told him he could come with us but he declined.”

Previously with Holy Holy, you’ve performed entire Bowie albums such as Ziggy Stardust and The Man Who Sold the World. Do you prefer the shows where you showcase one particular album, or do you generally enjoy the more diverse sets?

“It doesn’t matter much to me. But it makes more sense to do a ‘best of’ rather than whole albums - the ‘greatest hits’ concept satisfies a greater audience. We played The Man Who Sold The World in its entirety on an American tour and got booed by some locals who never heard that album. ‘That’s not David Bowie's music!’ was what we were faced with…”

Beyond the parts you wrote yourself, there’s a few different bass styles deployed across Holy Holy shows. For example, there’s the melodic retro-futurism of Trevor Bolder’s classic basslines and then there’s the more funk-angled approach of George Murray on Ashes to Ashes and Heroes. Do you switch up your gear and/or attitude when alternating between these differing styles?

“Even though I didn’t play the original bass parts on those albums I had to learn as much as I could, then improvise the rest. Trevor was jazz-influenced, meaning he was constantly improvising live. I try to stay in Trevor’s zone, but I think I come close to the spirit of Trevor’s performances. I played jazz for several years in New York.”

Speaking of gear, can you give us a brief overview of your current Holy Holy bass rig?

“It’s really simple - I have a custom-made bass by PHD, a female luthier who came up with the design. Since I played both a P-Bass and a Gibson EBO on the original sessions I didn’t want to have two different basses, so I asked her to make the neck length in the middle of both basses, so the scale is around 32 inches. I love it.

“I can’t remember the electronics she put in there but it’s active, using two 9-volt batteries, and has an active parametric EQ system. Her name is Parizad Hatcher and she doesn’t play bass, but her husband does. It’s a most convenient partnership.

“I get a huge Ampeg bass amp that sits right behind me, but the sound person also has my bass in a DI box too. The amp is just a monitor for the stage, but the DI is used for the front of house. Since it’s a hire for every tour the gear might vary.”

Is there a Bowie song in Holy Holy’s set that you find the most enjoyable to play live? And which song is the most complex - or surprising - from a musical point of view?

“My two favourites are Quicksand and The Man Who Sold The World. However, Woody, Glenn and I pick the songs and they are all a pleasure to play.”

Throughout the 1970s you helmed some of the most acclaimed and beloved albums of all time with David Bowie, producing the two career-capping masterpieces The Next Day and Blackstar in the 2010s.

Obviously David’s passing has enshrined those albums as important creative statements, but in recent years more people seem to have cottoned on to the brilliance of Heathen and Reality, too. What do you remember about making those two albums with David, back at the dawn of the 21st century?

“Heathen and Reality were made in a lovely residential studio in the Catskill Mountains in New York state. You could see deer and foxes early in the morning. The food was catered, although once or twice I’d drive down to Kingston for different food. David was in top form for this. He loved the studio and the area.

“He never heard of the Catskills and yet he fell in love with the area and I think he bought some property up there. We were 100 miles from NYC and when the Twin Towers were hit we could see a red glow over NYC for at least three days.”

More than anybody else, you saw David grow as an artist and in the studio. Do you think he learned from you with regard to production techniques and approaches? And what key things did you learn from him over the years?

“David left most of the production decisions to me - he had confidence in me. During the mixing he left most of it to me, and he would show up at my NYC studio after I was at least two hours into the current mix. He said, ‘What am I going to do, tell you what EQs to use? That’s your territory.’

“You know, we met in 1967 and by this point we were very brotherly. When David produced other artists, he never interfered with engineering duties, he always worked with pros and left the knob twiddling to the engineers. With me he had both an engineer and a professional musician/arranger. We didn’t really ‘learn’ anything from each other, it was a music collaboration that continued to push boundaries.”

It's documented that you used the Eventide Harmonizer H910 on those Berlin-era albums, and that it "fucks with the fabric of time"...

“I had the first Harmonizer in the UK, six months before it was marketed. It was such a radical beast I didn’t share its presence in my studio. After Low was released I got a flurry of producers asking me how I did the dropped-pitch snare drum sound. My answer was, ‘Well, how do you think I did it?’ and I got some silly answers, like, ‘You used double compression, right?’ No!”

You must have enjoyed then recently working on the Eventide Tverb plugin to help other musicians with their sound?

“Low and Heroes' overall sound was a result of working in Berlin and Paris studios having big rooms. The Eventide people could analyse the measurements of the room without going to those studios, so I helped to tweak them to my satisfaction. I’m an Eventide user forever.”

Do you have a large home studio? What are your go-to bits of equipment and gear?

“I have a small home studio, Pro Tools, some keyboards, lots of guitars and basses, but I record less there now. I have a larger studio in the Chelsea area of New York. I walk there every day I work, one mile each way. Great exercise!

“I have much more gear there than at home. My go-to gear includes two Avalon 727 preamps. One is mono for vocals, bass DIs, the other is a two channel Avalon for two channel keyboard instruments. I have lots of pedals and the latest Eventide H9000.”

Your recent CD compilation Produced by Visconti has such a fantastic range of artists included, such as Bowie and T-Rex, but also Altered Images, Seahorses, The Good, The Bad and The Queen and many more. What have you learned about how to cultivate a good working relationship with artists as a producer?

“As a musician and singer myself, I know how it feels to walk up to a microphone when people are listening and watching from the control room. It’s easier to perform in front of hundreds of people for me.”

You've talked about Marc Bolan how he "played bass like a guitarist" on tracks like Ride a White Swan. Can you tell us about how that was achieved?

“He liked open strings. For Ride a White Swan he put a capo on the fourth fret of my P-Bass, which was the same fret as his guitar capo.”

You are such a fan of The Beatles too, so it must have been a thrill working with Paul McCartney on scoring the classic album Band on the Run. Do you have some happy memories of that time?

“It happened so quickly. I got the phone call on a Saturday asking me if I really wrote the arrangements for T. Rex, and I said yes. Paul then asked if I could read and write music, and I said yes. He then asked me to go to his house in London and work out some arrangements with him. It was for seven songs.

“I asked him when he needed them and he said, ’this Wednesday’. I hardly slept for the few days before because, well, how can you refuse a Beatle? Apart from not sleeping, the session lasted almost 8 hours. But he was very happy with the results and so was I.”

David Bowie was always interested in technology. Famously, he accurately predicted the impact of the internet on music and culture. Now it seems we’re in the midst of another earth-shaking shift, but do you think David would have been similarly intrigued by AI - or do you think he would have been more cautious of its dangers? What are your thoughts on it?

“I don’t really know. It would be speculation. I am not a fan of AI. I am a fan of I, in other words, ‘intelligence’, something humans have used for a million years. Artists who use AI should step to the side and let real artists do their thing. There is too much amateur music being released that clogs the arteries of the music business.”

Your daughter Jess Lee Morgan is a firm part of the Holy Holy family. Her book and album last year explored the increasingly complex music industry and delved into the realities of navigating the modern music industry. I understand that both she and yourself are Alexander Technique practitioners. Do you still use the technique and what benefits does it bring to you and other musicians?

“I use the Alexander Technique all the time, it’s become a habit. Humans have developed some bad habits; the main one is slouching that eventually distorts the integrity of a healthy spine. Young children have perfect posture. Peer pressure later in schools makes them believe that slouching looks cool.

“It’s very interesting to observe that the Alexander Technique helps musicians to use proper posture when playing and singing by consciously ‘inhibiting’ tension. It can’t be learned from a book. Only a qualified in-person teacher can help. The AT has the same goals as learning Tai Chi, in the sense of good posture and letting go of unnecessary tension when performing.”

Finally, are you going to record any more solo albums after the fabulous Apollo 80?

“Thank you for the compliment. I have a couple of songs I’m working on, but with producer duties and deadlines with artists my time is limited.”

Holy Holy will be embarking on a farewell tour in September. Tickets for all dates are on sale now.