courtesy of www.metallian.com

England's progressive metal band Threshold, described as a "thinking man's band" by one critic, was responsible for one of 2004's best albums, the underrated Subsurface. The album was not only another tribute to the sextet's musical talents, but was another testament to the band's gift of words. Good music, good lyrics and a good disposition? Well, exploring that last attribute was one reason Ali "The Metallian" rang the band's Richard West who proved himself surprisingly both cautious and careful when tackled head-on about his views and opinions. 11.12.2004

METALLIAN: Richard, thank you for your time. Let us cut to the chase. What are your high-level beliefs as pertains to the truth in this world? You have expressed views in the past indicating your inclinations towards Christianity and a more different world policy.
RICHARD: My core belief is in a God who created life, the universe and everything else. I don't think anyone can seriously believe in evolution as the reason for intelligent life unless they have a predisposition to not want to believe in God. You only have to look at the complexity of an eye to see that there must have been a designer.
As for world policy, I find the Christian model of living to be a good concept - life based on self-improvement, honesty and kindness to others. I think that's a pretty good start. I think that sometimes people confuse God with the acts of people wrongly claiming to be working in God's name.

METALLIAN: Is there a reason you do not directly call yourself a Christian?
RICHARD: It wasn't a question you particularly asked. Yes, I am a Christian. I am not the sort of a guy who wants to go around bashing people in the head with it though. Some people take every opportunity to tell all around, "I am a Christian and you should be as well." I am not like that.

METALLIAN: Does your Christianity translate into the band's lyrics?
RICHARD: Yes, but not on Subsurface. That was not a Christian album. Obviously my view-points come across. It is the way I think. The Christian lyrics come through on a song like Light And Space from Hypothetical. Occasionally on our forum you will see questions coming up about it and I answer the question. I am totally happy to be open about it. I do worry that getting labelled a Christian band isn't always a good thing. We are not. I am the only Christian in the band. I don't want it to be that sort of a band anyway. There are great Christian bands out there, but that is not a market I want to look at. I much rather have the freedom to express my thoughts without having a mandate to appeal to a certain audience.

METALLIAN: The lyrics you write are presumably a reflection of your inner self. Is it accurate to point out that they are deliberately written to have a timeless quality? Would you agree to an analogy to Pink Floyd and have they been an inspiration?
RICHARD: I don't know about timeless, but I usually prefer lyrics to be more general than specific so people can relate from their point of view. I only have a narrow set of world experiences so I don't want to start preaching to anybody. I've never looked very deeply at Pink Floyd's lyrics so I can't comment on your analogy. My main inspiration is God because it doesn't seem to matter what subject you talk about, there's always a God point of view.

METALLIAN: When you refer to God, is he the same one that all major religions worship?
RICHARD: I regard God as the God who created the universe. There can only be one of them. I can only say there is one God. I haven't got a clue about other religions. I don't know if they are right or wrong. All I know is I have found a God who means everything. I find it so much easier knowing that I understand how the universe works and how it was made and that there is a God who cares about us. I know that there is an afterlife. It isn't all pointless. It makes living easier. It makes dying easier.
It is not something I often talk about. You will get much more well-spoken answers from other people.
It is funny. Having written Subsurface people ask me whether I am an activist, whether I am political, do I hate America or do I hate Europe and the answer is of course not! I chose the subject, did a lot of reading on politics and philosophy and then I wrote the album. It doesn't mean I am an expert. It means I wrote based on the research I had done. When you have views about stuff, you move on. We are now twelve months down the road from the writing of the album and my views have changed on certain subjects. I am just being honest. Ten years ago I was young and opinionated. As you grow older, you realize there are gray areas.

METALLIAN: A line from your last album Subsurface says, "...by standing up for what we all believed in all along" What would that belief be?
RICHARD: It's about political correctness. I don't remember ever coming across anyone who actually agrees with the set of ideas that make up political correctness, but somehow everyone thinks they're supposed to go along with them, rather than stand up for what they actually believe.

METALLIAN: You have mentioned now and in the past that you dislike political correctness. Having said that it is extremely politically incorrect to say stuff like, say, Jews control Hollywood or gays are more likely to be artists or waiters. Political correctness would declare that there is no way you can say stuff like that. So, are those examples true, or are they untrue or is it a function of political correctness that one can't say these things?
RICHARD: I don't think so. That is not the same political correctness that I am talking about. Whether or not Jews control Hollywood has nothing to do with racism or anything else. It is just an observation, isn't it? You could look at the proportion of Jews in Hollywood and look at the proportion of Jews in the world. I don' think there is anything wrong with observing statistics.
I am worried more about how you are not allowed to express objections to what the political system says is incorrect. There was a strange situation recently in Europe where the new commission had a member who said he believes in the Bible and along with that comes the belief that homosexuality is wrong and single parenting is not the way to go. He is just expressing his views from the Bible. He got sacked from the commission for his views. They reassembled the commission and found out the guy in charge was previously convicted of embezzlement. They didn't have a problem with that! That was political correctness. You are not allowed to stand up and say what you believe. I am in favour of freedom of speech.

METALLIAN: In the same sense, what is the line "flawless ideologies that decadence consumed" referring to? Flawless ideology could be considered either fanatical or a paradox in some quarters.
RICHARD: I think that our decadence as a society has filled our lives to the point where we don't have the time or inclination to search for the greater truths anymore. We're more worried about debts and soap operas. If there's a flawless ideology out there, our 'me me me' culture certainly isn't it.

METALLIAN: Let us expand on your Christian points-of-view. How would you account for the countless evils of religion? Could a rational person deny the destruction that various religions have wrought?
RICHARD: Lots of things have been done by men claiming to be working for God, but that doesn't mean God had anything to do with them. You refer to the evils of religion, but I'm sure you wouldn't refer to the evils of God. When wars are fought everyone tries to claim they are on God's side. Look at Northern Ireland. It has nothing to do with God. Everytime something bad happens religion gets blamed. Blame should go to stupid or evil men rather than God or anything God wanted to happen.

METALLIAN: You dispute the fact that God controls our actions.
RICHARD: Of course he doesn't. He said he gave us free will. The Biblical view is that God hates sin. He doesn't differentiate between murder and petty theft. It is all bad for him. If he were to stop murder from happening, he would have to stop petty theft and so on. At which point we would all become robots and there would be no point to life.

METALLIAN: In a previous conversation you have confided that Capitalism has come to a dead-end. That notion seems to go against conventional wisdom.
RICHARD: I love the way you say "confided", you make me sound like I have insider knowledge! I don't know enough about politics to really answer your question, but I think I was more referring to the way that our current political system has become so open to corruption which may ultimately be its downfall.

METALLIAN: Do you see yourself, your family, your life and your band as mere participants in the huge capitalist wheel?
RICHARD: Well, we don't really have much control over how the system works, so I guess you're right to some extent.

METALLIAN: Elsewhere, you have pointed to the many shortcomings of the American hegemony. What is your reaction to any quarter terming you anti-American?
RICHARD: No way, I'm not anti-American at all. I'm not anti-anybody. I was surprised you said that. I love America. I went there on my honeymoon and I look forward to going back.

METALLIAN: Would you say that you are anti-Bush?
RICHARD: No, not particularly. I just don't like the concept of discovering a whole group of people that don't like you and you respond by going there and killing them. It is like a playground. If someone doesn't like you the best thing to do is make friends with them. One half of the world is not going to wipe out the other half. So I am not very keen on Bush's foreign policy. It is not about keeping the peace. It is about destroying anybody he disagrees with his lifestyle. It goes back to the discussion on freedom of speech. The concept of killing one's enemy does not resonate with me. I don't know anything about Bush the man, but I think most of Europe and Canada agrees that Bush's policies don't seem to have made the world a safer place. You could argue that it is a less safe place. In Ireland they are getting peace not by going and killing the terrorists, but by dialogue. As a Christian, that is Biblically sound. Love your enemies.

METALLIAN: How about "Thou shalt not kill"?
RICHARD: Well, of course yes. That is a difficult one when it comes to wars, isn't it? Personally I don't want to kill anybody.

METALLIAN: Here is a direct question. How do you reconcile George and Tony's sympathy for American imperial ambitions and devotion to Christianity?
RICHARD: I can't comment on their devotion, as I don't know them. You can't possibly know what goes on in private. I don't know what Bush's relationship is with God. Certainly, I don't think what he does is particularly in line with The New Testament in terms of how you deal with your enemies. He keeps going around and killing them. Certainly, the policies we keep hearing about recently, like torture in Guantanamo Bay, et cetra, are not in line with the Bible. I don't know quite where he is coming from. He doesn't seem quite right to me.

METALLIAN: Let us be clear. Floating problems without proposing remedies is a limiting proposition. Can you, as concisely as possible, explain what is the solution and the best direction we as a planet could take and why?
RICHARD: Of course not, I'd have to be a genius!
I think if everyone could walk into a room or a place and then when they leave it they know that they left it a happier and a nicer place that would resonate across the world. We would be in a nicer world that way. If I can walk into a room and smile at somebody or leave that place better than when I got there that would be a good way to live your life.