Kristopher Pooley

In-demand session keyboard player, producer, and laptop music innovator Kristopher Pooley has built an impressive touring portfolio, including Gwen Stefani, Jane’s Addiction, Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey and many more.

Kristopher Pooley grew up in Detroit, Michigan. The son of musician parents, he quickly found himself gravitating towards piano, woodwinds and other percussive instruments at a very young age. Later, after completing a music degree at Wayne State University, he upped and moved westward to the musically rich environs of Los Angeles. Soon after arriving in town, Pooley began etching out a career for himself as an in-demand session keyboardist, producer and laptop music innovator. Along the way, Pooley built an impressive touring portfolio, which includes the likes of Jane’s Addiction, Gwen Stefani, Liz Phair, Smashing Pumpkins, Morrissey, and Siouxsie and the Banshees. On his recent jaunt with Morrissey, Pooley took time out to speak to Performing Musician about his touring career.

On stage with Morrissey at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California.

Photo: David Atlas/Retna

Kristopher Pooley: “I’m not that involved in things that are technically very demanding. Every now and then there will be something tricky, but it is more often a part in the way it was recorded, especially if it had multiple overdubs.

“I’ve been more challenged in the spirit of the song, in letting the song be the song and letting the lyric convey whatever the artiste I’m working with is trying to say. Coming from a jazz background, I’ve had to put a lot of my ‘muso’ tendencies away, and have paid more attention to the lyric and simplicity of the parts and arrangement. A lot of times it is harder to know what not to play. Playing with Jane’s Addiction was a big eye-opener for me because it was the first time I had experience playing such simple parts that were so complex in their arrangement. That’s an incredible band. Every part was amazing and every lyric important.”

KP: “I really don’t have much of a method. Sometimes I’ll have two months to learn 14 songs and sometimes I’ll have two days to learn 40 songs. With the former, I’ll take my time, not burn out on the songs, and be meticulous with my sound design and part learning. With the latter, I’ll stay up as long as it takes to make sure I can get through the song and not crash and burn at the first show.

“I try to not write charts or road maps unless the song is particularly complex, because I then rely on having a piece of paper in front of me in order to remember the song. If I commit it to memory right from the start, then I find I can recall the song quicker. And I can more easily make changes to the song or arrangement if the need arises. I do make up a master song list, in Excel, where I have the song name, key, and a grid of all the instruments I’m playing throughout the set and what I’m playing on which song. That helps me organise and remember what I’m doing, which is particularly helpful when I have to know 50-plus songs per artiste.”

KP: “Not really. I originally thought my role would be more like that, but for the most part they bring you along because they think you have something to contribute to the overall sensibility and taste for what the song should do. With Gwen, she has a lot of respect for her musicians and lets them do what they need to do, and we all kind of knew and felt self-governed. With Morrissey, he may say, ‘We’re going to learn this song,’ and will request a mixture of all the string bits and all of those things. Once we start rehearsing a song, though, it becomes pretty clear what parts need to be added or taken away. On this current Morrissey tour, we’re approaching the songs with a more aggressive sound, so I’m finding I’m adding bigger organ and string sounds to songs that were previously much thinner.”

Gwen Stefani: “...she has a lot of respect for her musicians and lets them do what they need to do...”

Photo: compulsiveprep_8 / Flickr

PM: When it comes to adding keyboard parts to a song, what is your approach? Do you create something that will not distract from the song or find something that will make your part stick out a little more and possibly become an integral element to the song?

KP: “There are a lot of answers to this question, but I see the industry that I’m in as having two different industries within it that work for, and sometimes against, each other. Each tour has a different composite or percentage of these two sides, and how the music is played directly reflects these two sides. The two industries are the ‘entertainment industry’ and the ‘music industry’. If the tour is primarily about the show, then I think of it as being more entertainment, or for the audiences’ experience. If the tour is more music-focused and there is a high expectation of creativity and spontaneity, then I think of it as being more for the musician. A performers’ aesthetic as opposed to a viewers’ aesthetic.

“For the ‘entertainment industry’, playing the parts exactly like they are on the recording — or whatever predetermined form there is — is the goal. The goal is usually not to draw attention to any one thing, but for all the little parts of the show to contribute to the greater overall show. The lighting supports the video, which supports the lyric, which supports all the bells and whistles, which support the dancers, who support the artiste or band. Something like that. For the ‘music industry’, creating something new and hopefully interesting is the goal.

“In my experience, most tours are some sort of combination of these two industries. The real challenge is to know which industry you’re operating in and then playing accordingly. Sometimes you need to play your part exactly like it is on the album, and other times you’re expected to not play anything like the album in order to create something new.”

KP: “What I find with a bigger tour is that a lot of those nuances get lost, and so it becomes more about maximising the bigger moments in the show and the bigger moments in the songs. I try to make sure that I learn every little part like it is on the record, but I don’t always end up playing those parts live. It just depends on the song.”

KP: “When I come to arranging a song for the tour, I first work with the artiste to figure out what the purpose of the song is and if it is suppose to be a full band song, or a barebones rock song, or a choreography and a dance-focused song, or a video moment, or if it’s more of an intimate song. Then I will work out the instrumentation accordingly.

“With Gwen, there was a song that she wanted to do more intimately to give Gail Ann Dorsey (the bass player, who is an amazing vocalist) a moment in the show. So to do this we came up with a sparse arrangement of her song, ‘The Real Thing’, where we all played downstage in a more ‘acoustic’ setup.

“And if there is something like a big wardrobe change for the artist at the end of the song, then I will have to arrange the song with an extended ending, or put in a longer intro to the song that follows the wardrobe change to accommodate for the time it takes to change wardrobe.”

KP: “We try and build in those spots. They have to be constructed, as there are a lot of different elements to the show because it is not just about the music. So what I try and do as a musical director is build in spots where everyone has some moment where what they do will fit in with the overall context of the song. So if it’s a big guitar solo, it will need to fall within the bigger context and there has to be a reason for it.”

The instrumentation changes a lot from song to song with Morrissey. Upright bass, acoustic guitars, hollow-body electric guitars and accordion all at 100dB.

Photo: Kristin Burns

KP: “You are right and it’s a funny thing, because I don’t know if it’s that way because it is more representative of a keyboard player’s personality or because of the nature of the instrument. I mean, we’re kind of control freaks [laughs], and I think keyboard players tend to have a tendency to run things. So it may be part of that mentality and personality. Or it may have to do with the actual instrument itself, in that it is more of a wide-range instrument and that it is easier to communicate with and get around other instruments and demonstrate with.“

KP: “I listen to the drummer pretty much most of the time. That seems to be where the whole feel for the show comes from. And if the drummer is not great, then I usually have a difficult time. No matter how great anyone else is, if the drummer is not great, it is a problem for me. Thankfully, I haven’t been in a situation in a long time where the drummer is less than amazing. I’ve been spoilt by playing with a lot of amazing drummers these past few years — Jimmy Chamberlin, Matt Walker, Zach Alford, Steve Perkins”

KP: “For a pop show with video, band, dancers, costume changes, props and lighting, an important thing is having one key sync point to keep the show together. That’s usually the purpose of backing tracks. Keeping everything sync’ed up to something, even if it is just a click running in the band’s in-ears, is important. I don’t think you need to have a lot of tracks running.

“What I do frequently when we rehearse with Gwen Stefani is, I will at some point just shut the computer down and run a crash scenario. And what happens then is everyone — the musicians, video people, front-of-house, everyone — has to be aware that it all has stopped and they’ve got to drop out of sync mode and move quickly into manual mode. So they have to pay attention! But as far as the actual tracks go and the sound of the show, I will always do full runs of the show at rehearsal without any tracks or anything running, just to make sure that if something did happen then we could go on, and more importantly so that we’re not relying too heavily on any one element of the show’s technical elements.”

KP: “No, that is not the case, though some bands may use it for a very small fragment of a song or something. For example, with the last tour I did with the Smashing Pumpkins we did two different shows and two different nights in most cities, and for the beginning of the second show we had three songs that used a backing track. But it was just a drum loop and little bit of a synth sound here and there; it wasn’t anything big.”

KP: “I will use an example from Gwen’s show. The whole show runs off timecodes generated by the computers I am running, which are running a click track and some spare keyboard element. Most of the music is then coming from the band. We also sing our background vocals in at the beginning of the tour and have them playing back to us into our in-ears, so it is not just Gwen’s vocals coming through. This is all generated from MOTU’s Digital Performer. I have two computers sync’ed together, which run simultaneously: an ‘A’ rig and a ‘B’ rig. So just in case the ‘A’ rig crashed, the ‘B’ rig can take over. That is sending out a timecode to video people, who have a relay box. At the beginning of the tour, I line up all of the timecode in Digital Performer to correspond to the timecode printed on the video.”

KP: “You try and rehearse in such a way that if something does crash or something does go wrong, then you can fix it from the technical side or at least the show can go on without it. But certain things you just can’t help, like some gear may break, or somebody forgets to do something, or a video screen will go out, or somebody may fall You never know what will happen, so you allow a certain amount of grace into a situation like that. There are so many technical demands on people that if and when it fails, it’s OK, and we just try to keep moving forward...”

KP: “This current Morrissey tour is particularly gruelling, because of the kind of show that it is. There are a lot of expectations that we have of ourselves and the expectations that the fans have of us. It’s only 22 songs and that’s not a ton of songs, but it is a non-stop show. There is only one song where it kind of takes a breather for a second. Other than that, it is pretty much all about playing loud and hard and you have to think quite a bit. And I also have a lot of moves in each song too. I find that after each show, I am tired and mentally exhausted.”

KP: “While I’m on the road and when I’m home, my best friend, Ben, and I produce bands and work on our own music. The production stuff and our own music both fall under the name ‘The Real Efforts Of Real People’ (www.therealefforts.com). We just produced a record for a band called Fielding and the album came out amazing. You should check it out if you get a chance. I also work on music with my wife Ginger [Ginger Sling] while we’re on the road and while we’re home.”

KP: “On different tours I use different keyboard setups, depending on the needs of that tour. The gear I’m currently using for the Morrissey tour, though, is a pretty good hybrid of analogue and soft synth keyboards. It’s a good example of all the different types of gear I use on a tour.

“On the stage-right side of my rig I have a Nord Stage 88 on the bottom, an M-Audio Axiom Pro 61, which is controlling Reason, and an LP Ice Bell, which is used on one song (‘Billy Budd’), and an ARP Quartet. Propellerhead’s Reason is being run off my trusty 12-inch Mac PowerBook G4, which lives in a rack. The rack also contains two MOTU UltraLite Mk3s (my main audio interface), Moog Liberation power supply, Furman power conditioner, sliding tray for the Mac laptop, and a padded drawer for the Mac laptop to travel in. The top of the rack doubles as a utility tray for shakers, tambourines and various hand-held percussion.

“On the stage-left side of my rig I have a Wurlitzer 200A and a Moog Liberation, which are both connected, via A-B box, to my pedalboard. The workhorse of my pedalboard is the Line 6 M13 Stompbox Modeler, which is then run into an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, Roland RE-301 Space Echo, and a Mr Echo analogue delay pedal. Also scattered around my rig are the various other instruments I play throughout the show: an accordion, Gibson Hummingbird acoustic guitar, a trombone, a flute and a lap steel guitar. I also have two vocal mics and one mic for miscellaneous percussion and horns.“

KP: “If I could, my preference would be to play all analogue gear, like real organ, real piano, real ARPs, Moogs. But it isn’t practical a lot of the time. And having digital gear is easier to transport than analogue gear. With doing so much back and forth overseas, portability is the reason why I do have the digital stuff. And it really sounds so good now and getting better all the time.

“Propellerhead’s Reason has bailed me out so many times while on tour that it has become an integral part of what I do and the sounds I get. I try to balance the digital gear, though, with analogue gear. The Moog, ARP, Wurli, accordion and so on that I’m using with Morrissey ‘keep it real’. I’ve used my Moog Liberation on every tour I’ve done for the last six years and it’s a constant source of inspiration for me. It’s my favourite thing to play.”

KP: “The advance that has helped me the most is the increase in the sound quality and portability of sample libraries. I use Propellerhead’s Reason quite a bit and it’s really amazing how far an application like that has come in the past seven or so years. I like to have a rig that’s half ‘soft’ and the other half analogue. That feels like a proper balance to me.

“Another advance that I’m surprised in how much it’s benefited me and my playing is the realistic actions of weighted keyboard keys. I didn’t like weighted keyboards before a few years ago because they just didn’t feel good. I opted to use either a semi-weighted key for synth sounds or use real pianos with real actions for analogue sounds. Now, after playing a Nord Stage 88 for a few years, I’ve yet to get tired of it, which is a first for me.”

KP: “For the Morrissey tour I’m using two wedges in a stereo configuration — one downstage and one upstage. I only use in-ears for a few songs that require me to listen to a click being generated by the drummers rig. I have an in-ear pack hardwired and clipped onto the side of my rack just in case I need it. For Jane’s Addiction and the Smashing Pumpkins I just used wedges, because it helps with the overall ‘rock show’ feel. It has to be loud!

“For both of the Gwen Stefani tours I used a combination of in-ear monitors and wedges. The venues we were playing — amphitheatres and arenas — were so boom-y and washy that I needed the clarity of in-ears, but wanted to feel the sound of loud wedges. I think this is the best way to play a show: power and clarity.”

KP: “Again, the answer to this depends on the tour, what type of show it is, and whether I’m the musical director or not. With Morrissey, where I’m not the musical director, I have a balanced mix of whatever I’m playing that sits just above a full mix of the band. Whatever instrument I’m closest to — guitar cab, drums, and so on — I’ll have a little less of in order to keep the mix balanced. I have a little bit of Morrissey’s vocal in my monitors as well, but normally, depending on the venue and my proximity to the sidefills, I can hear plenty of him all around the stage.

“When I’m the musical director I like to have a similar mix to what I described above, but I’ll make sure to have the lead vocal cranked just a bit louder than my keyboards, so that I can react quickly if there are any glitches and keep the band on track. If the singer forgets a lyric, or jumps to another section of the song, or decides to ad-lib in between songs, I like to stay on top of that. In that scenario I’ll usually have a talkback mic where I can talk to the band and/or artist and keep the arrangement of the song together, so that the song doesn’t derail.”

KP: “All I really do to adjust to varying room acoustics is tweak my monitor mix a little bit every day. Depending on the shape of the room and the surface that we’re playing on, different notes will ring sympathetically and different frequencies will jump out. I’ll work with the monitor engineer to find the problem frequencies and do the best we can to even the mix out. The instrumentation changes a lot from song to song with Morrissey, so we run into all sorts of problems. Upright bass, acoustic guitars, hollow-body electric guitars and accordion all at 100dB (on stage) creates all sorts of interesting and boom-y frequencies.”

KP: “I think getting the best sound on a tour is a matter of taste. Some people like stock keyboard sounds from big ‘mothership’-type keyboards. I prefer to try to recreate sounds, either in Reason or by using vintage gear. To me, old analogue gear sounds the best live, and if you can get away with having that sort of gear on a tour then you should do it. The biggest thing, though, is that it sounds good to you and you feel confident about what you have to offer. Sound exactly like the album and exactly like yourself. That’s the trick.”

Kristopher Pooley

Keyboard player and MD