Steven 'Fly' Pratt talks about 'The First Trip'

Musician, writer and world traveler Steve "Fly Agaric" Pratt, 47, aka Steve Fly, aka Steven James Pratt, is a native of Wordsley, England, who for many years has lived in Amsterdam. He was a competitive swimmer in his youth but soon developed an interest in jazz and other forms of music. See this biography emphasizing his musical interests. 

Steve's newest project is The First Trip,  a music album focusing on Robert Anton Wilson and Illuminatus!, issued in conjunction with Bobby Campbell's ongoing Tales of Illuminatus adaptation of the Illuminatus! trilogy. You can find the album on Bandcamp.  Note that as with most other Bandcamp releases, you can play the tracks before you decide whether to buy the album. When you buy an album on Bandcamp, you can download the tracks to keep them and also stream it from the website or from a smartphone Bandcamp app. Steve's album is priced in pounds; it cost me about $10. 

Over the years, Steve's projects have included the Robert Anton Wilson meets Steve “Fly Agaric” Pratt album, which features Steve's interview with Robert Anton Wilson, with music from Steve Fly, Tim Egmond, Martin "Youth" Glover, Rick Rasa, Hagbard Celine, Garaj Mahal.

His books include World Piss, a collection of early writings; Fly On The Tale Of The Tribe: A Rollercoaster Ride With Robert Anton Wilson  (see this review by Oz Fritz), and Deep Scratch Remix. Browse more titles here. 

Steve has so many interests and so many creative projects that any interview with him is going to be a snapshot in time, although there is continuity in his work. Here is my 2012 interview with Steve, focusing on his interest in Robert Anton Wilson. Here is my joint interview with Steve and Peter Quadrino over Waywords and Meansigns, the project to set Finnegans Wake to music/adapt it to sound. 

I really enjoyed listening to The First Trip and Steve agreed to take my questions for a new interview focusing on the new album. 

Steve with his handmade IRL Pyramid Speaker by Hans Speijer and his piratable-turntable.

RAWILLUMINATION: How did the album The First Trip come about? How does it relate to Tales of Illuminatus? 

STEVE PRATT: Due to Bobby's tireless organizing for Maybelogues 2024, we got chatting in early June about new music I was working on, I sent some examples. I'm not sure who ignited the conversation about music and TOI [Tales of Illuminatus] but it was floating in the air between us. With an equally enthusiastic go-ahead from team TOI, I started producing the music for The First Trip.   

RAWILLUMINATION: You describe The First Trip as a concept album. I think I figured it out: All of the listed bands on the album are bands listed in Illuminatus! as being booked to perform at the rock festival in Leviathan. So the concept is that all of those bands really exist? And that's why the music is so different from track to track, because you are creating different "bands"?

STEVE PRATT: Yes, exactly. I created the lyrics to help fold them into the TOI universe, and in some sense I co-arranged and co-produced the music, but the precise description of what I did, distinguished from what the A.I. did, is tricky to distinguish. A.I. songs are like laws, which are like sausages, in that it's better not to see how they're made.  

RAWILLUMINATION: Are you the only human who worked on the album? There's a pretty wide variety of vocals and instruments on it.

STEVE PRATT: Yes, I'm the only human who worked on the album. Or the only interacting brain body nervous system that feels fully convinced he's human ;-) 

RAWILLUMINATION: I have been trying to think of how to describe the album, maybe "subversive pop"? How do you describe it to people who have not heard it? Some of it seems like Frank Zappa, but without the snarkiness.

STEVE PRATT: It's fitting you reference Zappa. And a very generous comment about less snarkiness. "Snarkiness" works well to describe a lot of current A.I. songs, which to my ear lack nuance and subtlety...lyrically speaking. 

I've been mulling on A.I. generated music, humour in music and so, the music of Zappa (perhaps the most "consistent" example) who has ajacencies with TOI music and with RAW (and Shea's) sense of humour, satire, pacing, style, comedic strategies...I touched on some of this in my essay about SUN RA. Very generally, to my mind, it comes back to the mosaic method of McLuhan, the Hologrammic prose of Joyce, Burroughs and Wilson, the holo-sonic music of Johan Coltrane, the participatory relationship between the parts and the whole. Unity, the Tao, epiphany (with a healthy reminder that these 'impressions' are non-simultaneously apprehended events). The songs from this album ,cover a part of a broader spectrum, which will be revealed as TOI progresses. 

RAWILLUMINATION: It's interesting you mention Burroughs, because Zappa was really into the cut-up technique. And as for the band names: I like the fact that "Nirvana" is in there, somehow Wilson and Shea named the last great rock band!

STEVE PRATT: Great analysis, I concur. Cut-up is also a large component of good turntable routines, "needle drops" are like cut-up in that you kind of throw the dice where the stylus needle will land, which groove...and take it from there.

A recent photo of Steve "Fly" Pratt. 

RAWILLUMINATION: I bought The First Trip on Bandcamp, where I have bought quite a bit of music. I know your music has been available at other places -- I bought the "RAW meets Steve Fly" album on Amazon -- but are  you selling your music only at Bandcamp now? How do you think Bandcamp serves artists and listeners? 

STEVE PRATT: Yeah, I rate Bandcamp, currently, as the best platform for artists to get paid, and without any ads. Bandcamp Fridays, where 100% of sales go to the artist, is a future friendly scheme. I'm not using Spotify, but you'll probably find some of my music there.

RAWILLUMINATION: You have been a prolific recording artist. Is there an album of yours that you think was particularly successful, and/or was a particular hit with listeners?

STEVE PRATT: That's kind of you to say, but, not really, I've had little success or sales, let alone a hit. Most of my work has been collaborations, I've yet to release what I'd call a proper solo album, but I'm ready...after 3 decades of practice. Most tracks released on bandcamp are my home productions, some using an APP and now A.I. Mohawk (with John Sinclair) received some good reviews, and is perhaps my most popular project/album, not many picked up on the fact I played all the music on that album (with overdubbing). 

RAWILLUMINATION: "Jump Into My Submarine" is a standout track, I congratulate you on that track. Do you want to tell me anything about it? Are there other tracks you want to call particular attention to?

STEVE PRATT: Yeah, there's a yellow submarine docked at NDSM, Amsterdam Noord, I was right there today, and this fact, together with the Leif Erikson and that 70s funk submarine vibe, down periscope...all contributed to my audio-vision for 'Jump Into My Submarine'. I've no other emphasis on any track.

RAWILLUMINATION: How many instruments do you play? I know you are a turntable player and a drummer, but I heard guitars and all sorts of instruments on the new album.

STEVE PRATT: I do indeed play drums, turntables and a smidge of guitars. I also make noises with my mouth. I hate to burst the bubble of wonder for you, but I did not play any instruments on First Trip. Everything you hear is by Fuckup, Sol and Udio. I'm simply a producer, arranger, lyricist and co-song writer. A curator (much like a DJ) These distinctions are fuzzy at best. My M.O was to imagine music that might raise at least a smile, or belly laugh, from Bob.

Illustration by Bobby Campbell 

RAWILLUMINATION: What part did you play in the music for the Cosmic Trigger play?

STEVE PRATT: As music director I had a hand in composing some of the music, but there were contributions from other musicians and producers....plus the previous musical director had written songs. During the stage performances I played drums for scene transitions. I have a lot of unused music and sounds from the play that I hope to revisit in the future.

RAWILLUMINATION:  The Internet archive has a collection of live recordings by the jazz fusion band Garaj Mahal. Is there any easy way to find the recordings that feature you on turntable performing with them?

STEVE PRATT: Yeah, put "Fly Agaric 23" in the Archive search window, for a selection of my live turntable jammin' in the U.S. (2000-2005) Keep your ears peeled for the new album by Garaj Mahal with some very special guests ;-) 

Also, this show was a particularly good one imho (with special guest Leo Nocentelli from my fav. funk band of all time....The Meters!)   

https://archive.org/details/garaj2003-10-31.flac16   (Avalon Ballroom Halloween 2003).

RAWILLUMINATION: What do you want people to know about The First Trip that I neglected to ask about? 

STEVE PRATT: There will be more trips, tracks and albums as the TOI project progresses, some will be made using Fuckup/Sol/Udio A.I., others will not. Whatever it is, it's gotta' be funky with an accent on the FUN part.

Steven James Pratt bibliography

Spore of the Words/Shanigums Wave (2011)

Fly: Selected Poetry 2001-2017 (2017)

Cannabis Coffeeshop Journal (2018)

Sounds Fly: Music Writing (2018)

Big Chief: Getting High With John Sinclair and the Fly (2018)

Silent But Dudley: Writings on the Black Country (2018)

Flying: Selected Writing (2018)

Passport to Poetry: Brexit (2018)

Fly on the Tale of the Tribe: A Rollercoaster Ride With Robert Anton Wilson (2019)

Fly Papers: Cannabis Writing 2018-2020 (2020)

2020 Squintin Quartino (2020)

Deep Scratch: Novel (2020)

Flyku: Poetry (2020)

Corona Slayer: Poetry (2021)

Prose Piracy: Selected Writing (2021)

New Growth: Selected Writings (2022)

Deep Scratch Remix (2023)

Steven James Pratt Discography 

Robert Anton Wilson meets Steve “Fly Agaric” Pratt (2016)

They Came to Starburg (2016)

Corona Slayer (2022)

Deep Scratch Remix (2023)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round One (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Two (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Three (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Four (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Five (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Six (2024)

Folkin' Around Elections (2024)

Deep Scratch Vs. Udio: Round Seven (2024)

The First Trip (2024)