Bob Ezrin's resumé is arsenic awesome arsenic it is diverse. Over his five-decade career, the legendary Canadian euphony shaper has worked with dozens of artists, from Alice Cooper and Jane's Addiction to Taylor Swift and Andrea Bocelli.
"Most radical don't recognize what I bash for a living," helium told CBC's Ian Hanomansing successful a wide-ranging interview.
"You're dealing with highly talented, often precise high-strung radical oregon analyzable people, and you're trying to get the champion show retired of them you perchance tin connected each level."
For Ezrin, that enactment has included conception development, co-writing, arranging and dependable design. But it has also required getting much intimate with a band, with Ezrin often playing the relation of psychologist, confessor oregon protector — sometimes each successful 1 day.
That enactment often came astatine a idiosyncratic outgo — from being individually called retired successful reviews to a falling-out with an "apoplectic" Roger Waters — but his collaborations person helped make genre-defining releases, similar KISS's slick Destroyer from 1976 and Pink Floyd's transcendental 1979 conception medium The Wall.
Now, arsenic helium celebrates receiving a Governor General's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement, the 76-year-old philharmonic icon reflected connected everything from signaling with Pink Floyd to reworking KISS's dependable — and wherefore helium decided to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
WATCH | Ezrin explains his role: Bob Ezrin explains the relation of the shaper erstwhile making music
Inside the signaling process for The Wall
One of Ezrin's vocation highlights came portion signaling The Wall. He fondly remembers moving with guitarist David Gilmour erstwhile helium played the iconic archetypal solo connected Comfortably Numb, 1 of the band's astir iconic songs.
Gilmour's 2 solos connected the way are consistently regarded arsenic immoderate of the champion of each time. Ezrin says helium recognized the powerfulness of that archetypal solo arsenic soon arsenic Gilmour started playing on with the track.
"I did get tears successful my eyes. It conscionable blew maine away," helium said. "Like, it's truthful majestic and truthful melodically cleanable and truthful serves the story, you know, successful a mode that conscionable regular orchestration oregon different things similar that could ne'er person done."
WATCH | Being successful the country for Comfortably Numb: What was it similar to beryllium successful the workplace for the Comfortably Numb solo
That infinitesimal of perfection came during a famously acrimonious play for Pink Floyd.
Main lyricist Waters had started to asseverate his primacy wrong the band, Ezrin said. The project was based connected Waters's life, truthful helium had a deep, proprietary feeling astir it, and was astatine archetypal resistant to input from the others.
'No points for Ezrin'
Even with the tension, Ezrin says determination were immoderate bully times — "laughter, kibitzing, messing around" — arsenic good arsenic immoderate schoolyard bullying.
"There was a batch of picking connected me," said Ezrin. "One time I showed up aft we had taken a interruption and everybody had 'NOPE' buttons, N-O-P-E. And what it stood for was 'No Points for Ezrin.'" (Points meaning royalties for the medium sales.)
"I didn't deliberation it was that serious, and aboriginal connected I recovered retired that they were much superior than I thought," said Ezrin, who noted that successful the extremity helium did get paid for the project.
When the medium wrapped, Waters and Ezrin had a large falling-out, aft Ezrin inadvertently gave distant immoderate secrets astir The Wall tour to a Billboard journalist.
"Roger went perfectly nuclear, apoplectic," said Ezrin. "And helium had each close to."
The narration betwixt the 2 men has ne'er afloat recovered, and the rift whitethorn person deepened successful caller years, with Ezrin adjacent regretting parts of The Wall.
"There are immoderate parts … I privation I hadn't done," helium said, calling elements of the medium "almost neo-fascistic."
The medium includes fascist imagery to represent the protagonist's downward spiral, arsenic helium yet hallucinates being a neo-Nazi leader. Ezrin says helium utilized to deliberation the references were done satirically, but helium present believes Waters wasn't joking.
"He wasn't kidding. He truly wasn't kidding astir immoderate of that stuff," Ezrin said.
In caller years, Waters has been accused of repeated antisemitism, with witnesses claiming to person heard him marque derogatory references to Jews. He has publically denied being antisemitic, and has repeatedly said that The Wall is anti-fascist.
Tweaking an iconic band's image
While Ezrin's accumulation is chiefly good regarded by fans and peers, captious reception hasn't ever been positive. He laughs erstwhile helium recalls the archetypal clip helium worked with the set KISS, connected their 4th workplace album, Destroyer.
"The archetypal reappraisal for Destroyer was conscionable devastating," helium said. "And successful information the reviewer said thing like, 'I've got a caput to spell up to Toronto and punch Bob Ezrin successful the chemoreceptor connected behalf of KISS fans everywhere.'"
This benignant of happening utilized to hap due to the fact that helium was often hired to alteration the absorption of a philharmonic act, helium said.
WATCH | How Ezrin made KISS get vulnerable: How Bob Ezrin convinced KISS to soften their representation
For KISS, Ezrin was brought successful to effort and broaden their audience, which helium said astatine the clip was mostly "15-year-old pimply boys."
He told the set they needed to amusement a much susceptible broadside to make involvement from "the girls of America."
That included reworking the opus Beth, changing it from what helium called a "screw-you" benignant of opus to a "gentle, sweet" ballad that was astir lullaby-like, adding successful a soft melody and a walking bass line.
He besides worked to marque the wide dependable much polished than the band's earlier albums.
It was a immense departure for KISS. And portion the alterations did choler immoderate die-hard fans, the program worked. Destroyer became the archetypal KISS medium to beryllium certified platinum.
Returning location to Canada
Ezrin says helium is grateful to beryllium recognized with the Governor General's Award. It coincides with a large determination for him — helium announced successful February he'd beryllium renouncing his U.S. citizenship and returning to Toronto, aft 4 decades of surviving successful the States. The governmental clime had go excessively polarized, helium said.
Several months in, helium says he's comfy with his decision. As for what his American friends think, helium joked, "Many of them privation to beryllium adopted."
WATCH | Ezrin connected the U.S. governmental climate: Bob Ezrin renounced his U.S. citizenship and returned to Canada
Now, astatine 76, helium continues to work. He precocious finished an medium with the archetypal Alice Cooper Band, and helium is wrapping up a task with the English stone set Deep Purple.
"Sometimes I person to benignant of pinch myself. Because I conscionable bash what I do," helium said. "But I truly admit the designation and I admit being appreciated.
"It conscionable fills maine with a lukewarm feeling of belonging … to this culture, this country."
How Bob Ezrin made Pink Floyd’s The Wall | Full interview