According to UK music mogul, Alan McGee, “The Puzzle from Hungary rock like a motherf*cker…”.
I first heard The Puzzle’s Gyuri Ligeti perform a few months ago, during an almost solo set in Buda’s Rézmál Kávezó. The acoustics weren’t ideal, the layout even less so, but Gyuri’s rasping voice, set against complex acoustic rhythms (and lime-green skinny jeans to rival mine), was enough to keep me from the bustling terrace outside. As well as a great performer, I discovered afterwards that he’s also a great guy, with a British and Hungarian patchwork of a rock & roll past. I caught up with him again at an intimate studio gig, where he delivered another acoustic set with Balázs Zságer (of Zagar – whom he also provides guest vocals for) on piano, Zoli Beck (of 30Y) on vocals and guitar, a sitar player, African drums and his usual band, The Puzzle. Impressive as ever, with an indie sound embossed with his own signature style (the girl next to me likened him to “Bob Dylan on speed”), I wanted to find out more about the man behind the trousers…
How would you describe the Puzzle’s sound?
I always describe it as rock & roll, or rock music. We’ve definitely got an indie sound.
You’ve recently returned from a long period in the UK. What took you there?
Well, we we’d been performing in Hungary for a while, but it was 2004, and the indie sound really hadn’t hit most people here; it hadn’t become accepted yet. Hungary, at the time, just didn’t get it. Of course, in England, that was where the indie scene was all happening, where it was all taking off, with bands like Oasis and The Verve. So, we decided London was where we needed to be.
How did you come to be so involved in the UK indie scene while you were there?
In London, Alan McGee (patron of bands including Oasis and Primal Scream) saw us play and listened to one of our albums – we’d recorded one in English by that time. He liked what he heard, made some stylistic suggestions, gave us a lot of support and publicity, and we began to get given spots at things like his Death Disco nights – which we always headlined.
How did all of that feel, after not being accepted in Hungary?
I really liked it. And it was so good to feel that, there, we could be well received by an audience – despite the fact that we were foreign. In fact, I don’t think many people in the crowds we played to actually realized we weren’t British! A lot of people thought I was from the north of England, because of my accent.
After having worked and lived in both, could you compare life in London and Budapest for us?
Well, first of all, for me, London was a much easier place to live. It was a much easier place to work, too. I don’t feel like I can be secure in Hungary – because of the lifestyle that’s possible, I mean. You need to be much more careful with your money, and always be thinking about it; whereas, in London, I felt that I was freed from that. As a result, I was freer to create. No matter how creative a place may make you feel, it’s unavoidable to be affected by your monetary situation. Things were so much more affordable for me when I was working in London – for example, I bought three guitars there; I’ve never bought a single one in Hungary.
Before you went to the UK, how much did you know about the indie scene there? Who were you most excited about seeing live?
Well, before I traveled there, The Verve were my heroes. They split up, unfortunately, before I arrived. I saw Richard Ashcroft perform as a solo artist, though. Because of our strong connection with Alan (McGee), we were able to watch and perform with so many bands who were at the center of it all. People like The Hives, The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things and The Babyshambles. Many of them were just starting out, so it was a really exciting time to be there. Of course, we were influenced stylistically by what we were exposed to.
Did you encounter any difficulties in the UK?
Although I’ve said that a lot of people didn’t realize we were Hungarian, I did end up feeling like not being British created barriers for us. Indie music was a very British thing at the time, so why would people there need a foreign band who were doing the same thing? It’s like Hungarian paprika or pálinka. We do those things so well, so why would we want or need to import foreign brands? A Hungarian wouldn’t buy a Yugoslavian pálinka, and indie rock is a British thing. I also think that, at the time, people there wanted to find “The New Beatles”, and, of course, they needed to be British. I could never see a border of any kind, but I could always feel that something was there, and I think that was it.
Like I said, though, I never felt hostility from the crowds we performed to. I felt it from within the industry. That’s a completely different thing.
How did the UK and Hungarian music industries compare?
In the UK, we were signed to the small, independent label Weekender. Here in Hungary, we’re with Universal – which is, of course, much larger! Due to the size of the two being very different, it’s difficult to compare working within the two fairly. What I do feel, though, is that in the UK, as an artist, you feel that you’re very much working within, and sometimes against, an industry. In Hungary, I really don’t see that same industry as existing. We don’t have an industry here, not in the same sense as the UK, and I think that frees a lot of musicians up. In the UK, you have to be close to the fire; here it doesn’t matter.
Do you think your experience of the UK music industry changed you in any way?
Definitely. After London we’d definitely changed – it changed us. In the beginning, we saw music as an art; we always saw ourselves as artists. It ended up, though, seeming like it wasn’t an art at all. We began to see it all as a business, and now we can see how that business works, which I’m sure has changed us… although, we’ve still never had an agent.
Now you’re back in Hungary, how does it feel?
Coming back felt like a really, really big change. It feels good to be here in a lot of ways. In Hungary, I feel that we can talk about the music itself instead of the business.
You were away from the music scene here for a long time. How do you view the work being produced now? Who should we look out for?
To be honest, I’m not really familiar with many bands here at the moment. My interest lies more with older Hungarian bands – people like Illés, who are a bit like the Beatles in style, and were working in the late 60s. I also like the 80s instrumental band, Solaris, and Első Emelet, who are a bit like Duran Duran in style.
You recently made your debut as a DJ on the A38. Can you tell me more about that and how it came about?
Yes, DJing is a bit of a strange thing for me to be doing, really! We decided (30Y’s Beck Zoli and I) that we should have a go at DJing using old cassettes – like the discos we used to have at kindergarten. We had some really good DJs! I discovered I had a deck where you could change the speed of tracks, and Zoli pointed out that he had all his favorite music on cassettes. So, we came up with the idea of DJ using nothing but cassettes and old fashioned equipment.
What’s been your most rock & roll moment, so far?
Playing completely drunk on national TV here a few nights ago… it was a kids’ charity thing!
Finally, where can people catch you in Hungary over the next few months?
Well, off the top of my head, The Puzzle will be at the Sziget Festival (in Budapest), the Volt festival (in Sopron), the SZIN Festival (in Szeged), the Fishing on Orfű Fesztivál (in Orfű) and we’ll be playing with Supersonic at Gödör in June… I’m sure there are more, though!
For more information on The Puzzle and their summer schedule, see
http://www.myspace.com/thepuzzlerocks
Amy Weston