Truth be told, the sessions of his discontent came while he was a working musician, playing in his own bands and with his current co-writing partner Polly Jean Harvey. It wasn't until producer Richard Master (the Fall, the Fleshtones, Wall Of Voodoo) showed Parish a brand-new way of working in the studio that he started to see the myriad possibilities a session could afford.

"Richard was a real supporter of what I was doing," says Parish. "When I first went into the studio with him, he was alive with ideas of how to disrupt the studio, which was not something I had ever considered before.

"I had thought studios were about doing the right thing to get a good sound, and I had always been vaguely dissatisfied with what I used to come out with. That dissatisfaction tended to be compounded by the fact that everybody would say, 'It never sounds as good on tape as it does live.' "

By contrast, Master would approach the studio "in what seemed to be the wrong way," says Parish. "He wouldn't necessarily use the most expensive microphone, or he wouldn't necessarily clean up tracks for the sake of it.

"He would toss almost anything into the pot to see if it works. I found that pretty liberating, and that's kind of stuck with me since I've been producing myself."

Parish has been able to apply the Master-inspired approach on various projects, including Giant Sand, a mercurial rock band headed by Howe Gelb that has featured a rotating hodgepodge of players since it was formed in the mid-'80s.

"What's enjoyable about doing records is that every one of them is completely different," he observes. "Just when I thought I had a handle on what I was doing, I work with Giant Sand, and every rule was sort of turned on its head. With most bands, when you record them, you tend to have an idea what song they're about to start playing and who's going to be playing what instrument, and they'll probably even going to give you a count in.

"Giant Sand just doesn't operate like that. The guys kind of roll into the studio, and before you know it they're playing something, and then you realize it's a take and they're doing the lead vocals and all the overdubs in one hit, and you haven't got a tape running and you haven't even got a microphone on."

Being a multitalented guitarist, keyboardist, percussionist, and vocalist, Parish has been able to contribute to his projects as both a player and a producer, depending on the situation. "Some records I've ended up playing quite a lot of the instruments and offered serious contributions to the arrangements," he explains. "Other records I kind of sit in the back of the room and say, 'Yeah, that sounds good'--where you end up being almost a critic."

For 16 Horsepower's latest release on A&M Records, Low Estate, Parish took the more active role. "I ended up playing quite a few things on the record because often they'd be playing something, and something would hit me, like maybe a xylophone or a slight guitar line or maybe an organ," he says. "Rather than explaining it to one of the band members, I might just pop in and put it down myself and see what they thought." Although Parish has been increasingly visible as a producer--other credits include Elliot Green's United States, Parish and Harvey's Dance Hall At Louse Point and Harvest Ministers' Orbit--he is particular about the projects he takes on. "I don't actually do that many records, maybe a couple a year if that," he says. "For the records I do, I have to be really interested in the band and I have to feel like I can relate to them on a musical and a personal level. It would be terrible to be involved in something just because I can do it--just as job. I wouldn't particularly enjoy that."

That's a lesson he learned after his first production credit. After he had produced some of his own albums, Parish was asked to work on an album by an independent band called the Chesterfields. "I got that job purely because they happened to live on the same street as me," he says with a laugh.

"They just had a deal and I didn't really know them, but they knew I'd been in the studio and kind of made a record myself. They had no idea what to do, so they came and asked me if I could help them in the studio. I really didn't know what I was doing at all, but I could just about keep the guitars in tune, and that sort of kept them happy. The ridiculous thing is that the record came out and was kind of an independent chart hit here in England, and it had my name on it as the producer. So when people started phoning me up, I was completely taken by surprise."

Born April 11, 1959, Parish started playing music in his hometown of Yeovil, England. He formed a band called Automatic Dlamini with drummer Rob Ellis (who later played in Harvey's band and is now in Spleen), bassist Andy Henderson (now with Echobelly), and guitarist Jeremy Hogg (Harvey). Parish, who played percussion and sang in Automatic Dlamini, met Harvey because the aspiring singer/songwriter was one of the band's biggest fans.

"She was only 18, but she had a very pretty voice, so as ridiculous as it sounds, we needed a background singer so we asked her to join," says Parish. Harvey joined as backup singer and occasional guitarist before venturing off on her own.

Parish has always used his studio experiences to build on his overall knowledge of production. "I can say quite categorically I've never made a record that hasn't helped me with the next one," he says. "I think I've been very lucky with the artists I've worked with. They've all been very creative people that have come up with lots of very good ideas, and that is very stimulating. It would be hard to walk out of a session with somebody like Polly Harvey without having picked up a few good ideas. Same with working with people like Flood, who produced [Harvey's] 'To Bring You My Love.' I picked up a lot working with Flood. I haven't even noticed the slowing down of the learning curve from session to session. I imagine it's quite a depressing and frustrating thing when, and if, it occurs." Parish adds that he hopes his clients have learned something from him. "It would be so embarrassing if it was just a one-way street," he says, laughing.

Many thanks to Heather Myers who kindly provided this article.