{"id":335,"date":"2010-09-14T05:37:04","date_gmt":"2010-09-14T10:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2010-09-14T05:37:04","modified_gmt":"2010-09-14T10:37:04","slug":"the-howard-jones-interview-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/09\/14\/the-howard-jones-interview-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"The Howard Jones Interview, part one"},"content":{"rendered":"

Howard Jones\u2019 name is one of those that \u2013 to American audiences, at least \u2013 is most closely associated with early 80s MTV. His bouncy and upbeat (yet substantial) hits were a mainstay of the channel\u2019s early programming. Jones\u2019 sound was a danceable pop-rock imbued with then-current synthesizer sounds, and some of his visual cues \u2013 his hair, the mime that traveled as part of his stage show \u2013 are iconic images of the era.<\/em><\/p>\n

Like most of us, Howard Jones has matured since the 80s. His music has remained keyboard-centric, and his lyrical themes remain close to home. But his choice of instrumentation on <\/em>Ordinary Heroes (his latest album) may surprise anyone who hasn\u2019t followed his work in recent years. On the occasion of that album\u2019s release, I spent some time in conversation with Howard Jones. <\/em><\/p>\n

Bill Kopp: <\/strong>One of my first thoughts upon listening to Ordinary Heroes<\/em> was an obvious one, that this represents a departure for you. But as I listened further I came to the conclusion that while it might be a stylistic departure from your earliest recordings, it\u2019s not so much a thematic one. From my standpoint, all of your music is — lyrically speaking — at once both introspective and about \u201cbig ideas.\u201d Do you think that\u2019s an accurate assessment?<\/font><\/p>\n

Howard Jones: <\/strong>Yes. Absolutely. For me, that\u2019s the thread that runs through all of my work. Exactly as you said. I like to do all sorts of things, to present my music in different styles. But in all of it, what I\u2019m saying has a common theme. That\u2019s true right back to the beginning. So I definitely agree with you there; that\u2019s very astute.<\/p>\n

\"Howard<\/center>Bill Kopp: <\/strong>This is perhaps another obvious point, but the music on Ordinary Heroes<\/em> seems much more adult, mature than your earlier work, which could easily be described as youthful and exuberant. Would you agree with that?<\/font><\/p>\n

Howard Jones:<\/strong> [laughs] I know what you mean. It\u2019s just that this is a particularly personal selection of songs, really. I\u2019m talking about some quite personal things. Take \u201cSoon You\u2019ll Go,\u201d which is about my daughter leaving home. And \u201cYou Knew Us So Well\u201d is about a friend of mine who took their own life. And so I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve got that <\/em>personal previously.<\/p>\n

But I think that is a good move for me, and it was certainly appropriate with this album. I just had a collection of songs that suited a kind of intimate, grown-up sort of presentation. But the next album will probably be much more [laughs] banging and electronic!<\/p>\n

\"Howard<\/p>\n

I treat everything like a project now, and I don\u2019t get too worried about how different it was to the last thing. Because I know I\u2019m going to make another record, and I think the fans are really happy to come on this journey with me. I don\u2019t do the same thing every time, and they\u2019re kind of used to that. That\u2019s what I am. That\u2019s who I am as an artist.\u00a0 So I just have <\/em>to do it, really.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> I was speaking to a friend recently. We had just gone to the memorial service for the wife of a friend. On the drive home were talking about this: there\u2019s a time in your life when all of your friends are getting married. Then all of your friends are having kids, then at least two-thirds of your friends are getting divorced. And then their kids and yours are going away to college \u2013 like my daughter did a couple of years ago \u2013 and then you start going to funerals.<\/font><\/p>\n

And so, on some level, if you\u2019re going to be true to the things that are knocking around in your head, you\u2019ve got to be writing about different things than you were when you were twenty-two.<\/font><\/p>\n

Howard Jones:<\/strong> Exactly. That\u2019s a good way of putting it. I\u2019m very aware that my fans and me, we\u2019re getting older together. And we are experiencing different things in our lives. And I like to write about them, because I think the mission of an artist is to articulate stuff that\u2019s going on, and our response to it. Questioning it: that\u2019s the job of the artist. Then people can listen, and go, \u201cOh yeah, that\u2019s how I<\/em> feel; that expresses my feelings about this as well. I actually don\u2019t have the time to do it myself, but\u2026\u201d And artists like me, that\u2019s what we do. That\u2019s our function. I very much think of it like that.<\/p>\n

\"Howard<\/center>Bill Kopp: <\/strong>The musical approach is very straightforward. I listened to the album closely, in an otherwise quiet room. And one thing that struck me, perhaps because I\u2019m a keyboard player as well: on nearly every track I can actually hear what I am pretty certain is the sound of you taking your foot off of the sustain pedal!<\/font><\/p>\n

Howard Jones:<\/strong> Yes, that\u2019s right. [laughs] I\u2019ve had a bit of flak for that; some people don\u2019t like that. But for me, when I\u2019m sitting at the piano, that\u2019s what I hear. That\u2019s all part of the sound. And I close-mike the piano. For me to get it to be the most real, you have to get that sound of the dampers coming off the strings. To me, that\u2019s an integral part of what the piano is; not a kind of synthetic, synthesized sound that people are more used to.<\/p>\n

But I just love all that mechanical noise. The piano is a very mechanical instrument, and to hear all that makes it just that <\/em>bit more real. And it connects you to the person playing it.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp: <\/strong>There\u2019s a very intimate vibe to the record, almost as if the listener is in the room with you. I found the sound charming; at first I thought, \u201cWhat? Is that what I think it was?\u201d\u00a0 But then I heard it throughout the record. I don\u2019t think \u2013 other than perhaps on a classical album \u2013 that I\u2019ve ever heard that on a record before<\/font>.<\/p>\n

Howard Jones: <\/strong>Well, I can tell you that I\u2019ve had a couple people who\u2019ve [laughs] wanted to send the album back!<\/p>\n

This album was recorded at 96kbps, a really high resolution. A much higher quality than a CD is. But for me, capturing all that real stuff is what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n

Continued<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Howard Jones\u2019 name is one of those that \u2013 to American audiences, at least \u2013 is most closely associated with early 80s MTV. His bouncy and upbeat (yet substantial) hits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}