By Jim Barber
On top of his epithets as a modern pop music hitmaker par excellence, award winning songwriter, star of the video age, and overall well-respected musician and exceptional human, U.K. pop sensation Howard Jones has now added concert festival impresario to his curriculum vitae.
Wanting to put together an assemblage of like-minded artists and bands to celebrate the power of music, particularly the music that emanated from the British Isles during the first years of the iconic 1980s, Jones has created and curated the new Things Can Only Get Better Festival, which will run throughout North America this July and August. The tour, which features Jones and his band headlining, also features 1980s British pop stalwarts Wang Chung, The English Beat and Modern English, who will begin their celebration of the music and culture of that pre-eminent decade on July 19 in Napa California, before heading east in August before winding up on the U.S. eastern seaboard.
The final show of the tour will actually take place in Canada, at The Bowl at Sobey’s Stadium in Toronto, on Sunday, Aug. 23. Canada, as many of Jones’ fans will already know, holds a special place in the 70-year-old singer/songwriter’s heart, as he lived in the outskirts of the nation’s capital, Ottawa, on two different occasions as child and later a teenager. It was during the latter of these tenures in the Great White North that Jones joined his first band and began a performing life that is now pushing 55 years.
Jones said he’s been a part of these sorts of package tours before, and some of those experiences, especially the memorably wonderful ones, have a Canadian connection, which inspired his involvement in the Things Can Only Get Better happening.
“I’ve always wanted to do one of these myself, to be honest. I’ve been part of some of these tours before and I always thought that the brand of the show overtook the name of the artist, for one thing. And I didn’t want that to happen to my tour. And, you know, I toured with the Barenaked Ladies who are great friends of mine, and the do their Last Summer on Earth festival tour and invited people from their genre. But they also invited people from the 1980s one time and I was on that one with them. And I really, really liked that vibe. So that really inspired me to want to do my own version of that,” he explained, adding that as a very young musician during his stint living in Ottawa, he was part of a pretty impressive package show.
“My very first gig was in Ottawa, and the lineup was The Who, The Troggs and the 1910 Fruitgum Company, so it was pretty eclectic, and it was just brilliant. I will never forget it, it was fantastic. I remember The Troggs were dressed in white suits with blue and green shoes and they were just great. And of course The Who smashed the gear up at the end. Shows like that are really great for the fans. It’s quite a long day but I think people know they’re going to like everything they see.”
Personal connections also helped in the choice of acts to accompany Jones on the tour, as he wanted as little possibility of ego conflicts and rancor as possible as everyone crisscrosses the continent in this travelling road show.
“I personally know all of them, although some of them I haven’t toured with. I know Jack Hues of Wang Chung really well. And part of the philosophy was to create a harmonious group of bands, which is really important on a tour like this. There’s a nice, friendly atmosphere between the bands, and that’s one of my aims because otherwise, that’ll come across to the audience if there’s some sort of grievance going on between the bands. I don’t want that. I want everybody to be looked after and to have a good experience,” he said, before talking about why he likes and chose Wang Chung, Modern English and The English Beat for the tour.
“Wang Chung worked with my great friend [drummer/songwriter/producer] Chris Hughes who produced a couple of my tracks, so I got to know Jack through that. And then Jack invited me to come and do a songwriting seminar when he was a professor at Sussex University, so I got to know him there and his family. I just love Wang Chung’s pop sensibility. Their big hits [‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight,’ ‘Dance Hall Days’] were so beautifully done and well done. And English Beat [‘Save it For Later,’ ‘Mirror In the Bathroom’], when they play, there’s incredible energy in that ska genre, which I absolutely love. The energy from that band is so exciting to watch and hear. I even sang with them on stage a couple of times at some point. Then there was a tour our band did with Modern English [‘I Melt With You’] on it. I don’t know those guys so well, but I really love the music and feel they fit in well with this tour.”
The discussion with Music Life Magazine began to delve deeper into why 1980s music, particularly the pop music emanating from the U.K., continues to be so vital and influential, not just with the original fan base, but with succeeding generations.
“I think one of the things that’s very striking about that era is that there are so many genres of music going on at the same time, all having their own sort of mini tribal following. So if you look at it as a whole, it’s like celebrating diverse musical taste. I mean, personally, I liked all of it. I love the electronic 1980s, I like the indie, early U2 1980s. I like the Culture Club, soulful 1980s. I loved all of it. I think a lot of people liked that and the fact that the tracks you’d hear back-to-back on the radio were so different. People had their own great personality and confidence about their genre. People weren’t trying to be like something or somebody else. They wanted to be authentic to what they loved and what they created. So I think that’s why it’s such an important part of pop history, because of that diversity. And I think that’s why it survived all these decades. It did go through a bad time where it was kind of looked down upon, but now people really get it. It’s a great body of work from a lot of people,” Jones said, adding that it wasn’t just the compelling nature of these multi-genre artists that has left such an indelible mark on modern culture, but that the music of the 1980s became married so much to visuals because of the advent of music video stations, which in turn led to the music being connected to specific fashions, all of which then translated down to impacting movies and television, making for a true cultural and creative apotheosis that hasn’t really been repeated since.
“It was a cultural phenomenon. For a start, MTV was coming on. And even with my early shows, we had a VHS player and two TV screens playing back stuff that we’d made and also friends had made, so that video, that visual element was there early on. We were thinking not just about the music, but about how it looked and the visuals. Of course so many of us were inspired by Mr. David Bowie who was really thinking about presentation and combining all of these elements years before we arrived on the scene. So it became not just the music, but about how that idea, that emotion could be expressed visually and in the way you dress, the way you have your hair. That was the first time that had really sort of taken root and people were actually making proper films to go with the music. That did set that time apart from other eras and meant that everyone involved had to be more creative, to be honest, because you couldn’t hide away and be anonymous. You had to be like, ‘this is me. This is what I look like.’ And, you know, you have to make that part interesting as well, which I think was challenging. But for me, this is what we were like, like a performance art act, with Jed [Jed Hoile, a mime artist and dancer who would do improvised, interpretive dance on stage with Jones for a few years in the mid 1980s] doing the dancing and the characters and the costumes and me interacting with him. So, we were all thinking visually.”
Jones’ music always seemed to be a little more positive, a little more original, and more thoughtful than a lot of the other pop music of the early 1980s, not that the entire era wasn’t colourfully vibrant and uplifting as a collective whole. But there was a depth of craft and also a depth of meaning to the material, which makes sense when you consider that Jones was not writing and recording in a vacuum. He wasn’t holed up in a studio for countless hours monkeying around with sounds, melodies, chord progressions and rhythms. Jones was a working musician trying to make his living as well as a name for himself. In the same way that a rock band, or punk band or metal band had to ‘pay their dues,’ Jones too had to tour and perform relentlessly in pubs and clubs and halls throughout the U.K. once he moved back after his early musical experiences while living in Canada.
“At the time, I am just writing what I feel, and a lot of it was coming from me developing those songs in front of a live audience. I was, in essence, a one-man electronic band. I had to engage the audience. I couldn’t sort of step back and be part of the group on stage. The fact was that the audience had to be part of what I was doing, and I think that affected the writing in a sense that I wanted to write choruses and hooks and melodies that people could sing back to me. So that’s one element. And another thing was that I wanted to almost react or respond to some of the things that were going on in British pop at the time, a lot of which was quite dark and quite depressed in tone and delivery. And I wasn’t going to be that person. It wasn’t that I didn’t know about or acknowledge depression or cynicism. I was very familiar with that within myself. But I wanted to write songs that were uplifting, and I think people tagged on to that. And the songs, you know, have stood the test of time, so I’m obviously very grateful, but it was not a plan. It was just me being who I was. And who I was was someone interested in melody and using what I had around me to make the music that I was inspired to make,” he explained.
“I did get portrayed as someone who was following trends in the British press, but it’s absolutely not true. It was my own sound. I’m writing my own songs. And it was the look that I felt comfortable in, that fit the music I was making. It was just part of me. The sound I made was to do with the synthesizers that were available to me at the time in my local music shop, because I didn’t have a lot of money at all. It was all very, very organic. I was a piano player since the age of seven, but I also had a real interest in technology and knew that doing something different and new was, to me, the goal of the whole thing. I loved songs, and I loved the classic songwriting structure and wanted to work in that vein as well. I mean, in the early days, I did, like, two years of gigging in tiny clubs and pubs, building an audience. That was where it was borne, my style and my sound, because I was getting instant feedback from the audience. I remember the first time I played ‘New Song,’ people went crazy, and it was in a tiny pub. I ended up playing it three times that night because it got such a reaction. That was the way to do it, you’re test driving your work.”
Also, there is a misconception that the electronic music of the late 1970s and early 1980s was at the same advanced level of technical sophistication as it is today. Jones grew into his idiom having to find the sounds on various analog keyboards in the days before MIDI and triggering, and entire armies of keyboard patches arrayed and played through a laptop.
“My hero was Keith Emerson [of prog-rock legends Emerson, Lake and Palmer]. I saw him for the first time at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, and saw the second gig they did where he had a Moog Modular on stage for the first time. These things deeply affect you don’t they, those early experiences of music get embedded in. So I had grown up with that music. But I still wanted to do something different, and all of the things, the classic piano, the playing in clubs, seeing Keith Emerson’s equipment, all these things add up to what I came up with,” he said adding that there really was no intent to create music that ended up having the longevity and continuing popularity of his catalogue, which features iconic 1980s tunes such as ‘Everlasting Love,’ ‘Life In One Day,’ the aforementioned ‘New Song,’ ‘Like to Get to Know You Well,’ ‘What Is Love?’ and ‘No One is to Blame.’
“It’s very difficult to be objective about your own work, because I was just following the notes, just following what sounds good to me. I’m not trying to be anyone else. I just want to make music that sounds good to me, and if it sounds good to me, maybe other people will like it. That’s what I did when I was first starting out in the pubs, and it’s what I still do when I write today.”
Perhaps a reason why there seems to be a continued, if not revived resonance for 1980s music is that the overwhelming vibe it gives off is one of nostalgic remembrance, of better days and better times, of youth and freedom. Tough times will draw people back to the music of their youth, or it will become discovered by those who weren’t there for its original incarnations as they seek something more organic and more positive. Regardless, the fact that Jones and many of his 1980s pop contemporaries are still able to tour, to make and sell records, and to inspire continuing generations of music lovers and vinyl collectors is testament to the power of music to change hearts and minds, and to raise spirits.
“I think music is more important than ever. I went to see Bruce Springsteen in L.A. just recently and witnessed his response to what’s going on in the world and in the country [The U.S.], and it was very direct, to the point, and the audience was absolutely loving what he was saying. And then I just finished doing four shows with Rod Stewart and his response was singing a particular song, ‘Get on the Love Train,’ that old soul classic, and then the video screens behind were showing headlines of what’s going on in the world, and we all know who the main protagonist is in that. My approach will never be so overt as that. But, I mean, we’re calling it the ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ tour. So it’s all about hanging on to yourself. Don’t get discouraged. Everyone’s got the power to change and affect the future. So don’t lose hope. The world has gone through difficult times in the past and we will get through this. But it means that we have to stand up in our ordinary lives if we see injustice going on. We must stand up and say so. That’s my approach to it,” he said.
“I think for many there’s also just the pure escapism. I think everyone needs a break from the tension and just viewing the news. At times, it’s enough to make you want to give up on everything. So art and music can provide a bit of respite from that, but also encouragement to keep going and keep being hopeful and realizing how important every single person is. For me, I know I am doubling down on being kind to whoever I’m meeting. I’m doubling down on being respectful to the people I meet. And we can all have an impact by our own personal actions. I’ve always thought that just saying things that are contradictory to what other people think can just backfire and just polarize everyone. What I think the greatest creative influences from the past have done is to point out the things that we have in common with everyone, and our common humanity. We need to keep pointing that out, not just the differences of opinion, otherwise everything just gets fragmented and polarized.
“I just remind myself when I’m singing the lyrics of ‘Things Can Only Get Better,’ you know the middle of the bridge there’s the part ‘and do you feel scared. I do. But I won’t stop and falter.’ It’s not going to destroy me, and if we threw it all away, if we got it all wrong, we can make it. Tomorrow we can make it better. So there’s always a chance to do that. When I am singing those lines, they are embedded in my head and it reminds me to keep doing that, to keep having that attitude.”
Part of that attitude includes writing, recording and performing new music. Jones never really took a break, even when the pop music of his idiom was out of fashion, releasing four albums in the 1990s, and seven since the dawn of the millennium, including a number of piano-centered records.
“I’m going to play a new song, a brand-new song on the tour. It’s called ‘Stand Up’ and it was inspired by a Jesse Jackson poem. [Longtime American Civil Rights activist] Rev. Jesse Jackson just recently passed away. And the poem is called ‘I Am Somebody.’ I was very moved by the poem; its simplicity and its message. The song goes, ‘stand up, you are somebody, don’t let no one put you down.’ Because this courage needs to be brought to the surface in everyone’s life. You are important. Every single person is important and the effect that you can have as an individual is important, and please exercise it. So that’s what that song is about. Stand up and realize how great you are. That was the first track I’ve done, and I’m working on a second one. I’ve got lots of ideas, so it is going to be a new album, which is going to be called Global Citizen,” he said, adding that there’s no reason, he believes, that the concept of an album will even really go out of style as a vehicle for releasing music.
“I think as an artist, it’s good to do a body of work that has a connection with itself, you know. Obviously, I grew up with that, so I am very comfortable with doing that. It’s a collection of eight or 10 songs that come from a certain period in your life, and that hopefully reflect what’s going on internally in your life, but also explains a view of what’s going on in the world too.”
Jones said that Modern English, The English Beat and Wang Chung will play concise, hit-packed sets of about 30 minutes each, before he and his full band and production will cap the show with a full set.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s going to be absolutely great, and I’m putting a lot of thought into what I’m going to play and what I’m going to say. My responsibility is to make sure that the other bands have a good time because that’s very important. That’s part of the philosophy of what I do, so I am trying to think of all the things I need to do to get all those things right,” he said.
“Of course we also have [legendary 1980s DJ] Richard Blade with us, and he can cover for when there’s the band changeovers. He is such a great character to have on the tour as well. He’s there to talk about interesting things from that era, because he knows everyone basically from that time and can talk about it and have fun with the audience telling them little facts and stories. He’s sort of like a pop professor and historian. It’s going to be very cool.”
For more information on the Things Can Only Get Better tour and forthcoming new music, visit http://www.howardjones.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for more than 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he works as a communications and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his community. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
