Refugee 7 Report post Posted October 6, 2010 Longtime fans and those who respect the work of Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders might think it was quite brave for her to break away from her established band of more than three decades to venture out with JP Jones, a virtually unknown singer/songwriter, and a pick-up band of his Welsh mates. Add to that Hynde's inclination to reject performing any Pretenders material while she crisscrosses the country with this new act supporting their debut project, and her stature may elevate to damn near heroic -- or completely mad, depending on who you ask. The audience at a nearly sold-out show Sept. 30 at Portsmouth, NH's Music Hall had a few disappointed fans who were shouting out Pretenders titles early on. But once they settled down and gave Hynde, Jones, and their backing ensemble of guitarist Patrick Murdoch, bassist Vezio Bacci, and drummer Geoff Holroyd half a chance, they became as mesmerized as the rest of the crowd. And judging by the enthusiastic standing ovation at the end of their live set, it appeared that everyone in the room that evening believed this unique collaboration had quite a bright future. As the story goes, the gregarious-by-nature Jones introduced himself to Hynde at a party in London in November 2008 without any trepidation. Hynde remembers being approached by "some scruffy-looking guy." "He was pretty hammered too, but we managed enough of a conversation for me to ascertain that he was a musician who had recently gone solo after his band split, and that he grew up on a fairground in Wales," she says in the band's press materials. The party was too noisy for the two to talk properly, so Hynde gave Jones her number, told him to call her sometime, then promptly left for a U.S. tour supporting The Pretenders' 2008 album, "Break Up The Concrete." Jones texted her within a few days, wishing her, "All the fairground luck for your show tonight." She replied: "Write a song called 'Fairground Luck.'" He did, and sent it to her the next day. "His voice stopped me in my tracks -- what a voice!" Hynde says. "And the song was like something I'd never heard before. I was totally seduced." When Hynde returned to London, the two went to see the band Big Linda, three members of which went on to become Jones' and Hynde's Fairground Boys. When Hynde embarked on another Pretenders tour, Jones continued to send her song ideas and texts. After winding up The Pretenders final tour, Hynde returned to the UK in need of a "coming-down-from-tour-break," as she puts it. She and Jones met up for coffee and Hynde surprised herself by impulsively suggesting a trip to Cuba. Which is where, on scraps of napkins and matchbook covers, the pair says the bulk of what is the new album came together lyrically and musically. This is where SoundSpike picked up the story: SoundSpike: We've talked to a number of artists -- particularly Jackson Browne, Indigo Girls and JD Souther -- who have been inspired by similar trips. So what is it about Cuba that makes it such a great destination for songwriters? Chrissy Hynde: I think for both of us, it was the sense of isolation. No phones, no nothing. Just wandering around. You know, Cuba is so simple. It's beautiful and quite joyful. It doesn't have that grotesque, over-consumption thing you get in some places. It's very humble -- there's a sweetness about it. JP Jones: Yeah, just a humbleness, and people who are unaffected. When they break something they keep repairing it and repairing it instead of throwing it away. CH: JP brought along this beat-up old guitar, but we didn't go there to write an album. We first started writing as we were walking down the street. We'd have an idea and laugh about it, or we'd be sitting in a cafe eating rice and beans and be scribbling ideas down on a napkin. We were really having a laugh -- we didn't go there saying let's write. We really didn't think about it. The songs came out more from conversations. So it's sort of a frozen-in-time experience? CH: Well, most of the world is frozen in time. It's really only the United States of America that seems to be rushing as fast as it can towards its own demise. If you go to Brazil or India or even the largest places like China, they're getting by. I don't know how accurate it is, but I've heard if everyone lived like Americans, we'd need nine planet earths to support us. We tend to forget here in the United States how isolated we are. The rest of the world operates at a slower pace; they're not as hell bent on consumption. JJ: Even when we wrote the songs, we weren't thinking, wow, it was an album we could release. At first I thought, this is so graphic that anybody who heard it would be horrified. But people really loved the demo, so we said let's do this record. CH (laughing): Most of the people I played it for seem to think it's a comedy album, so for me it was fantastic. On "Fairground Luck," was it JP who came up with that wonderful line about crossing fingers and picking clovers? JJ: I mean, we wrote everything together. CH: That's JP though. He comes from a gypsy background and fairground workers who have all their little superstitions. Half the time I'm looking at him and saying, "Dude, what's that," and I'm brushing stuff off his shoulders and I realize it's salt. If you just observe him for awhile you realize all those little observations are what makes him such a great writer. JJ: It's the bane of my life... And did you really text her the lyrics you wrote for "Fairground Luck," and that's all it took to woo her to your cause? Was it that easy? JJ: Yeah, she said to write a song called "Fairground Luck," and at the time we were away from each other -- she was away on tour. And I wrote all of it about her and my background. And I did it overnight and I sent it to her. That was it. You're often described as this tough, unapproachable type of person, but on "Australia," it almost seems you were destined to meet JP. It's almost like you were waiting with open arms for this special person to come along and there he was... CH: Wait a minute, hang on, let's back up. I'm really defensive because I don't like people I don't know coming up to me wanting to stare into my eyes and trying to touch me. And frankly, who would? I do not live a celebrity lifestyle. I hate being in the limelight unless I'm on stage. I don't court that kind of attention. So if people think I'm defensive, if I see someone and I don't know them -- then they shouldn't come up and pretend they know me. I'm not a gracious star, you know? I'm more like, "Back off pal, I don't even know you." I've thought after all this time that I can't change my personality, but I'm trying to now that I've met JP because he's so friendly and open. Dude, I've been chased down the street. I'd be coming out of the toilet, zipping up my fly and there'd be someone there waiting for me asking for an autograph. Well, you are a ground-breaker and a history-maker ... CH: How have I broke ground, or made history? I've been in a traditional pop rock band all my life. Well, you've been regarded as a driving presence behind many women who have come along after you, citing you as the one giving them the courage to front rock bands themselves. And there's that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing ... CH: Well that's very sweet of you, but I've been doing this for over 30 years. So when I meet somebody like JP, who I think is a genius ... I'm his mother's age, do the math. You can't replace experience with anything. It doesn't mean I'm smarter, and I'm not trying to be self-depreciating here. I've been in the game a long time and I'm still breathing. And you can't buy into that Rock & Roll Hall of Fame -- c'mon, everyone knows that is just industry bullshit. It means nothing -- it's like turning music into sports. I agreed to leave Brazil where I had been happily living my life because my parents would have been mortified if I hadn't come back and done it. Alrighty then, getting back to "Fidelity," were there any specific moments when either of you experienced any emotional breakthroughs as a result of the writing process you chose to produce the material? JJ: When we were walking through Cuba one day I said to Chrissie, "If you were my age, would you marry me and have my kid?" And she said "Yeah, I'd do it right now." And it upset us that we couldn't do that, so we just wrote the whole album about it. It was emotionally difficult because we were writing about something we couldn't have. CH: We were more prophesizing the way it was gonna go. You know, I'll hang around until you find a woman that can give you what you want. We wrote it quickly and while we were hanging out. It's living through our prophesies that is going to be the emotionally hard part. But that's what we're gonna do! If people listen to the album first, I imagine they will be excited about seeing you perform as much of the new album as possible and they won't care about much else. But if they're individual fans of you, JP, or you, Chrissie ... JJ: It won't be fans of mine, believe me... CH: Maybe the first few songs they are shouting out because they know me, but after that all the girls are screaming for JP and Patrick. JJ: I think it's gonna be different for everyone because it's two people singing. I mean it's a man and a woman singing to each other with a really rocking band. CH: They can look forward to dancing, laughing, crying -- a life changing experience, we hope. (laughing) Just tell them this will be the best live rock and roll show on this planet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Refugee 7 Report post Posted October 6, 2010 [url=http://ticketsus.at/sounds?CTY=37&LID=790_itin_button&DURL=http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1469026] October 2010 5 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 6 - Troy, NY - Troy Music Hall 7 - Toronto, Ontario - Phoenix Concert Theatre 9 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall 10 - Chicago, IL - Park West 11 - St. Paul, MN - Fitzgerald Theatre 12 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom 14 - Englewood, CO - Gothic Theatre 15 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Tavern 16 - Park City, UT - Eccles Center for the Performing Arts 19 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom 20 - Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market 21 - Portland, OR - Roseland Theater 23 - San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's 365 Club 25 - West Hollywood, CA - House of Blues 27 - Anaheim, CA - House of Blues 28 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern 31 - New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Festival Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
