When it comes to hard rock vocalists, there's only one
who has earned the moniker of 'The Voice Of Rock', and that's Glenn
Hughes. With a career that spans well over thirty-five years, which
has included stints with groups such as Trapeze (1969 to 1973), Deep
Purple (1973 to 1976) and Black Sabbath (1986), Hughes is nothing short
of a living legend within the classic rock scene.
Over course of the last fourteen years, Hughes has continued
to forge out a successful solo career (aside from his numerous guest
contributions), and in 2005 he released his stunning tenth solo release
'Soul Mover' to overwhelming high praise from both critics and fans
alike.
A year after its initial release, 'Soul Mover' has finally
been given a long overdue release here in Australia, making it the first
solo album from Glenn Hughes to ever be made available locally.
Relaxing at home in LA (where Hughes is outside relaxing
with his dogs in what is said to be another beautiful day), I caught
up with the legendary vocalist/bassist to talk a little about the success
of 'Soul Mover', it's belated release here in Australia and the many
projects he has lined up and due for release in the very near future.
"I'm really excited about 'Soul Mover' coming out
in Australia because it's my first proper solo release there as a solo
artist outside of the import market. Australia is a market that's been
really good for Deep Purple for all these years, and it's somewhere
I haven't been in a long time. I'm blushing because I believe it was
1975 when I was last down there. It's ridiculous and stupid. Most people
buying the album probably weren't even born then! All I can say is that
it's better late than never! (Laughs) And I can't think of a better
way to introduce my solo career than with 'Soul Mover'. I'm happy to
finally be able to give something to my old fans, and introduce myself
to some new fans."
Although there's no denying that Australia still holds
a huge following for Deep Purple and for classic rock in general, Hughes
isn't just aiming for that core market exclusively.
"I obviously have an older audience in most parts of the world,
but there seems to be a turning point now where my audience is starting
to get younger. A lot of that has to do with the people I'm currently
playing with (which includes Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante
and drummer Chad Smith), and the music that I'm recording now. I would
say that the music I'm currently making is probably more mainstream
than most artists of my generation or peer group, but it's also a lot
more modern sounding. I love all my peers because I have a lot of friends
in the industry but I'm actually shooting for a new marketplace. I mean
I've been going to Japan on a yearly basis for about the last ten years
but I myself have never really pushed my manager to go down to Australia
or until now. I was speaking to my manager about a year ago and it was
him that said to me that we should really get to Australia because not
only is it a great country, but also because they have a great grasp
on the sort of music I'm making. It was that conversation that actually
started this whole thing off."
Although there was plenty of talk about Hughes making
his way down to Australia to coincide with the release of 'Soul Mover',
it never eventuated - much to Hughes' disappointment.
"That was the rumour because I was the first one to start that!
We thought we would be down there by March, and then by April, but we
simply couldn't make it due to prior commitments. But while we can't
come down right now, we will be trying our hardest sometime after the
new album, which has just funnily enough been finished (comes out in
July). By then, Australian audiences will have a double dose of Hughes.
It's my strongest desire to come down to Australia to play. I really
have fond memories of being down there last time and I think Australians
have got a good sense of melody and soul. So I'm really looking forward
to bringing my brand of music down there."
The new album Hughes is talking about is no less the highly anticipated
'Music For The Divine'.
"The album will feature Smith on drums again of course.
He's my best buddy. We hang out together a lot, we go on vacations together
with our wives and we do dinner together. We actually care for one another
as people. It also doesn't suck that he happens to be in one of the
biggest bands in the world either. But even if he wasn't, for me, pound
for pound and dollar for dollar, Smith is the finest rock drummer since
John Bonham. So having him onboard is amazing. He really pushed me musically
on 'Soul Mover', and he pushed me even further than before on 'Music
For The Divine'. My band (completed by long-time guitarist/song writing
partner JJ Marsh) is a pool of artists that make music for themselves.
I don't make music for some guy in a suit in some company in New York.
I'm making music that is for me', and hopefully people will feel that.
There's a lot of passion in the music. Having Smith with me as co-producer
this time around meant that there was a lot of back and forth with the
songs that have were written, a lot more pre-production, more mix time
and more fun. We might be taking the process more seriously this time,
but at the same time, there's a whole lot of fun and funk going on.
I think you can hear it. I'm really happy with the songs. I always like
to change a little direction from album to album. There won't be a second
'Soul Mover' album coming out, or a son of 'Songs In The Key Of Rock'
(Hughes' solo album from 2003), or even a 'Burn' (the Deep Purple album
of 1974) or 'Stormbringer' (also from 1974)! It's not going to happen
because I'm continually growing as a human being, and I love mixing
all genres of music from the rock to the funk to soul."
In a sense, it's that mixing of various musical genres
that has kept fans second-guessing what they can expect from Hughes
with every new release. But at the same time, Hughes admits that at
times it's also been a double-edged sword as well.
"I've been doing this a long time, and although there's
been a lot of managers and record labels throughout my vast solo career,
there's always been elements of rock, soul, ballads and some late night/jazzy/funky
kind of things. It's kind of been a bittersweet thing because it's hindered
me success wise because I've been hard to pigeonhole style wise. There
are artists out there that do something really well and they stick to
that formula. Without naming names, there's more than a few of them
out there that have a certain sound and style that is theirs, and they
stick to that like a security blanket. I'm a child of the '60's. I'm
from Britain, so I'm a northern lad. I grew up listening to The Beatles
since I was ten years old, and when I listen to albums like 'Magical
Mystery Tour, 'Abbey Road', 'The White Album' or 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band', even today, I hear four guys re-inventing themselves
with each album. They're all very Beatles sounding, but they're also
very different from one another. I try to do that with every album I
make. The albums I'm making right now are more organic, acoustic, personal
and stripped down than possibly some of the stuff I had done in the
past. It's really more about the songs rather than the vocal histrionics,
the guitar solo or how the drums sound. Yes, they're all important,
but to me, a good song by a good singer is always stronger. The songs
are so much more important now than they used to be for me. I no longer
make music purely to pay the bills. I simply make the music I want to."
While it may sound like a premeditated move to change
direction on every new album, Hughes insists that the direction of any
album is generally dictated by one song that captures his current headspace.
"What I normally do is I write alone on an acoustic
guitar. The first song I wrote for 'Soul Mover' funnily enough was the
title track. I knew straight away that that song was going to be a strong
contender for the album title. I just knew that it was a retro Hendrix
like funk riff, and it set the tempo and the vibe of the rock spiritual
funk sound on 'Soul Mover'. It was all about how I was feeling at the
time. I then wrote the song 'Let It Go', which then made me write a
song called 'Last Mistake'. From that point on, the album basically
started to write itself. It's not a concept album, but my albums generally
kind of gel lyrically in a sense. That was the way I wrote that album,
and all the others I have done in the past. 'Songs In The Key Of Rock'
was the same thing. Even 'Addiction' was like that. That was a time
when I needed to address my addictions. That album was very therapeutic
for me. It's a blueprint. I like to have some kind of direction, some
idea of where I'm going now."
As you would expect, 'Music For The Divine' is a departure
style wise from 'Soul Mover', but also a totally new direction for Hughes.
"It's in a different headspace again. Smith was way
more involved in this process. I would go to his house three or four
times a week to have lunch and whatnot, and every Sunday of last year
that I was home, I would go over to his house and play him the two or
three new songs I had written for the new album. I ended up with close
to thirty songs in the end. I had also just bought a fifty-year old
Martin acoustic, so the new album is deeply packed and dripping with
the acoustic stuff. Don't be frightened when I tell you that because
you'll feel the love from that. It's an album that has songs that would
never have made it on there had Smith not been co-producer. There's
quite a few songs on the album that are strictly acoustic guitar, bass
and drum based, and one that's even just acoustic guitar and violin.
When I initially started played the songs to Smith, he said to me, 'You
have got to let the world know who you are now, because you're an artist
that is varied in your music direction'. This new album is so deep in
variety, and funnily enough, my first not to tip the hat towards Deep
Purple. This is very much a mature solo album from me. It's almost like
coming out. Every artist you speak to is always going to say that their
new album is the best thing they have ever done. This album, for me,
is the best album that I've actually performed, written and produced
in my whole career from day one, and that's because it's so honest,
and it tells you who I am. This is the start of me doing just that.
On one track, I sing that I've been selfish and unkind. I'm just telling
people that I'm real. It's just a very deep, funky, acoustic groove
based album. There's a six-piece string section on there too. It's a
very diverse album. I can't wait for people to hear the songs. It doesn't
matter if a metal, funk, A.O.R. or rock magazine reviews this album,
because it will appeal to them all."
Apart from the upcoming release of 'Music For The Divine'
(not to mention his contributions to Phenomena's 'Psycho Fantasy' and
Moonstone Project's 'Time To Take A Stand'), Hughes also plans to finally
release the long awaited second Hughes/Thrall effort.
"I just got back from Las Vegas actually. Pat Thrall
and I just finished the album off. That should be released in January
2007. The new Hughes/Thrall album is going to be a monster. You think
that my new album 'Music For The Divine' is diverse, just wait until
you hear this album! If you go back and listen to our first one (which
was released back in 1982), you'll realise just how diverse that album
is. There's heavy rock, tracks like 'Coast To Coast' and then there's
all that super funky groove stuff going on. This new album is just the
same, only it's twenty-four years later. So hopefully all the Hughes/Thrall
fans that enjoyed the first one will be wise enough to know that we've
grown musically in that time, and that we've intentionally pushed the
envelope further. There's still the super funky stuff, but there's also
some really intense heavy stuff, along with something extremely jazzy.
But it's all Thrall and I. Hughes/Thrall for me has always been very
artistic. We made that first album for ourselves, and we did the same
thing with this one. Thrall was a bit worried that it was a little too
left of centre because we really stretched out on this one, but I think
fans will accept it as us. We made sure that the trademark hooks are
still there."
Also tying in nicely with the upcoming new Hughes/Thrall
release is the news that UK label Rock Candy Records plans to remaster
and re-release the pair's 1982 debut, with the addition of a few bonus
tracks.
"Well that's the plan but we'll see how it turns
out because the original masters no longer exist. The guy that bought
the studio we originally recorded in, which used to be called United
Western Studios (and later changed their name to Ocean Way Studios in
1985), went into the vault and erased everybody's masters. He erased
the two inches, the half inches, everything. I had somebody I know at
Sony Records look through their vaults and they couldn't find the original
masters. That's a fucking nightmare because we wanted to remix it. The
remaster that's coming out will be run past Thrall and I because we
wanted to remaster it ourselves at some point. But the people at Rock
Candy Records (former Kerrang! journalists Dante Bonutto and Derek Oliver)
are old friends of mine, so I have to give them a little trust because
they're very much on the ball. They're fanatics about Hughes/Thrall
too. I think the re-release will do well because we're providing the
bonus tracks they're putting on there. I wouldn't want to re-release
the album without the bonus tracks. I think that would have been rude.
Two of those songs were written around the period of 1982-1983. 'Pay
The Price' and a song called 'Still The Night', which I later recorded
with Phenomena (their self titled debut from 1985) and John Norum (1992's
'Face The Truth'). Obviously the originals were Hughes/Thrall songs.
The bonus tracks were re-recorded in New York about five years ago with
the difference being that 'Still The Night' now has a slightly funkier
arrangement. We probably won't make anything from this re-release monetary
wise because we're still in the hole to CBS/Epic Records. We got a huge
advance from that album! (Laughs) It simply didn't sell enough copies.
But I'm not worried about making money because it's the new one I'm
concerned about. We'll actually have that mixed in July and finished
in August for a release early next year."
While having around five releases on the go is nothing
new to Hughes, or the fans that have to try and track down all of his
recording contributions, it does beg the question as to whether Hughes
has ever considered taking time off, or whether he's aware of the term
vacation.
"I think if you ask any other songwriter that's worth
their salt the same question you just asked me, they'll give you the
same answer I will. They have no say in the matter. It's almost like
a channel that is switched onto you. Having my own studio, having all
these instruments, being very clear headed and being a workaholic, which
I love, makes it easy for me to be creative all the time. I'm a songwriter
three hundred and sixty-five days of the year, and my wife is a music
producer, so she actually pushes me in that direction. There's a lot
of love in our house. I'm in the studio a lot - even on Christmas day.
I really do like the song process, the writing of the grooves, the lyrics
and the music. I'm going to be honest with you. Although I've been writing
music all my life, it's only been in the last five years of my life
where this tap hasn't been able to be turned off. And trust me; there
are times when I like to escape it. I like to go to the movies but when
the credits start to roll at the end of the movie, I'm actually starting
to write another f**king song! (Laughs) I always starting to think to
myself at this point, 'How can I stop this insanity?' It's a great gift,
and I think you can actually hear it in those songs on the last couple
of albums. It was a gift that was given to me freely. I didn't choose
this. Every walk in life is great, whether that be being an attorney,
Olympian, soccer players or whatever. I have been given this voice and
the ability to write songs, which I'm really humbled by."
With Hughes constantly in a constant creative frame of
mind, and countless vocal credits to his name, I had to ask if he actually
felt he had anything left to achieve in a musical sense.
"You know, it's more a question of what I won't do.
If you look over the last fifteen years of my career, you'll see that
I've done a lot of work with a lot of artists that were kind of inappropriate.
I diluted my unique gift. I've stopped taking sessions now that are
going to dilute my creativity in order to pay a bill or something. No
one is ever going to make enough money in their life, and the fact is
that I have enough money in my life now to not have to worry about the
bills anymore. I have been very lucky enough to sustain myself by investing
in things the right way and working my ass off. I don't do things for
money anymore. I do things for artistic reasons and that is the sole
reason why I will only work with other artists today."
I would like to thank Glenn Hughes for his generous
time, and Michelle Savona at Savi Communications for making the interview
possible.
For more information on Glenn Hughes, check out http://www.glennhughes.com
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
