#everyday i lament how much control labels have on artists

[narcoticwriter]

Demi Lovato could've gone pop-punk. I would've eaten that shit up.

[occultationrecordings]

Translation of Ruta 66 John Howard interview

John Howard: So near yet so far

Howard Michael Jones was born in Lancashire in the early 1950s and came very close to achieving success at the very start of his career, when the powerful CBS label had high hopes of his debut, the wonderful “Kid In A Big World”.

However, the stars failed to align on that occasion, even though the aforementioned first LP was an exquisite pop confection, where, among the sparkling of a precocious talent there were fleeting glimpses Bowie at his most melancholic, early Scott Walker and a few couplets that wouldn’t’ve out of place on a Kinks LP; this misfortune and a failed second album kept him away from the music scene for a full 29 years; or at least, to be more specific away from the scene for artists, as during this lengthy period he swapped the spotlight for the office, joining the payroll of the EMI multinational label working in various departments, from A&R to music publishing and also including the marketing departments.

There was no further musical news from him until the fourth year of the new century, maintaining his quality control on wonderful records such as “As I Was Saying” (Cherry Red, 2005) although they slipped under the popular radar. Sadly and obviously having been sidelined as a minority interest artist, he managed a sporadic, jumbled music career until last year he gave us a surprise, leaving us breathless with what I feel is his masterpiece to date, the brilliant “John Howard & The Night Mail” on which he worked with musicians usually to be found playing with the likes of Paul Weller and Edwyn Collins and on which he excelled with timeless, albeit slightly melancholy pop songs, full of brilliant style and dealing with the everyday splendours and miseries of life lived to the full in remnants of happiness. Listen to songs like “London's After-Work Drinking Culture”, “Deborah Fletcher” and the single “Intact Smile” and you’ll find the explanation for my clumsy arguments for yourselves.

Once again his talent was on fairly near being recognised, as the album was reviewed enthusiastically in media as wide-ranging as AllMusic, MOJO and the magazine you are now reading (see Ruta 66 no. 332). However incredible it might seem, once again he came up against a wall of indifference, he went almost unnoticed and barely thirty people made the trip to the Sala Apolo in Barcelona to enjoy a genuinely magical night with the British bard - times really are tough for talents as subtle as his. Oblivious to the setbacks and heartaches of show-business, Howard now offers us the exquisite “Across The Door Sill”, five poems set to music with voice and piano hand-in¬-hand, a subtle piece of craftsmanship which will be appreciated by amateurs of ethereal, inspired pop. Having moved to rural Murcia a few years ago, we took advantage of his physical proximity to ask him about his expectations for this new record.

R66: In terms of your discography, it may look as though you’re shooting yourself in the foot by releasing a record as intimate as “Across The Door Sill” after the warm welcome given to your last recording with The Night Mail; I'm aware that an artist’s mind doesn’t work like that, but did you never think about continuing with that project, either with the same musicians or a band?

JH: Well, I started writing the songs for this new record while we were playing “John Howard & The Night Mail” live, but it was always clear to me that “Across The Door Sill” was a solo project; in fact when I was at Robert Rotifer’s (The Night Mail guitarist - author’s note) house in Canterbury getting ready for the tour, he played me a few of his new songs and I played him some of mine on my own at the piano, I think un artist must never stagnate, you have to avoid repeating yourself. I wanted to try something completely different to what I’d done in the past, and I decided to try mixing music and poetry. This doesn’t mean that The Night Mail can never record again, but we’d have to see when all the members were available to get together again; in fact at the moment I’m negotiating with Occultation Recordings to record a new album in 2017, and I’d like to do it with a backing band - I’ve got lots of ideas, but at the moment that’s all they are, ideas…

R66: Did you get any offers from labels to continue working with The Night Mail?

JH: Unfortunately not, but you’ve got to remember that The Night Mail wasn’t a band in the usual sense, all of the members are involved in their own projects and touring as backing musicians, which means that the idea of continuing with that project was really difficult; I’ve got to admit that I loved making that record and I hope we’ll be able to get together again one day.

The work involved in preparing the songs for the record is rather unconventional, as it sees that you started by writing five poems with no melodies at all – how did you then manage to fit the music to the words?

JH: I wrote five poems rather anarchically, without thinking about conventional metre, more or less with the structure of a pop song, literally letting the words spill out onto the paper, like when dreams give you images and you don’t know where they come from. Later on I covered these poems with notes on the piano, looking for choruses and rhythms which would fit with the shape of the poetry, then letting the melodies develop naturally. Once I had the basic part of the song ready, I recorded a few layers of piano, one on top of another and finally the vocal, taking fragments from various pre-recorded vocal tests, ending up with the backing vocals and stressing the harmonies, again using various pre-recorded tracks. This is the most I’ve ever got out of the studio, I wanted what you hear on the record to be different from the live versions.

R66: Whose attention are you asking for on the album’s opening track, “Who Cares?” It might seem like a lament for someone who’s been abandoned or neglected – is that the way you feel?

JH: (Laughter) I really don’t feel abandoned or defenceless, in I’m now getting more attention for my music than at any other time in my career, I feel that my fans love me!!! The lyrics on this album shouldn’t be interpreted literally, as they were written in a random, dreamy kind of way. On that song the backing vocals repeat the mantra “Who Cares?” but they’re talking about a question a lot of people are asking at the moment, as they’re worried about the direction in which the world is going, and often they don’t find the right answers. You don’t need to worry about me though, I feel loved and I know there’s definitely someone who cares about me (laughter)

R66: What’s the process involved in writing a song as amazing as “Preservation”? For me this is the most brilliant song on the album and perhaps also the one which most closely follows the melodic parameters set out on the previous record.

JH: Interesting question… I think “Preservation” is the most orthodox song on the album, as it’s got a verse-chorus structure, and it reminds me of some of the sixties folk songs I grew up with. It’s got a very pastoral feel, even the vocal harmonies sound like a folk-pop group, in the tradition of Fairport Convention. In fact a few DJs to whom I’ve given advance copies of the record are playing it on their shows, maybe it’s the closest to what we might define as “a John Howard song”.

R66: In Barcelona you told me that you’ve chosen a life away from the madding crowd, sharing a farm in Murcia with your partner, where you breed chickens, you’ve got a kitchen garden, etc. Does this mean you keep your distance from show business, the latest music etc.?

JH: I’ve spent quite a few years away from the vicissitudes of the music business, even more so since I moved to your country; even so, I’m still in touch with new music through my fellow Night Mail members Robert Rotifer and Ian Button, writers such as Ralegh Long and Darren Hayman and labels like Gare Du Nord, Tapete and Occultation, who have some wonderful artists.

I tried to have a career in the seventies, but I ended up tremendously isolated and now I feel part of a whole network of artists, writers and musicians, I feel as though I belong to the current scene  much more strongly than when I started out almost 50 years ago; on the other hand I’ve absolutely no interest in the kind of pop that’s in the charts, with its utterly detestable, uniform sound, it hurts my ears - a lot of modern singers seem happy to sound like computers, which I don’t like and I try to avoid them

R66: You’re getting ready for a tour to promote this record – I imagine it’ll be you on your own with the piano, like the concert you did at the Sala Apolo in Barcelona. This format depends in some ways on the venues in which you can perform and also requires a certain predisposition on the part of the audience – do you feel you’ve got the strength to cope with all these possible “drawbacks”?

JH: For now I don’t have any gigs planned, but I would love to be invited back to Barcelona or to any other city and have the chance to play my new material. I’m a bit anti-touring, especially if they’re very long. I don’t like being away from home for long, being on the road doesn’t suit my temperament, I’m much happier recording in the studio and creating new material, but on the other hand I love playing small venues where I can feel that the audience are close to me and I can communicate with them, the only condition I lay down is that I need to have a good acoustic piano, I prefer them to electronic pianos. In the acoustic format my songs work much better and I can give the music richer nuances.

Text: Manuel Borrero

Photo: Eva Fraile (Apolo, Barcelona)