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Howard Jones
By JONATHAN DONALDSON
del.ico.us
reddit!
When I talked to '80s curiosity Howard Jones, the first question that came to mind was what he thought of Stuart "Belle & Sebastian" Murdoch's new eponymous track. To which HowardJones twittered: [3:56 PM Sep 29th] "Was told about a track called 'Howard Jones is my Mozart' by Belle and Sebastian .. bought it on iTunes .... what next." What next indeed.
THE '80S. WHAT THE HELL?
There was this explosion of technology that suddenly became cheap enough for people like me to afford. You could also suddenly get yourself across by making video, and the whole visual and conceptual side of it was quite important. The electronic thing came with a new style that definitely wasn't rock & roll. I've always thought that rock & roll was actually so conservative.
WATCHING THE "LIKE TO GET TO KNOW YOU WELL" VIDEO, IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'VE KIND OF GOT THE HODGEPODGE THING GOING ON.
If I was going to be a pop musician, then I wasn't going to dress like a banker. I was going to take advantage of the freedom.
YOUR MUSIC WASN'T EXACTLY MACHO.
The interesting thing for me is that I have a predominantly male audience. I guess it has to do with the fact that those instruments were exciting to young men.
WHEN YOU CAME UP WITH YOUR KEYBOARD VOICINGS, DID YOU JUST, LIKE, USE THE TUBA PRESET ON A CASIO?
No, I didn't use presets on their own. It was usually a combination of sounds all together and I would tweak the waveforms of each one until it sounded good, but there was nothing to compare it to.
WHO WINS A HAIR 1# -BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND FLOCK OF SEAGULLS' MIKE SCORE?
I've never been competing with anybody ever. If you look at my records over the years, that's a testament to that!
[Howard Jones. Wed 10.7.09-Thu 10.8.09. Scullers Jazz Club. 400 Soldiers Field Rd., Boston. 8pm Wed, 8pm & 10pm Thu/21+/$38. 617.562.4111. scullersjazz.com]
