90: The Moody Blues' John Lodge

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And welcome to our podcast today.Sehn Lodge from The Moody Blues joins us,
what an honor it is to talkto you. I can now say
that I've interviewed Denny Lane and JohnLodge. How are you nice to talk
to you? Well, you havegot quite the tour coming up, and

(00:21):
I will tell you because I wantto, you know, get the headlines
out here. You're you're playing Daysof Future Past in its entirety, as
well as other hits at a wholebunch of places within our you know,
listening area, within our driving area. Davenport, Iowa on July fourteenth,
in Chicago on July fifteenth, inPeoria on July sixteenth in Rockford and July

(00:46):
eighteenth, and Milwaukee the Beautiful PathsTheater on July nineteenth. That is quite
the schedule, John, Yeah,it is. I'd be touring made Dummy
East Coast to Florida, right AndI said to my agent, I'd like
to go to the Midwest. Ihaven't been for so long, and such

(01:10):
great people there, and he said, okay, let's do it. Well,
here we are some of these someof these places you're going to be
playing, are these beautiful old ornatetheaters and of course, as you know
as a musician, those old theatershave great acoustics. It's it's really quite
the sound. Yeah, that's greatbecause all that so from the history of

(01:34):
these theaters, you know, it'sbrilliant to wander through them. Some of
the theaters have been to in America. You know, see the stage names
of people who appeared on there.It's incredible. And I'm really looking forward
to these two brigade days of futurepast there and yeah, I'm really looking

(01:57):
forward. You know. I justlove the progressive era of rock, whether
it be the Moody Blues, Yes, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Asia,
King Crimson, these groups and thisgendre is like no other. It's it
was an incredible time because you know, America gave us rock and roll and

(02:23):
blues really did. And English bandsof British bands listens all though, and
we wanted to be part of it. But do it our owd way.
We learned everything from America and justturned it round really and said how can

(02:46):
we make it ours? You know, how could it be ours? And
I think that's where prog rock camefrom. This is going to be very
unique because you've you know, obviouslystill mourning the loss of your great drummer
Graham, but he is going tobe living posthumously on in this tour.

(03:09):
And then you're also going to haveJohn Davidson from Yes as part of this
as well as part of the performance. Explain how that's all going to work.
Yeah. When I decided just afterCOVID and I was thinking about Days
of your Past and in this anniversary, and I went to Graham and said,

(03:32):
it's Graham, I'm thinking about daysof performing Days of your Past on
stage. I said it. Wouldyou be part of it? Because you've
never recorded your own poetry and it'ssuch an integral part of rock and roll
history. Poem on the rock recordis unbelievable. And I said, would

(03:58):
you record him? And would youfeel me? And he said, John,
I'd love to do that. Andhe said keep the moody music alive.
And I said to him, You'llalways had a place on stage for
me. And so you've got thevideo of Graham saying narrating the poetry and

(04:20):
John Davis and I met a fewyears ago via My daughter is actually married
by Gil Entry, and so ismy Sunday law But We work really well
together and he's got such a fabulousvoice. And yes, people the band

(04:43):
I know very well over the years, so it just really works. And
John joins me on stage and it'sfantastic. Tell me about ten thousand light
Years the band. It kind ofreminds me of two thousand Light Years from
Home from the Rolling Stones, Buttell me, tell me about the ten
thousand light Years bands. Yeah,it's the band is consisted for my musical

(05:10):
director, any keyboard man, AlanHewitt, he was with me in the
Boodhy Blues for fifteen years. Andthe drummer really asp who was in sync
for many years and he joined mein the mood of Blues for about five
years. And a guitar from Detroit. We have a guy called Duffy King,

(05:35):
fantastic guitarist, Academy Ward winner,everything. And I've added a cello
to my band this year, aguy called Jason Sharbino, also from Detroit.
And yeah, it's a really tightband. I love being on stage,

(05:57):
rhythm and I think just in theylove playing my music and the Moody
Blues music, and so it's ait's a great combination. Have you found
that the baby boomers. You know, I'm sixty two, so I'm kind
of a young baby boomer. Buta lot of those people turned their kids

(06:20):
onto this music. In other words, have you got generations of family showing
up at your shows? Yeah?Absolutely, and a lot of a lot
of people, a lot of youngerpeople, particularly because the really introduction I

(06:42):
suppose of vinyl records one eighty Grahamand everybody else. They bind the albums
and they say, oh, what, who else can I buy? And
they say, oh, let's buythe Bloody Bloose and let's buy John Lodge.
And they'll find it rediscovering or discoveringmad blues and theselves, you know.

(07:03):
And it's fantastic when somebody comes upthose a couple of generations younger than
me, I'm still talking about mymusic. It's incredible and I sit back
and amazed. And it's also veryhumbling as well. About five years ago

(07:29):
I saw the other version of Yeswith John Anderson, Rick Wakeman, and
Trevor Raban. They played at theplace you're going to be playing in Milwaukee,
the Paps Theater, which, bythe way, no, I take
it back. They were at theRiverside that's owned by the same company.
The place you're going to be playingthe Paps Theater in Milwaukee, built in
eighteen ninety two, So you're goingto feel the spirits of a lot a

(07:53):
lot of people that have come throughthis world at that show. Yeah,
I look, I got a Hallof fame going back there far, so
we could see who has peered thereis. Do you is it confusing for
people? The Moody Blues aren't reallya band anymore, but but your website

(08:15):
you kind of launch your career andyour touring, and then there's Justin Hayward's
work. Does that get confusing forsome people? I don't know. I
think people know what's going on.You know, the Moody Blues do not
tour anymore. But we've got thesame office. Justine and I work out

(08:37):
the same office and so and we'vestill got, you know, twenty albums
which are released, twenty albums whichwe have to look after, you know,
And so although we're not working asa Moody Blues, we're still looking

(09:00):
after the Booty Blues history. Well, you know, it's it's quite a
legacy when you think about it.In some ways, what you're doing is
probably making sure this music then themessage gets out to another generation of people
and it kind of keeps going.Do you want to keep Do you want
to keep going? You want tokeep playing? After this tour? Yeah,

(09:22):
absolutely already signed up the next springanother another tour. But you know,
Days of Future Pass is an iconicrecord, not just for the public
and listeners. Is iconic for mebecause it took seven days to record the
album and change my life forever.And what I'm doing now is bringing the

(09:48):
album back in which eventually will beon one eight gram obviously on Dolbia.
You know, reintroduces the album inthe five quality audio that wasn't available in
the sixties. You know, it'sit's an album that so easily flows when

(10:13):
you play it in its entirety.Some bands play an album in its entirety
on a tour, but they don'tplay it in the same sequential order.
Alan Parsons Turn of the Friendly Card, he kind of mixed other hits in
and out, so he played thewhole album, but he didn't play it
at once. I assume with Daysof Future Past, that's an album that's

(10:33):
really important that you play it asit was presented on the album. Yeah,
and what I do on the firstpart of the concert is a tribute
to all the Moody Blues, andI'll play Moody Blues classic hits, you
know, And there's a tribute toRay Thomas on there, and you know

(10:58):
I do, isn't strange see GanRock of All band and you know,
So the first part is all MoodyBlues hits and the second part starts with
Days of Future best and in itsentirety, so you never get tired of
this because a lot of people,you know, Kenny Lagins is retiring this

(11:22):
year and he said he just can'ttake the touring anymore though. It's just
too much for him. And thenit gets tiring for you. A doesn't
time. No, you know,I paced myself out with what I wanted
to do. I go to thestudio, just being in the studio all
last week and I'm recording in thestudio and this week I've started rehearsals for

(11:50):
the July tour. So it's,as we said, the Boody Blues.
It's a question of balance, really, and if you enjoy music, I
don't know why or how you couldstop playing it on less something physical happens,
you know, Yeah, I wasreading and maybe you have a different

(12:13):
recollection of this, but when yourecorded this album, it isn't what the
record company expected Decca. Is thatis that correct? Yeah? Absolutely correct.
Where we played it back to therecall record company, they said it's
going to buy this? What canwe do with this? And they really
walked away from it. And justso having the head of classical music,

(12:41):
a guy called Hugh Mendel absolutely lovedit and understood what we were trying to
do. And also an American guywho was vice president or president of London
Recordings out in New York was theplayback and he became a mentor for us.

(13:05):
Really, it was fantastic. Theguy called Wolf McGuire, how to
Philadelphia? I think, yeah,when you when you watch biopics, for
instance, the Queen biopic. Idon't know if you saw that movie,
but the moment where the band reallyhas to convince quite forcefully the record company

(13:28):
to accept Bohemian Rhapsody? Does thatDoes that sort of thing bring back memories
for you? You know, knowingthat sometimes record company executives don't quite understand
your vision. Well, we hada great guy. The chairman of Decca
Records was a guy called Sir EdwardLewis, and he actually set up Decca

(13:54):
Records in the USA as well,and he was a music man. And
when he heard the record and heardus talk him to the record company the
executives. In actual fact, hesaid to everybody please leave the room and
left us with him and he said, I don't really know what you're doing,

(14:20):
but know what you're doing is right. And he backed us all the
way after that, and we neverhad an A, an A and R
department looking after us anything like that. If you trace the Moody Blues back

(14:41):
to the very beginning, they soundedentirely different from the in the Denny Lane
era with with Go Now, youknow, how did the band take such
a different direction, Well, becausewe'd all believe I was it a band
before the Moody Blue with Ray Thomasactually either and Mike for a short time,

(15:03):
but we were all doing color versionsof American rock and roll songs,
American blue songs and Go Now wasa Bessie Banks song. It wasn't written
by the moodist, beautiful song bybeautiful song. But when we got together

(15:26):
with Mike pinder gram Edge, RayThomas Massault and justin. We had a
meeting and we said, we're notgoing to play any color versions anymore.
Let's just write our own music.And that's what we decided to do.
We'd all had four or five yearsplaying color bands, and let's start being

(15:50):
inventive maker own music, which ofcourse is one of the things that they
claim at the Rock and Roll Hallof Fame that that is what they look
for when bands get inducted. Whatdid it mean to you to get into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Yeah, it really struck me.

(16:11):
Actually when I was on stage.Up until that, I didn't know what
it would be like. But whenI went on the stage to receive the
award, I just looked at allthe people out there and have thought of
all the people that have voted forus throughout the world. And then it

(16:36):
struck me how thankful our world forall these people taking time out to say,
yeah, Moody Blues, Yeah,we love them. And that was
from the Moody Blues point of view, but from my own part of view
when I was standing there, mygrandson was in the audience and I'm looking

(17:00):
at him and al thought, hereor on the stage, my hero,
ultimate hero was Buddy Holly, Andthere's been this kid from working class background
in Birming, England and I'm goingto be stemming shoulders or shoulder with Buddy
Holly. How cool is that?You know? I think that's going to

(17:25):
be my final question for you today. Birmingham. You think of the musicians
that have come out of that bluecollar city. You know, most Americans
don't know much about Birmingham and theyknow more about London. Here, this
working class city has spawned so manyincredible rock talents, whether it be Jeff
Lynn or Ozzy Osbourne or so manyothers. Why do you think is that

(17:48):
just kind of a coincidence or isthere some Are there a lot of a
lot of clubs that really nurtured musiciansalong By the way, Duran Duran another
band from from Birmingham. Yeah,Steve, we would Spencer David, Oh
my god, it keeps going Robthe Plant just outside of ba It goes

(18:14):
go on and on and on.Birmingham had a fantastic network of clubs.
There are pubs really but um andit norchards. So many great bands and
we're all competing against one another,so we're always trying, We're always trying

(18:38):
to do something different to another bandin the town, and there's competitions,
you know, in the parks forthe best band in Birmingham, and it
was very competitive. That also,you know, is heavy steel, heavy

(19:02):
metal city. We've made all themotor cales like Detroit, right, and
so we were named the second motorcity. But also all that, every
metal, the still works of everything. We had an incredible orchestra and history

(19:25):
of orchestras in Birmingham and maybe thatwent to the Psyche as well. I
don't know. Well, you're goingto be playing in a lot of cities
that have a lot in common asfar as being manufacturing centers, or at
least some of them were in theUpper Midwest before we go. I just
want to run down the list again. Davenport, Iowa, July fourteenth,

(19:48):
Chicago July fifteenth, Peoria July sixteenth, Rockford July eighteenth, and finally Milwaukee
on July nineteenth. Days of FuturePast and other hits. John Lodge,
it has been an honor to talkto you today and I wish you nothing
but success and safety on this tour. Sly, thank you very much,
indeed, thank you for the interview. You have a great day. Thank

(20:14):
you very much, thank you verymuch.