A Few Guests On Bruce Foxton's New Album Including...Paul Weller!

AN UNEXPECTED reconciliation with former Jam bandmate Paul Weller has led to a creative rebirth for Bruce Foxton. The bass player with Britain's most successful band of the late 1970s and early 1980s comes to the Hall for Cornwall on Tuesday with From The Jam.

But that group has moved on – no longer just a vehicle for performing the old Jam classics, Bruce, singer/guitarist Russell Hastings and former Big Country/Cult drummer Mark Brzezicki are now playing originals too.

Bruce told me: "Two-thirds of a new album has already been completed at Paul Weller's studio and it will be released next year, probably under the name Foxton, but it will still be the members of From The Jam. We will be playing two or three of the songs among the Jam stuff in Truro – hopefully Jam fans will relate to it, as there is a similar feel, mostly down to Russell's vocals which share a Weller vibe."

"Ray Davies is on one song and it looks as though Steve Cropper will be on another. He's one of my musical heroes, so to have a legend like him on the album is amazing. Funnily enough there is a Motown feel to some of the songs, but the one he's due to play on is the most un-Motown of the lot."

Paul Weller himself is also on the album – a move which definitely wouldn't have happened anytime in the last 30 years until now. Bruce explained: "Paul heard through a mutual friend that my wife Pat had been diagnosed with cancer. While she was having treatment in Israel, Paul rang to wish her well. Sod's law, I was down in the hotel bar and missed the call, but when I got back, she said, 'you'll never guess who called'." Sadly Pat, who Bruce had been with for more than 30 years, later died but he is delighted she got to hear Paul and Bruce's musical reconciliation on the song Fast Car/Slow Traffic on Weller's last album. "I was devastated when she died and completely lost interest in the music, but I knew Pat would want me to carry on and since then the songs have been flowing."

The rekindled friendship with Weller does beg the question, will we ever see a full Jam reunion? "Well, Paul is obviously very successful, we have this new album and Rick (Buckler) is in a new band, which I'm really pleased about, so I don't see it happening. But it would certainly pay off my mortgage. Actually, even though it sounds poncey, if we ever did re-form it would have to be for artistic reasons. It would never be just for the money."

Ex-Jam Bassist Employs Paul Weller... On Recorder!

Coinciding rather neatly with the emergence of the final Jam album, The Gift, in deluxe anniversary format, former Jam bassist Bruce Foxton's second solo album arrives next Monday, October 1. It's been a long wait, with Foxton's only previous solo album, Touch Sensitive, appearing way back in 1984.

An earthy, tough-grooving affair recorded largely at Foxton's former Jam bandmate Paul Weller's Black Barn studio, Back In The Room features guest spots by Stax guitar God Steve Cropper and Weller himself, on glockenspiel. "He's pretty good on recorder as well," Foxton reveals.

The album, described in MOJO's album review as "nodding back to Setting Sons-era Jam", was partly financed via the online crowdfunding mechanic, PledgeMusic. Fans bid for exclusive, Foxton-orientated experiences, from backstage access to a round of golf with Bruce and singer Russell Hastings.

In this exclusive Q&A with Foxton, MOJO Jam-ologist John Harris wonders what took him...

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Why now for a Bruce Foxton album, nearly thirty years after the first one?
Since [Foxton-helmed tribute band] From The Jam started up, in 2007, we anticipated not just playing Jam songs. That's fantastic, and it's great there's still a demand for it. But we always intended to write new material. While Rick [Buckler] was in the band, we had one new song called Later Day. But then my wife [Pat], sadly, became very ill, throughout 2008 and 2009, with breast cancer. Everything kind of ground to a halt, band-wise - and the songwriting came to a standstill. She passed away in 2009.

I got my head together, and started to get back into it. Pat always said, throughout the 30-odd years that we were together, that she wanted me to play music. And she did hear, before she left us, the two songs I played on Paul's album [Wake Up The Nation]. This is something she wanted me to do - not to just mull over the past. So since then, Russell Hastings [left]- the singer in From The Jam - and me have been beavering away. And now is the right time.

How long did the recording take?
We had to do it in batches, because of finance, basically. Me, Russell and Mark Brzezicki [drums, ex-Big Country] have been recording at Paul Weller's studio, and he's done us a huge favour. He gave us a lot of studio time for nothing. But there comes a point where you've got to put a few 50ps in the meter. I'm very pleased with it, though; there's not a track on it I don't like. We'll be mixing it up with those classic Jam songs at future shows.

Listening to it, some of the songs - Find My Way Home, Window Shopping - sound like they pick up where The Jam left off. Was that conscious?
No, it wasn't. But we've got a guy who looks after our web site, who knows more about The Jam than I do. He said the same thing: he said he thinks that maybe that would have been the direction The Jam would have gone in, if we'd continued. That's a nice compliment. We didn't intentionally set out that way. There's no way I wanted to be Jam 2. We were just trying to write good songs.

How did you get Steve Cropper on Don't Waste My Time?
Our agent also fronts The Animals. They went out with Steve Cropper as a special guest. And he's always thinking of ways forward for us, and he asked Steve Cropper outright: would he be up for playing on a track? He was supposed to do it over here, but time ran out and he went back to Nashville. So we sent him over a track, and he put the guitar on there. That's it: it's sounds fantastic. It's a real privilege.

Which tracks is Paul Weller on?
Window Shopping; Number Six, which I think is going to be the single; and a slower one called Coming On Strong. He plays various instruments, from glockenspiel to guitar to piano. It was great working with him. He just experimented, and came up with some really nice parts, as he always does.

This must be his first recorded appearance on glockenspiel.
I think it is. He's pretty good on recorder as well.

The record's being financed via PledgeMusic.
I'd never heard of them. We went to Island, who loved the record - but their calculations in terms of how many records they'd like to sell... basically, they didn't think we'd sell 100,000 records. They're probably right. And someone said, 'Why don't you look at PledgeMusic?' It's a great means of getting your record finished, and out there. And a great way for a fan to get involved in it.

One of the packages on offer includes a round of golf with you and Russell Hastings. Is this something to be feared?
I've played golf for years, but I still play off about 24. I kind of stop-start. But the age group we're partly looking at now - they are into golf. There's a couple of rounds gone already.

Has anyone heard this album? The sound clips are excellent, and since it includes one of my drumming heroes (Big Country's Mark Brzezicki) I'm even more eager to hear it. There doesn't seem to be a US release, but it can be had in the $13-$14 range which is reasonable. Wondering if I should hold out for a possible US version or wait for import prices to drop...or if it's really good I'll buy it soon.