There's also a lot of good playing on The Style Councils albums although its not that prominent.
#PAUL WELLER GUITARS MOD#
There are some good things on All Mod Cons, like some of the twin guitar harmony stuff. People should go and check some of the other records I've made, the early ones. Well, I think I've always been a pretty good guitarist. What do you feel was responsible for your recent change of approach to the guitar?Ī lot of it was down to the records I was listening to old stuff that I hadn't had the time to hear for a long while, like the Small Faces, Free, Nick Drake, Stax, The Who and Revolver-period Beatles.ĭo you take the guitar more seriously now? I've found that the less I analyse what I'm doing, the more instinctive it becomes and the flow is a lot more free-spirited. But its only been since I stopped thinking about it - and the same can be said of my guitar playing. Your singing has changed over the years.Įverybody's saying how much my voice has improved, and I tend to agree with them. Nevertheless, I hope you can tell that my music is a product of this country, because I'm proud of that. But things change, you know, although R&B and black American music remain my biggest influences. It was only when I started listening to The Clash that I thought I should sing as naturally as I talked, and that The Jam should be a very English-sounding band. But before that, when I was about 15 or 16, I was still trying to sing like Otis Redding. It was so English, and the guys were singing in straight English accents. I was really excited by The Clash and the Pistols when I saw them. Obviously a lot of it came from the punk scene. I thought, 'Steady on', and decided to call it a day.ĭid it feel natural to you to sing in that laddish London accent back in The Jam days? Its the only vice I have at the moment, ha ha! I haven't had a drink in about six or seven weeks, 'cause I had this little incident at an airport in Italy where I was so drunk that I fell down some steps and was dripping blood all over the place. Your vocal phrasing has altered dramatically since The Jam days.ĭo you think that packing in smoking would ruin your vocal progress? I suppose its because I'm less self-conscious about what I'm doing now. I am enjoying my music better, and I'm getting a lot out of it.
You seem to be having more fun with music than ever As I arrived, the elegantly tanned and slim Weller strode towards me with a brusque 'Awright, mate?' greeting. Our meeting at his West London office immediately preceded a session with Oasis, during which he returned Noel Gallagher's recent favours by contributing guitar and backing vocals to Champagne Supernova, a track from the forthcoming Oasis album. But, via a slew of re-addressed influences from his youth, Weller and his guitar are now virtually inseparable, and at 37 he is being hailed by some as his generations Clapton. He even gave up playing the instrument during his questionable Style Council days, the '80s era that he loves to hate.
Until recently, Weller's guitar skills were largely overlooked by the masses - people were more interested in his lyrical abilities, political stance, fashion sense and angry young man posturing as The Jams frontman. As the albums first track proclaims, he is the very personification of The Changing man. And his back-to-basics ethics shown on 1993s Wild Wood have been taken even further on Stanley Road. Weller's organic approach to songwriting and performance comes as a real breath of fresh air. And Jools is a man who doesn't dish out praise for his fellow musicians too often. It was, he said, the best album he had heard in years.
programme recently, host Jools Holland heaped much-deserved praise on the Woking wonders latest album, Stanley, Road. Punked out with The Jam, funked out with The Style Council - but then he rediscovered the guitar, and produced two of this decade's finest albums so far