Blues and Rock Master Laurence Jones has a new and great Album (Bad Luck & the Blues) out. Time again for an cool interview with him.
Hi Laurence, your new Album is very strong and a little bit more rock oriantated, what can you tell us about the inspiration, writing process and making of the record? How important is the record company for you? What can you say about the work with them?
The main inspiration behind this was to do everything live, make it like how they used to back in the day and go for that power trio sound. I wanted it to sound sort of like modern Cream and it was funny because as soon as we’d recorded all of the tracks, the CEO of Marshall Steve Tannett walked in and said what do you boys think you are then, the new Cream?!“ It was really funny. My main inspirations were guitar heroes like Jimi Hendrix, Robin Trower, Gary Moore and the writing process was actually quite refreshing. I wrote the album over Christmas when the industry sort of had a little downtime and no one could get in touch with me for two weeks. I had about four or five of the tracks that I’d wrote on for previous albums, that I never put on the album because they were too heavy, so I already had four or five good songs there. So I just wrote six songs that came really easy over the Christmas period and it was just a joy to make. We went straight into the studio in January. I called the record label up, told them I had the crazy idea to record another album so quick and they let me go ahead and do it. It was quite fast, about five days recording. And I think we were all done in six days, so it was quite impressive, but I wanted the whole feel of the record to be organic. None of the solos were written, it was a lot of improvisation from the band which was more natural I guess.
The scene has changed with less record sales and the streaming thing. How difficult is it to today for a Artist like you to live from music?
I’d say it’s always been a challenge to make money out of the music industry unless you’ve got a top ten hit, which I’ve never had. I’ve been lucky enough to have a top 40 in the Netherlands but still my main income comes from touring. So for me I’ve got to go out there and meet the fans and make records and tour. Luckily that’s what I love doing! I’ll go out there for the love of the music first. And then if the money comes, that’s a bonus. I guess through the hard work over the years k I’ve had to build myself up from pubs to ticketed event in clubs to getting to higher level venues. to big support slots and then big headline shows myself. So it’s never just an overnight success, it’s always building.
I think the scene has changed because of Spotify, I think that’s taken a lot of royalties out of the equation for musicians but there are still royalties out there if you get major radio play and obviously if you sell records. In today’s world you have to think differently so my main aspect is the touring.
You tour often in Germany, have you a special relationship for this country?
Yeah I was signed to a German record label, Ruf Records for three years. Toured Germany back in 2014, it was one of the first places I did a proper big European tour for months on end, with the Blues Caravan. That was a good experience and I always try and come back and do at least one or two shows in Germany a year. I like to do quality over quantity, but really enjoy coming over to Germany and everyone always really appreciates the music.
You play many gigs and tour a lot, what is the magic of playing live for you? How you get the energy level so high, and do you feel a bit fatigue sometimes?
Well, I think the magic for me is the people and the energy that they give – the audience. The more energy that the audience gives, the more energy that I give. You just bounce off each other like that. But there are times where I’ve got to try and win a new audience over or put a lot of energy in. I guess that can be very fatiguing sometimes, especially with my Crohn’s disease. Because it takes a lot of energy out of you, a lot of physical fitness, jumping around on stage.
You have often problems with your health, how you deal with it when your on a tour. How difficult is that for you?
Yeah, very difficult sometimes. I mean, there can be times when, you know, it is five, ten minutes before I’m going on stage and I’m on the toilet in a lot of pain. But I guess I always say to the band, if I need to stop in the middle of the set, you’re going to have to do a drum solo or bass solo and they always look at me in a panicked way. But thankfully that’s only ever happened a few times. The way I try to cope with it is just to try not to have stress, which is hard in the music industry. Try and get as much sleep, which is hard. So, yeah, it can be challenging, but I guess the main thing for me is being strict on my diet when I’m away from home.
Have you any last words or something you want to say to your fans?
I hope you enjoyed the new album. I’ll definitely be coming to a show near you in 2024. And if not, I hope that you can travel and come to see us in Germany. It’d be great to see you over there. Thank you very much.
