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After 25 years of making great music, Howard Jones is still going strong. With a new album called "Ordinary Heroes," the famous vegetarian and Buddhist has created an album about the hero within us all.
We're looking at 25 years since the video for "New Song" debuted on MTV. You've just released a new album. How's it feel?
I make a new studio album every 4-5 years so it is a bit of an event for me. I feel that if I call myself an artist I should be making new work, assuming I have something to say. I am very aware of the dialogue I have with my audience and I want to present things relevant to them.
You're a supporter of animal rights, a long-time Buddhist, and a vegetarian. As someone who views his music as his life, how have the threads of these beliefs worked themselves through your music over the years?
I am of the view that we should treat all life with respect. As human beings we benefit from developing ourselves to understand our connection with everything in our universe. Harming our environment, and all that that encompasses, ends up harming ourselves. This is a core belief that I try to deepen with my practice of Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhism and as a member of Soka Gakkai.
I have always wished to use my music to inspire and invoke a seeking spirit. Buddhist themes of interdependence, respect for oneself and others, and the strict law of cause and effect, are constant themes in my work.
One of my favorite albums of recent years, 2005's Revolution of the Heart, had some really poignant lyrical work:
It's a frighten time
For people round the world
Feel uneasy now about the future
Time to end the war against humanity
Time to build the peace
In our new century
We're talking 'bout a revolution, an evolution of the heart
What inspired you to write the new album's wonderful title track?
This song was written at the start of the new millennium and reflects a hope that the 21st century shall be a new beginning for humanity without the threat of war. The song suggests that the way to fundamentally advance this goal is for a personal revolution to take place within the heart of each person.
Do you ever get discouraged at the lack of progress we seem to have made as a global society? How do you keep your pessimism in check?
Most of the time I feel that although progress may seem to be slow, that every effort that we make as individuals to bring about a harmonious society makes a difference. The battle ground is actually within ourselves, so we must forge a strong self and cultivate a positive spirit that refuses to be overcome by our negative tendencies.
What are you most proud of with the new album?
1. I am very pleased that I managed to persuade the Morriston Orpheus Choir to sing on the track "Soon You'll Go."
2.The original goal of the record was to stick to a strict set of instrumentation, one piano, one guitar, drums, bass, string quartet and part b.v's and lead vocal. My producer Robbie Bronnimann and I managed to stick to the plot until 90 Welsh men turned up.
3. I'm pleased with the way the vocal turned out.
Love the title of the new album, Ordinary Heroes. Where did that title come from?
My co-writer on some of the songs was Cori Josias and we both wanted to write a song that celebrated the heroism of ordinary folk in their daily lives. We are not talking about Fire Fighters or Lifeboat men (who are of course totally admirable) but the courage to carry on during the everyday trials of life. The sort of courage that never gets spoken about or reported in the press but which nevertheless holds society together.
Tell us something surprising, that hasn't come up in an interview before.
I am the musical Director of the SGI-UK Glorious Life Chorus, which is a choir of 80-100 mixed voices of all abilities.
The music industry has changed drastically since you got started. Can you tell me a little of what you like/don't like about how things have turned out?
I believe we are in a period of drastic change in the music world. Digital allows people all over the world to have access to music very easily and that often involves obtaining it for free. Music lovers have become accustomed to thinking that all artists are mega-rich and their record companies are only there to fleece them. This has created a situation where it is more and more difficult for young artists to make any kind of living from music. I think there is a disconnection between those creating and those consuming, brought into focus by the internet. We have to find new ways for audiences and artists to connect, and realize they have a responsibility to each other. If all recorded music is free then artists will inevitably become hobbyists.
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