W L INTERVIEW
WIRRAL LIFE TALK TO PAUL WELLER
There are not many artists who are still making vibrant and relevant music over four decades into their career , but Paul Weller has always done things differently .
Since he first burst into the national consciousness with The Jam in 1977 , up through The Style Council and beyond with his prolific solo endeavours , the 62 year-old Englishman has always been about one thing - moving forward . Never one to rest on his laurels or repeat himself , Weller somehow has managed to keep producing new material that holds its own with his ever-increasing back catalogue of classic albums while always exploring new ideas at the same time .
It ’ s no surprise then , that he ’ s back with another new record that does just that , the incredible Fat Pop ( Volume 1 ). His 16th solo album since his self-titled debut dropped way back in 1992 , it comes less than a year after its predecessor , the equally astonishing On Sunset , which earned him his fifth Number One album as a solo artist .
It ’ s a typically diverse collection of songs , taking in influences and inspirations from across the board , but with every track sounding unmistakably like nobody else other than Paul Weller . As usual too , his quality control is as strong as ever too . There ’ s no waste on the album , no offcuts making up the runtime . No filler , all Weller in other words .
Even by his standards , it ’ s been a quick turnaround since the last album but it ’ s a record he had already started planning that was just moved forward when lockdown kicked in last year . As far as he saw it , if you can ’ t get out and play music , what else is there to do than make some more ?
Looking back at the genesis of what became Fat Pop ( Volume 1 ), Paul said : “ Most things become more apparent when you ’ re working on a record , so I don ’ t think I had any masterplan for it , I just wanted to make a record as I was facing a whole year or more of not doing anything , as all the live stuff had been cancelled obviously . The prospect of all that time off meant I was going to have to utilise my time in other ways , so I just put my time and energy into making a record . There was nothing particularly challenging in there though , just what are in my opinion , 12 really great songs .”
The initial parts of the album were recorded remotely by Weller and his band - Steve Cradock , Ben Gordelier and Andy Crofts - with the musicians trading files from each of their respective homes and only came together at Paul ’ s Black Barn studio in Surrey when restrictions were lifted . It wasn ’ t an ideal way to do things , but they made it work .
Paul said : “ In the first bit of the lockdown , I was just recording my vocal and a guitar or piano to a click track , then I ’ d send that to the various band members who ’ d do their part and send it back to me , so there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing for a while , until we could all get together , It was very weird , I wouldn ’ t say it was completely enjoyable as little things kept coming back that we could have easily fixed if we were all together , but it did enable us to keep moving forward and stay working . Getting back together in person though , that was really special . I would say it was like the first day of school , but I hated school , so it was more like the last day , just a real f *** ing joy . Just having us all back in the same room again , having a bit of banter and playing some music together . We ’ d really missed it ; we ’ d missed each other , and we ’ d missed playing together .”
A new Weller album isn ’ t ever something you can predict what it ’ s going to sound like , which is just how he likes it . He makes music that interests him and that he wants to be proud to let people hear . With a back catalogue and reputation like his , he could easily go down the heritage act route if he wanted to and just churn out the hits for the rest of his life , but that ’ s just not how he ’ s wired .
Paul said : “ I just wanted every song to be strong on its own , like each one could be a single . I ’ m always just trying to keep my own interest and not repeat myself , which when you have been recording music as long as I have , can be difficult . In fact , it ’ s next to impossible to always come up with something different , but I ’ m always conscious of trying to reach somewhere else or get to some other place with it . So , for me , having two or three moments on each record that I ’ ve managed to do that , then it ’ s successful for me .
I couldn ’ t do that heritage route easily , not with any sort of conviction at all . I ’ m just not cut out for that sort of thing . I ’ ve always been more interested in what I ’ m doing at the time and what I ’ m doing next and that goes right back to The Jam days , you
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