“All of those changes make a massive difference to my health and my life. But he used to be, he says with a hint of remorse, a man who spent much of his time in pubs, hotel lounges, airport bars and anywhere else that was connected to the sale and distribution of alcohol. For many years, Weller’s lifestyle has embraced healthy eating and a no-drink, no-drugs, gym-workout regime. He is now, he says, fitter than he has ever been in his life. As luck would have it, I didn’t die or disappear after having had a few hit songs.” And, of course, at that age I would never, ever have expected to be making music into my 60s – it would have been unthinkable to me – but then I also would never have imagined that I’d reach the age of 63. For a kid like me, that age group, particularly people in their 50s and 60s, seemed ancient, ancient, ancient. Even the way older people dressed back then was rooted in post-war attitudes. We have to remember at that time the older generation were post-WW2, and so there was an entirely different mentality and culture. My perspective now is completely different and has experience and knowledge behind it. “When I was a kid, I thought anyone over the age of 25 was ancient, let alone 60 or over. He allows that perception has changed utterly. Back then, surly teenagers’ views of anyone in their 60s was that they were not only incredibly old but also incapable of understanding anything the younger generation felt passionate about. Weller turns 63 on May 25th and is, of course, a long way from his teenage years. There was never a doubt in my mind that I’d be doing anything else, which I suppose you could put down to being a teenager in the ’70s and being so in love with ’60s pop culture.” Not because I thought I was great at it, but because I instinctively felt, even from when I was a nipper, it was my purpose in life. I also never thought about whether I could or would make a success of it because I just presumed it was a matter of time. “I left school in the mid-’70s without any qualifications and I had no interest in getting any because all I wanted to do was play the guitar and write songs. God knows, he says with gum-chewing sincerity, what he would have done if it hadn’t been for music. What stands out the most, perhaps, is the breadth and range of songs, with the varying music styles culled from a lifetime of listening, living and breathing them. On the Weller album scale, it’s up there with one of his most accomplished works, but it will hardly convert the naysayers. Nevertheless, I do what I do, and I perceive what I do as having some level of value.” But I’ve obviously calmed down over the years and have come to view criticism – and I mean constructive criticism, not criticism as a personal attack – as not such a bad thing. “When I was a much younger man, if someone didn’t like the music it would put my back up straight away, I’d be biting at the leash. What about severe criticism? It depends, he says. As for the new album, more people have said they like it than not, but I’ve been around for about 45 years now, so the most important thing is that I just continue to make the records I want to make.” “It’s nice, isn’t it? The bottom line, of course, is if people don’t like what I do, then what can I do about it? If it’s positive feedback, yeah, I’m flattered and pleased, and for people to actually dig what I do is part – but only part – of why I do it, I suppose. “I quite like it, to tell the truth,” says Weller. With one of his early lyrics rattling in the background ("I don't give two f***s about your review," from The Jam's 1977 single This Is the Modern World), I ask does he ever get fed up with people telling him how great he is? There is a cheerful laugh at the other end of the phone line. Here we go again: a new Paul Weller album, and in its trail a stream of positivity from just about every constituent part of media, from broadsheets to blogs, from rags to Rolling Stone.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |