Holy Flashback Friday Batman! The Letting Go Show is a tour that is headlined by Boy George and Culture Club, Howard Jones and Berlin. You have three iconic MTV staples from the good ol’days of MTV when it played videos 24/7. Those artists have racked up a massive amount of Top 40 hits plus tons of other fan favorites. When you put them all together, well maybe not all but definitely a lot of them, you have a three hour show that will transport you back in time as if you were with Sherman and Peabody in the way-back machine (dated reference). We had a chance to sit down with the new wave icon/synth pioneer Howard Jones after the opening night of the tour. We talked about the tour plus his 40thanniversary of “New Song’ as well as what to do when his song starts playing while shopping in Home Depot.

Hi Howard; how are you sir?

Howard Jones: I’m good, very good thanks.

Where you guys at today?

We’re in Tampa today; we played our first show last night and we play a Tampa show tomorrow night.

So today’s your day off but it’s not really a day off. I’m sure you have a lot going on.

(laughs) Yes there are always lots to do! Keeping up with the emails and the social media and all that stuff; it’s crazy.

Well let’s jump right into this because there are two main topics to this interview. First let’s address this tour that you’re on with Boy George and Culture Club and Berlin. You’ve been out with Culture Club before in the nineties which would have been the first time I saw you but have you ever toured or played with Berlin?

No, I think I’ve done one or two shows over the years but never a tour like this.

This show is a three hour adventure filled with so many hits with great memories tied into each one. I don’t know how much time you get but how difficult was it to come up with your set list?

I’ve certainly put a lot of thought into it and I have 50 minutes I have nine top 40 hits in America which I wasn’t really aware of until someone told me recently. That statistic is not something that I carry around thinking ‘oh yeah that’s why it’s so hard to choose.’ Plus I have Nick Beggs back in the band with me and he wrote Kajagoogoo’s “Too Shy” so we do that as well. Plus, I wanted to fit in something brand new that’s doing well on streaming. It’s a song from the new album (Dialogue) which is called “Celebrate It Together” just to let people know there’s new material. I’m always doing new records and this song works particularly well. It went down really well last night in between all the hits, so I was really pleased. 

The show is true nostalgia and a retro show, but your career has never rested on that. You continue to move forward with new music. You put out Dialogue last year which was an amazing album. It was well received by both critics and fans although radio didn’t play it. Radio’s a totally different beast these days but thank goodness we have means of reaching people online.

(laughs) Right! The new stuff is not going to get on the radio but fortunately after 40 years they’re still playing the 80’s hits which are really great for me. That music has stood the test of time. When I come to make a new album, I have those who have followed me all the way. They want to have everything that I’ve done and that have kept moving forward with me. I keep moving forward as an artist so it spins over into how we play the old stuff.  We’re always wanting to inject a new fresh energy into it. My show is a combination of technology and live playing with skilled musicians. It’s easier for us to update the sounds and give it a new twist but still without making it unrecognizable which would be a mistake (laughs).

Technology has come so far since you put “New Song” out 40 years ago. It’s almost like technology has caught up with you. Things you wanted to do back then are now available.

Yes, we’re able to do them now, but I was just sort of making it up as I went along in the early days. We didn’t have computers back then, but there was sequencing, drum machines and stuff like that. It was very prone to going wrong (laughs). I remember times when I was so embarrassed with the gig. We still have a few technical problems because we still like to push the technology. It is amazing what we can do now. I still have all my vintage keyboards which we don’t take out on the road because they wouldn’t survive it packed in boxes stacked on top of each other. I can generate live harmony with my vocals and I don’t know it people even realize what is going there. You could never do that in the old days. I’m keen to any kind of new technology that can make things new and interesting for me. I’m jumping on it to keep the shows exciting.  

“New Song,” as you said, has stood the test of time and now you have satellite radio and You Tube. It blows my mind to think that I discovered you when I was 15 and now 40 years later, 15 year olds are discovering you thanks to the show “Stranger Things.” 

That does make me very excited when I look at the audience and see young faces that are discovering music for the first time. That feels so good and I’m so pleased that it happens. That’s one of the great things about touring I love touring. I get to see people in front of me and I can see that it really is worth the effort. Music is so important to people’s lives, so it’s real important to keep doing it. Coming off the stage last night in West Palm Beach and everybody was jumping up and down. I don’t think anything else can beat that feeling. I’m kind of addicted to it now; I can’t stop (laughs).

It goes both ways because within a couple of notes of any of the artist’s songs, you are immediately transported to a particular place and time. What else can do that? I don’t know what can.

We were looking for something for our tour bus today and we went into Home Depot and “No One Is To Blame” came on in Home Depot. I don’t go shopping very often but it seems like every time I go, I hear my songs. I am looking around and I’m wondering how to react. Do I start singing to it or do I point to it and say ‘hey that’s me’ and then I’ll be thrown out by the security guard. I don’t know what the etiquette is for that (laughs).

You could just look at the cashier and say ‘I love this song!’

(laughs) That’s a really good response; I might use that.

I would lose my mind if I was working or shopping at Home Depot and you walked in regardless of whether your song was playing or not. If the song came on at the same time, I’d have to go buy a lottery ticket! 

Laughs hysterically

When this tour is over you go back to the UK to start the 40-year anniversary tour. Will that possibly make it to the US by years end or will we have to wait until next year?

It’s built into our plans to come back to the US next year. We’re definitely doing that but I don’t know what form it’ll be. Whether part of the 40th anniversary or with another artist. It’s really great for me to be back playing live again in these venues. I love them and being outdoors in the summertime in America. It’s hard to beat such a great atmosphere; you can have terrible storms and lightning too. The show was delayed last night and it just added to the vibe. Everyone’s even more excited when the music finally starts.

Music has such a way of bringing everyone together like that and there are not many other things that can do that

My friend took me to a Dodgers baseball game and I was very impressed by the atmosphere there. There were a lot of families there and people really enjoying themselves and being together. Music has this emotional element as well. It can really break out deep, deep feelings and memories as you were saying. I think it’s great when people gather together and enjoy something together. It’s such a wonderful thing.

I know you’re barely into the tour, but has there been any talk about performing together with anyone on the tour?

We’re so early into this and everyone is trying to get their stuff together to make sure the shows happen. So, we’ll just have to see how it goes. I actually do that quite a bit. On the last tour Midge Ure opened up for me and he joined me on stage. We did “Do They Know It’s Christmas” and people absolutely loved that. You could say in a way I am doing that on this tour because I’m doing “Too Shy” with Nick Beggs. I’m not sure what the other artists will feel like so we’ll have to say.

I have a fan submitted question from Jeff Koger in Virginia who asked ‘with the 40th anniversary coming to the U.S. would you consider playing Human’s Lib in its entirety?’

We actually did that; we did the first two albums that way and they were recorded and you can get them online. It was great fun going back and doing that. We did not play them in order because that wouldn’t have been right for the show but we did play every track.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 40 years since you released “New Song.” What did you think back then? Something like ‘yeah I might have a good run with this for a few years.’

(Laughs) At the time it was really day to day as there was no forward planning or thinking. Everyone was just hanging on; you were literally working every day of the year playing and doing interviews on TVs and traveling. It was all about how can I keep this going (laughs). I really enjoy what I’m doing but it doesn’t always go that way. I never would have even considered 10 years ahead, much less 40. Something I always tried to do during that time is just get better at what I do. I’ve done so much touring and shows that I’ve had a lot of experience with this. I’m actually starting to get good at it right now (laughs). I just want to keep that trajectory. All of the people and the heroes that I grew up with and loved and worshiped as artists are either nanymore or retiring. So now there’s a space that needs to be filled. Some of us who have put a few songs together that people know can try to. It won’t ever be as big as that because music in the 60s and 70s was so big in people’s lives. In the 80s there was a little bit more that took people’s interest away from music. Still, I think there’s a role to play here. The experience getting people to really enjoy that experience we were talking about earlier of being together and celebrating being alive. To be born as a human being and have this consciousness that we have is such a great thing.

Wow, what a beautiful way to wrap up the interview; I can’t top that. Safe travels out on the road Howard to you, your crew and all of the other artists and their crew. We look forward to seeing the show and being transported back in time. Great talking to you again buddy!

Great talking to you too Johnny; see you at the show.

I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price 

For more information on Howard Jones, please visit: www.howardjones.com