The Justin Hayward Interview - Part 3

The Moody Blues have certainly made an impact. What do you think of all these bands that have come along in the last few years, recording and playing live with orchestras?

I think that a lot of the time it just doesn’t work. It worked for the Moody Blues because we had something to focus on, which was our first album, Days Of Future Passed. It had orchestral pieces that were a bit familiar to people, the bits after “Nights In White Satin, “ the spoken word stuff, the bit after “Tuesday Afternoon” and other bits like that where you could feature the orchestra in their own right. And we could stop playing and let them carry on. I think to use them as a backing group is a waste of time, sometimes. Other times it’s just a dynamic, a pompous dynamic. I’ve yet to see a group really do it well. What do you think?

I’m inclined to agree with you. It can sound a bit contrived, I guess. Speaking of Days Of Future Passed, let’s go back to 1967 when it came out along with other albums like Sgt. Pepper’s, Surrealistic Pillow, The Doors and Pipers At The Gates Of Dawn. What do you remember about that period?

Well you know what they say -- if you can remember, you weren’t there (laughs). I suppose I remember being part of something that I thought was going to last forever and get bigger and bigger and bigger and take over the world -- the fact that we were musicians in such a place. Looking back now, it just seems incredibly fortunate to be the right age at the right time at the right place, in that time, in that part of London. I know that most groups then were looking to America. The British rock and roll scene was very, very strong then. The Beatles were always our leader. They were streets ahead of the rest of us.

It was fortunate for us that we went to America in 1968. You had Bill Graham, FM radio was starting, and we were making the kind of music that was kind of non-commercial. We weren’t making hit singles like a lot of people still tend do, all the time, in the UK. We kind of rejected that. And in the end that turned out to be the best move we ever made, quite unconsciously. We just wanted to make albums. With the first album, we developed a taste for it, and from then on, we just wanted to make albums. We were very lucky that our integrity set us in good stead in the UK and then America.

From where I’m sitting, it seems as though the Moody Blues’ story can be split up into different chapters. You have the classic seven albums from the 60s and 70s that more or less defined the group; you have the hits and videos of the 80s; and then you have the dazzling live performances of the 90s. How would you describe the band’s place in the 21st century?

(Long pause) I don’t know, I might need a few minutes with that one (laughs). I wasn’t ready for that. I’ve never known, really. I suppose it’s because we’re always looking over our shoulder at our own catalogue. Our biggest competitor is ourselves. We’re always trying to move on from that, and take it a little bit further. The band has a lot of things going for it, a lot of respect. It’s a part of people’s lives, and in people’s hearts and minds.
I think as people and writers, we have a lot to say. And I would hope the naivety of youth has been replaced by some kind of wisdom in the way we write. I feel that in my own writing, I can only believe in what I’m doing now.

This morning I was in the car and “Tuesday Afternoon” was on the radio. I have to admit, at the time, I was never really all that keen on it. I know it was our first real hit in America from Days Of Future Past. Now, looking back as I was in the car, I thought, “That’s really quite good.” I finally forgotten the studio, the session, the engineer’s face and what was going on, the personal problems. I just listened to it as a piece of music. I think we will always be referred back to those first seven albums. We have to carry that with us and make sure that we never spoil that.

What do you remember about making these videos?

I remember a lot because it’s the only time in our career where we seemed to have the power and control. Somebody slipped up somewhere and decided we could control what we were doing (laughs), which rarely happened. It was something we were fighting for in the 60s. We just about made it and split up for awhile.

We scripted them and Brian Grant, a director and friend of ours, directed them. They were completely made by the Moodies. We did them our own way. They were the only successful videos we ever had.

Did you enjoy making them?

I enjoyed it very much. It’s so wonderful when you see something that you did on a few sheets of A4 paper as a kind of a script and theme and storyline. And how someone like Brian could actually put it together for us. We had a guy in the video department at Polygram that wanted to make that happen. Those videos should be credited with the success that we’ve had since the 80s. It was built as much on those videos and that particular four and five years of the second half of the 80s where we had a lot of success. That’s the reason we’re here now still talking and still able to put out new product.

You’ve written so many incredible songs. Do you have a personal favorite?

My favorite, I suppose, is a song on the DVD that just came out which is “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere.” I love performing it. Wherever we go, people like it. It wasn’t a massive hit, but people know it. It was a massive hit because it’s about six minutes long and no one did a successful edit on it. That’s probably the one that gives me the most pleasure. And “December Snow” is something that when we first did it, we all had kind of a shiver up your spine and we looked at each and thought, “Oh yeah, it’s a winner.”
Those two are my favorites now.

Where do you get ideas for your songs?

I often have little phrases that I just write down of things that are in my mind or in my heart that just come. They’re about people or events or little stories of things that happen around me. I suppose it just comes from my own life and from my imagination. It’s a thing about getting half a song and then completely it. It’s half inspiration and half work, completion.

You’ve made, by my count, five solo albums, with your last one The View From The Hill released in 1996. Obviously, as you’re constantly busy with the Moody Blues, they’ve been few and far between. When do you know it’s time to make one?

When I can’t see any prospect of the Moodies recording for a while and when I meet people I think I’d really like to work with. And I don’t mean musicians, maybe technical people who want to paint vivid pictures. I can feel it coming on. >>>

1      2     3     4

~

© Copyright 1997, 2005 Vintage Rock