Roots Report: An Interview with John Lodge Okee dokee folks… I had an opportunity to speak with John Lodge, bassist, singer and songwriter of the iconic band The Moody Blues. Lodge will be bringing his solo tour to the Greenwich Odeum on Sunday, October 21. The Moody Blues were formed in Birmingham, England in 1964, initially consisting of keyboardist Mike Pinder, multi-instrumentalist Ray Thomas, guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge, and bassist Clint Warwick. They had a hit with the song “Go Now” but but by 1966 the band had mostly dissolved. The band reformed later that year adding Justin Hayward and John Lodge along with original members Pinder, Thomas and Edge. This would become the classic Moody’s Line up. Hugely successful albums such as Days Of Future Passed, In Search Of The Lost Chord, and A Question Of Balance follwed. Lodge is responsible for such classic Moody’s songs such as: “Ride My See Saw”, “Isn’t Life Strange”, “I’m Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band” and others. We had a conversation about the days of the future and some of the past. Read on… John Fuzek: Hey, it’s John from Motif Magazine in Rhode Island, just calling to talk about your upcoming show in East Greenwich Rhode Island. John Lodge: Fabulous! JF: Was that your wife that I was communicating with about the interview? JL: No, my daughter, she is tour manager for our tour, keep it in the family! JF: Is this the first time that you are out on the road by yourself? JL: No, I did a tour in the UK to support the album 10,000 Light Years Ago, and we recorded the last concert at Birmingham Town Hall, it’s an iconic venue in England, when I was growing up I saw all the American superheroes, you know, the Eddie Cohrans, Gene Vincents, the Little Richards, amazing American rock icons, but the first I saw there was my hero growing up, it was Buddy Holly, I was in the front row of the balcony looking down on Buddy Holly of the Crickets, I was probably thirteen years of age, so I ended my tour there and recorded it on DVD, it was a very special moment for me JF: So is the first tour of the US? JL: Well we did some concerts last year, but this time is a more extended tour going through the US starting in Nashville and ending up in Cincinnati. JF: You are playing City Winery In Nashville tomorrow night? JL: Yes, we are looking forward to that. JF: I played City Winery in Boston, they are pretty cool venues! JL:Yes, I did the City Winery last year in New York and had a great time and I wanted to do the City Wineries again. I am looking forward to playing the one in Nashville, I enjoy being in Nashville anyway JF: You’re in Nashville now, correct? JL: Yes, we’re in Nashville, we’re rehearsing JF: DId your band mates come with you or are you using US players? JL: No, US band, all US-two guys from the Detroit area and two guys from the Florida area JF: Do you play bass in this band or guitar? JL: I play bass, of course, a couple of songs I play 12 string guitar because that’s what really leads on that particular songs, but it’s bass, that’s my primary instrument, obviously I write on guitar or piano, but bass is my primary instrument JF: I asked because I saw the promo photo of you playing bass but there was an acoustic guitar in the background and wasn’t sure if that was a Moody Blues shot and that was Justin’s (Hayward) guitar. JL: No, it’s my 12, as I said I use the 12 string on a couple of songs on stage. JF: I didn’t realize until now that you wrote some of the iconic Moody Blues songs, will you be performing any Moody Blues songs that you didn’t write? JL: Actually, yes, I am doing a tribute to Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder in the show, a couple of songs that we don’t do as the Moody Blues, that we’ll never do as the Moody Blues, so I decided, being a part of that music all of my life, and Ray and Mike being part of my life, I wanted to continue keeping that music alive, I thought it was important to do. JF: Have the Moody Blues been retired or is there still a chance for them to perform again? JL: Well, we have no plan really, we just had Days Of Future Passed celebrate 50 years, but we don’t have any new plans, but I am a Moody Blue and always will be a Moody Blue JF: That’s great, I have been a fan of the Moody Blues for, umm, well, probably about 50 years! JL: Thank you! JF: I have seen you quite a few times in the past but not recently, I am a musician so I don’t get to shows as much as I would like to sometimes! JL: I think that’s the truth about all musicians, we never get to see anyone else JF: What is the instrumentation in the band you will be touring with? JL: OK, Keyboards – Alan Hewitt, Drums- Billy Ashbor, Guitar- Duffy, he’s from Detroit, and on cello, that’s a difference, I’ve got a cello/guitarist Jason, he’s from Detroit as well. JF: Cool, I like the cello JL: Yeah, the cello, really, a lot of the songs have featured cello, or that part of the orchestra, you know…for me it’s an integral part of the song, the drive of it… JF: Ok, i hate to ask this question and I think I know the answer but I will ask for folks who may wonder… is Nights In White Satin in the set? JL: No JF: I didn’t think so but I just wanted to ask because it’s probably the biggest Moody Blues song and many folks wonder about these kinds of things! JF: “Ride My See Saw” is a great song, love that one, and “Isn’t Life Strange” and “I’m Just A Singer In A Rock And Roll Band” those are all great songs, those are all iconic Moody Blues songs. What was the inspiration for “Ride My See Saw”? JL: I think it’s just coming out of, I think all of us, you know, coming out of school with preconceived ideas of what life’s about and then you hit the brick wall and realize that it’s a totally different place, and you have to readjust to everything in your life, you know, and I think that’s what it’s about really, I wrote it a long times ago so it’s a bit difficult to sort of disappear back 50 odd years to that period of time JF: I have that issue, too JL: Life was different then, lot’s of things were different, you know, especially if you came from England, you had the East and West, you had the Berlin Wall and Eastern Europe was different than Western Europe…and the Hippie movement around the world changed so much, and music then just changed everything, it was all part of that time you know, “Ride My See Saw” was about music changing my life and hopefully changing the lives of people who listened to the song. JF: How old are you now? JL: 73 JF: OK, you’re younger compared to some of the other folks from classic rock bands that I have been talking with recently! You’re just a kid! JL: Yeah, absolutely! JF: How long will you continue to do this? You must do it for the love of music at this point. JL: I always have done it anyway, from when I was very young I said, “have bass will travel!” it’s as simple as that, if people want to listen to the music then I will play it JF: When did you start playing the bass, how old were you? JL: I was 15, it wasn’t actually the bass at 15, I was playing the bottom four strings of a guitar, in England the first bass (guitars) didn’t really arrive until like 1958, I remember seeing my first electric bass and it was in a band…I didn’t know what it was…I thought it was a white Stratocaster, it only had four strings…up until that time, people like Buddy Holly and the Crickets, The Crickets bass player played double bass, you know, and most of the recordings were with double bass…and I was just learning bass riffs on the bottom four strings of my guitar and then when I was 16 I went to my music shop, as we all do as musicians, I’m sure you do, everyone else does, saturday morning, sit there and listen to everyone else and see what new chords somebody’s learned or new riffs someone’s learned, when I got to my music shop in Birmingham, Jack Woodruff wrote about it on my album, a song called “Those Days In Birmingham”…I went to the music store and there in the window, it said “direct from America, Fender Sunburst Precision Bass” and there it was, in the window, I remember rushing home, to my house, Saturday morning, my father was home and I said, “Dad, you have to come with me to the music shop they’ve got the bass” and I bought the bass and I’ve still got it and that bass is what I recorded nearly every Moody Blues song with.