By Phyllis Pollack
JP, Chrissie Hynde and the Fairground Boys appeared at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles last night on the sound stage in the Clive Davis Auditorium to perform songs from their new album, and answering interview questions from Grammy Foundation’s MusiCares Foundation Vice President Scott Goldman.
It has been no secret that the lyrics on the album, out today, surround the relationship between Chrissie Hynde and J.P. Jones. Her new songwriting partner is formerly of UK bands Grace and Big Linda. Last night, Hynde stated that when writing an entire album about her having found her would-be “Perfect Lover” in Jones, she didn’t stop to realize that she would end up having to field questions about it. Quipped Hynde, “Another thing we didn’t think about.”
Although JP, Chrissie Hynde and The Fairground Boys is a six-piece band, as heard on their album “Fidelity,” last night they played as an acoustic trio, comprised of the lithe Pretenders singer, Jones and guitarist Patrick Murdoch.
Despite the event being held at the highly regarded venue, Hynde said, “It’s not about awards, it’s about emotions.” She continued to offer more of her closely held beliefs about music and popular culture, one of which was “Rock and roll wasn’t embarrassing before.”
“You’ve got all these little porn stars. Go away,” she said of the slew of new pop tarts whose names fill the Billboard charts. Hynde righteously dismissed music industry sacred cows and pagan idols like Rolling Stone, which has shown a preference for hyping teeny bop pop queens that will pose nude, either inside the magazine or on its cover. (As of press time, the last three women to be seen on Rolling Stone's cover posed nude for the publication. Katy Perry wore only stockings. This month it is Perry, who after divulging her "porn name," talks about how she spends two hours a day gazing into her mirror, putting on make-up.)
"Rolling Stone was an underground magazine with John Lennon on the cover, saying we won the war,” Hynde reminded those in the audience, trying to wake them up.
In today's world of pop culture airheads, Chrissie Hynde is a rebel, because she actually has a cause. And it isn't that she can dress more strange than the next female artist, shed more clothes, or be more outrageous. This is real rock and roll.
The sold-out evening, which was part of the Grammy Museum’s The Drop series, was filled with ironies and humor as Hynde and Jones talked about their musical endeavors. “This was just a fluke,” Hynde said, that they came to L.A. However, Jones suggested out of the blue that they come to L.A. “It was a no brainer for me,” said Jones. “I came to L.A. and bum’s your uncle.” Hynde reported that traveling to California was the last thing on her mind. “J.P. had some extra air miles. I was going out to Akron.”
After getting together with people in L.A. that included radio show host Christ Douridas, somehow all the right stars were aligned, which would lead them to their current tour, promoting the album that would be released on Hynde’s La Mina label. Hynde said, “He asked us if he wanted to do a gig.
“It’s so weird,” was the first thing Jones had to say, seemingly still marveling over the whole course of events. Jones was in a London club at the VIP bar, and he approached Hynde, who was somewhat sloshed on alcohol.
Says Hynde, “He said he was in a band and ‘I’ve just gone solo.’ I said, ‘Well, dumb.”
Hynde, who in no short order had to leave the U.K. to continue her tour with the Pretenders, recalled, “He sent me a couple songs when I was on tour, and they were great.” One of those songs was written for Hynde, with lyrics Jones had written about wanting to take her to Venice Beach, California. Hynde returned to London after the tour. He stayed holed up with her in London for two weeks, then she invited him to spend some time with her in Cuba in the Hotel Nacional. “It happened so fast and so quick. So organic. We met and ran off to Cuba,” Jones confirmed. “Wherever I go, I take a guitar with me.” The two would become engaged in some fast and furious songwriting, not intending to do anything with the resulting music. They had never considered recording it.
“We had to salvage the holiday somehow,” joked Hynde, of the fact the pair were having to face their almost three decade age difference would preclude them from being long term lovers.
Hynde explained the album centers around the question, “Would you” (be my life partner and lover) “if you were thirty years younger?” She joked of the ensuing emotions that came, “And that was the rest of the weekend really ruined.”
That Jones wanted to have children would be an issue.
The inevitability of the impossibilities for maintaining such a relationship in the midst of this age gap can’t be ignored. One can’t really share all his or her previous life with an anticipation of a certain amount of expected experiential knowing and understanding.
Here is an example of the cultural difference brought by their age difference. At the evening’s event, Jones stated, “The first album I ever hear was David Bowie’s “Fame” and “Fashion.” Hynde had already been hooked, wanting to live a rock and roll life by the time Led Zeppelin’s debut album was hitting the charts. She had also been influenced by a slew of other counterculture, much of it to which Jones is a complete stranger.
It is this predicament that sets the stage for the lyrical interplay on the album. “It’s sort of based on if you were my age,” said Hynde. “I wrote a song of that title. It’ll probably be on the next album.”
The pair stayed in their hotel suite, writing songs. They only ventured out to go out to dinner. “We were so excited about everything,” says Jones.
Making her point, Hynde joked, “And he didn’t go solo. He’s in a band.”
“I loved the demos so much, I though why not put these out?” Hynde said.
Jones, who was born in Wales, noted his band had been signed to EMI, but he left his group as result of being frustrated, noting, “Major labels push and pull you in these directions.” He added, “After meeting her (Hynde), I’ll never be (told what to style to play) again.” Commented Jones, “You get kind of pushed and pulled” “by all the A&R men.” He makes sure to note with disgust, “I didn’t want to be all pop and gay.”
Sam Swallow, who was in Grace, played piano on ‘Fidelity.’ “It was like a gift to me,” says Hynde of her newfound partnership with Jones. “It was like a gift of all these musicians in my band.”
When it comes to the harmonies and the spontaneity between Hynde and Jones on the album, Hynde attributes it to the fact “It’s basically (recorded) live.” Jones explained of the album’s lyrics, “This is completely different. It was a conversation. We were just talking to each other.”
At least twice during the evening, Hynde refers to Led Zeppelin. One time it is when explaining that "a large budget “and two years in the studio” is unnecessary for an album. “Led Zeppelin’s first album was put out in three days, “ she says.
As far as turning Jones on to music from her own generation, Hynde reported, “I played J.P. the first Moby Grape album.” She noted that it would “unconsciously” be a “template to diversify. We weren’t trying to copy.”
Of “Fidelity” and the other musicians that played on the album, Jones said, “The boys just nailed it.”
Murdoch remembered, “He sent me the stuff, and I had no idea what to expect. I knew it was the best thing he had ever done.”
“We were just thinking about each other,” Jones said repeatedly, obviously still awestruck of what he found in Hynde.
Jones emphasizes, “We weren’t trying to make a musical statement. We were just talking to each other.”
When asked about the songwriting process, Hynde said, “It’s not a formula or a process. For us, it’s the way we get through our life.”
Jones obviously believes Hynde is special as he gushes, “I love melodies and songs more than riffs. That’s why I love Chrissie. She has the melodies, the songs and the punk attitude. No one else has that.”
The reaction to the pair’s music came as a surprise to them. Jones said, “People were crying at our gigs at first.”
"We were scared we were bumming everyone out,” jested Hyde. No one was crying at the Grammy Musuem. It was clear the audience was totally engaged in what the musicians were talking about.
Of her first project not labeled as a Pretenders endeavor, Hynde emphasized, “I’ve never seen myself before as a solo artist. It’s always been a band.” She added, ‘It’s f*&^%*# awesome” to be a singer and not the centerpiece. “I’m more into this,” she stated of her present band, as opposed to the Offenders. When some members of the audience guffaw in response to her, she shrugs, ‘The Pretenders. Who cares?” Jones is not going to get pushed around by a record label, and Hynde is certainly not going to be ordered about by anyone in an audience. That is not what rock and roll is about.
Hynde, who is iconic for being up front about her views, put current pop culture in perspective. A woman of her word, she owns a vegan restaurant, theVegiTerranean in her hometown Akron, Ohio.
I would ask her how she got her name La Mina, and she replied that she was looking at a Poster poster in London, backwards, as it was facing a mirror, and it said “Lamina.” Spelled frontway, it comes out as “animal.” Needless to say, Jones is also a vegetarian.
Hynde said of downloads, “I’m not all that bothered by it.” Hynde was clearly more concerned about art than materialism, and what could be financially reaped from having musical talent. She said of herself, “I wasn’t about 'I can drop and not be a part of this crazy establishment” to get caught up in living to chase a dollar bill. "I got into this because I didn't want a career," she says adamantly. To Hynde, the issue is, as she put it, “How do you make a living at it, even if you’re not greedy?”
Advocating rock and roll, she asserted, “You’ll find plenty of guitar bands. They’re not going away.”
When it comes to the present acoustic tour, Hynde told those who came to see her last night, “As long as there’s a band and an audience, it doesn’t make any difference what format it’s in.”
Clearly addicted to their Bohemian lifestyle, Hynde still has her mind on solid issues. “I’ve thought about this for years,” she said of starting an animal-free boot and shoe line. She said it would be great to figure out “How to get non-leather cool boots and stuff. Ask EmmyLou Harris what her favorite boots are, and get Todd Oldham to design them.” Although “We’re not business people,” Hynde’s being adamant about animal right could mobilize some people to put something together. Figuring out how to go about it will take time, “but it would be so easy to put together.”
Despite the great time Hynde is having on the road with Jones, this California tour will end eventually. She has to return to London. “I want to see my dog,” she says longingly.
Jones and Hynde played on Martin acoustic guitars, while Murdoch added edge with tasteful distortion from his red Gretch electric hollow body guitar, using a small Fender tweed amp. Jones would play one song on Murdoch’s guitar, distortion.
The band played five songs from the new album, including its single, “If You Let Me.”
American Express purchased promo material and swag from the label, which was given to the audience, and was later personally signed for everybody by Hynde, who did a meet and greet afterward.
The new album is mixed by Bob Clearmountain and produced by Hyde and Jones.
Watch a video of Hynde and Jones performing "Perfect Lover."
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