If you’ve not already read our superlative-filled review of ‘Resonate’ then we’ll summarise by simply saying that it truly is one of Glenn Hughes’ finest albums to date (both solo and as part of globe-straddling acts such as Black Country Communion). It has it all – soul, depth, power, love and anger – and Glenn inhabits the songs in a manner of which few other artists would even dare to dream. An opportunity to speak to Glenn about this epic new outing was not to be missed and what follows is a conversation that takes in the recording of the record, the genesis of the songs and importance of making an album rather than simply a collection of songs. As always, Glenn was a perfect gentleman, full of interesting stories about the recording process and full of excitement at the prospect of the upcoming tour. Unfortunately, subsequent to the interview, the announcement has been made that the tour is no longer to go ahead at this point, which means that we will have to wait a little while longer before Glenn can return to the UK with his stunning band in order to showcase the songs. Nonetheless, ‘Resonate’ is a true gift to Glenn Hughes fans (and to hard rock fans in general) and what follows is a record of our detailed conversation with the ‘voice of rock’.
I had the pleasure of interviewing you a year ago just after California Breed and before you embarked on a solo tour and there was something that you said that stuck with me – you said that you had been talking with a friend about who Glenn Hughes should be and your friend replied to you that Glenn Hughes is the guy who can do it all – funk, soul, rock – and now that you’re here with a new solo album I wondered if, by doing something under the banner of Glenn Hughes rather than California Breed or Black Country Communion, you had a degree of artistic freedom that you don’t have when there’s the added expectation of a band name?
That’s a very, very good question and I get asked that quite a bit, but I’ve never really answered it like I’m going to answer it since you put it that way. When I’m with, for all intents and purposes let’s call it California Breed or Black Country, there are other members of the band who are excellent musicians, although I did write a lot of those songs we all know how great Joe is – a great guitar player and a great writer – but when I do my solo album, especially ‘Resonate’, after the success of Black Country Communion, it was very clear to me where my fans are and how they feel about Glenn Hughes music. Like I said, whoever said I could do it all, that was very nice of them to say – I’m smiling because I really do like to put my foot in different genres of music and have a bit of a dip in, but with ‘Resonate’, when I was writing this record in my studio in Spring, I was going in each day thinking “I’m going to make a rock album…” like I’ve never made before – a genuine, from start-to-finish Glenn Hughes rock album. A little bit diverse in the fact that each song is not totally like the one you heard ten minutes ago. It’s different in the genres… it’s very much a rock album, but it’s got that spin again, it’s got that groove, it’s got that very, very dark edge to it, it’s got soulful singing, it’s got the Glenn Hughes things that people have come to expect from me.
So that ties in, perhaps, with the press release which has a quote form you saying that this is the first “kind of complete Glenn Hughes record…”
I think [laughs]… I’m laughing because there was a guy that was there to interview me on the second day of recording – a guy from a Danish rock magazine, and he wanted to come and interview me and I said to myself “I know exactly what this is, this is the first guy who wants to come in and interview me and this is going to go global.” So I had to be careful what I said, and I did say, I must have said, “this is the first kind of complete Glenn album.” What I probably should have said was this was the first kind of complete Glenn album because I wrote the entire thing and arranged the entire album without anybody help from anybody else. And produced it. So, it’s kind of a complete Glenn album without anybody else’s opinion – you know “we shouldn’t play that chord there; we should make it a different chord…” I had none of that. I stand up and say that, when I finished the album, I knew that I felt kind of complete myself. It was such an incredibly easy album to record I should do another one next year, so I’m really happy to say that the making of this album was a really, really easy ride for me.
One of the key words with this record is album and there are a number of artists who have pulled away from the concept of making an album as opposed to a collection of songs, but ‘resonate’ has that strong flow to it and, for me, the challenge of sequencing a record is almost as significant as writing the songs in the first place – and I was wondering how you approached that side of the creative process?
Well, what I did, Phil, was I went into my studio on the first day of writing the album… and this is the first time I’ve ever done this… as I was writing the first track, and that track was ‘steady’, I’m halfway through writing the music and I said to myself “what I’m going to do today is I’m going to stay in this room and this studio and I’m going to finish this track musically, arrange it, then I’m going to have dinner and I’m going to go back into the studio and write the lyrics to this song called ‘Steady’” and each day I went in and completed the next song from start to finish and it’s the only time in my career of almost fifty years that I did it one song, completely, at a time. When we went into the studio in late May, or early June, we did it one song a day. I played the guys the song on the acoustic guitar and we went about recording it, and when we finished it we, well obviously we all went to bed, and the next morning we got up and did the same thing again. I didn’t rehearse the whole record with them and then do them in pieces, they only heard one song at a time until it was completely finished, so it was a real spontaneous thing for me and it was a bit of a… when someone hears something for the first time and they’re going to record it, it’s a lot of information to take on board, you know, but I think it was a really nice challenge.
When you record songs like that, without a safety net if you will, it seems to fly in the face of a much more technological era where everything’s polished to perfection…
God yeah…
… and I think you get a really raw spontaneity that comes across in the album really well.
Well it does with the instrumentation. I don’t think I’ve ever played bass in that frame of mind before where you can hear the bass just free flowing. It’s just absolutely in the moment. And Lachy, the keyboard player, his playing is just… and by the way, Phil, on each song there was never more than one or two takes. I only recorded one or two takes of each song. Vocals, no more than two takes. Check this out – we recorded, arranged and mixed this album in seventeen days, and that is pretty quick.
That kinda leads me to the next question, because I remember talking to you about California Breed and on that album you were working with Dave Cobb and he got you to do the vocals that same way – one or two takes and done – so was it that process that informed your production work on this record?
Loved it! I loved it. You know, working with Dave was great and that’s the way I’ve always like to do it. I’ve worked with other producers where they like to record ten vocals – they want me to sing the song ten times and then they take the second line from track four and the third line from track two and it’s like “oh god, it’s not really live, then.” It’s like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and it doesn’t really work for me that way. So, what Dave Cobb did, was to have me sing it live and even some of the tracks when I was playing bass too. And that’s what I did on ‘Resonate’. I wanted to… and I had the lyrics in front of me and I look at it like being an actor before he does a scene. He’s looking at his lines and if you hear this album on headphones you’ll notice that there’s some happiness on this record, there’s some angst, I’m really kinda angry and pissed off… I call it “the many voices of Glenn”. I can’t tell you what it’s like for me – when I step up tot eh microphone, how I’m going to react to my lyrics as I look at them. Whether it’s ‘god of money’ which is a dark song to sing about, or ‘when I fall’, which is completely at the light end of the spectrum. And ‘long time gone’ which is the story of a man who’s coming back from a war… I learned this from David Bowie – I’m kind of acting as I’m singing these songs. I don’t think I’m acting them on stage, but in the studio for sure I’m acting them out.
I’m really glad you mentioned ‘when I fall’ because I believe that to be one of the most beautiful songs you’ve ever recorded – the way your vocals really open up is stunning…
Well, you know, I love that song and that song wrote itself. It was written in five minutes. Lachy’s Hammond solo on that song just brings me to tears. His keyboard playing is out of this world. Out. Of. This. World. I’ve worked with Jon Lord and Keith Emmerson, may they rest in peace, and now I’ve got Lachy Doley and it’s like “oh my god, how lucky am I to have him in my band?”
He is amazing – nobody plays organ like that anymore and listening to Lachy on a number of songs blew me away – there’s so much power in what he’s doing.
By the way, you know on ‘flow’, that’s not a guitar solo, that’s a whammy clavinet solo! The clavinet, you’ve seen it, it’s like a little thin, brown keyboard. Imagine having an arm on top of it which he uses like a tremolo arm on a guitar. It sounds insane! It sounds insane! This guy, in the studio, is astronomically brilliant, but this guy, live… he’s going to blow people’s minds! Trust me!
You’ve also got Chad Smith on the album and there is one hell of a chemistry between the two of you…
He’s been my best mate for about fifteen years, he’s been on all my solo records… this is the fifth or sixth album that I’ve made with Chad, I’m the godfather to one of his kids. He’s my closest friend and confidante and, you know, he’s always been with me and he always will be. He’s such a… he’s more than a drummer for me, he’s my right hand man and my go-to guy – I run everything by Chad and he was so helpful for me when I had my heart surgery and stuff. He’s just an amazing human being and he’s completely… you know he’s a chilli pepper but… no, there’s no ‘but’ to the conversation – Chad is a rock drummer. He’s a seventies drummer. He’s a Keith Moon, John Bonham guy. He fits the mould in my band so amazingly. I chuckle thinking about how good he is; how incredible he is.
One of the things about the record that I love are the multi-layered vocals which sound stunning. I know in the past you’ve insisted that other band members are involved in singing – is that still the case with the tour for this record?
Yeah, even more so because Lachy sings too and Soren sings, so you’ve got three singers that can cover it. Obviously I’ll be taking the main line, but Lachy’s got a really good lower voice and Soren can actually kind of go falsetto above me so it’s going to be a lot easier now because I’ve always had only two people singing, for example me and Soren and me and whoever plays guitar. But now with Lachy, Lachy’s coming in singing, so we’re rehearsing actually in Birmingham before we start in Leamington Spa, so we’re all going to be gathered in Birmingham in the cold weather…
I’m very aware that we’re tight on time so my last question is to do with the live set – you’ve got this amazing catalogue material to work with and, of course, ‘resonate’ is exceptional – how do you plan to balance the older favourites with ‘Resonate’?
The good news for Glenn watchers is that I’ll be playing seven songs that I didn’t play last year. I played a European tour last October, there’ll be seven songs that I’ll play this time that I didn’t play last year, so it’s a minimum of half a set. I always like to change the set. A lot of bands do that and a lot of bands don’t do that. I’m the kind of guy that likes to change things up because I’ve been doing this for almost five decades now, I’ve written over four hundred songs, so I’m going to go out there with these songs. I think the set list I’m playing this November / December is a really strong, strong show.
