Brandon Flowers Interviews Chords by Elton John
Tempo:
106.1 bpm
Chords used:
F
E
Bb
A
B
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
So was it a conscious decision to make like such an energetic record or was it something that came organically or
It was a bit of a conscious decision because the previous albums called the diving board after me
That's probably the most intimate record I've made
It was mostly piano bass and drums and I loved it very much
But I thought the songs that I wrote on it
Were very very intimate songs and they weren't arena songs and I play a lot of arenas and to be honest with you
The two songs that I played off the album that I played in concert people listen to them
But usually they school [F] the toilet break and [N] they would work in auditoriums or theaters and I wanted to make a record that was happy
I felt in a happy mood.
I was in Hawaii in January and I found my guitar as we were doing show and I said Davy
I want to make an up-tempo record
I've told Bernie to write up-tempo lyrics go out and buy some 12-string guitars
And I want us to be a rock record more featuring the guitar than the piano.
So it was preconceived
However, I've never really been that great at writing a lot of up-tempo songs together
So I was a bit nervous about it
And I suppose that that helped me in the end because I knew I had to deliver and at the end of the day
We came up with ten tracks that not all they're not all rock and roll songs
But it's probably the most up-tempo album I made since rock of the West is way way back
It made me wonder if it was a reaction which you sort of answered
If it was a reaction to the diving board being more like contemplated and spare the diving board was kind of my nightclub album
Which I loved and it featured probably my best piano playing on an album because it was the featured instrument when you make your rock
And roll [E] record nowadays the piano isn't a featured instrument
it's part of the equation and I got to use my band for the first time on this record for a long long time and
God, they stepped up to the plate and we had such a blast because they know where I'm coming from musically
I don't have to tell them what to play
They're just so in sync with me and I think if you played [Bb] with musicians, you know
If you're in a band, you guys know what to play, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, and you've been around, you know each other
So I was very lucky
I'm very happy with it because I actually delivered what I set out to deliver
You sort of answer my next question too, but I'm still going for it
You've been playing for decades now with with Nigel [N] and Davey and were they?
Thrilled or excited by this batch of songs in this direction because it can be such a physical thing
Drumming and guitar and it sounds like they're really getting to flex on the record
Well, they were delighted to be able to play on an album because it's frustrating
I made the union with Leon Russell and it was the first time I
Work with T-bone burnout on the diving board
I work with Jay Bell rose on drums and Raphael Sadiq on bass and there was hardly any guitar on the record
It was just we cut it as a threesome
So I think they were chomping at the bit because we've been playing so well live to play on a record
And when I asked them to play on the record and T-bone actually said I'd like to use your band on this record massive
Great, they'll be thrilled and the funny thing is with debt with Nigel drummers are always like this
They they get very nervous going to a studio because they really worry about their drum sound
Mm-hmm, that's you know, that's the most important thing to the drummer is their drum sound
yeah, and we set up two days beforehand and Nigel got a great drum sound with the engineer got the great drum sound and
Jason Wormer once Nigel got that he was completely relaxed and Dave is being with me for so long
They were just chomping at the bit to record and the other guys to and Ray Cooper came and played
Tambourine on it as well.
So it's a bit like yeah
This is the real Elton John band how they sound at the moment and it's really exciting because they really are a great band
Yeah after seeing you live it makes a lot of sense to do to make that move
And what was so that was you said that was T-bones sort of idea
What is it about T-bone Burnett that makes you keep keep calling him?
Because he's a musician and he's he knows like all good producers
How to edit a song how to choose the right moment to tell you that maybe you should think of doing it a different way
Yeah, which sometimes hurts as you know when because it's your song.
It's like that
He said, you know what?
I think you should do this and you should do that
I've always had the luxury of working with producers who have the balls to say that
And I've made three totally different albums with him now.
I've made the Union which was a duet album with Leon and very kind of
Americana the diving board, which was a very nightclub II and this one which is total rock and roll
I think this is the most blatant rock and roll record.
He's ever made.
It's certainly most upfront in-your-face record
He's ever made like this
I pushed him and he pushes me and I think that's the way that a record
Producer and an artist should always work pushing each other trying to push the boundaries a little bit and make you a little uncomfortable
Yeah, and two things you don't normally do and I think that's why I really like working with him.
He's open to all ideas
That's good.
Okay.
So now for people who don't know we all know the the association between you and Bernie Topham
But I don't think everybody really knows how from the inception of a song.
How does it start?
Do you have a conversation with him and say there are a couple of topics that I want to tackle or does it come from?
Him his ideas or how does that all start?
It's usually
99.9% always come from him on this album.
I said listen, it's up-tempo and here's the brief and he he agreed with me
He said, you know, it's time to make a joyous record.
And I think the record is joyous
I don't know what he's gonna write and when he gives it to me and I go in the studio and I didn't read the
Lyrics up front.
I never do I go in the studio with 20 lyrics say and then I look at the title of the song
First song we wrote on this album is called [A] blue wonderful because I love the [B] title and then you look [N] at it and you think what?
Tempo is it gonna be it's a weird thing that I've never questioned
I have this instinctive thing when I look at his lyrics to know what's gonna happen and I talk about in the show in Vegas
It's just an odd thing, but I don't question it and I don't sort of try and examine it and you know
Think out, you know try and go into why is this like this?
It just happens and it's always worked and the element of surprise when I play in the finished article
Has never changed from the first song we've ever wrote wrote to the one that we've currently done
So that keeps the relationship fresh and the fact that we don't collaborate.
I think it's kept us really fresh
Are there plans to tour the record?
We're gonna be rehearsing the record in January in LA and obviously with this amount of up-tempo songs
We're gonna try and include as many of them in the show as possible now earlier in the interview
I said it's hard because bands like the stones write up-tempo songs and you know when you've got so many hits and I'm not
Blame on trumpet but people really want to come and hear the hits.
We've already recorded two tracks on stage
Wonderful crazy night, which is the title of the album and looking up which is the first single and they sound great
So there are three or four other songs.
We'll just see we'll experiment
We're gonna do a showcase in Paris and see how it goes.
Not just the Rockers are blue
Wonderful, I think will be amazing on stage and I still so think a good heart which is the ballot so
We've got a lot to choose from which is more than I've had in the last few albums, right?
So I guess for to wrap it up here a major part of your identity is that you are a master class
Songwriter and you're larger than life performer
But how has now becoming a father changed your perspective on what it is to be successful?
Wow, that's a great question.
Well, it's not all about me anymore.
It's about the boys
I have two sons Elijah and Zachary my plan in my life now is try and take more time off to be with my boys
They don't really know
They know they're no rocket man and I Benny the Jets and I don't go breaking my heart
But they're more obsessed with other, you know, I don't they've never been to a show
They don't you know, I don't play them my new record.
I don't think it's appropriate
I mean, they'll discover me when they discover me.
They know what I do, but they couldn't care less
They like going on stage, but they only like to show that shine the torch that's what they like
I wanted to make a joyous album because I the feeling
That I had when I thought about this album is that I'm in a really good space.
I've got a wonderful husband
I've got a wonderful partner.
I've got two beautiful boys.
I've got a great career.
I've got great friends.
I'm sober I'm clean
I'm I've got everything at a six-year eight-year-old man could possibly wish for you know
If I get depressed or I get blue which every artist does or every person does you get up someday?
Mm-hmm.
You don't know why you're feeling but you are and I spend
Five seconds with those kids it all goes away.
I've never had that kind of touchstone in my [Abm] life before
It's a miracle and what they can do for you
I'm in a great frame of mind and the albums joyous because I'm joyous and because I'm joyous is
It was a bit of a conscious decision because the previous albums called the diving board after me
That's probably the most intimate record I've made
It was mostly piano bass and drums and I loved it very much
But I thought the songs that I wrote on it
Were very very intimate songs and they weren't arena songs and I play a lot of arenas and to be honest with you
The two songs that I played off the album that I played in concert people listen to them
But usually they school [F] the toilet break and [N] they would work in auditoriums or theaters and I wanted to make a record that was happy
I felt in a happy mood.
I was in Hawaii in January and I found my guitar as we were doing show and I said Davy
I want to make an up-tempo record
I've told Bernie to write up-tempo lyrics go out and buy some 12-string guitars
And I want us to be a rock record more featuring the guitar than the piano.
So it was preconceived
However, I've never really been that great at writing a lot of up-tempo songs together
So I was a bit nervous about it
And I suppose that that helped me in the end because I knew I had to deliver and at the end of the day
We came up with ten tracks that not all they're not all rock and roll songs
But it's probably the most up-tempo album I made since rock of the West is way way back
It made me wonder if it was a reaction which you sort of answered
If it was a reaction to the diving board being more like contemplated and spare the diving board was kind of my nightclub album
Which I loved and it featured probably my best piano playing on an album because it was the featured instrument when you make your rock
And roll [E] record nowadays the piano isn't a featured instrument
it's part of the equation and I got to use my band for the first time on this record for a long long time and
God, they stepped up to the plate and we had such a blast because they know where I'm coming from musically
I don't have to tell them what to play
They're just so in sync with me and I think if you played [Bb] with musicians, you know
If you're in a band, you guys know what to play, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, and you've been around, you know each other
So I was very lucky
I'm very happy with it because I actually delivered what I set out to deliver
You sort of answer my next question too, but I'm still going for it
You've been playing for decades now with with Nigel [N] and Davey and were they?
Thrilled or excited by this batch of songs in this direction because it can be such a physical thing
Drumming and guitar and it sounds like they're really getting to flex on the record
Well, they were delighted to be able to play on an album because it's frustrating
I made the union with Leon Russell and it was the first time I
Work with T-bone burnout on the diving board
I work with Jay Bell rose on drums and Raphael Sadiq on bass and there was hardly any guitar on the record
It was just we cut it as a threesome
So I think they were chomping at the bit because we've been playing so well live to play on a record
And when I asked them to play on the record and T-bone actually said I'd like to use your band on this record massive
Great, they'll be thrilled and the funny thing is with debt with Nigel drummers are always like this
They they get very nervous going to a studio because they really worry about their drum sound
Mm-hmm, that's you know, that's the most important thing to the drummer is their drum sound
yeah, and we set up two days beforehand and Nigel got a great drum sound with the engineer got the great drum sound and
Jason Wormer once Nigel got that he was completely relaxed and Dave is being with me for so long
They were just chomping at the bit to record and the other guys to and Ray Cooper came and played
Tambourine on it as well.
So it's a bit like yeah
This is the real Elton John band how they sound at the moment and it's really exciting because they really are a great band
Yeah after seeing you live it makes a lot of sense to do to make that move
And what was so that was you said that was T-bones sort of idea
What is it about T-bone Burnett that makes you keep keep calling him?
Because he's a musician and he's he knows like all good producers
How to edit a song how to choose the right moment to tell you that maybe you should think of doing it a different way
Yeah, which sometimes hurts as you know when because it's your song.
It's like that
He said, you know what?
I think you should do this and you should do that
I've always had the luxury of working with producers who have the balls to say that
And I've made three totally different albums with him now.
I've made the Union which was a duet album with Leon and very kind of
Americana the diving board, which was a very nightclub II and this one which is total rock and roll
I think this is the most blatant rock and roll record.
He's ever made.
It's certainly most upfront in-your-face record
He's ever made like this
I pushed him and he pushes me and I think that's the way that a record
Producer and an artist should always work pushing each other trying to push the boundaries a little bit and make you a little uncomfortable
Yeah, and two things you don't normally do and I think that's why I really like working with him.
He's open to all ideas
That's good.
Okay.
So now for people who don't know we all know the the association between you and Bernie Topham
But I don't think everybody really knows how from the inception of a song.
How does it start?
Do you have a conversation with him and say there are a couple of topics that I want to tackle or does it come from?
Him his ideas or how does that all start?
It's usually
99.9% always come from him on this album.
I said listen, it's up-tempo and here's the brief and he he agreed with me
He said, you know, it's time to make a joyous record.
And I think the record is joyous
I don't know what he's gonna write and when he gives it to me and I go in the studio and I didn't read the
Lyrics up front.
I never do I go in the studio with 20 lyrics say and then I look at the title of the song
First song we wrote on this album is called [A] blue wonderful because I love the [B] title and then you look [N] at it and you think what?
Tempo is it gonna be it's a weird thing that I've never questioned
I have this instinctive thing when I look at his lyrics to know what's gonna happen and I talk about in the show in Vegas
It's just an odd thing, but I don't question it and I don't sort of try and examine it and you know
Think out, you know try and go into why is this like this?
It just happens and it's always worked and the element of surprise when I play in the finished article
Has never changed from the first song we've ever wrote wrote to the one that we've currently done
So that keeps the relationship fresh and the fact that we don't collaborate.
I think it's kept us really fresh
Are there plans to tour the record?
We're gonna be rehearsing the record in January in LA and obviously with this amount of up-tempo songs
We're gonna try and include as many of them in the show as possible now earlier in the interview
I said it's hard because bands like the stones write up-tempo songs and you know when you've got so many hits and I'm not
Blame on trumpet but people really want to come and hear the hits.
We've already recorded two tracks on stage
Wonderful crazy night, which is the title of the album and looking up which is the first single and they sound great
So there are three or four other songs.
We'll just see we'll experiment
We're gonna do a showcase in Paris and see how it goes.
Not just the Rockers are blue
Wonderful, I think will be amazing on stage and I still so think a good heart which is the ballot so
We've got a lot to choose from which is more than I've had in the last few albums, right?
So I guess for to wrap it up here a major part of your identity is that you are a master class
Songwriter and you're larger than life performer
But how has now becoming a father changed your perspective on what it is to be successful?
Wow, that's a great question.
Well, it's not all about me anymore.
It's about the boys
I have two sons Elijah and Zachary my plan in my life now is try and take more time off to be with my boys
They don't really know
They know they're no rocket man and I Benny the Jets and I don't go breaking my heart
But they're more obsessed with other, you know, I don't they've never been to a show
They don't you know, I don't play them my new record.
I don't think it's appropriate
I mean, they'll discover me when they discover me.
They know what I do, but they couldn't care less
They like going on stage, but they only like to show that shine the torch that's what they like
I wanted to make a joyous album because I the feeling
That I had when I thought about this album is that I'm in a really good space.
I've got a wonderful husband
I've got a wonderful partner.
I've got two beautiful boys.
I've got a great career.
I've got great friends.
I'm sober I'm clean
I'm I've got everything at a six-year eight-year-old man could possibly wish for you know
If I get depressed or I get blue which every artist does or every person does you get up someday?
Mm-hmm.
You don't know why you're feeling but you are and I spend
Five seconds with those kids it all goes away.
I've never had that kind of touchstone in my [Abm] life before
It's a miracle and what they can do for you
I'm in a great frame of mind and the albums joyous because I'm joyous and because I'm joyous is
Key:
F
E
Bb
A
B
F
E
Bb
_ _ _ _ _ So was it a conscious decision to make like such an energetic record or was it something that came organically or
It was a bit of a conscious decision because the previous albums called the diving board after me
That's probably the most intimate record I've made
It was mostly piano bass and drums and I loved it very much
But I thought the songs that I wrote on it
Were very very intimate songs and they weren't arena songs and I play a lot of arenas and to be honest with you
The two songs that I played off the album that I played in concert people listen to them
But usually they school [F] the toilet break and [N] they would work in auditoriums or theaters and I wanted to make a record that was happy
I felt in a happy mood.
I was in Hawaii in January and I found my guitar as we were doing show and I said Davy
I want to make an up-tempo record
I've told Bernie to write up-tempo lyrics go out and buy some 12-string guitars
And I want us to be a rock record more featuring the guitar than the piano.
So it was preconceived
However, I've never really been that great at writing a lot of up-tempo songs together
So I was a bit nervous about it
And I suppose that that helped me in the end because I knew I had to deliver and at the end of the day
We came up with ten tracks that not all they're not all rock and roll songs
But it's probably the most up-tempo album I made since rock of the West is way way back
It made me wonder if it was a reaction which you sort of answered
If it was a reaction to the diving board being more like contemplated and spare the diving board was kind of my nightclub album
Which I loved and it featured probably my best piano playing on an album because it was the featured instrument when you make your rock
And roll [E] record nowadays the piano isn't a featured instrument
it's part of the equation and I got to use my band for the first time on this record for a long long time and
God, they stepped up to the plate and we had such a blast because they know where I'm coming from musically
I don't have to tell them what to play
They're just so in sync with me and I think if you played [Bb] with musicians, you know
If you're in a band, you guys know what to play, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, and you've been around, you know each other
So I was very lucky
I'm very happy with it because I actually delivered what I set out to deliver
You sort of answer my next question too, but I'm still going for it
You've been playing for decades now with with Nigel [N] and Davey and were they?
Thrilled or excited by this batch of songs in this direction because it can be such a physical thing
Drumming and guitar and it sounds like they're really getting to flex on the record
Well, they were delighted to be able to play on an album because it's frustrating
I made the union with Leon Russell and it was the first time I
Work with T-bone burnout on the diving board
I work with Jay Bell rose on drums and Raphael Sadiq on bass and there was hardly any guitar on the record
It was just we cut it as a threesome
So I think they were chomping at the bit because we've been playing so well live to play on a record
And when I asked them to play on the record and T-bone actually said I'd like to use your band on this record massive
Great, they'll be thrilled and the funny thing is with debt with Nigel drummers are always like this
They they get very nervous going to a studio because they really worry about their drum sound
Mm-hmm, that's you know, that's the most important thing to the drummer is their drum sound
yeah, and we set up two days beforehand and Nigel got a great drum sound with the engineer got the great drum sound and
Jason Wormer once Nigel got that he was completely relaxed and Dave is being with me for so long
They were just chomping at the bit to record and the other guys to and Ray Cooper came and played
Tambourine on it as well.
So it's a bit like yeah
This is the real Elton John band how they sound at the moment and it's really exciting because they really are a great band
Yeah after seeing you live it makes a lot of sense to do to make that move
And what was so that was you said that was T-bones sort of idea
What is it about T-bone Burnett that makes you keep keep calling him?
Because he's a musician and he's he knows like all good producers
How to edit a song how to choose the right moment to tell you that maybe you should think of doing it a different way
Yeah, which sometimes hurts as you know when because it's your song.
It's like that
He said, you know what?
I think you should do this and you should do that
I've always had the luxury of working with producers who have the balls to say that
And I've made three totally different albums with him now.
I've made the Union which was a duet album with Leon and very kind of
Americana the diving board, which was a very nightclub II and this one which is total rock and roll
I think this is the most blatant rock and roll record.
He's ever made.
It's certainly most upfront in-your-face record
He's ever made like this
I pushed him and he pushes me and I think that's the way that a record
Producer and an artist should always work pushing each other trying to push the boundaries a little bit and make you a little uncomfortable
Yeah, and two things you don't normally do and I think that's why I really like working with him.
He's open to all ideas
That's good.
Okay.
So now for people who don't know we all know the the association between you and Bernie Topham
But I don't think everybody really knows how from the inception of a song.
How does it start?
Do you have a conversation with him and say there are a couple of topics that I want to tackle or does it come from?
Him his ideas or how does that all start?
It's usually
99.9% always come from him on this album.
I said listen, it's up-tempo and here's the brief and he he agreed with me
He said, you know, it's time to make a joyous record.
And I think the record is joyous
I don't know what he's gonna write and when he gives it to me and I go in the studio and I didn't read the
Lyrics up front.
I never do I go in the studio with 20 lyrics say and then I look at the title of the song
First song we wrote on this album is called [A] blue wonderful because I love the [B] title and then you look [N] at it and you think what?
Tempo is it gonna be it's a weird thing that I've never questioned
I have this instinctive thing when I look at his lyrics to know what's gonna happen and I talk about in the show in Vegas
It's just an odd thing, but I don't question it and I don't sort of try and examine it and you know
Think out, you know try and go into why is this like this?
It just happens and it's always worked and the element of surprise when I play in the finished article
Has never changed from the first song we've ever wrote wrote to the one that we've currently done
So that keeps the relationship fresh and the fact that we don't collaborate.
I think it's kept us really fresh
Are there plans to tour the record?
We're gonna be rehearsing the record in January in LA and obviously with this amount of up-tempo songs
We're gonna try and include as many of them in the show as possible now earlier in the interview
I said it's hard because bands like the stones write up-tempo songs and you know when you've got so many hits and I'm not
Blame on trumpet but people really want to come and hear the hits.
We've already recorded two tracks on stage
Wonderful crazy night, which is the title of the album and looking up which is the first single and they sound great
So there are three or four other songs.
We'll just see we'll experiment
We're gonna do a showcase in Paris and see how it goes.
Not just the Rockers are blue
Wonderful, I think will be amazing on stage and I still so think a good heart which is the ballot so
We've got a lot to choose from which is more than I've had in the last few albums, right?
So I guess for to wrap it up here a major part of your identity is that you are a master class
Songwriter and you're larger than life performer
But how has now becoming a father changed your perspective on what it is to be successful?
_ Wow, that's a great question.
Well, it's not all about me anymore.
It's about the boys
I have two sons Elijah and Zachary my plan in my life now is try and take more time off to be with my boys
They don't really know
They know they're no rocket man and I Benny the Jets and I don't go breaking my heart
But they're more obsessed with other, you know, I don't they've never been to a show
They don't you know, I don't play them my new record.
I don't think it's appropriate
I mean, they'll discover me when they discover me.
They know what I do, but they couldn't care less
They like going on stage, but they only like to show that shine the torch that's what they like
I wanted to make a joyous album because I the feeling
That I had when I thought about this album is that I'm in a really good space.
I've got a wonderful husband
I've got a wonderful partner.
I've got two beautiful boys.
I've got a great career.
I've got great friends.
I'm sober I'm clean
I'm I've got everything at a six-year eight-year-old man could possibly wish for you know
If I get depressed or I get blue which every artist does or every person does you get up someday?
Mm-hmm.
You don't know why you're feeling but you are and I spend _
Five seconds with those kids it all goes away.
I've never had that kind of touchstone in my [Abm] life before
It's a miracle and what they can do for you
I'm in a great frame of mind and the albums joyous because I'm joyous and because I'm joyous is
It was a bit of a conscious decision because the previous albums called the diving board after me
That's probably the most intimate record I've made
It was mostly piano bass and drums and I loved it very much
But I thought the songs that I wrote on it
Were very very intimate songs and they weren't arena songs and I play a lot of arenas and to be honest with you
The two songs that I played off the album that I played in concert people listen to them
But usually they school [F] the toilet break and [N] they would work in auditoriums or theaters and I wanted to make a record that was happy
I felt in a happy mood.
I was in Hawaii in January and I found my guitar as we were doing show and I said Davy
I want to make an up-tempo record
I've told Bernie to write up-tempo lyrics go out and buy some 12-string guitars
And I want us to be a rock record more featuring the guitar than the piano.
So it was preconceived
However, I've never really been that great at writing a lot of up-tempo songs together
So I was a bit nervous about it
And I suppose that that helped me in the end because I knew I had to deliver and at the end of the day
We came up with ten tracks that not all they're not all rock and roll songs
But it's probably the most up-tempo album I made since rock of the West is way way back
It made me wonder if it was a reaction which you sort of answered
If it was a reaction to the diving board being more like contemplated and spare the diving board was kind of my nightclub album
Which I loved and it featured probably my best piano playing on an album because it was the featured instrument when you make your rock
And roll [E] record nowadays the piano isn't a featured instrument
it's part of the equation and I got to use my band for the first time on this record for a long long time and
God, they stepped up to the plate and we had such a blast because they know where I'm coming from musically
I don't have to tell them what to play
They're just so in sync with me and I think if you played [Bb] with musicians, you know
If you're in a band, you guys know what to play, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, and you've been around, you know each other
So I was very lucky
I'm very happy with it because I actually delivered what I set out to deliver
You sort of answer my next question too, but I'm still going for it
You've been playing for decades now with with Nigel [N] and Davey and were they?
Thrilled or excited by this batch of songs in this direction because it can be such a physical thing
Drumming and guitar and it sounds like they're really getting to flex on the record
Well, they were delighted to be able to play on an album because it's frustrating
I made the union with Leon Russell and it was the first time I
Work with T-bone burnout on the diving board
I work with Jay Bell rose on drums and Raphael Sadiq on bass and there was hardly any guitar on the record
It was just we cut it as a threesome
So I think they were chomping at the bit because we've been playing so well live to play on a record
And when I asked them to play on the record and T-bone actually said I'd like to use your band on this record massive
Great, they'll be thrilled and the funny thing is with debt with Nigel drummers are always like this
They they get very nervous going to a studio because they really worry about their drum sound
Mm-hmm, that's you know, that's the most important thing to the drummer is their drum sound
yeah, and we set up two days beforehand and Nigel got a great drum sound with the engineer got the great drum sound and
Jason Wormer once Nigel got that he was completely relaxed and Dave is being with me for so long
They were just chomping at the bit to record and the other guys to and Ray Cooper came and played
Tambourine on it as well.
So it's a bit like yeah
This is the real Elton John band how they sound at the moment and it's really exciting because they really are a great band
Yeah after seeing you live it makes a lot of sense to do to make that move
And what was so that was you said that was T-bones sort of idea
What is it about T-bone Burnett that makes you keep keep calling him?
Because he's a musician and he's he knows like all good producers
How to edit a song how to choose the right moment to tell you that maybe you should think of doing it a different way
Yeah, which sometimes hurts as you know when because it's your song.
It's like that
He said, you know what?
I think you should do this and you should do that
I've always had the luxury of working with producers who have the balls to say that
And I've made three totally different albums with him now.
I've made the Union which was a duet album with Leon and very kind of
Americana the diving board, which was a very nightclub II and this one which is total rock and roll
I think this is the most blatant rock and roll record.
He's ever made.
It's certainly most upfront in-your-face record
He's ever made like this
I pushed him and he pushes me and I think that's the way that a record
Producer and an artist should always work pushing each other trying to push the boundaries a little bit and make you a little uncomfortable
Yeah, and two things you don't normally do and I think that's why I really like working with him.
He's open to all ideas
That's good.
Okay.
So now for people who don't know we all know the the association between you and Bernie Topham
But I don't think everybody really knows how from the inception of a song.
How does it start?
Do you have a conversation with him and say there are a couple of topics that I want to tackle or does it come from?
Him his ideas or how does that all start?
It's usually
99.9% always come from him on this album.
I said listen, it's up-tempo and here's the brief and he he agreed with me
He said, you know, it's time to make a joyous record.
And I think the record is joyous
I don't know what he's gonna write and when he gives it to me and I go in the studio and I didn't read the
Lyrics up front.
I never do I go in the studio with 20 lyrics say and then I look at the title of the song
First song we wrote on this album is called [A] blue wonderful because I love the [B] title and then you look [N] at it and you think what?
Tempo is it gonna be it's a weird thing that I've never questioned
I have this instinctive thing when I look at his lyrics to know what's gonna happen and I talk about in the show in Vegas
It's just an odd thing, but I don't question it and I don't sort of try and examine it and you know
Think out, you know try and go into why is this like this?
It just happens and it's always worked and the element of surprise when I play in the finished article
Has never changed from the first song we've ever wrote wrote to the one that we've currently done
So that keeps the relationship fresh and the fact that we don't collaborate.
I think it's kept us really fresh
Are there plans to tour the record?
We're gonna be rehearsing the record in January in LA and obviously with this amount of up-tempo songs
We're gonna try and include as many of them in the show as possible now earlier in the interview
I said it's hard because bands like the stones write up-tempo songs and you know when you've got so many hits and I'm not
Blame on trumpet but people really want to come and hear the hits.
We've already recorded two tracks on stage
Wonderful crazy night, which is the title of the album and looking up which is the first single and they sound great
So there are three or four other songs.
We'll just see we'll experiment
We're gonna do a showcase in Paris and see how it goes.
Not just the Rockers are blue
Wonderful, I think will be amazing on stage and I still so think a good heart which is the ballot so
We've got a lot to choose from which is more than I've had in the last few albums, right?
So I guess for to wrap it up here a major part of your identity is that you are a master class
Songwriter and you're larger than life performer
But how has now becoming a father changed your perspective on what it is to be successful?
_ Wow, that's a great question.
Well, it's not all about me anymore.
It's about the boys
I have two sons Elijah and Zachary my plan in my life now is try and take more time off to be with my boys
They don't really know
They know they're no rocket man and I Benny the Jets and I don't go breaking my heart
But they're more obsessed with other, you know, I don't they've never been to a show
They don't you know, I don't play them my new record.
I don't think it's appropriate
I mean, they'll discover me when they discover me.
They know what I do, but they couldn't care less
They like going on stage, but they only like to show that shine the torch that's what they like
I wanted to make a joyous album because I the feeling
That I had when I thought about this album is that I'm in a really good space.
I've got a wonderful husband
I've got a wonderful partner.
I've got two beautiful boys.
I've got a great career.
I've got great friends.
I'm sober I'm clean
I'm I've got everything at a six-year eight-year-old man could possibly wish for you know
If I get depressed or I get blue which every artist does or every person does you get up someday?
Mm-hmm.
You don't know why you're feeling but you are and I spend _
Five seconds with those kids it all goes away.
I've never had that kind of touchstone in my [Abm] life before
It's a miracle and what they can do for you
I'm in a great frame of mind and the albums joyous because I'm joyous and because I'm joyous is