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The Catalyst interview: The Moody Blues’ John Lodge

Bill DeYoung

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John Lodge and the Moody Blues were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Publicity photo.

One of the most successful British rock bands of the 1960s and beyond, the Moody Blues sold something like 76 million records. The Moody Blues were an album act, without a whole lot of big and whopping chart-topping singles, and the platinum streak continued well into the 1970s and ‘80s.

Bassist, singer and songwriter John Lodge makes a rare bay area appearance, with his solo band 10,000 Light Years, Tuesday at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater.

Lodge joined the boys from Birmingham in 1966, as they were transitioning from a fairly rote blues band into something else entirely – starting with Days of Future Past in 1967, the Moody Blues pureed rock, pop, psychedelia and classical music. There were sitars and symphonies. Oh, and one of the singers (Ray Thomas) played the flute; drummer Graeme Edge sometimes recited poetry.

At the heart of it all: Solid songwriting, ambitious production and a lead singer (Justin Hayward) whose pleading tenor was aimed directly at the cosmos (think “Nights in White Satin,” probably the band’s best-known song).

In the early ‘70s, when the first wave of progressive (“prog”) rock rolled in, the Moodies were right there alongside Yes, King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, bulldozing FM radio and keeping the college kids stoned and happy.

Rolling Stone, of course, hated the Moody Blues, just like it hated all prog bands. But John Lodge and his mates couldn’t have cared less.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in its impenetrable wisdom, waited until 2018 to induct the Moody Blues. Thomas died a couple of months before the ceremony.

And Edge – a longtime resident of Manatee County – passed away in 2021.

Lodge, composer of “Ride My See-Saw,” “Emily’s Song,” “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band),” “Hole in the World” and other Moodies classics, is performing the Days of Future Past album in its entirely, plus a few more chestnuts.

 

St. Pete Catalyst: I guess it’s official now, since Graeme’s gone, that the Moody Blues are no more.

John Lodge: I’m a Moody Blue, always will be a Moody Blue. And Graeme was always a Moody Blue. I’m just gonna keep the Moody Blues’ music alive. I was with Graeme just before he passed away, and he said “John, keep the Moodies alive.” And that’s what I’m doing. The Moody Blues as an entity doesn’t exist, but the music does.

 

Critics never seemed to give the band its due. In the day, was that the sort of thing that bothered you?

No, it didn’t, and it still doesn’t now. The thing is, we started the Moody Blues to write and record our own music. No matter what. And we didn’t do it to get applause or plaudits. We just wanted to create this music. The critics came afterwards, you know? It wasn’t the other way around.

They couldn’t actually put us in a safe drawer. They couldn’t say we were underground rock, or country rock, they couldn’t say progressive rock, they couldn’t say psychedelic, or orchestral, or classical. We confounded too many people that didn’t know where, in the state of play, we actually sat. To make them happy. That wasn’t the reason we made the music.

 

You wrote “I’m Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band.” When that one came out as a single, it kind of exploded out of the radio. It gallops. When you came up with it, were you thinking “This will make a great single”?

We never thought about singles. We wanted to only make an album – the record company decided “Hey, we need a single.” We didn’t write a single; we wrote an album. In actual fact, I think two albums we didn’t even release a single from.

For me, “Singer in a Rock and Roll Band” is a statement of who I am, and who the band are. And also the fans. It’s a statement, really.

 

Let’s talk about Days of Future Past, which you’re doing here. Are you doing the strings and the spoken word sections – the whole nine yards?

The whole thing! We’re coming to the end of this tour, and it’s been absolutely fantastic. The reaction to Days of Future Past is beyond my wildest dreams, to be honest. I knew the album was right, but to perform it onstage with my band … they worked so hard to get it right. The commitment to the music is overwhelming. And the reviews have been incredible. I’m really pleased that we’ve pulled it off.

 

You have somebody playing synth strings onstage and singers? Tell me about the band. How DO you pull it off?

Well, we’ve got synth keyboards onstage, obviously. The guitarist, Duffy King, is an integral part of the orchestral music. He plays orchestral parts on his guitar. And the other thing is I’ve got a cellist, who plays the whole album. And he’s absolutely brilliant. My drummer is a beautiful musician.

And of course I’ve got John Davison, [the vocalist] from Yes joining me onstage. And we’ve got a video of Graeme Edge narrating the poetry, which we show.

I’ve put together something I would like to go and see. Even though I was a Moody Blue.

 

Out of that whole, immense Moodies catalog of great albums, why Days of Future Past?

Because it was the first one. And we’ve had so many young people come along who’ve probably never heard of the album, or know what it is. They may have heard different songs from it, but they’re experiencing the whole album now. And experiencing a vinyl evening, in a way.

Somebody said to me the other day, John, I think you released 18 albums. So an album a year, that’s another 18 years taken care of! I said “Thank you very much – how much work do you want me to do?”

Tickets for the Tuesday concert are here.

 

 

 

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1 Comment

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    Linda Moore

    March 18, 2023at7:43 pm

    Yes , I love all your songs, I love the moody blues . All the songs/music. Your songs are amazing and they’re literally of of this “WORLD “ like if you’re from another planet 🌎. I love all of your lyrics… and the sounds of the music 🎶 ❤️❤️ : it makes me feel like I’m in your world.planet 😇🥰❤️🎶🎶❤️🪐…
    I love you 😘 all!!.. thank you for the opportunity to hear your beautiful songs/ Music 🎶…😍😇

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