By Denny Dyroff, Staff Writer, The Times
Howard Jones
Sometimes, when Howard Jones tours in the states it is as part of the Retro Futura Tour – a summertime tour that features bands from the 1980s playing short sets of their hits.
Jones didn’t even get to this area in summer 2017 because the tour’s closest date was Atlantic City.
The last time Jones did a show locally was last September at the World Café Live at the Queen – and that show happened despite conditions that would have led many other acts to cancel the gig.
Now, Jones is coming back to the same location for a show on October 25 – although the venue is now known simply as the Queen (500 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, www.thequeenwilmington.com).
The North American tour was just four dates. Jones and his band were going to tour South America in September 2017 and a few shows in the states were added to go around that. The South American tour got cancelled but Jones and his band wanted to still honor these dates.
Jones, a New Wave icon who was one of the forefathers of synth-pop, toured America in 2016 with three completely different shows.
The singer-guitarist-keyboardist, who was well-known to MTV viewers for his tufts of blond hair as well as his well-crafted songs, performed a special multimedia show called “ENGAGE” in New York.
He also played a string of dates across the country — some with his band and some as solo piano shows. Jones played two shows in the area — the Queen and the Sellersville Theater — in “solo piano” mode.
“I’ll be playing a band show on this tour,” said Jones, during a phone interview last week. “It’s a completely electronic band.”
Jones is touring with his new Electric Band, which features Emily Dolan Davies on electric percussion, Robin Boult on guitars, Robbie Bronnimann on keyboards and sequencing and Jonathan Atkinson on drums.
“I’ve been working with Robbie for about 20 years and with Jonathan for 10-12 years,” said Jones. “I also play keyboards. It’s the best band I’ve ever had.
“Having people in a band is tough and getting the chemistry right is important. Robbie and I have great chemistry and Emily is such a talented drummer.
“It’s expanded. The sound is just fuller. I have a new rig which is based on Mainstage — the equivalent to Logic software.
“Rather than carting around hundreds of keyboards, I use software. I’ve gone away from the hardware because it’s too difficult to travel with.”
Jones’ performances of “ENGAGE” last year were ambitious and highly entertaining. Entirely fan-funded by PledgeMusic, “ENGAGE” incorporated specially-commissioned visuals with music and an interactive live show.
“ENGAGE” is inspired by such diverse musical genres as electronica, contemporary classical and pop and fuses this audio mélange with other visual and literary arts including ballet, modern dance and philosophy.
The “ENGAGE” audience is invited to participate via a specially-designed smart phone app, customized clothing and fluorescent make-up.
“With ‘ENGAGE,’ I wanted to do something different instead of just making an album with a lot of songs,” said Jones. “I wanted to write something that would be a live event in a most exciting way.
“I wanted to have it dramatic with a lot of visuals, including a film of ballet, and a lot of influences — classical, pop and Steve Reich. I took a real mixture of styles I really love and mashed them together.
“The ‘ENGAGE’ shows were great. I did five of them around the world. It was brilliant. I would have liked to have taken it on the road more extensively but the cost of doing that was too much.
“With this band, we did a couple festivals in the U.K. earlier in the year and then we did the Retro Futura Tour. The sets on that tour were really short. Now, this is great to be playing a lot more songs.
“We do a different set every night. It’s a 90 to a 100-minute set so we do some new stuff. The show will span my whole career. There will be a couple things from ‘ENGAGE’ as well as something from every album. I try to play most of the hits. I have about 10-12 ‘must-play’ songs.”
Jones had his first Top Five hit in 1983 with the song “New Song.” Four more hits followed over the course of a year and his album “Human’s Lib” reached the top spot on the U.K. album charts.
Jones’ 1984 “Like to Get to Know You Well” was “dedicated to the original spirit of the Olympic Games” and became a worldwide hit. It also was used in the film “Better Off Dead” and the computer game “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.”
“Dream into Action,” which came out in 1985, quickly became a Top Ten Platinum album in the United States and was Jones’ most successful album. Four major hits were on that album — “Things Can Only Get Better,” “Life In One Day,” “No One Is To Blame,” and “Like To Get To Know You Well.”
Jones has stayed up-to-date with both music technology and musical styles, including EDM (Electronic dance music).
“I’ve done a new version of ‘Everlasting Love” and there is an EDM hit of ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ with (French DJ/producer) Cedric Gervais. All the hits have been updated and we do play a lot of dubstep.
“I’m also working on some songs for a couple of films. One is ‘Eddie the Eagle,’ which is a real-life story of a famous British skier. It is set in the 80s so there is a lot of 80s-style music in the show — new songs in the old style. I’m also writing songs for an American animated film called ‘Animal Crackers.’”
Jones also looks to the past spiritually. He is a devout follower of Nichiren Buddhism.
“A friend of mine who is a fashion designer got me interested in Buddhism,” said Jones. “I loved the way he worked with people and his positivity. So, I got him to teach me.
“I started straight out with Nichiren and I chant ‘Nam Myoho Renge Kyo’ (a mantra that dates back to 1253) every day — in the morning and again in the evening. Nichiren focuses on the belief in the positive power of human beings.”
Jones also looks to the future.
“I’ve been working on a new album to be released in November,” said Jones. “Amazingly, it’s been 35 years since my first album.
“On this one, I’ve been working with various producer friends. I’ve got plenty of new songs that I’ve been writing. Right now, I’m just getting organized. I try to play piano or get in the studio every day. You need to do that to saty fresh.”
Video link for Howard Jones — https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hUFw5Qi0pjU.
The show at The Queen will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $28.
Airpark
Airpark, an alternative rock/pop duo from Nashville, performed at Kennett Flash back in May. Now, the band is returning to the area for a show October 24 at Kung Fu Necktie (1248 North Front Street, Philadelphia, 215-291-4919, kungfunecktie.com).
The band released its debut EP “Early Works, Volume 1” on March 3 via Eugenia Hall and followed with a September 15 release of the EP “Early Works, Volume 2.”
“We’ve been touring a lot,” said Michael Ford, during a recent phone interview from his home in Nashville. “We took some time off in August. But, by the end of the year, we will have played more than 100 shows in 2017.”
The members of Airpark have known each other – and played music together– for a long time. That’s because Michael Ford, Jr. and Ben Ford are brothers. They took the band’s name from a long abandoned private airport in Nashville.
“I’m 28 and Ben is 30,” said Michael Ford. “We’re brothers and we get along really well. We got all of our fighting out when we were teens. We can be honest with each other and not get mad at each other. We work really well together.
“We grew up outside of New Orleans – in Mandeville on the North Shore – and started playing music together when we were in middle school. At first, we tried to go the sports route but neither of us excelled at any sport.
“When I was 11, our dad took us to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert in New Orleans. I watched the show and said – that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.
“When we moved to Nashville in 2005, there were people around who could help a band succeed. We got positive reaction. We both went to Belmont University.
“Ben graduated in 2009 and I graduated in 2011. I had taken time off because The Apache Relay did a lot of touring from 2009-2015.”
Inspired by minimalism, melody and groove-heavy percussion, the Ford brothers started Airpark in 2016 — one year after their previous project The Apache Relay rode off into the sunset.
“We started writing demos about a year-and-a-half ago,” said Michael Ford. “When The Apache Relay broke up, we woodshedded in our basement and started building up songs.”
Raised in New Orleans, the Fords grew up surrounded by music – by New Orleans’ swirling, deeply-infused blend of jazz, blues, funk, rock and soul. The initial result of their influences is “Early Works, Volume 1.”
“That record came out in March,” said Ford. “In the midst of touring, we’re working on our next EP. It’s wheels to the pavement for now.
“The majority of ‘Volume 2’ was recorded in May. We did a lot of live tracking. ‘Volume 1’ was more of a minimalist record. We did ‘Volume 2’ after we had been touring with a full band.
“We were in the studio working with people we had played shows with. So, the new EP has a fuller sound. What you’re hearing on the record is what you’ll hear live. We’re touring with live drums and live keys.
“In December and January, we’ll be writing and making demos for our next record. At this point, we don’t know whether our next release will be an EP or an album.”
Video link for Airpark – https://youtu.be/UbhBxSIHr14.
The show at Kung Fu Necktie, which also features The Dawn Drapes, Kirby and the Vibe Tribe, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $8.
