Last year the
reactivated NWOBHM super-group Lionheart returned with a fabulous album “Second
Nature”. To me it was one of the best records of 2017 even if the year was very
plentiful for all sorts of awesome rock albums. Everything seemed great for the band, until
singer Lee Small left earlier this year to concentrate on his other endeavours
like Shy and Condition Red. (Let's not forget Skyscraper). Jimi Anderson, who
himself released a very enjoyable solo record, stepped in to lend his talents. I
was able to get in touch with Jimi for a full conversation.
How did you get in touch with the Lionheart
guys and why did you decide to give this band a go?
Lionheart
got in touch with me actually. I met Rocky Newton, their bass player, a couple
of years ago. He told me they’d considered me for their singer when they got
back together, but I think Lee Small was an inspired choice. He’s a fantastic
singer and they all collaborated on the songwriting together. I decided to give
Lionheart a go firstly because of the quality of their new album “Second
Nature”, and secondly they are an incredible live band and lastly after
speaking to them they seem like lovely down to earth guys who still have the
ambition to achieve and learn new things. Perfect for me.
Were you familiar with their early stuff? Would
you say you are a team player rather than a solo artist?
No, I
wasn’t familiar at all with their early stuff. To be honest I agreed to join on
the strength of their “Second Nature” album. I think these days to be part of
any band you have to be a team player. We all have busy lives and have to be
respectful of that work around each other to hopefully achieve something good
in the future.
How did the first rehearsals go? What songs did
you play?
Ooooffff!!!
Diving secrets away now. We haven’t actually rehearsed together. Steve Mann is
touring America with Michael Schenker Fest so it hasn’t been possible. Also he
lives in Germany. We have four gigs coming up in Spain in April so we will get
together as soon as possible to rehearse for that. What we did was I recorded
my voice to some of their studio recordings, they know I can sing live, they
liked what they heard I guess and asked me to join the band.
What are your first impressions about the guys
in Lionheart? What are the best points of being in this band?
As I said
before they seem like great guys, we share a similar sense of humour which is
very important and are very enthusiastic and we all can’t wait to get together
and do something great. The best part of being involved with a band like
Lionheart is that they have ambition and a desire to always to do something bigger
and better but most importantly it’s gotta be fun so everyone enjoys being in
the band.
The band has promised a new album soon so at
what stage it is? Do you have some new songs already written? Are there certain
plans about going to a studio?
We all have
some ideas already I think for songs for a new album and I think that’s a
priority for the band. Steve Mann did an incredible job producing “Second
Nature” at his studio so I’m guessing the plan will to do the same again. If
you’ve heard the “Second Nature” album, you’ll know how fantastic the
production is so I’m very excited to be involved with that.
What songs from the band’s back catalogue do
you like best and would like to play live?
Erm well, I
actually am most excited about the new songs from “Second Nature” to be honest
with you. However they don’t play live my favourite song on the album. It’s
called “Time Is Watching” but I’m looking forward to singing them all: “30
Years”, “Angels With Dirty Faces” etc. They also have a great little
instrumental number called “On Our Way” which I’d like to see them do live and
make a little showpiece out of it showcasing them as a band.
Now let’s talk about your solo album “Longtime
Comin’”. Tell me about the songs on your solo album. Were they written by you?
Are they all new or did you use some older stuff?
Yeah, I
have written most of the songs or collaborated with some people on a few songs
on the album. I tried to us the best of what I’ve written over the years
including a couple songs from my band in the 80’s call The Hardline: “O Why”
and “Same Old Song”. There’s one song on the album called “Feel Like Letting
Go” which I co-wrote with a guy called Mark Rowen. The rest are songs written
by myself over the last 20 years. I had lots of other songs and ideas but I let
Sandy Jones (producer) see which songs he was most enthusiastic about recording
and we took it from there. I think it’s very important for everyone to like
what they are working on as it makes for the best results.
Tell me please about the input of Graeme Duffin
and Sandy Jones into your music. Would you say that they changed your songs or
did they just help you to improve them?
I think the
technological advances have made the album making process more affordable and
that’s the main reason behind them. With the help of Sandy Jones and Graeme
Duffin (guitarist/musician/backing vocalist extraordinaire) at FML Studios in
Motherwell, Scotland, it made it possible for me to make my album the three of
us performing all the necessary functions as I play keyboards as well. Their
input definitely improved the demo versions of the songs I had. A great example
of that was on the song “Where Do We Go From Here” which I wrote for my wife
Karen when we got married in 2006. The demo version was a piano ballad and
didn’t have the big chorus yet. Sandy and Graeme suggested I make it a big
guitar led song and that it needed a big chorus to complete the vibe. So being
totally focused in the studio I wrote the chorus for it that night and we
completed the song the next day. I knew Sandy and Graeme from the late 1980’s, from my days working with Wet Wet Wet
management The Precious Organisation.
What is your typical way of working in a
studio? Do you like to do everything quickly and in one or two takes or do you
prefer do everything correctly and perfect?
Sandy Jones
is a fantastic producer and he very much got all the vocals from the first two
or three takes just fine tuning certain lines or harmonies but all done very
quickly capturing the energy before you start overanalyzing what you are
singing or playing. But me I’d steel be there redoing stuff (laughs).
Being a lyricist do you feel responsibility for
your words? Do you have any favorite themes for lyrics or do you just follow
your heart?
Yes, if
possible I like the lyrics make sense. But pretty much straight away my first
idea determines my subject matter or relative title for the song in hand. Or it
was trying to write something specific it may require a certain musical mood to
determine the right vibe. But I always think a nice catchy piece of music or
melodic hookline is paramount. However the word or object “Sun” or
“Sunshine” seems to crop up a lot.
The album “Longtime Comin’” was released a year
ago. How do you view it nowadays? Did it help you to bring some new fans?
I think
it’s a great coherent representation of my songs and it’s a testament for Sandy
Jones great recording skills. I’m very proud of it. And yes, it’s brought me a
lot of new fans. I just need to be able to tour more and capitalize on that a
bit more.
Will you keep on releasing solo albums?
Yeah, I
have some songs ready to go back into the studio and record but it’s just
finding the time at the moment.
You have a cover band A Foreigner’s Journey.
What song of these bands would you like to write yourself?
I have a
tribute band called Legends of AOR who perform music by Journey, Foreigner,
Styx, Boston, Loverboy etc. I left A Foreigner’s Journey five years ago.
However I love all that music but I honestly don’t view anyone else’s songs in
a way I had written them. What I would say though is that perhaps I wish the
songs which I write were as good as them.
Now let’s get back to the time when you joined
Sahara. Did you record anything with this band?
(laughs)
Sahara! Now you are going back a long time. Bizarrely enough I’m singing at a
rock festival called “Wildfire” in June in Scotland with Lionheart. I started
out doing my first gigs with Sahara alongside the organizer of “Wildfire” —
Dave Ritchie’s Band. Haven’t seen him in all these years. But to answer your
question yes, since the age of 12 I’ve been writing songs. Actually the
original guitarist of Sahara now lives in America and he found me on social
media last year and he sent me a copy of the original demo we made together all
those years ago which was a pleasant surprise.
What was it like to work with The Wets’ manager
Elliot Davies? What lessons did you learn from him?
Hmmmm.
Probably best not to go into that question. But the lesson I learned was to be
very careful of who you enter into contractual agreements with in any capacity
in life. Be very, very careful people.
Tell me about the band The Hardline. Who was in
its line-up? Are there any recordings from that era outside the song “Oh Why”?
The band was really the fruition of what
Sahara was trying to do. I started Sahara with my school friend Keith Crozier.
The Precious Organisation management made us change the name to The Hardline.
Unfortunately Keith left shortly after as did our guitarist, leaving me and
Peter Dorman, the bass player, to recruit new players. We brought in Todd
Macleod on drums who ironically is my drummer (and best friend) in Jimi
Anderson Group. We had various guitar players (Iain McPhie, Jamie Margery, Alan Murray, Mickey McCluskey) over the next few years and made
some demos and toured around Scotland but rock music went out of fashion and
that was the end of that.
I guess playing in front of 30.000 people
supporting The Wets was one of the highest points of your career. What are some
other highlights of your touring and recording experience?
Yeah,
performing in front of 30.000 people was a huge thrill although it was only as
an acoustic performance but definitely a memorable occasion in my life. Another
highlight was performing in front of thousands at the Golden Stag festival in
Brasov, Romania, in 1997. But overall the highlights are the many gigs I’ve
performed for the many great audiences I’m privileged to play for over many
years. It’s so greatly appreciated when people give up their free time to come
see any of the bands of which I’ve performed in over the years an am lucky
enough still to do so. Recording wise I think my album “Longtime Comin’” is
most definitely the highlight.
Please say a few words to your fans and
readers.
I guess the
last answer also doubles up as I thank you my fans, like I said thank you to
each and every one of you who has bought my new album or been to see Jimi
Anderson Group live. It really is so greatly appreciated. Hopefully yoy will
come see me perform with Lionheart also and vice versa hopefully some of the
Lionheart fans will come see JAG as well. So there is to the future, new music,
new concerts and I’ll hopefully see you all on the road somewhere soon. Love
and best wishes, Jimi.
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