Trevor Jones releases his new album 'Ghost Of Song' in March and it is highly recommended, as is his blog which you can access here

1.
What are you
currently up to?

As well as lining up
the release of ‘Ghost of Song’ for early March, I’m working on the new Miracle
Mile album (my main musical venture). We recorded the bare bones of the songs
in the summer before Marcus Cliffe (my musical partner) decided to dismantle
the studio and rebuild it in his garden. He’s just put in the carpet and
chandeliers so we’ll be reconvening the recording soon. I’m hoping that the
album (tentatively titled ‘In Cassidy’s Care’) will be out in the summer. There
may well be gigs to support that release.

2.
Could you take us
through the new album ‘Ghost Of Song’?

The songs from Ghost
of Song were inspired by time taken out in Corsica where we have a small house.
I retreated there after a fairly frazzled period in London; the island inspired
a real purity of thought for me; the simple life led to uncluttered thinking and
inspired a real creative outpouring which informed the songs that you hear on
the album.

3.
The new album
contains songs from two previous album 'Hopeland' and 'Keepers'. Have the songs
been re-recorded/remixed at all?

Both ‘Hopeland’ and ‘Keepers’ were a combination of song and spoken
word; ‘Ghost of Song’ is a distillation; a
way of re-presenting a selection of the songs in a different light: Marcus
is getting into vinyl and was raving about the fact that he's actually
listening to music again; the process of placing needle to record makes him
commit to the moment and see it through. We addressed
the idea of releasing the selection as vinyl. I
chose 10 tracks (5 aside) for 'Ghost of Song' in an attempt to create
an old fashioned 'bedsit kind of album' that folk might learn to love to
live with. It turned out too expensive unfortunately but I
kept the old style vinyl concept for the collection and applied it to the songs; I hoped that it would affect folk and linger in
the same way some of my old favourites have stuck with me (Blue/After the
Goldrush/Hunky Dory'Steve McQueen etc) and picked songs that had a certain homely
yet woozy feel to them. I also want it to take people back to the original albums
and shed light on the new Miracle Mile album 'In Cassidy's Care' due out in the
summer…

4.
You are a keen
blogger – does this make a good way to connect with listeners of your music?
What for you makes an entertaining blog and any you'd recommend?

I’m not sure what
makes effective blogging; it’s not really a mindful process for me, just a
healthy forum for my daily outpourings. I guess that it’s a direct way of
connecting with friends of my music and a positive outlet should we need to
pass news on via the grapevine. It’s nice to get immediate feedback from folk
also; a bit like chatting over the garden fence.

5.
How does your solo
work fit in with Miracle Mile? E.g. do your solo songs represent something you
couldn't record with Miracle Mile?

I wrote the songs for
‘Hopeland’ (and later ‘Keepers’) after my retreat to Corsica. Because the
experience was so singular, it seemed only natural to step aside from the
‘Miracle Mile’ banner and present it as a personal project. I knew that I still
wanted to work with long-term musical partner Marcus Cliffe, but needed to
change the working template in order to mark the recording as a departure. I
decided to limit the time spent; we wouldn’t luxuriate as we might have
previously done. The focus would be on ‘performance’; first takes were often
‘keepers’. We would also limit the number of instruments used. We agreed on a
natural approach: acoustic guitar, double bass, and a battered old upright
piano. There would be the odd intrusion of brushed drums. Cathy Thompson glided
in to offer violin and viola, and Melvin Duffy drove through snow to colour
with pedal steel and Weissenborn. Marcus’s partner Lucinda sang along from the
kitchen, occasionally when the tape was running. Twenty days later, ‘Hopeland’
was recorded and mixed. It was a similar story with
‘Keepers’.

6.
Has the internet
helped you get your music out there or has it in some ways hindered it by
websites offering free downloads? Do you still rely heavily on CD sales as
opposed to downloads?

I’m fairly traditional when it comes to music;
I love to cherish the hard copy (CD/Vinyl etc) and have the cover and artwork in
my hands; that’s the way I’d like folk to receive my stuff. I accept that
downloads are the way forward and can see that they offer an immediate experience, but am not totally
convinced by the format; there is an inevitable compression of sound. We are however
currently speaking with a couple of labels about re-releasing our back
catalogue as 24 bit re-mastered downloads, that’s all in the offing but at
least we’re trying to do the dance…

7.
What have been the
live highlights so far and why?

We
haven’t gigged for
an age. The first two Miracle Mile albums were written around a gigging
band. It was a cracking little band that featured two ex members of
Haircut 100; Les Nemes (bass) and Phil Smith (sax) as well as drummer
Trevor Smith and Tasmin Archer's old guitarist Mark Hornby. We did the
usual London rounds, but, as the music has got quieter, we retreated
to the calm of the studio and the live unit eventually disintegrated. It’s not always easy to control live sound when you
are trying to do things subtly… maybe we’ve become a little anal, could be time
to dust off the leather pants again…

8.
For someone new to
your music what would you recommend they start with and why?

I reckon that ‘Ghost
of Song’ is the perfect entry point for my solo stuff. As Miracle Mile have
released 8 albums I’d recommend ‘Coffee and Stars’ 2009’s collection of
selected songs.

9.
Any good rock ‘n’
roll tales to tell…

I’ve led a sheltered
life… I once spat at Sting at an early Police gig…

10.What do you enjoy doing in your time away from music?

I enjoy travel, spend
a lot of time in Corsica; plenty of walking, I love to read, cook and play lots
of squash. And, of course, there’s always music…

Anything else to add and a
message for your fans…

I’d just like to thank the folk that have journeyed with us. Once
people give our music a chance, they seem to stick with us. For me this whole
thing is all about connection; it’s great when folk listen hard and get what we
are trying to do and give us positive feedback; nothing beats that affirmation.

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