Hi John and thanks for taking to us here at HardrockHouse. Would you like to introduce yourself and the rest of the band to our readers…? 

For Sure

I’m John Young (keys and vox) (Ex Asia, Scorpions, Greenslade, Paul Rodgers, Qango, Fish etc etc )

Guitar -Robin Boult  (Howard Jones)

Drums - Frosty Beedle (Cutting Crew)

Bass - Steve Vantsis (Fish) 

  

So, looking back on 2006…how was it for you? 

 I guess a building year (had a few of those!) I did some shows with the Scorps and Bonnie Tyler as well as solo shows in the U.K., Germany, U.S.A. and Australia. Plus we took the band out again in December and throughout the year we have been developing public awareness through myspace. 

Your last studio album was ‘Significance’.  Tell us a little about this release and give the readers an idea of what it sounds like? 

Significance is pretty singer songwriter-ish and covers some fairly deep themes lyrically from war and violence to poverty and inhumanity with a few love songs for good measure:-) I guess if you like Alan Parsons, Sting and Peter Gabriel it should be up your street. That said if you’d like something a little rockier then the Live band CD is the one for you! 

I know that using the Internet to keep in touch with the fanbase is a key part of your strategy to spreading the word. An interesting concept is the DIY gigs, where you ask for pledges in advance from My Space friends. How did all of this come about? 

Well I guess it all just came from an idea I had to reverse the polarity of myspace. I felt that going directly to the audience might give us a chance to circumvent the usual record company and radio methods.  For a while now we’ve thought we had a saleable product but we were just unable to get it to the public because of the corporate greed and lack of musical awareness in both record companies and radio stations. Hopefully I can prove my theory later in 2007 

Is it a case that, unless you are a tribute band, it is difficult to persuade club promoters to take a chance on lesser known artists playing a set of original material? 

Absolutely . Covers and Tribute bands will always win hands down in this country.

Globally this is not the case, some clubs in the U.S. and elsewhere state they will only have original music but with our stagnant reality TV culture we tend to head in the opposite direction. People in this country now believe music is a disposable item.

Everyone can be judge and jury with little or no education if you create a society like this and then play them something new and innovative chances are they will not see the light. This in turn leads to a catch 22 situation.

Tribute and covers bands need original music to survive …if you stifle original music…you stifle music!

Next time you see one of these bands don’t forget to shout …play one of your own!

(As an aside I think you’ll find most of the musicians involved would rather play their own material…but sadly that won’t pay the bills!) 

Cutting the promoter out of the equation must bring about its own set of challenges, such as your recent experience at a gig in Bedford... 

Oh I think with regard to the Bedford show there was probably some kind of sub plot - the local promoters were perhaps not happy about us taking a Saturday night. What ever the situation at the Ents Shed somebody was telling porkies about the noise limiter as you couldn’t even recite a poem without the damn thing going off!

The full story is in the blog at: www.myspace.com/johnyoungband   

In February you’ll be playing some one man shows across the UK supporting Barclay James Harvest Featuring Les Holroyd. This seems to be a good opportunity to bring your material to a wider audience. How did this tour come about, and how does the one man show differ from the full band set (apart from being a lot more work for you!)? 

Actually the one man show on this level is a lot less work than the band - I just use a keyboard and a module so it’s a very bijou set up but it still packs a pretty powerful punch.

As to how it came about the guys had heard my music before and had mentioned that if an opportunity came up we should work together…so one day the phone rang…and I’m most grateful to them for letting me bring my music to their audience 

What else is in the pipeline for 2007? 

Well one of the highlights will be playing London in February with the band and I hope to slot a few more shows in both then and later in the year. I hope to take the solo show to the U.S. after the BJH tour and I’ll probably still do the odd Bonnie Tyler or Scorpions show when they need me. There are a couple of other things in the pipeline …but at the moment I’m sworn to secrecy  

You mention Patrick Moraz as being one of your influences. Was ‘Relayer’ a particularly inspiring record for you and what other albums has been an influence on your career and style of playing? 

Gosh how long do we have….

I think Patrick’s work is incredible but it was his band Refugee that showed me that so I knew that when he joined Yes it would be pretty amazing.

I’m always impressed by people who can really play and know when not to!

If you can combine this with passion and dynamics you are off and running.

Check out the keyboards on Bladerunner by Vangelis, most things by Focus, some Ryuchi Sakamoto through to vocalists such as Sarah MacLachlan,  Terry Reid . Peter Gabriel and the like…there is so much to learn and it never stops! 

Outside of your own band you have worked with a variety of other artists such as The Scorpions, Greenslade, Asia, Bonnie Tyler and Fish. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions about this part of your career….so, firstly, The Scorpions and the ‘Moment Of Glory’ show – that must have been a fantastic project to have been involved with? Also, the Pyramids show – a career highlight would you say?

Aah OK I have to put you right here I just play the Acoustica show with the Scorpions so I’m afraid  I wasn’t about for MOG although we have played it acoustically. As for the pyramids well it was pretty amazing I think only 4 bands have played there and so it was a great honour. 

And how is it working with Bonnie Tyler? She has a fairly low profile here in the UK but I guess is still extremely popular across Europe... 

Yes I remembered when I joined BT I thought it was low profile too and then we went to Germany where she was the number 1 selling artist that year… I think people in Britain are very out of touch with the global perspective! BT is great fun it’s like family it takes us all over the world and has given us many happy memories.

Best gigs …headlining in Vienna a couple of years ago to 198,000 and Barbados 3 shows in 3 weeks…don’t ask!! 

The album you recorded with Fish, ‘Fellini Days’ featured some co-writing credits for you alongside Fish and John Wesley. What did you take from this experience, was it an enjoyable project to be involved with? 

Yes indeed I really enjoyed working with Wes and Fish our styles although quite different worked well together and I still think the pre-production version of 3D was a masterpiece. We are all still friends and I’m so pleased for Wes with his excellent work in Porcupine Tree…a definite favourite of mine. 

Outside of what can be termed as ‘Rock’ you have also recorded ambient, classical, jazz, electronica & World albums and even an album under the pseudonym of Chris Richardson. Tell us a little about these recordings 

Well it all started with some semi classical work I did for a library company in London and this music in turn started appearing on the BBC, ITV, CNN , National geographic etc. I decided to try my hand at some other genres and most recently completed a soft jazz and an Indian CD. (I was making too many CD’s so the library company gave me a pseudonym!)

I guess it’s pretty incredible what you can do with keyboards thanks to modern technology. 

With you being so prolific I guess you have little time left for any interests outside of music? 

Yup  

Finally, is there anything else you wanted to add that we haven’t already covered? 

Just to say thanks for having me…and should anybody be a little inquisitive Then please feel free to listen to a tune or two at:   www.myspace.com/johnyoungband  

John, thanks for your time 

A pleasure

You can find out more about John via the following links