I’m fascinated by that and the idea that it is, in the end, like folk music, people’s music.” “The thing I have discovered is that music in its truest sense is beyond any trend or movement or category. Some nights I come offstage and think I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world, or doing anything else other than this. The ones I’ve done recently have been among the best. “You see, I don’t measure things in terms of the big momentous occasions. “Probably about a month ago at a gig in Middlesboro’ Town Hall and the week before that at another gig somewhere else,” he responds, without hesitation. Are there any particular highlights or low points that spring to mind? I’m 45 next birthday, and I just don’t know where all that time has gone.”įew artists of his generation have gone through as many transformations as Weller has in that time. But it doesn’t feel like a quarter of century to me. “It’s a nice round figure isn’t it? And it sounds like a fantastic amount of time when you’re sitting here at the other end of it. “Twenty-five years,” he ponders, dragging on a cigarette. Looking back over his career to date, has he taken any time out recently to reflect or reminisce on the passing years? Still only in his mid-40s Weller has been famous for most of his life. If somebody else wants to do that – fine. “To me, doing it is the most natural thing in the world but I don’t like analysing it. It’s like trying to describe the indescribable. But after 25 years, it’s still really hard for me to answer a question like, ‘how did you come to make this record?’ Or ‘how did you come to write this song?’. “I’ve nothing against journalists in principle. “I’m talking to you now mainly because I’m trying to please my record company, to keep them happy,” he laughs, gesturing towards a Sony Music rep, who’s hovering in the background. So then, has he softened in his attitude towards journalists or is this as painful as it looks to him? Suntanned and still impressively slim, Weller is friendly and frank – but he shifts uneasily in his seat as he begins to answer questions at a West London hotel. (This is the man, remember, who once wrote, “To anyone who has ever slated me – fuck you,” on the sleeve of an album.) Not renowned for his love of the music press, he’s agreed to do two days worth of promotion for the new album. The runaway success of albums like Wild Wood and Stanley Road coupled with his timely association with Brit-pop put him back on top of his game, where he has more or less remained.įollowing a couple of solid albums – 2000’s Heliocentric and last year’s live offering Days Of Speed – he returns this month with a new record, Illumination, widely hailed as a return to inspired form. Undaunted, he retreated for a couple of years, re-emerging in the ’90s with a new sound, rooted in the late ’60s rock of quintessential British acts like Traffic and Blind Faith.įor the past decade a resurgent Weller has played the role of a guitar-toting, gruff-voiced, cheerleader for British rock. Towards the end of the ’80s, at a creative impasse, he ill-advisedly jumped aboard the house music bandwagon, only to have his record company refuse to release the results. In the early ’80s, Weller transformed himself into a soul-boy sophisticate with The Style Council, a more hit and miss affair than The Jam – though they had their moments. Inexplicably, after a string of number one singles, including classics like, ‘Going Underground’, ‘Beat Surrender’ and ‘A Town Called Malice’, he broke up the band at the height of their popularity. In terms of sheer popularity and chart action, no other band of the era matched them. We first encountered Paul Weller in early ’77 as a ’60s-fixated teenager, attacking a Rickenbacker while fronting The Jam – a sharp-dressed trio trading in supercharged mod-pop. He’s had 26 top 40 albums and been involved with countless collaborations along the way with such luminaries as Pete Townsend, Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher and Steve Winwood, to name just a handful. To date he has notched up an astonishing and hugely impressive 57 top 40 hit singles, including four number ones. He has been a constant presence on the pop music landscape for over a quarter of a century now. Looking back over a career that's studded with success, he's reflective and forthright – but the anger that inspired much of The Jam's finest output still burns.

But with the release of his latest solo album Illumination, the man who once led The Jam and the Style Council agreed to put himself in the firing line. Paul Weller has a reputation as one of the most truculent men in pop, with a deep-seated dislike of the promotional process.

Paul weller 80s