John Lodge, singer, songwriter, and bassist of the Moody Blues, now celebrating over 50 years in business, has a pivotal stake in the rock and roll game. He has penned such iconic hits as “Ride My See-Saw,” “Isn’t Life Strange,” and “I’m Just A Singer (In A Rock And Roll Band).” In each of these, his distinct vocal is as upfront as his bass playing.
Lodge, who stays busier than most touring with the Moody Blues, ventures out on his from time to time, and is spending a good portion of October 2018 touring various cities in the United States, east of the Mississippi, supporting his 2018 live album Live From Birmingham, The 10,000 Light Years Tour, which features Moody Blues songs, as well songs from his 2015 solo album, 10,000 Light Years Ago.
I had the good fortune to speak with the genial Lodge during the Moody Blues nine-show residency in Las Vegas. On the day we spoke, it was the one-year anniversary of the tragic shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival. In honor of that tragedy, Vegas was going dark that night
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Hi Mr. Lodge. Hi, thanks for taking the time to speak with us.
Thanks so much.
We have happened to catch up with you during quite an auspicious day in Las Vegas
Yes, a very sad day indeed.
But I’m sure you guys will go out tonight and make everyone feel better.
That’s the great thing about music, right, it soothes the mind. Vintage rock or otherwise, listening to music just takes a bit of reality out of life. Takes your emotions somewhere, gives us inner happiness. It’s always worked for me that way, when I am sad, out on a record, a little Chuck Berry and there you are.
Quite a few classic rock acts have taken to playing Vegas residencies, for short or longer periods of time. How does coming in for a bunch of shows in one place work for you?
Well, it’s been great really. The audiences have been wonderful, and it’s quite nice not to have to travel, we can stay in one place for a while, and the fans come to us.
Beyond that, you can as much fine tune the band as the sound. Using static equipment, from the first night all the way through, you are playing the same show with the same sound. Usually, the soundmen have to get the room right every night, which can take a lot of time. This way we have a solid set sound for quite a few shows in a row.
And on top of touring with The Moody Blues, you are out doing solo dates with your backing band.
Yes, well, the Moodies are always my priority, but it’s nice being able to go out and play songs and play venues I never got to play with the Moodies. Well, maybe not the exact venues but places of that type, more intimate settings. We never got to do that in America when we really first came over.
What do you mean, exactly?
Well, Days Of Future Passed and In Search Of A Lost Chord were two very big albums, so by the time we got over here, we were already playing bigger venues, like the Fillmore East in New York and the Fillmore West in San Francisco. Those were pretty big.
So do you find playing with the Moodies, then playing solo, with the songs and the places being different, do you make the switch in your mind or does it just happen organically, and you settle into whatever venue you are playing and with what band?
I think I make that switch in my head. Firstly, I am playing different songs. there’s lots of songs that I play with my group we’d never play with the Moodies and vice versa. And even though in both instances we love audience participation in an intimate venue you feel that more. But no matter the place, for us on stage and people watching, we are in this together, we are all one.
For your solo show, as well as playing songs from your latest studio album, you also are playing some Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder tunes. When I caught your listening party at Joe’s Pub in New York, I saw you get a couple video messages from Mike Pinder (founding member of the Moody Blues, keyboardist and songwriter in the band until 1977) and Ray Thomas (founding member of the Moody Blues, flautist, singer and a songwriter until retiring in 2002, dying in January 2018).
Yes, I was very close to Ray and very close to Mike. In fact, I spoke with Ray just before he died around Christmas. He had the best quote after we got into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. He always called me ‘Rocker,’ and he said about getting into the Hall: ‘Hey, Rocker, now that we are in the Hall of Fame are we famous?’, which I thought was great.
That particular distinction for the Moody Blues took a while to come in, much too many a fan dislike.
Yes, it took a long time.
I also see you are participating in Cruise to the Edge in 2019.
I am looking forward that really. It’s like a floating festival, out to sea with all those bands.
The question I ask anybody playing that gig is: Do you get to see the other bands play at all?
I will if I can. Lots of times there are other smaller venues you can play on the ship. Maybe do a Q&A, then manage an acoustic set, which I will definitely be doing. It certainly feels less like less of an ‘us and them’ thing there with the fans so close; it just pulls everybody together.
I think that maybe one of the most enduring qualities of the Moody Blues is there always feels like there was so little separation between the band and fans. As you said before — All in it together, all one.
Yes, we are all linked.
Any chance we will see your sporting that beautiful double-neck, blonde Rickenbacker guitar bass in any shows these days?
No, that’s not too likely. I suffered a back injury a few years ago, and the doctor told me I mustn’t play that guitar. It really is very, very heavy. My roadies were very happy as they said it took two of them to cart that case around. I have it in my music room at home, and I play it there. But no, you won’t see me on stage with that anymore.
Lastly, can we hope for some new Moody Blues music or John Lodge solo stuff in the future?
The door is open in the future to each possibility. We are coming to the end of two years of this Days Of Future Passed tour, so I think we are going to do some rethinking just before Christmas. The Moodies always come first, but in all things, I will just be looking out for what intrigues me, as I always have.
