He talks about the creative process behind the influential band
OCEAN CITY – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bassist John Lodge is bringing the songs of the Moody Blues to the Ocean City Music Pier July 15.
Lodge joined the band shortly before their second studio album, the seminal “Days Of Future Passed.”
Now, nearly 60 years later, he continues the legacy of the Moody Blues.
Lodge recently completed a project in which he re-recorded the band’s genre-defining album called “Days Of Future Passed – My Sojourn.”
The current tour will feature songs from this reinterpretation along with more recent material.
“It’s divided up into two factions, really,” Lodge said. “The first part is really made up mostly of Moody Blues’ most famous stuff, and the second part is the whole of ‘Days Of Future Passed.’ Jon Davison from Yes joins me onstage for ‘Days Of Future Passed.’”
Understandably, revisiting a record that shaped Lodge’s life was an emotional experience.
“It came about because I asked Graeme Edge before he passed away if he could record the poetry from ‘Days Of Future Passed,’” Lodge explained. “I told Graeme I want to keep the Moody Blues’ music alive, and Graeme said it would be his pleasure. He said, ‘John, keep the music alive.’ I said I was going to film him recording the poetry, so he’d always have a place on stage with me. That set off the whole motive, really, for the album. Then I sat back and listened to the whole original album, trying to get into the mindset of Ray Thomas and Mike Pinder and portray the songs today – as I hoped they would like them. “
It meant the world to Lodge to have Edge, who died in 2021, be part of the record.
“It was the most important thing,” Lodge said. “Graeme wrote all the poetry for the Moody Blues. He never recorded it himself and I thought it would be fantastic for Graeme to be onstage reciting his poetry. It was the inspiration that I needed to get this whole project off the ground.”
While the influence of the Moody Blues is undeniable – they essentially invented progressive rock – there’s really no band that sounds like them.
“I think we all take ideas and emotions from people’s records,” Lodge said. “I know the Moody Blues don’t sound like Buddy Holly & the Crickets, but Buddy Holly was a huge influence on me and I’m sure somewhere in our music somebody could identify some Buddy Holly traits. But it’s emotions, you know? Music is about emotion and if you capture an emotion on a song – it might be the emotion when you bought your first record – it’s something special.”
Much of the Moody Blues’ catalog features complex arrangements and instrumentation, which can be a challenge to recreate live.
But Lodge has an excellent band to make it happen.
“On keyboards, my musical director is Alan Hewitt and he was with me in the Moody Blues for 10 years,” Lodge said. “Al and I have a great rapport, he knows what I’m trying to achieve and he can achieve it for me. It’s brilliant. On drums we’ve got Billy Ashbaugh from Florida; Billy was also with the Moody Blues for about five years and he knows bass players and drummers have to work together. It’s the most essential part, the engine room, of a band and Billy and I work so well together. He was also with N Sync for quite a few years.
“On guitar I’ve got Duffy King out of Detroit and he’s a brilliant guitarist. In the Moody Blues we had a flute player, but for my group I wanted a cello. So the cello can play the flute parts and also be a driving part of the band, and I’ve got a fantastic cello player out of Detroit named Jason Charboneau.”
The Moody Blues had a unique dynamic in that nearly everyone wrote and sang songs.
“It was brilliant, I can honestly say,” Lodge said. “What was really nice was when you went to the studio you could hear other musicians, your mates, singing a song to you they’d written – you’d never heard it before. It was brilliant to be able to add your influence to the song. We used to sit around and play a song to the rest of the band, and when you played the song it became a Moody Blues song. No longer was it yours; you passed it over to the rest of the guys. It was great that way because they added. There was conceit from each side, what was the best direction to take as musicians for that song.”
Making music in a group setting that way can be a challenge.
“Respect, it takes respect,” Lodge said. “Because when you write a song you are actually standing there naked. Your ego is on the line. You think, ‘I wonder if they’re going to like this song?’ But once you play the song and they take it over, in a way it’s a relief and in a way it’s like a rocket ship taking off. You can’t wait to hear the final song once you’ve recorded it.”
Lodge plays the bass in a uniquely melodic style.
He forged his own path on the instrument as the electric bass was a relatively new instrument when he took it up.
“I fell in love with the bass,” Lodge said. “I used to listen, when I was really young, to jukeboxes and on the jukeboxes I used to listen to the left-hand side of the piano – rock ’n’ roll piano. Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Fats Domino. I realized that was the driving force and before I bought a bass I learned all those left-hand side piano riffs, and once I started understanding the riffs I used to work on melodies. ‘OK, that’s the riff. What notes do I have to play to go with this melody?’ So I think that’s how my bass developed.”
After 60 years and with nothing to prove, Lodge is still making records and playing shows.
Most musicians wouldn’t be willing or able to put in the work to keep going at 80.
“Well, I play every day,” Lodge said. “I don’t play out of routine, I actually play because I like to play. I like to experiment and find what still works with chord sequences and I’m in the studio quite often. I just recorded two new songs for an EP that I’ll release in the Fall. I just love it, simple as that. I love it, from the day I took the bass guitar into my bedroom and sat there all night trying to work it out.”
For tickets to see John Lodge visit ocnj.us
– By KYLE McCRANE/For the Sentinel
Photo from John Lodge’s website, johnlodge.com