Paul Weller has said he thinks younger artists don’t release enough music.
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The singer-songwriter, who was formerly the frontman of The Jam, put his success and longevity of his career down to frequently releasing music and touring and has said he doesn’t understand why some younger artists go several years without putting out a new record.
“Isn’t that part of the job description, that you go on tour and you make records? That’s probably an old-school way of looking at it, but that’s all it’s about really,” Weller told the Daily Star Sunday‘s Wired column [via MusicNews].
“I think it still applies. I think there’s something to be said for consistency and keep pushing it and pushing it and pushing it out.
“As opposed to a lot of the younger artists who make an album then don’t make another for five or seven years. I don’t understand that. I often think, ‘What do you do in those in-between years?’”
“You can’t be on tour for five or seven years touring the same record, surely?”
ROME, ITALY – SEPTEMBER 22:Paul Weller performs at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on September 22, 2023 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Roberto Panucci – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
He added: “Somebody like Amy Winehouse, who was a brilliant artist, she’s only left two records in the world. I think that’s why it’s important to put out as much as you can.
“Not just for the sake of it, not [rubbish], obviously.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Weller admitted that while he enjoys being appreciated for his music, he remains disinterested in fame.
“It’s too fake. If people like me because of my music then great, fantastic, but that’s it for me,” he said. “Or if you love that pair of shoes I’m wearing in that particular photograph, that’s find because I’ve done that myself.
“Beyond that, I couldn’t care less about any of that at all.”
Weller also made headlines recently for saying that he has lost fans because he refuses to be “a heritage act”.
“A few years ago there was a thing where they were talking about heritage acts… I am not going down that road, mate – I’m not a heritage act,” he said on his Desperately Seeking Paul podcast. “I had to fight that term, my own little fight in a sense to get through all that stuff.”
He continued, recalling the impact that the “fight” had on his career as a solo act. “I probably lost a certain amount of audience along the way in this past 10 or so years – the ones that just wanted to hear The Jam stuff.
“But they’ve kind of gone now, I guess they go and see [ex-bandmate] Bruce Foxton’s band or other people – whatever they want to do, whatever makes them happy.”
Back in November, Weller announced details of a UK and Ireland tour, set to kick off later this spring. The dates kick off with a stop at the Lighthouse venue in Poole on April 4 and continue the following day at the Beacon in Bristol.
From there, he’ll stop in Newport, Southend, Leicester, Sheffield and others, all running throughout the month. The shows draw to a close with a gig in Cambridge on April 21. Visit here to buy tickets.
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