John Jones of Oysterband interview

March 2006

John Jones Lead singer with the Oysterband since the eighties, John is also much in demand as a contributing artist with the likes of Chumbawamba and Seth Lakeman. One of the driving forces of the whole Big Session juggernaut. He's currently ensconced with Oysterband com padre Ian Telfer writing new material for the next Oysterband album.

We talked about the Big Session Festival, the current folk scene and the new material they are putting together.

Good to hear you're writing new material, but how do you find time for it all with the Big Session Festival to organise and touring?
Well we finished touring and bits and pieces last weekend and we've just cleared the decks now for two months to make the album in April and May . The germs of songs have been happening for the last two years really.

Will it confound expectations and the critics as so many of your albums have done
I hope it will confound expectations more than ever. we don't see the point in making another Oysterband album that sounds just the same as any other. So yeah, we're looking to do something different, and we're in a position where we can and should do something different.

The Big Session gigs and collaborative work you have done must effect the direction you take
It has in one sense, it's re-acquainted us with our past. What the Big Session is about is finding things in common with other artists, and to some extent you use your roots to do that. Most of the artists had traditional or folk roots in some way. When we come back to Oysterband stuff having done that you can go off in another direction. It's a good thing to have in the sense that it feels to me, and I'm sure the others would agree, that the Big Session roots us and shares things with us, and then the Oysterband can then be a little more radical, and can go off in any way it wants.

Have you got any more collaborations in mind?
We've got plenty on our plates at the moment! But we are looking at one for Denmark and possibly one for Canada where we have quite a few connections. People love the idea of the Big Session and it would be great to do it in different countries, but we've got to be a bit careful to make sure that we do it well..

Well you've made a rod for your own back calling the live album 'volume 1'
I know, why did we do that for God's sake? It seemed a great idea at the time...

It shows how healthy the folk scene is when those kind of events can occur, and those involved leave their egos to one side.
For all it's frustrations and it's supposed narrowness the folk world is a brilliant umbrella to be under. We've always been very comfortable under that. And I hope it gets more open and more things are accepted. A lot is shared, though it's not to say there isn't tribalism and there is a competitive edge and you always that to happen. I've been as competitive as anybody in the past. It's good to recognise and value stuff that works.

Do you feel a great weight of expectation on you with the success of the album (Big Session Volume 1) and last years festival which was so popular
Yeah! I love it, to be honest I think it's a fantastic challenge. It's great to be able to talk to your agent or manager and say 'we'd love to see these people there', to be able to have the people you actually want at a festival, to decide on the food stalls, the drink, the political stalls. We've set something up how you'd want it, but it's a big responsibility - you don't want anything to let it down. You have to set the thing up in your own image with your own ideas, people expect that... and it's got to be a great event.

The lineup this year looks fantastic, it will be good to see yourselves, the Levellers and Chumbawamba there. All three of you have been the torch carriers for music with a conscience since the early eighties
They definitely are our fellow travellers, I just sang on the new Chumba album and recently went up to Leeds and did a gig with them, it's going to be really lovely to have them there. the Levellers on friday and they're hanging over to the saturday. Then the Chumba's on the sunday and they'll do a little bit with us at the finale.

How difficult is it planning the ensemble pieces
If anything is difficult, that's the one area. Because it's the one thing that should seem spontaneous, and sometimes it is, but you do need a root. For example yesterday we were just jamming some traditional material and we said that would be great to do with Martin Simpson or June Tabor. Now there's no point telling them this on the night, you've got to lodge the idea . Probably with June we would work that idea up in a morning. We send CD's to different people, and we'll be saying to others we'd really like to get them involved in the friday night session - if they want to take part they can. But we don't really know what it's going to sound like until everyone gets up there.

The live concert and recording must be a complicated thing to organise, is the festival easier in some ways?
The live album was hard, you judge people as performers and for what they will bring to the work. We hoped that with the likes of the handsome Family, Show Of Hands and June Tabor something will kick off. It happened, I'm so relieved that literally every ego was left outside. I think some of that it to do with the fact that they trusted us, I hope that's right. We were thinking aloud with it, a couple of ideas came up in the dressing room for songs.

That trust must be an important part of staging your own festival, and having the contacts, much as the Levellers have found with the Beautiful Days Festival.
Absolutely, they're in a position, just like us, that they know just what they want from a festival. They have a beautiful site and a great festival, we've played it twice now. We can reciprocate and have them back. And there is an aspect where once in the past we were probably sworn enemies but over the years you find respect for each other.

It struck me that the Big Session Festival is probably one of the most creative events around
I think it has to do that, that is the Big Session. You have to keep working at it the whole weekend, you can't just sit back and think 'oh that's great'. Members of the Oysterband and other people just keep looking at what might be possible. We don't want to get in everyone's way, start invading their set, so there's a certain sort of etiquette about it. If you can think of different things to do it gives it that shared feeling that I hope people appreciate.

What were the highlights of last years festival for you?
I opened the festival and I was just so relieved to get that out of the way! Friday night when Mark from the Levellers and Rev (Hammer) came up with the late night band and Eliza came on the stage was just so lovely. On Saturday the reaction to our set was great. For me there was a moment when I went out on the Sunday lunchtime, I was just sitting having a beer with everybody, there was a couple of local artists in the tent playing and it was just so nice; the tent was full, people were listening to someone completely new, the sun was out and it was just wonderful. I thought this is what it's all about.

The bar has been raised with the first festival, not least with nigh on 7,000 pints being consumed
That's my main concern, that we drink enough! No, I think that we set a really good standard last year and the important thing is not to grow too quickly, just ramp it up but keep it manageable, to try and keep that vibe. It's a beautiful site, we just need the right weather, we have such a good feeling from last year that I think will carry over, people will come with good expectations. The quality of what you provide for people has risen. For us it's a chance to really connect with our audience, provided our show goes well, and I can walk out with my head held high and have a beer with people and relax

Where do you think the explosion in the popularity of folk and the quality of the acts such as Seth Lakeman and Jim Moray has come from
That's a good question, I think these things are cyclical, quite when and how they come round is another thing. For a while I think the folk scene has in a sense been female dominated, it's been women singing traditional songs. What encourages me is that blokes are doing it again, like Jim and Seth, that I think is very strong. You know, to me as things change so quickly and music in a sense gets very 'pod' related it gets ubiquitous, it's everywhere and it's constantly changing. I think people always have a yearning to find some roots and to find a connection back to previous artists, to a tradition, to their history whatever it is - and that will always appeal to some people.

it's like Seth Lakeman, what I love about his music is that it's rooted in Dartmoor where he lives, and that is his selling point. it's become possible to wear your heart on your sleeve, where you're from talk about that and play music. Once you get one person doing it they are a good model and other people can do it. This is where he's at now, making his own music and his own stance. He performs it in an indie/rock way which is so great and refreshing.

Do you think also that people are attracted to the folk world because they are looking for a voice? When you started Thatcher was the ogre, and now we seem have a fresh set of challenges
One of the things that I say, one of my cliches in a way, is if you live in a country and you really, really love it, the landscape, villages, sense of humour. But you disagree with the politics and the way the parties go the same way, financed by big business and the values of the right like Murdoch. There are so many things that you can find that instead of turning you off your country they make you love and value it even more. So you look around for music, for expression, you look for fellow travellers. Which is why the Levellers and Chumbawamba are our mates.