Bass player Bruce Foxton on going deaf, mending his rift with Paul Weller and the joy of becoming ‘Grandad Rock’
HE HAS spent four decades belting out The Jam’s legendary hits Going Underground, A Town Called Malice and Down In The Tube Station At Midnight. And now, rock star Bruce Foxton has tinnitus and is forced to wear a hearing aid.
The bass guitarist, 63, has never spoken about the chronic condition, which causes a constant ringing in the ears and can lead to irreversible hearing loss.
Other famous musicians who suffer from tinnitus include Noel Gallagher, Pete Townsend, Chris Martin and Will.i.am and it is estimated to affect one Briton in every ten.
For Bruce, it has become worse since 1982 when leader Paul Weller disbanded The Jam after five years of hits.
They were at the height of their success, having released 18 singles and seven albums (all made the top 40), making them one of the biggest bands in the UK.
But their incendiary live performances have taken their toll on Bruce, who co-wrote some of their most famous songs.
Along with drummer Rick Buckler, he was the driving force behind singer, guitarist and main songwriter PaulWeller.
He admits: “I’ve had tinnitus for years now and I have actually succumbed to wearing a hearing aid occasionally.
“The Jam were a three-piece and we needed to play at full volume to sound as loud as we could. But
do that for 40 years and your hearing is bound to deteriorate.
“I am not completely deaf but I do suffer from high-frequency hearing loss.
“This is a result of performing at so many live concerts and years of standing next to loudspeakers on the stage.
“It means that I struggle to hear the treble and higherpitched sounds.
“But wearing a hearing aid has made a massive difference and it’s been customised to provide amplification for only the sounds that I am missing.
“I am wearing it more more.
“If I go to a pub or restaurant and I don’t have it in everything becomes a mush.
“It’s embarrassing because I’ll be trying to have a conversation and if it’s that loud there are only so many times I can say, ‘Sorry, I didn’t catch that. What did you say?’ After about the fourth time of asking, I get too embarrassed to ask again so
I become and a bit of an introvert and I don’t join in with the conversation because I might not understand what the person is saying back.
“But having the hearing aid is great, although it will never be as good as my original hearing.
“I guess it’s just unfortunate and it’s what happens to musicians like me that play in loud bands for 40 years.”
Bruce also recently underwent a successful cataract operation.
“I had my right eye done a while ago and I had my left eye done in June.
“It was painless because I was knocked out and I had a general anaesthetic. I couldn’t face a local.
“Before the op, I couldn’t see the audience so I didn’t get so nervous but now I can see the whites of their eyes and it’s totally different.”
After The Jam split up, Bruce went on to play bass in Stiff Little Fingers.
In 2006, he formed tribute band From The Jam.
For the past decade, he has continued to play the iconic band’s hits.
But the break-up is etched on his mind and it came as a huge shock.
The group played their last gig in Brighton on December 11, 1982, and Bruce says it felt like his world had fallen apart.
He says: “When the band broke up, it was worse than splitting up with your girlfriend. It
Olivia Buxton