Foreigner marks 40 years of making music
Founding member Mick Jones says he’s been part of a ‘fabulous band’
Mick Jones had the song before he had the band to perform it but that tune would launch him and Foreigner into stardom. Jones, while living bandless in New York City in the early 1970s, crafted a few songs, one of which happened to be “Feels Like the First Time,” which would be the tune that brought Foreigner into the public spotlight in 1977 after the group of American and English musicians released their eponymous self-titled debut album.
Over the next decade, Foreigner would become a household name, selling millions of records thanks to songs like “Cold as Ice,” “Urgent,” “Jukebox Hero,” “Dirty White Boy,” and of course “I Want to Know What Love Is,” a tear-jerking ballad from 1984’s album “Agent Provocateur,” a monster hit which would end briefly the relationship Jones had with his hand-picked lead singer Lou Gramm.
Decades later as Foreigner tours in celebration of its 40 years, Jones took the time out of his schedule to talk with The Herald from Michigan where he is performing several gigs with several old bandmates including Gramm for a DVD to be produced sometime in the near future.
Now in his early 70s, Jones is still enthusiastic about touring and creating with the band he started holding audtions for in 1976.
By the time he and Foreigner had recorded their first album, Jones was a music veteran who had performed with and written songs for French rock superstar Johnny Hallyday in the early 1960s. He also performed with Gary Wright of “Dream Weaver” fame in the seminal band Spooky Tooth.
Jones, along with former King Crimson member Ian McDonald, started holding auditions and Foreigner was born.
Jones, though, had no clue what the future would hold for the band, which four decades later is one of the most well-known and beloved groups in rock.
“I had sort of an enthusiasm for the band, hopefully to make a name for myself and as a band as well obviously, but it’s beyond my wildest dreams, I’d have to say, to achieve this and it keeps on going,” Jones said Thursday.
“I have a fabulous band. This is the best feeling I’ve had since the beginning. It’s a rebirth — our fans and supporters have remained faithful to us and are coming back in droves so there’s no rhyme nor reason except we have great songs and a great band and, you know, really people who are completely dedicated to what we are doing. So the ball keeps rolling.”
And the ball has rolled almost continuously despite personnel changes including two departures by Gramm, the first time for two years in 1990 and again in 2003.
After taking some time off, Jones reformed Foreigner in 2004 with a new lineup that included bassist Jeff Pilson, known for his work with Dokken.
Unlike some bands — such as Van Halen — Foreigner’s transition to a new frontman has gone smoothly, its present singer being Kelly Hansen, who came on board in 2005. American Hansen was a co-founder of the hard-rock outfit Hurricane, which had moderate success in the 1980s.
He was hired by Jones after an auditioning process that had potential singers recording their voices over various Foreigner tracks.
“I had privately sort of searched and had a bunch of candidates to look through and that wasn’t really made public and fortunately Kelly showed up. We were doing it through a karaoke manner, sending out CDs and getting them to record their voice over different tracks.
“When I heard the timbre in Kelly’s voice, I knew there was something special sort of in the way I thought when I first heard Lou. It wasn’t the same voice, obviously, and I didn’t want an exact clone of Lou but I wanted soemebody who could represent those songs that were definitely synonymous with Lou, to really sing those and give the public what they want. When you have a catalogue like ours, people have their songs they want to hear.”
While Jones hasn’t performed with his old Spooky Tooth bandmate Wright since the 1970s, the two still keep in touch and a couple of years ago, they ran into each other deep in the Amazon while on vacation, a tale that prompts Jones to laugh during the interview.
“I didn’t know he was there, he didn’t know I was there and and we bumped into each other in the middle of the jungle. It was a great time.”
The music of Spooky Tooth still resonates with Jones, though.
“The spirit of Spooky Tooth still breathes in me and that’s how I got my idea and rhythmic feel of rock and that’s still the root of my style and of my songwriting,” he said.
Over those 40 years, Foreigner has made fans around the globe, somewhat due in part to the huge success of “I Want to Know What Love Is,” a tune that Gramm felt was taking Foreigner in a softer direction and began unravelling the relationship he had with Jones.
“It’s crazy, I look out from the stage and see the audience and it’s a whole mixture of age groups — kids 10 or 11 singing all the lyrics to our songs and it’s really heartening to see that and hear that. We’ve come back and stepped up a notch in this last year or two, and we’ve worked very hard to get there, too.
“When I decided to finally go ahead and reform the band, we had a lot of different musical styles to compete with and somehow we still remained relevant and we’ve got a great live show now which is I think more powerful than the band has ever shown. The live performances are really exciting.”
Southern Alberta music fans will see that for themselves when Foreigner plays the Enmax Centre on Oct. 15.
“The way the band plays together, on and off stage, it’s a great atmosphere. Nobody has an attitude which unfortunately is part of being a band,” said Jones.
Jones and the band are gathering new material for an album of originals which Foreigner is hoping to get out sometime in the next year.
“I like to look at next year as being a productive year,” he said from the Soaring Eagle casino in Michigan where he, Gramm, and original drummer Dennis Elliot as well as the band’s first keyboardist Al Greenwood are performing several dates celebrating the band’s 40th year.