11th of April 2005

Just to keep you guessing...

It seems like another world. It is hard to remember a time when I didn't wake up everyday and think about new music. It has only been nearly a couple of months, but I have dived into it so ferociously that I wonder how I survived without this creative time through all the preceding months. I've been listening, writing, arranging and generally pissing about with sounds pretty much everyday. I have been writing with people, without people, with the piano, with the guitar, with the computer and the amount of music created has surprised me. What is particularly interesting has been the way my thoughts about the new record have and haven't changed. While I was continuing to tour and feeling more and more desperate to record a new album, I thought I would start a new record from a totally different standpoint and therefore make a totally different record to the kind of music I have made in the past. What I failed to realise that it was the process of travelling, playing and being on the TV that was the alien part. As soon as I was home and working on new stuff it dawned on me: "Hang on! I've done this before! I can do this bit!!!" there are of course, some changes this time. I actually have a budget, a little more time and there are no specific boundaries. What people call "difficult second album syndrome" is something I did five years ago and it was much more scary 'cos I was using my credit card.

I have written about 25 new songs. Some, I am certain, will not be on the new record, but it feels amazing to be putting together so much new material. The collaborators I have chosen are worlds apart from each other, some very mainstream, some very left-field - all in an effort to do something a little different, a little suprising and basically damn good to listen to. At the heart of what I'm doing is making a jazz record, and I have come to realise this more and more as I go on. I still maintain that as much as I'm sure it will be questioned about how much "jazz" is on the record - all the music has been conceived from a jazz place and with the notion that when taken on tour, the music will be used as a basis for improvisation. I like making records I can pull apart on the road.

Still, this pre-production process isn't quite over. I type (prepare to feel jealous) from the beach in Miami, enjoying the warm sun and the cool breeze. The jagged cold air of London seems a world away right now but this certainly isn't a holiday. I am here to work with some very important people in a studio out here. It is great to think that with so much material behind me already, these subsequent collaborations benefit from the absence of any pressure to produce anything in particular. Just to hang out, and make some great music. I will warn you that whenever I say something about the new record it is primarily the thought for the day and will lead to no more than being a thought. Some of the more interesting rumours may just be true though. Just to keep you guessing...

It hasn't been all writing however. I have actually managed to spend some time with my friends and family, been to a few silly parties, cooking, moving into a new place and learning that flat packed furniture doesn't always stand up straight. It has allowed me to reflect on all that has happened and I am all the more grateful for it especially the fan-base. Once again I am consistently flattered by your loyalty and interest in everything from music, arms to haircuts.

As you know, I attended the Grammies this year. The very concept of this amused me immensely and I continued to think of it as a joke until I touched down in LA the week before the show itself. LA is a mad place anyway, but the opportunities to get into some serious trouble seems even greater during Grammy week and I dived straight in. With some time on my hands and a severe lack of sleep I managed to attend some phenomenal parties. Meeting 'usetlove of the Roots and jamming with him the following night was a huge honour. Only minutes before meeting him I saw his name on the guestlist and thought how amazing it would be to tell him how his drumming and his band blew me away. He strolls in 30 seconds later and introduces himself and said that he liked my music. I also got to meet Fiona Apple and super-producer, songwriter, score-writing, mad genius, multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion.

I had been informed a few weeks before the Grammies I would be performing at a charity event which was to honour Brian Wilson. He was also to be present at the show. I thought it would be enough to meet the architect of pop music. Shaking hands with the great Brian Wilson was soon to be matched by meeting the creator of independent rock music - Neil Young. What turned out to be the most exciting thing about the Grammys was the days and nights leading up to it and this Musicares event was one of them. The artists performing there were all playing Brian Wilson songs everyone from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to the Backstreet Boys (who I unfourtunately announced as the Blackstreet Boys). I was, of course, terrified but the performance, with a wonderful young gospel choir, turned out to be a hit.

High from meeting every music star I'd ever dreamed of (in one night), we moved on to a party hosted by the Black-Eyed-Peas in aid of the Tsunami appeal. I am not really a celeb-whore I promise but this party was, er, fairly well attended. As I nestled into a spot between Prince and the Simpson Sisters (Jessica and Ashlee not Maggie and Lisa) I proceeded to be astounded by the array of talent that continued to appear on the stage. Herbie Hancock begins and I'm already in heaven. What could top that? My true hero jammin' out Watermelon Man in front of a crowd of appreciative, dancing, young people? Try a duet between Justin Timberlake and James Brown! Joined shortly by Maroon 5, India Arie, Macy Gray, Pink, John Legend, Carlos Santana and more I can't remember because I was too intoxicated. All joined the stage for a chorus of Redemption Song. The following morning's hangover made me doubt it had actually happened.

The Grammies itself was mostly fun with elements of the Krypton Factor. I played a version of Frontin' with the house band for the pre-telecast where they give awards that fewer people are interested in. When they gave out the award for best Polka album the recipient gave a short, impassioned speech and than said, before he left "Polka Rocks!" it has become my new catchphrase. Actually getting into the Grammies was like queuing for Disney World on a summer's day it was total chaos. The red carpet was green (sponsored by Heineken) which gave everyone a slight green, sickly glow and it felt like the astro-turf I play five-a-side on. There were queues for photos and interviews two of my least favourite things and here I was queuing for them. On reaching one television crew they told me that Usher was arriving soon and could I come back later. I politely laughed, made another joke about everyone looking seasick and went on into the Grammy show. It was a good show, long, but ultimately fun to watch. The highlight for me turned out to be a duet between Bonnie Rait and Billy Preston which was played with a subtle beauty lacking in all the explosion filled performances and of course the stunning Jesus Walks from Kanye West.

The parties following the Grammies get confusing there were so many, and the established philosophy is that each party is only hip for one hour till everyone moves onto the next one. Eventually though, with a small group of friends, my manager Marc and my American managers Martin and Dana, we toasted the surreal event that was attending the Grammies to the equally as surreal vision of a preserved Billy Idol performing on the stage as if the 80s had never happened. With love to you all.

Polka Rocks.

Jc

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