Jun. 09, 2010 - Issue #764: Hot Summer Guide 2010

Prevue

Makin’ some noise

After 35 years, Petty & The Heartbreakers' mojo is still workin'

These days you can never put too much hope in an album title revealing its inner framework. Rarer still do you see artists bringing a cohesive blueprint to the notion of a traditional 'album' at all. But upon first listen to Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' first studio effort in eight years, Mojo aims straight for the heart of the word and all it implies: a tightly focused foray into the blues while exhibiting all its strut and swagger, explains Heartbreakers' guitarist (and Petty's right-hand man) Mike Campbell over the phone. "The album is definitely in that vein—that word conjured up those images."

Recorded live off the floor with minimal overdubs, the inspiration for Mojo follows the band's momentum as of late: in 2008 Petty and Campbell gathered members of their original band Mudcrutch to do a record just that way. "We set up live in our warehouse, no headphones," Campbell explains, "and it was such a joy to play that way that we figured for the next record we need to approach it that way because it was much more inspiring and fun."

At the same time, he and Petty were busy pouring over 35 years' of live recordings, compiling material for 2009's Live Anthology. But the centrepiece for Mojo would be Campbell's 1959 Gibson Les Paul—a guitar, he notes, "that we loved, and Tom was always raving about it, and he said, 'Let's set up live in the warehouse like we did with Mudcrutch and make the album around the sound of that guitar.'"

If this sounds like a guitarist's wet dream, you're right. The result is a blues tour de force; slow and heavy-handed, Mojo exhibits moments recalling Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, Dylan and Neil Young's Crazy Horse, while Campbell's signature two-string leads give extraordinary shape and feel to Petty's cool-headed songwriting.

"Tom came to me around the time we were working on Live Anthology, where we went back through all the live recordings we've ever done, and there were [songs] where we'd stretch out a little bit, and he said we should explore that a little more on this record," Campbell reveals. "He said, 'We'll use that guitar, we'll make it the main sound of the record, and we'll lighten up the reins on the three-minute form.'"

Ultimately, it was important to allow the guitar to stretch out across the album without "a bunch of mindless noodling" distracting from the spirit of the songs, he adds. After 35 years of playing together, the band's chemistry is instinctual, and as one fan suggested on the band's message board, Mojo finds the band "filling the gaps in [its] discography with the hits [it] never wrote."

"Maybe in a sense we're looking back and looking forward at the same time," Campbell responds. "I mean, we grew up in the South. The music culture we grew up hearing was a lot of blues—not just 'Stormy Monday Blues,' but Howlin' Wolf and rhythmic blues, Jimmy Reed, that kinda stuff, and it's always been a source of our inspiration.

"A lot of our records over the years have also been greatly influenced by the British bands back in the '60s, with the 12-string guitar, the Byrds sound, we've tapped that source of inspiration quite a bit. So on this record, it just felt comfortable for us to go back further, a little closer to the purest source of where we were inspired—the deep country blues, and see if we could pull that into the band today and see what happens. And that's what Mojo is." V

After 35 years, is the band’s chemistry as good as it’s ever been?

It's actually better, and a lot of it is instinctual. We've utilized it the longer we've been together, and we've been together longer than most bands, which I think is a miracle. But the interplay and the chemistry becomes even more precious because it’s a very rare thing for a band, to play with a kind of telepathy. We really treasure it.”

Between the decision to release Live Anthology and record Mojo live off the floor, what is it about the band’s live show that’s clicking? 

"I think there’s two things about this band. One is I think we have really good quality songs that hold up over time, and I know that people come to see us and they want to hear songs that were really important to them. I think that’s the really valuable thing. The other thing is this band, we really play well together. We make a good sound, we compliment each other, and we love to play together and we love performing, and I think that comes across.”

Tom has emerged as an iconic songwriter in his own right. What is it about him that’s propelling him to that status?

He’s one of my favourite writers. He’s growing just like any writer would—and he always has been—but I look at Tom like a hybrid of Dylan and Keith Richards. That’s his personality, every band should have one [laughs]. But he is a great writer, he’s a smart writer, and a melodic writer and I’m always inspired by the songs he brings in. We’re lucky to have him in the band, he’s a great leader, too.”

As a producer, what’s your view on digital vs. analogue recording?

"We’re not inspired by the sound of these produced records these days, computer tuned and this and that, and we didn’t want to bother with any of that. So we just decided, let’s just set the band up and let them play, we’ll play all the solos live as the track goes by, and we wont do any overdubs or computer tricks, and we'll just play like a band.

"I've definitely fought for analogue for many many years, but the truth is nowadays digital has improved quite a bit. All formats are in digital, so you can fight for analogue but at the end of the day everything’s going to go down to a digital format anyway, and the truth is we realized that none of that really matters; what really matters the most is the performance of the song, and digital is certainly good enough to get your idea across. I still listen to records, I like records. There's nothing like putting on a record and listening to it. It just fills up the room with a really pleasing experience, you know."

Wed, Jun 16 (7:30 pm)
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
With Joe Cocker
Rexall Place, $67 – $151