LONDON (AP) – From teenage rock star to “The Modfather,” Paul Weller has been a sound and style icon to fans for more than 30 years. But his own philosophy is: Don’t look back.
“There’s no future in nostalgia,” says Weller, looking razor-sharp from his artfully cut gray hair to his tan desert boots.
Since he left post-punk power trio The Jam at the height of the band’s fame in 1982, Weller has ventured through soul and jazz, with The Style Council, and 50 shades of rock on his dozen solo albums.
His latest, “Saturns Pattern,” is a meaty blend of blues, soul, funk and psychedelia that marks yet another change of direction. It features musicians including guitarist Steve Craddock, a longtime collaborator, and Josh McClorey of teenage Irish rockers The Strypes. But the vision is very much Weller’s, right down to the absence of an apostrophe in the title – he says it just didn’t look right.
“I still feel I’m on this journey, and I don’t know where it’s going to, and I like that,” said the 57-year-old, who spoke to The Associated Press about how music has changed, and why he’s not content just to perform his old Jam songs.