![\"No40-Petty1\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/No40-Petty1.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n\u201cI was born a rebel,\u201d Tom Petty once sang, and he wasn\u2019t kidding. As a certifiable legend of rock music who has sold tens of millions of albums and filled countless arenas, he still takes a passionate stand about the things he believes in.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Take the environment, for example. Standing at the plate glass window of his Malibu beach house, he points out a spot where several dolphins are about to appear. \u201cYou\u2019ll see \u2019em break water between those two boats,\u201d he says, and that\u2019s just what they do. He was horrified by this summer\u2019s enormous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. \u201cDoesn\u2019t that piss you off?\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s beyond belief.\u201d And he puts his money where his mouth is\u2014this cozy, cabin-style beach residence runs completely on solar power. \u201cThere\u2019s no electric bill,\u201d Petty notes with pride.<\/p>\n Or you can get him talking about the subject of rock bands who record with the aid of a metronomic click track to stay in time. \u201cHearing a mistake in a record today would make me happy,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t like computer drums and things like that. Music wasn\u2019t meant to be played that way. The human gives and takes in its rhythm. Maybe there\u2019s not that many people around who want to practice anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Then there are the music business executives who used to complain to Petty, \u201cI don\u2019t hear a single,\u201d as he noted in his 1991 hit \u201cInto the Great Wide Open.\u201d That\u2019s something that did not concern him during the recording of Mojo<\/i>, the 12th and latest studio album he has recorded with his backing band of almost 35 years, the Heartbreakers. \u201cIn those days, they always wanted a song that could promote the album,\u201d he recalls of his period as a consistent Top 40 pop hitmaker, an impressive run that lasted from the 1970s well into the 1990s. Petty cranked out one radio favorite after another\u2014with the Heartbreakers, as a solo act and as a member of his much-beloved supergroup, the Traveling Wilburys. \u201cI did that all my life\u2014go back and write another hit song for \u2019em,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd that was fun and great, but we\u2019ve grown up and we don\u2019t have to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n But the thing that really gets under his skin is the thought of succumbing to the temptations of nostalgia. Mind you, over the last few years it was easy to mistake Petty and his Heartbreakers\u2014guitarist Mike Campbell, keyboardist Benmont Tench, bass player Ron Blair, multi-instrumentalist Scott Thurston and drummer Steve Ferrone\u2014for a \u201cclassic rock\u201d act. There was last year\u2019s four-disc boxed set, The Live Anthology<\/i>, culled from shows throughout the band\u2019s career. There was 2007\u2019s four-hour documentary, Runnin\u2019 Down a Dream<\/i>, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. There was 2006\u2019s retrospective 30th anniversary tour, and the 2008 self-titled album by Mudcrutch, Petty\u2019s reunited pre-Heartbreakers group (which also included Campbell and Tench). And there was the 2008 Super Bowl halftime performance, during which the group stuck strictly to hits from the 1970s and \u201980s. \u201cI think we\u2019ve all had enough of that,\u201d Petty says with a chuckle. \u201cSo this was probably the end of celebrating our past for a while. They were all satisfying projects. But what\u2019s really interesting about this band is that it\u2019s still as good or better than it was, and we\u2019re still putting out good stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Which brings us to Mojo<\/i>, the first Heartbreakers album since 2002\u2019s poorly received The Last DJ<\/i>. It\u2019s a stripped-down effort for which the group eschewed overdubbing and actively avoided its own familiar musical signatures. \u201cThere were a couple of songs that we would start playing and we\u2019d get halfway through and look at each other and go, \u2018We\u2019ve already covered this territory,\u2019\u201d Campbell says. \u201cBecause the Heartbreakers are so good, Tom can count a song off that we\u2019ve never heard before and we can instantly make that sound like you hear on \u2018Refugee\u2019 or \u2018American Girl.\u2019 We do that instinctively. But we don\u2019t want to repeat ourselves.\u201d Instead, Petty and company elected to explore for the first time in the studio a style that they\u2019ve been playing in rehearsal and in concert for many years. \u201cThe blues is paramount, and the Heartbreakers are particularly good at it,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s really where we have lived for a long time, off-camera. When we\u2019re playing for us, that\u2019s what we play.\u201d But Petty is careful not to describe Mojo<\/i> as a blues album. \u201cIt\u2019s our warped way of making a blues record,\u201d Petty says,\u00a0 \u201cand it comes out as something completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n On the album\u2019s centerpiece track, the seven-minute \u201cFirst Flash of Freedom,\u201d Petty sings about the liberation of new experiences\u2014both the discoveries of a younger person and the ongoing revelations of someone with a long and rich history, someone very much like himself. \u201cI think there\u2019s a constant comparison with things you first flashed on early in life,\u201d says Petty, who will turn 60 on Oct. 20. \u201cI think you often hold those experiences up to things later in life. Some people spend their whole life trying to get back to that. And then some people are wise enough to know that was then, and this is now.\u201d We spoke with Petty about then, now and the challenges of running down a brand new dream.<\/p>\n What are your hopes for this record?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019d like people to notice that we\u2019re still doing things that are worth hearing. Very few can say that about a 35-year-old band. I want to keep moving. We\u2019ve found a musical area where there\u2019s a lot to be mined. These are good days for the Heartbreakers. We\u2019re not looking back. All that was nice, but it\u2019s essential that there be new things. I do not want to ever get in that situation of being only appreciated for your past. That\u2019s not a good feeling. (laughs<\/i>) This is a definite forward statement.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a more lighthearted record than usual.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Lighthearted, yeah. Well, you don\u2019t want to be real serious all the time. That really makes you a boring ass, doesn\u2019t it? (laughs<\/i>) Nothing worse than some musician being really serious.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve certainly done very serious albums.<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, and I was probably a boring ass. I don\u2019t want to be too serious. I just want to be pure. I want it to move people rhythmically, provoke them mentally or just make them feel good. Mostly I\u2019m trying to get a song done. If it feels good, I offer it to the band and say, \u201cWhat do you think?\u201d<\/p>\n How do you balance the group with solo projects?<\/b><\/p>\n My guys aren\u2019t side musicians\u2014they are a group. It\u2019s always been about keeping these same people together and seeing what we can get out of it. At times I\u2019ve had the urge to go away and make a record on my own. But [1994\u2019s solo-credited] Wildflowers<\/i>, for instance, I don\u2019t think is really a solo record. It started as a solo record and ended up with all of them on it [except drummer Stan Lynch, who left the band later that year<\/i>]. So I can\u2019t get very far from them without wishing they were back. I still wouldn\u2019t want to play with anybody else. They\u2019re the band I want to be in.<\/p>\n How do you feel now about The Last DJ<\/i>?<\/b><\/p>\n I don\u2019t know that we were all happy with it in the end. I was being a bit more of a control freak with that album. In the studio, I\u2019d come in with these really elaborate demos and say, \u201cThis is what I want.\u201d And it was frustrating for them because they didn\u2019t have much room to contribute a lot. They were mostly playing things that I had already sketched out. So I thought it really important in this record that we not do that.<\/p>\n What was recording Mojo<\/i> like?<\/b><\/p>\n I\u2019ve made a lot of production pieces, but I wanted something more immediate than that this time. No headphones, and we\u2019d set up in a semicircle and work the songs up there. I didn\u2019t make any demos. I just came in with my guitar and played it to them. If we came in at 2 in the afternoon, that track was done by 10 or 11.<\/p>\n Mike is very prominent on the record.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n We wanted to get him up front and get the guitar right up loud\u2014and he rose to the challenge. He tends to almost lay back, because he\u2019s so tasteful and tuneful. I wanted to push him up forward and say \u201cLook, get up there and rip, and don\u2019t worry about it. The guitar is going to be the second voice of this record.\u201d He used the same \u201959 Les Paul through the whole record. I liked the sound of it real early on, and said, \u201cLet\u2019s just have the one guitar on this record for the lead guitar.\u201d I like having a sound in there that becomes your friend throughout the album, like another voice. I did that on [2006\u2019s Petty solo album] Highway Companion<\/i>, too, where he only played slide guitar, and on Mudcrutch<\/i>, where he used the pedal on the B-bender Telecaster. I\u2019ve gotten more out of that idea on this record than I have on any of the other ones.<\/p>\n What were some of the other differences this time?<\/b><\/p>\n It was a lot of fun getting to play lead guitar. They let me play lead on \u201cRunning Man\u2019s Bible.\u201d And Scott Thurston\u2019s guitar playing is really good, where he and Mike play together in \u201cFirst Flash of Freedom.\u201d That\u2019s a really long piece and they had to rehearse and rehearse and rehearse, but they did it really beautifully. It\u2019s an incredible thing. A lot of people have done the double guitars, and maybe that\u2019s a little of the Duane Allman-Dickey Betts idea. We adored the Allman Brothers. I mean, long before they were in the Allman Brothers Band, from when they were the Escorts [Gregg and Duane Allman\u2019s early-1960s group<\/i>]. I watched Gregg and Duane play when I was a little kid. Also, one thing I don\u2019t know if everyone\u2019s picked up about Mojo<\/i> is there\u2019s not a single note of harmony in the whole album\u2014something I did on purpose. It sounded too slick for the material. Now and then somebody would be sitting in the control room singing a harmony to something, and I\u2019d go, \u201cAh, nope, can\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Are you bothered if some fans don\u2019t want to hear the new material live?\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n I have a feeling that they\u2019ll stay in their seats and enjoy it, but I don\u2019t give a damn if everyone goes to the bathroom. I couldn\u2019t care less. I\u2019m not going to be just a song-and-dance man. I\u2019m gonna play what I want to play. I know I should always give people a good dose of what they came to hear, because I\u2019m not playing at the corner bar, and it\u2019s quite an effort to go into an arena and park and sit way up high and watch. But we also refuse to become one of these groups that only live in the past. I can come out and play two hours of hits and everyone will be happy and it\u2019ll go great. But if I do that too much, I\u2019m only feeding the nostalgia crowd. I love it when I see people and they play the hits, but I also want to see what they\u2019re doing at the moment.<\/p>\n Songs never become classics if they aren\u2019t played live.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n If I had all this great new stuff in my back pocket and didn\u2019t pull it out, it would be criminal. If we don\u2019t do that, what are we? They\u2019ve seen us play \u201cAmerican Girl\u201d a hundred times. Golden oldies are great and it\u2019s lots of fun, but it adds up to nothing if you\u2019re not doing something new. I didn\u2019t mind doing that on the 30th anniversary tour. I looked at it like, \u201cOK, we\u2019ll give \u2019em all the hits.\u201d But I don\u2019t feel that way now. It\u2019s wonderful to have that kind of admiration and loyalty from the fans, but it\u2019s also my job to keep the boat afloat and to keep exploring. If I\u2019m going to keep myself engaged in this, it\u2019s what I\u2019ve got to do. There\u2019s nothing wrong in being a \u201ctouring act.\u201d But if you\u2019re going to play the same material the rest of your life, it becomes a grim prospect. I\u2019ve seen bands our age that gave up trying to create things. Maybe their heart\u2019s really somewhere else and they\u2019re working under a brand name so they can feed the babies. There\u2019s nothing to be ashamed of in that. But it\u2019s a lot more fun if you\u2019re still creating and getting better. We\u2019re all pretty well off. We don\u2019t have to work if we don\u2019t want. But we do want.\u00a0 M<\/p>\n First published in 2015. \u201cI was born a rebel,\u201d Tom Petty once sang, and he wasn\u2019t kidding. As a certifiable legend of rock music who has sold tens of millions of albums and filled countless arenas, he still takes a passionate stand about the things he believes in.\u00a0 Take the environment, for example. Standing at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4835,7],"tags":[7624,7625,1609],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14506"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17719,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14506\/revisions\/17719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"No40-Petty2\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/No40-Petty2.jpg\")
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