It is only through persistence and sheer will power that John Jenkins is sat infront of me discussing his band’s latest album, Intruders and the general music scene in Liverpool post the turn of the century. Not my own will power but the genuine amiability and overall geniality of Mr. Jenkins who has waited patiently for me to meet up with him for a couple of weeks as I struggled to keep appointments due to health.  It is to the musician that must be thanked for keeping faith in a world where faith sometimes is easily lost at the drop of a hat, in a world where disposability is a disease.

John Jenkins is a man of tremendous ability but for whom, in his own words, perhaps was born out of time. He certainly has that old school charm and is one of a city full of people with more than a few stories which are interesting, poignant and motivating. Like all good people though, just by being able to spend an hour or two in their company, you see the steely resolve to make life around them better for others, to impart not something as gaudy as money, but time, an ear, to show an appreciation to all levels of humanity and to glean something that will strike a chord in a song.

Like musicians such as Ian Prowse, Jo Bywater, Jodie Schofield of Shebeat and Robert Vincent, John Jenkins is a master of placing you at ease and as we talk about Intruders, what comes through the interview is a man enjoying a new lease of life and it is a lease that is well deserved.

 

Congratulations on the new album Intruders as it’s rather tremendous!

John: “Thank you very much!”

How did that recording process for it come about?

John: “Basically it came about because I’d written songs for a long, long time and I didn’t think I’d do it professionally because of the costs involved of recording in a studio. In the 80s I used to be in a band called The Persuaders and there were 11 people in the band so when we did demos we all used to put our money into it but then I did some stuff in the 90s with a friend and we used to pay £25 per hour and just to do one song was quite expensive.

A friend of mine though introduced me to Pro Tools which was unbelievable because then I could record things at home. I could re-write stuff and record them at home, trying this system out and then getting results. So I thought, great, it sounds really great, I’ll get friends to come in and help out on various things. Steve Owen, who is an amazing musician, he spent about ten minutes writing drum patterns on songs I’d written and it sounded like a real drummer. So it came from that really, I had all these songs I was working on at home and I thought these sound really, really good and I think I’ll take them a step further.  I thought I’d do something with this; I got permission from the people who sang because a lot of them were quite pleased to be part of it all. I was very grateful that they would lend their voices to some of the songs. They were not too precious about being on their songs or my songs. So it really came from that you know; that was the genesis of it.”

What’s the difference in say the way when you first started out to releasing Intruders as an album to the times that you’ve lived in, is it the way that music is presented and offered?

John: “Very much so, mainly from when I started writing in the 80s, a lot of those songs were in the 80s and 90s, I’m writing stuff now that’s probably not like that. I’ve probably got more knowledge now than I ever did have of the local music scene. In the 80s I was quite involved in it but now because I’m just listening to local bands all the time and there are some incredible local bands now and singers and songwriters. I’ve heard some tremendous things and I’m trying to bring some of that into my own new stuff. Probably when I was writing the new album I didn’t have the knowledge that I did have now about what’s going on. I listen to what’s going on now to and I had this product and I thought what am I going to do with it? I was just making myself aware of what was going on around me.”

Is it fair to say then that you’ve found possibly a new love of music?

 

John: “Definitely! I feel like saying a rebirth but I didn’t lose my mojo completely, I’ve always listened to music, bought music, been to concerts, I’ve always written. Recently friends of mine have been going on to me “What’s wrong with you? It’s like you’ve taken on a new lease of life.

The other week I was at the summit of the Liverpool Songwriting Challenge and I was fortunate get to the final and fortunate to be a joint winner and that was just me and the piano. I’ve always written stuff since the 80s and I expected other people to sing. I never thought of singing myself but then I remembered when I first started writing stuff I did sing at home at the piano, just for me and the piano and I actually got nearly signed up by Clive Epstein – Brian Epstein’s brother as a singer-songwriter in not like a Gilbert O’Sullivan vein or Billy Joel but more like Elton John – piano and keyboards and I’d forgotten all about that life that I had. So when I wrote the song for the songwriting challenge, I was told about it on the Friday, I was going away on holiday on the Monday, I wrote it over the weekend, and when I  came back and I only had three days to record it and because there wasn’t enough time to get someone else in to sing it or play it for me, I actually recorded it myself and got through to the final with it. That’s given me a lot of confidence. So I’m looking around and thinking should I do some solo work, open mics, just to get out there. The Songwriting challenge has given me confidence with my singing and playing abilities.”

You did really well though, when you consider the immense talent you were up against in that competition? That’s pretty impressive!

John: “I was really knocked out I’d been so appreciated. Even on Friday, I gave Jody Schofield a copy of my album and she sent me a lovely text saying love your album John, can I sing on the next one? It’s like wow! She’s a great songwriter herself, she’s a great singer. It’s like an honour to be asked, I wouldn’t normally ask people that are going around now trying to establish themselves. I would normally ask some friends from the past. I feel a bit nervous asking people to sing on one of my songs but it was a tremendous compliment to be approached and to be asked to write a song and could they sing on it.”

Are they something that’s strange to you then – compliments? Is it difficult for them to pierce the armour?  

John: “It can be, again, a lot of my friends aren’t really involved in the music business, so I give them my C.D. and I ask them what do they think and some of them won’t even play it but others will be quite critical – the ones who are involved in the music business so then  you’ve got people who love it so it’s nice to have some positive feedback but also some negative feedback, you want to learn, you want to know what’s not worked and what can be improved. So I’m quite humbled really by compliments in that respect. I’m glad people like the stuff as I feel I’m doing something right but it’s nice for anyone to take time to listen to it and give you some good feedback and some critical opinions as well.”

It’s a smashing album; there are some great songs on it. It’s a great collection of tight knit, natural sounding songs. I was listening to it last night ahead of everything going on, it sounded very cool even on a second and third listen. Sometimes you get the idea that first time this was great but by the fourth or fifth time, you might become a little blasé but that’s not happened with Intruders.

John: “I had a great compliment over the weekend actually from Elijah James’ dad – Kevin Woodruff, I gave him a copy of the album, I went to see Elijah on Friday, I was absolutely knocked out by him, he’s years ahead of his time, I can’t believe he’s only 21.  His album’s in my top ten of the year so far, I just love it. He was brilliant live too, I met his dad and I got to know him through listening to Wirral Radio and Chris Curry’s show each week. So I met him he emailed me yesterday and said he loved the album and why aren’t you writing for others? A friend of mine once said that I’d been born too late and if I’d been born in the 60s I would have been world famous but what do we know? So it’s nice to get some compliments.”

Do you see yourself more in that role or are you going to produce more other work in the same vein for yourself?

John: I have a few projects on the go at the moment, I’m actually writing a musical, I’ve written the first draft of the play, I’ve got 20 songs which is far too many to go into it but there’s three songs I haven’t finished that I’m working on, one is about the benefits of being a woman, which isn’t the easiest thing to do being a man, I’ve got to finish those songs and then I’ve finished it, then it’s what I do with it. I’ve not really thought about it. How do you move on?

I’ve printed off information about art grants to see whether there’s the possibility of any funding. To record 20 songs would be quite a lot of money you know and so that’s one thing. I’m working on a new album – Honeymoon Hangover which is with some new session people – Scott Poley and his gang, Etienne Giraud, Chris Howard, Trisha McTeague Justin Jamieson, unbelievable musicians, we went in last April and recorded five backing tracks, done some vocals in September and we’re getting some horns done in January, going to back and do some more songs, I’m also doing other songs at home, with my Pro Tools with Natalie James and Steve Atkinson.  I’m also writing stuff for me sing as well and I’ve another album I’m working on so I’ll just keep my hand in with all kinds of things. May be probably too many, I should focus on one thing or another.”

Do you see a hopeful future for Liverpool music with the scene changing so much for the better in the last ten years?

John: “Definitely. I’m a latecomer to Chris Currie’s programme and I listen to Billy Kelly’s programme as well and l see a lot of live acts too, some of the talent is unbelievable. I love Ian Prowse, he’s just a god, he should be bigger than Coldplay and people like that.  You can’t beat a good gig and he gives great gigs. Then there’s Robert Vincent, I’ve just been introduced to, he’s a tremendous songwriter and singer, Henry Priestman, I’ve just bought his new album, he’s got a track record of writing fantastic songs, Alan O’Hare – Only Child, always from the heart, Jody’s album – Shebeat, Elijah James’ album I got on Friday and I’ve been playing it to death at the moment, Ian Till – a couple of E.P.s by him are fabulous, there’s so much going on, Windmill, One More Dance – that’s a cracking tune, I could quite happily… I just don’t need to hear anything outside Liverpool, well I do but there’s so much going on. Some of these people’s songs are wow – wish I’d written that one myself! Obviously the songwriting challenge I was at, there were other great songwriters too  was Kevin Eustace, Jo Bywater, Dennis Parkinson, Kevin Critchley there were fantastic songs, a lot of great songs played that night. It’s just amazing you know!”

Ian D. Hall