Juke Box Heroes

Mick Jones And Foreigner Returning With New, Classic Material

By John Voket

If everyone who purchased one of the 65 million albums sold by the classic rock ensemble Foreigner got together, they could populate their own brand new foreign country. Launched by former Spooky Tooth lead guitarist Mick Jones in 1976 with the aptly-titled single “Feels Like The First Time,” the act has weathered myriad personnel changes including the on-again, off-again tenure of former frontman and co-founder Lou Gramm.

But Foreigner has never failed to raise an enthusiastic crowd of fans — from the clubs and small theaters in their early days, to mammoth arenas and stadiums at the height of the band’s fame in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. With Jones at the helm, like the captain of a worthy ship, and a crew of players which includes today’s lineup of stellar vocalist Kelly Hansen, guitar, keys, flute and sax man Tom Gimbel, bassist Jeff Pilson, and keyboardist Michael Bluestein, Foreigner is ready to take Connecticut by storm once again.

The band will play a Sunday evening set at the Stamford Palace Theater on May 3 at 7:30 pm. Last week the band announced another Sunday night show in Connecticut: Foreigner will return to our state on October 4, when they play at The Warner Theatre in Torrington.

According to Jones’ bio, after working on his own as a songwriter and musician in Europe including session jobs on Peter Frampton’s album Wind of Change in 1972, and George Harrison’s Dark Horse in 1974, he moved to New York City two years later and formed Foreigner with fellow Brits Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott, and Americans Lou Gramm, Alan Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi.

“My initial musical vision for Foreigner was to combine blues and R&B with British Rock and make it sound soulful and authentic,” Jones said. “I’d grown up in England and had the English influence but I was also inspired by many elements of American music, from Mississippi blues to country and western. Foreigner was the vehicle to get that musical blend across.”

In an interview with The Newtown Bee, Jones took a break from production duties on a brand new Foreigner album to talk about his history with the band, and what fans can expect in the future.

“In 2005 I kind of renewed the band after we’d been away for a few years. We had been touring endlessly around the world and in the states, and I took a couple of years off just to take a break,” Jones said. “It’s been our intention to do a new album, but now we’ve set time aside this year and for the last few months we’ve been writing and recording a new album.”

Jones said it’s a great feeling to get Foreigner back on record.

“It’s the right time to do a new album,” he said.

Jones said that while he is the primary songwriter, he is always open to collaboration.

“It’s fairly democratic in that way,” he said. “The song ideas have always come from myself, but I’ve been working with Kelly Hansen, the lead singer, and I feel there is a good deal of involvement with the rest of the band in every stage of the album.”

Pleased to be able to produce a recording with “real musicians playing real instruments,” Jones said the current tour may include a sample or two from the new project which may be ready for release by year’s end.

Looking back to Foreigner’s debut in 1976, Jones recalled that he was never really pressured to conform to a record company’s image of what the band should sound like, despite some early pitfalls.

“We actually got turned down by most of the major record companies,” Jones said. “But with persistence and going back over and over again, with a really good demo, we were eventually given a pretty free hand. I think they said we may as well leave these guys alone, they seem to know what they’re doing.”

Knowing what his audience demands, Jones said Foreigner will not take up a lot of time trotting out new material at the upcoming Connecticut shows. Fans can count on hearing “Cold as Ice,” “Head Games,” Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Blue Morning,” Urgent,” “Juke Box Hero,” and the band’s only number one hit, “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

Through nearly a dozen different personnel changes, Jones said he never knew what kind of dimension the band would take on, or what the future would hold.

“I was prepared to do maybe one or two albums, which was a way bands emerged at the time. But our success seemed to emerge overnight, and any plans I had went out the window,” Jones said. “You just hang on for the ride. And it was quite a ride with the pressures of following up the first album, and breaking new ground for our record company outselling people like The Stones, Led Zeppelin and the hierarchy of bands that were on Atlantic records at the time.”

For tickets and information about the May 3 Foreigner show in Stamford, go to tickets.stamfordcenterforthearts.org/public. The band also offers an add-on VIP pass which entitles fans to a meet and greet party and autograph session. Tickets for the Warner show October 4  go on sale to the public May 8 – go to warnertheatre.org for more information.