The Moody Blues have had their time. That’s the sense that 1 gets when speaking with vocalist and guitarist Justin Hayward. He presented a relatively definitive answer when asked if he’d combine forces with bassist and vocalist John Lodge to play any additional concerts with each other.

Hayward and Lodge, the final remaining members of the classic lineup of the group, have each and every been focused on playing their personal solo shows in current years. Their final tour with each other occurred in 2018, the very same year they had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. “I think it’s our time now to do what we want to do,” he tells UCR for the duration of an interview.

The songwriter is gearing up for the Blue World tour, his most up-to-date round of solo performances with a band featuring collaborator and guitarist Mike Dawes. The shows commence June 18 in Sacramento. Hayward spoke with Ultimate Classic Rock Nights host Matt Wardlaw to talk about his existing activities.

What was the inspiration for your most current solo single, “Living for Love” and how did it come with each other?
I’m in a time of life exactly where you meet persons and you know, I’m type of haunted by the ghost of myself. [Laughs] So I have to maintain meeting that ghost and explaining him. It’s generally present, mainly because you know, persons try to remember a specific time with music. I met some persons and it sent me down a road, pondering about how my late brother and I, our lives had been just constructed about music. That was it. We had a couple of records and then knew some pals who had a couple of [more]. Some other pals would come about and it would just be a complete evening of music. I feel that music described our lives somehow. I try to remember when my brother and I initially had girlfriends…and then you get dumped! And then it is all about just 1 song. I was just speaking about these instances when our lives had been just about music. We didn’t have something else, definitely, to be concerned about. We had been in a protected and safe spot with superb parents. We had been just living for really like and music.

Watch Justin Hayward’s ‘Living for Love’ Video

Do you see oneself at some point carrying out a different solo album?
I feel so. I’m incredibly fortunate that there’s generally type of an outlet. But I’m not beneath any stress now. So I’m frequently just writing for myself. I know it is type of selfish, I suppose, but I’m just writing for my personal pleasure. I have a quantity of pieces in the bottom drawer that I maintain returning to. One day, I’ll place them all proper. At the moment, I’m presented a lot on the road. That’s taking up a lot of my time. I see my [producer] Alberto [Parodi], in truth, we had been with each other just a couple of days ago. We make plans for some recording and then we know a thing will take place. But at the moment, I’m presented so considerably on the road, that I’m carrying out that. I’m possessing a year of definitely carrying out that. I’ve carried out a British tour, an American tour — and I’m out once again via June and July. Then, I’ll have far more dates in September and head back to the U.K. in October. I’m definitely enjoying that portion of it. But when that is carried out, Alberto and I will be back with each other and a thing will take place.

Earlier this year, you wrote about Days of Future Passed on your web site and how there was a studio cat operating about that created its way onto the recording. I’d never ever heard that. I would assume the British studios of the day would be fairly uptight and there would not be a cat operating about.
I can generally hear it on the record, at the finish, just after “Nights in White Satin.” It’s just 1 out-of-time bit. But you are speaking about a 3 hour session. I was the only 1 in the group there on that day. I feel it was just a Saturday. They did a run-via with Peter Knight and I do not feel anyone was uptight. We’d carried out our songs, the group, in the week ahead of. So Peter knew our songs and he knew how it was all going to match with each other. He was the orchestral arranger for Days of Future Passed. He took our themes, most notably, “Nights,” “Tuesday Afternoon,” “The Morning: Another Morning” and “Dawn is a Feeling” and primarily based his music in a classical style about them — so they had been the hyperlinks in in between our music, even although there’s no time when we’re in fact playing with each other. There’s a tiny bit of overlap at the finish of “Nights in White Satin,” but the orchestral sound that we have [on our songs] on Days of Future Passed is just from Mike [Pinder’s] Mellotron. The orchestra was just a 3 hour session, so it was 1 run-via with hardly any stops. Just some corrections and then a take. And it was a take in 1 go. But close to the finish [Hayward chuckles], I know precisely the door that was left open — and the cat ran via and knocked more than a tree bell.

Study Much more: Top 10 Moody Blues Songs

It’s generally striking to me the function that Mike Pinder played with the Mellotron. He went so far beyond just finding 1 and employing it. It appears like he helped to definitely guide the technologies in a sense.
Well, he’d worked at Mellotronics for a period. The initially Mellotron we got was from a social club up in Birmingham and we brought it back down. Mike took all of the definitely heavy stuff out of it, transformers and speakers, and then it was a double manual, so he was capable to get rid of all of the dogs barking in the evening, trains rushing via tunnels, that type of stuff — Spike Jones type of sounds. I feel that initially, these sounds, that aspect of the Mellotron, was what appealed to the makers at Mellotronics. They believed that was their industry.

What do you feel that Mike brought to the Moody Blues that was critical?
Mike was a all-natural born musician. You know, you do not feel about how critical these items are at the time. You just get on with it and maintain moving. We didn’t have something, so we had absolutely nothing to shed, definitely. I do not feel we ever believed about that, what’s anyone bringing to this issue? Mike could play pub piano with out seeking. He’d be seeking up at you smiling, but he’d be playing. I generally believed that was certainly brilliant. I feel his goal was almost certainly the very same as mine, definitely, if we had a goal. Mostly, we just wanted to spend the petrol and sleep someplace. But we each wanted to make it about original material rather than cover versions.

Study Much more: Moody Blues Co-Founder Mike Pinder Dead at 82

You worked with Tony Visconti on your solo album, Moving Mountains. Is that how he ended up functioning with the band just after that on The Other Side of Life?
Yes, I feel we had been in a period exactly where we type of required producers just to pull items with each other. The complete music enterprise had moved on. Matt, there’s been quite a few instances in my musical journey when the basic consensus was, “Hey, it’s all over, man. You had your hits, that’s it.” But I knew it wasn’t. I knew there had been specific producers that had sounds and a way of recording that would generally take us forward. Of course, the items we did in the ‘80s with Tony and a number of different producers, really, I was alive, awake, aware and I knew exactly what was going on. I enjoyed every moment. I think it’s probably my favorite decade for music anyway. I’m a sucker for that.

The ’80s appears like it gave the Moody Blues the possibility to move in some exciting directions.
Sonically, I feel we had been moving forward, yes. We’d lost Mike, of course, and [producer] Tony Clarke. But I feel the persons that we had been functioning with, what they brought was a thing that just sounded proper for the time and the age. It nonetheless stands up currently. You know, “Your Wildest Dreams,” I do not hear it considerably, but often I’m in the U.S. on the road and I’ll all of a sudden hear it. I’ll feel, “Wow.” The sound of it is just so proper — and the balance. Everything just appears to function. So Tony, Pip Williams, Alan Tarney, Chris Neil, they all moved us forward sonically, which is what required to take place. Our records required to sound definitely clear and great and clean.

Watch the Moody Blues ‘Your Wildest Dreams’ Video

Long Distance Voyager not too long ago marked its most up-to-date anniversary. How effectively had been you positioned with songs going into that album? “The Voice” and “Gemini Dream,” had been these two songs currently written?
Yes, I feel in truth, “The Voice” was almost certainly the initially issue I did exactly where I’d recorded the acoustic guitars at dwelling — and the groove. Time code was critical, the LInn Drum, of course, was critical. Graeme [Edge] was 1 of these drummers who loved that. He would play on leading of it. You know how it was, Matt, with some drummers. It was like, “Oh, I don’t want to go near a drum machine, time code or anything like that. But not Graeme, he was happy. “Yes, let’s do it!”

Graeme brought such character to the group. He was such a distinctive player.
The sound of Graeme’s drums had been just brilliant. I can not say he was the greatest drummer in the planet, but the sound of his drums, he’d just tuned up and I’d generally be standing there subsequent to that higher hat and I’d feel, “Yeah, that really does sound nice.” You never ever had to do something to his snare or the tom-tom sound. I frequently went with him, mainly because I enjoyed it, [going] across the road to invest in cymbals that had been incredibly unique. It was a pleasure to be there, listening to them all, recognizing that he and I agreed on the sound of cymbals. I loved all of that. It was critical.

How considerably speak to do you have with John these days?
Well, the complete Moody Blues issue is a type of family members, so it is nonetheless there. It’s a family members and we’re involved in all of that. You know, the group has never ever been a group of mates, exactly where you say, “Hey, let’s go out to dinner tonight” or “Let’s do that.” But we all have a goal.

It’s been mentioned that the Moody Blues will not do shows with Ray Thomas and Graeme each gone. But when you take into consideration the Blue Jays album and shows you did with John in the ’70s, is there a situation exactly where the two of you may possibly play shows with each other once again at some point?
No. Why? I do not know, Matt. That’s the sincere answer. I do not know.

It appears like you are finding to do what you do with your solo shows — and that appears incredibly related to what he’s been carrying out, so I can comprehend that.
Yeah, I feel it is our time now to do what we want to do.