Paul Weller Interview with XFM

The Modfather himself Paul Weller has spoken exclusively to Xfm of the need to push himself artistically for his new release, the epic double album '22 Dreams'.

Huge in scope, only an artist like Paul Weller would even consider putting out such a massive piece of information at this point his career. Incorporating a variety of styles including folk, soul, psychedelia, electronica and - yes, really - krautrock, '22 Dreams' is without a doubt Weller's most ambitious work to date.

Was it, we wondered, Weller's intention to create such an epic, experimental piece together?

"I don't know if there was any grand plan but a lot of things developed as we went along really," he revealed, "but I think I wanted to do something really a bit different but I didn't know what that 'different' was going to be."

He continued: "I was aware of trying to push myself somewhere different; I didn't want to make an 'As Is Now' Part Two so that involved taking myself outside of what I'm used to and people I'm used to working with."

According to Paul Weller, the key to '22 Dreams'' success was in pulling himself away from his usual comfort zone. To this end, the singer was keen that his guests adopt a similar attitude.

Speaking of working with Oasis' big cheese Noel Gallagher, Weller said: "I called up Noel and said, 'Have you got any songs at all?' [because] towards the end of the album I thought we need a rockin' track to get the right kind of balance and the flow of the record and luckily he had a fairly formed idea for a backing track."

The track in question turned out to be current single, 'Echoes Around The Sun', but it was vital for Weller that Gallagher offered the track something different.

He continued: "He came down and played bass and keyboards and mellotron and a piano so it was extracting him from what he's used to."

Former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon soon had his axe removed: "We've got Graham Coxon on one track where he plays drums and does backing vocals. It's a sense of getting people to do what that they're not used to."

Article Source: Paul Weller XFM Interview Part 1 and 2. Read and listen to parts 3, 4 and 5 at XFM, as well as many other podcasts.