LIFTING THE COVERS
His stepfather Mick Jones still plays guitar with Foreigner, and a string of musicians strolled through his childhood home. Not that he remembers. ‘My mum says some of them were there all the time – but who knows, I was so young. I think I was really lucky to be in a house where music was encouraged, though. I got to have guitar lessons and I was in bands after school instead of doing homework’.
It’s also said that he met Michael Jackson way back then. ‘It was around
the Bad tour’, he reveals. ‘It was really amazing meeting him but when you’re
10 years old, you’re just like: “Holy **** – it’s Michael Jackson!” You don’t have any bigger thoughts than that’.
Given his background, you’d think it would take a lot to phase Ronson, but he
says it happens. ‘I still get starstruck by people who’ve done something I really like. That doesn’t have to mean they’re famous. I’d be more excited meeting Jamie T than meeting Kylie Minogue, even though I like Kylie - because Jamie T’s album is a record I listen to every Sunday. It’s always on in my house’. Any other recent additions to his vast record collection? ‘I’ve been listening to this guy Bon Iver. I like the Good Shoes. And I like Plastic Little; they’re coming on tour with us.’
So where do his priorities lie? ‘I’ve been DJ-ing since I was 18, but playing
with the band has taken over. That’s something I’ve only done over the last
year, so it’s been fun. I really wanted to put a band together and put this out live. At the time, anything was better than being behind two turntables’.
The big band and DJ-ing don’t mean he’s turned his back on hip-hop. ‘I’ve been in the studio with Rhymefest and Nas. Just because my own record isn’t
hip-hop doesn’t mean I’m not working with hip-hop artists’. And there’s still the rethinking of the old. ‘We’re adding songs all the time, like Begging by Frankie Valli. The set we’ve been taking on the road is meant to be fun. I’m not really trying to show what a great musician I am; what I’m really into is the songwriting. But I’m not trying to ram it down people’s throats’.
