by: Alexandra Abumuhor
Northern Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson recently released the album ‘Apparitions’, inspired by his Mother’s favorite poem ‘The Apparitions’.
Hodgson told Albawaba all about his musical career, inspirations, and future plans.
In his early life, Joe's life was turned upside down the moment he heard Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher, shortly after that, the artist discovered that being involved in music was all he wanted to do.
''Rory was a brilliant guitar player and the ultimate showman, and I just instantly fell in love with the instrument and the sound it made me''.
Gallagher was not the only huge influence in Hodgson's musical career, the artist revealed that his 'ultimate' her was Irish guitar player Gary Moore, ''he is by far my favorite guitarist ever, he was a complete master of every style and in common with Rory'' Joe explained.
He continued ''his playing was incredibly exciting and totally magical. After hearing and watching those two, the lure of something like the piano or saxophone was simply non-existent. there was no turning back, I persuaded my dad to get me a second-hand guitar, and in due course, I formed my first band.''
The band was called 'Steel Claw', they 'gigged' all over Nothern Ireland for a few years, when the band split up, Joe moved to London where he integrated himself into the city’s thriving indie scene, spending the next two decades writing, recording, touring, and playing lead guitar in various rock bands, releasing numerous albums and singles along the way.
Hodgson's latest release is titled ‘Till The Last Breath''. The track comes off his new self-produced solo album ‘Apparitions’, recorded at various locations across the UK, USA, and Canada. Joe shared with Albawaba the true emotional meaning behind this track, as he revealed it was written specifically for his mother.
''It was written specifically for my Mother who died of Motor Neurone Disease in November 2017. I nursed her
in the last year of her life, something which was quite a harrowing experience, and the track is really a homage to her and to what she meant to me. Itʼs got a very mournful, elegiac feel to it, but itʼs also joyful in many ways and a thank you to her for being such a wonderful guiding light in my life.''
Joe went on to clarify the reason behind choosing the title 'Till The Last Breath', ''She really was my rock, my inspiration, my everything. From the moment I realized she was terminally ill, I swore inwardly that Iʼd be with her till her last breath, hence the title.''
Even though it is an emotional track, the guitarist admitted it was no difficult to release it all, as he was very 'happy' to hear it and experience the emotions of the track, and know the story behind it''
According to Joe, 'Music can be a great escape from certain things that you have no control over, ' the artist grew up during the troubles in Northern Ireland and used his instrument to escape the misery that filled the country.
''I find it incredibly cathartic when faced with the realities of pain and loss for example, and itʼs a great way of connecting with those things and facing them down. I'm not the sort of person who runs away from anything, I believe in confronting every situation and looking at it square in the eyes. In these cases, music often helps me see things more clearly and to realize that thereʼs always light at the end of every tunnel.''
Joe also described how his music is unique, and shared the inspiration behind his tracks, for him, it has to be emotions that are 'real and connected' to how he is feeling in that moment, or 'how reminiscences of the past bring out certain emotions when he is playing.
In his newest all-instrumental album, Hodgson tried to tell stories with the guitar and express his feelings, '' It really is raw, unfiltered emotion and in the absence of words, itʼs unpolluted by cliches, forced rhymes, or insincere hyperbole''.
'' I try to make the melodies as memorable as I can, but I do like to throw a good solo section in there too where I can stretch out a bit musically. From a stylistic point of view, I like to mix it up and bend and blend genres, exploring everything that has ever influenced me, so youʼll hear elements of the blues, rock, jazz, funk, fusion, and Latin music in various tracks throughout the album. I think a combination of all these things is what makes my music unique.''
The album ‘Apparitions' is Joe Hodgson's latest album, it's title came from his mother's favorite poem 'The Apparitions' by Irish poet W.b. Yeats -who is also famous for writing 'The Stolen Child'- 'The Apparitions' also inspired Joe's number of tracks in the album.
''The line, “Fifteen apparitions have I seen”, gave me the number of tracks I wanted to write for it. The circumstances of my Mumʼs illness led me into a period of deep introspection, and around that time I was also reading a book by W.G. Sebald called ‘The Rings of Saturnʼ.''
''This got me thinking about how nothing ever stays the same in life, everything changes or decays; we live our lives, we all lose loves and loved ones, but looking forward is the one thing we can all do. Of course, we have regrets, but hope and optimism are usually only around the next corner.'' he continued.
Hodgson's favorite track from ‘Apparitionsʼ is titled “Long Hard Look” as it 'summed up' his mindset, ''The album came at what was a crossroads in my life, and it became a very introspective and reflective body of work. I was also thinking a lot about the past and realizing it was time to leave a lot of it behind and look to the future.'', ''there isnʼt a track on the album that I donʼt st)nd 100% behind. I'm really happy with them all.''
We asked Joe what he would be doing if he was not a musician, ''I really canʼt imagine being anything other than a musician. When I was a kid, I wanted to play for Leeds United, the football team I support. Thatʼs about the
closest Iʼve come to doing anything else, and that was a million miles away from ever becoming reality.'' he answered.
The Irish guitarist revealed that he would love to collaborate with the English rock band 'Led Zeppelin', ''I just loved everything they ever did, and I devoured their music when I was a kid. They made me wanna form my first band and for thet reason, Iʼd definitely have to say that Robert Plant would be the number one person Iʼd love to collaborate with.'', ''Of the current crop of artists, Billie Eilish always catches my ear, sheʼs got something special about her, and Iʼd love to hear how my guitar would sound with her voice.''.
Joe shared his future plans of performing in the middle east, as he revealed he would love to explore it, ''Iʼd love
to come out and perform in the middle east. My Dad lived out there for seven years, and heʼs told me so many great things about the region. Iʼm really keen to go out and explore it for myself, so if there are any promoters interested in organizing a tour, count me in!''
