New album for Russ Hastings with ex-Jam man Bruce Foxton

From 1972-1982, The Jam lined up as frontman Paul Weller, drummer Rick Buckler and bassist Bruce Foxton. Decades after their split, Russ, who lives in Felpham, got together with Rick to celebrate The Jam’s music in a new band after meeting at Spirit FM in Chichester. Bruce came along in 2006: “And we toured together for about three years and then Rick hung up his sticks and Mark Brzezicki took over and we carried on.” Mark continued for five years, and then Mike Randon, the current drummer, took over duties on the kit.

Their name by now was From The Jam, a name Russ remembers Bruce explaining in an interview: “He said whenever was introduced to anybody, they always said ‘This is Bruce from The Jam’, and that's what this was, three seasoned musicians playing together and one of them just happens to be ‘from The Jam.’ We were not trying to be The Jam. We were not trying to be a Jam tribute band. We were just playing music from The Jam. And then I found out that I could write songs. We knew that we had to produce material. To get people to take it seriously we had to write our own material. We couldn't just do Jam songs. I ended up doing some demos and I took them to Paul’s studio and he really liked them and said he would play on them and so we did our first album Back in the Room, and then a few years after that Bruce and I did our second studio album together Smash The Clock.”

Now comes The Butterfly Effect: “It started with the song Lula during lockdown, the song which is now the single. I was just sitting there with my acoustic guitar and my wife was making dinner. I was wondering what was going to happen with the pandemic and I just played the opening sequence to the song. I got my iPhone out and recorded it and I sent it off to Bruce about a week later and he sent it back with the basslines and when we were allowed to, we finished it off and recorded it about five or six months later. And songs just kept flowing. I'm really proud of this record. It feels very different. It is about playing whatever we wanted to. I wasn't thinking whether this was something that anyone else would think we should do. I just thought I am going to write this stuff that I want to write and it's also a kind of interpretation of our influences.”

It a journey through various genres, Russ says. Bruce calls it “a collection of very melodic songs, with very different angles, yet it all ties together,” the tracks ranging from 60s pop to 70s Motown and Americana on an album of Russ-Bruce co-writes. Russ describes the single Lula as “a catchy pop song about a spoilt woman who seemingly has everything yet has nothing.”

“It is great working with Bruce. I forget that Bruce was in The Jam. He is just an old mate. We work so well together. Bruce has got two wives, his wife and me! And my wife has got two husbands, Bruce and me! We've always been able to work together really closely.”