{"id":341358,"date":"2025-12-10T16:55:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:55:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/341358\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T16:55:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:55:07","slug":"justin-hayward-on-outliving-all-his-moody-blues-bandmates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/341358\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Hayward on Outliving All his Moody Blues Bandmates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen the Moody Blues<\/a> entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2018, co-lead singer Justin Hayward accepted the honor alongside drummer Graeme Edge, keyboardist Mike Pinder, bassist\/singer John Lodge, and original frontman Denny Laine. \u201cWe\u2019re just a bunch of British guys,\u201d a beaming Hayward told the crowd<\/a> at Cleveland Public Hall. \u201cBut, of course, to us and to all British musicians, this is the home of our heroes. It\u2019s all the people that have come along and changed the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years since that long-overdue celebration, the world of the Moody Blues has been rocked by a devastating, improbably high number of deaths in a short period of time that leaves Hayward as the only living member inducted that night. (Lodge died in October,<\/a> and we lost Pinder in 2024<\/a>, Laine in 2023,<\/a> and Edge in 2021<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a reality that becomes even grimmer when you factor in the death of original bassist Clint Warwick in 2004, flutist\/singer Ray Thomas<\/a> weeks before the 2018 induction, and mid-Sixties bassist Rod Clark this past March. The only living musician other than Hayward with a credible claim to being a genuine Moody is 1980s keyboardist Patrick Moraz, but a jury of his peers disagreed when he sued the band for wrongful termination in 1992, and the Hall of Fame affirmed that decision when they opted to not induct him.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Moody Blues have been completely inactive since a series of West Coast concerts in late 2018, but Lodge and Hayward kept the music alive throughout the last seven years by playing it on their own separate solo tours across North America and Europe. But after Lodge\u2019s sudden death in October, Hayward is left flying the Moodies flag all on his own.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe caught up with Hayward via Zoom at his home in a \u201csmall village near the French side of the Italian border\u201d to chat about the long history of the Moody Blues, his status as the last survivor, and what he plans to do going forward to keep the legacy alive.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWe last spoke in 2017<\/a> when the news broke about the Moodies getting into the Hall of Fame. How have you processed everything that\u2019s happened since then?
It\u2019s curious how many people have said that to me. And\u2026 I\u2019m not wrestling with that. It\u2019s not like family. I don\u2019t have the same feelings as when I lost my brother, who died very young. I don\u2019t have those same feelings.<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tIt seems that I\u2019m expected to go through different processes, but I only have good and happy memories, really. I can\u2019t say that we were close or that we saw each other regularly, or anything like that. The Moodies is a family, in its way, because it\u2019ll always be linked because of business.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI want to go through some of the history here. When you joined in 1966, they were essentially a one-hit wonder band.
That\u2019s rather cruel.<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m not putting them down. I love \u201cGo Now.\u201d I love that first record. It\u2019s just they had only the one hit and were fading when you came in.
Well, I think if the group had wanted to continue the R&B style, they\u2019d probably picked the wrong guy in me. And I wasn\u2019t being much help to them along those lines. It didn\u2019t really suit me.<\/p>\n

\n\tI came to the Moody Blues really thinking of myself as a songwriter. I was very happy to get the call from Mike [Pinder] that day. He called me because he heard my songs. He didn\u2019t know what I looked like, except that my mother had given me a big buildup, because he called my mother first. And then my mother found me at some music shop. I think even at that first meeting with Mike Pinder we had discussed wanting to do our own songs, because he was writing, and we were the only two people in the band who were writing songs at that time. And so that was his way of trying to make the band move forward.<\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Beatles were going through an incredible creative evolution at the time. In what ways did they inspire you creatively?
It\u2019s hard to explain the impact of the Beatles, now, to people who weren\u2019t there in the 1960s. But every move they made, everything they said, everything they recorded, everywhere they went, influenced everybody in that quite small London scene. Of course, it impacted the whole world, everything they did, but they were the kings of that particular small world in London, at that that time. It was a group of a few hundred people, and we were very much in the middle of that. They were the leaders in everything that they did. And you could not help be aware of the changes that they were making.<\/p>\n

\n\tI remember walking down the street after hearing \u201cLove Me Do\u201d on the radio for the first time, and knowing that the world was going to be different. Now, how did I know that? But there was something in just one record, that it was like \u201cHallelujah!\u201d And then I remember there was a man, I think his name was Steve Race, who came on the BBC a week or so after this. And did that usual thing about, \u201cOh, they\u2019ll never last. It\u2019s a one-hit wonder,\u201d kind of thing. And everybody was like, \u201cWhat? How dare you say things like that?\u201d We took things completely personally about the Beatles.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s sort fascinating to think that as they\u2019re recording Sgt. Pepper, you guys are making Days of Future Passed at basically the same exact time.
Yes. In fact, Mike was visiting the studio in Abbey Road, because it wasn\u2019t far away from Broadhurst Gardens. But our circumstances were very different. We had nothing. But the stars aligned to help us make Days of Future Passed.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did the Mellotron change the way you guys created music?
Well, it made my songs work. Before that, the song that we most liked was a song called \u201cFly Me High,\u201d and that really centered around Mike\u2019s piano. And as I said, we were kind of struggling. I think our price had dropped to less than 50 pounds a night.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe came back from some gigs in a cabaret, up in the north of England. We were doing the kind of rhythm and blues set, and some guy came in the dressing room afterwards. We thought he was going to say the usual kind of complimentary sort of things, but he didn\u2019t. He said, \u201cI\u2019ve got to tell you that you\u2019re the worst group I\u2019ve ever seen in my life, in this venue. And somebody\u2019s got to tell you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI think Ray started crying, and then I did. And when we were on our way back to London in the van, nobody spoke. And Graeme had a place in the back of the van that he\u2019d made on some equipment. And when we got to about Scotch Corner, which is halfway back to London, I heard this little voice coming, from Graeme in the back of the van saying, \u201cHe\u2019s right, that bloke, we\u2019re crap. We\u2019ve got to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd really, Mike had that sort of light-bulb moment. \u201cI know where there\u2019s a Mellotron.\u201d He worked for Mellotronics, and he and I went up to the Dunlop Social Club in Birmingham, fishing out of the corner of this social club, and we bought it for about 20 or 25 pounds.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve heard a lot of stories from bands like Genesis about how impossible it was to bring that thing on tour.
It was extremely awkward, and it broke down at one of our first gigs in America in \u201968, which was the Fillmore East in New York. John Mayall was on the bill, and I think he was secretly sniggering with glee that our Mellotron had broken down. But we took all of the transformers and amplifier parts out of it, and duplicated the orchestral sounds. Because they were really invented as a sound-effects instrument, with trains going through tunnels, and cockerels in the morning, and that kind of stuff. And so we duplicated all of the orchestral sounds, so they were kind of instantly double-tracked, and that was the sound of our Mellotron.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid band politics get tricky once you became successful?
If there were tensions in the group, it\u2019s because we became two groups. We were a recording band that was quiet, with the acoustic guitars at the front, and the Mellotron with that big spread. And then we became a touring band that had to get louder and louder and louder. And some of us didn\u2019t mind that. Me and John and Graeme didn\u2019t really mind that, but Mike didn\u2019t like the loud version. He liked the studio version.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow did you feel about the prog scene that rose up in the early 1970s, groups like Yes, Jethro Tull, and Genesis, that all clearly took some elements of what you guys were doing?
I wasn\u2019t paying attention to them. I think my record collection was elsewhere. And I think the moment of our first tour of America just sent me personally off in a different direction. There were a couple of gigs we did with a group called It\u2019s a Beautiful Day, who I just thought were sensational, and very kind of graceful in their performance. And we did a couple of gigs with another group called Love, and then Jefferson Airplane, of course. So I think that we went off on a tangent, an American kind of tangent, with our music and our musical influences. I don\u2019t think we were that conscious of what was happening in the U.K.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou\u2019ve been called \u201cproto-prog,\u201d but you were never doing the 30-minute songs or long keyboard solos or anything. You had a very different sound.
Well, for me personally, I was just trying to write a really great pop song. And I think was incorporated into the themes, that most of the time were led by Graeme. And of course, the spoken word gave us that reputation, as well.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe band had incredible momentum in 1972 with Seventh Sojourn and \u201cI\u2019m Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).\u201d You were never more popular. Why did you decide in that moment to take off five years?
Well, nothing was said that couldn\u2019t be unsaid. That was nice. But we got to the end of a long world tour, and we just didn\u2019t make any plans. I suppose it goes back to that thing, \u201cWhich group do you want to be in? Do you want to be the recording band that\u2019s sounding more and more kind of American, or do you want to be the touring band that\u2019s louder and louder and louder?\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tMy amps had gone from an AC30 to a 50-watt Marshall to a 100-watt to a 200-watt, to a 200-watt with a slave [amplifier]. And I think Mike particularly was feeling uncomfortable. So it was just nobody signed up for any more gigs, there was nothing in the book, suddenly.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the years the Moodies were gone, a lot of bands moved into football stadiums. Do you ever think about the alternate path they might have taken if they stayed together and continued with the momentum from Seventh Sojourn?
Well, that\u2019s interesting, isn\u2019t it? No, I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t have any regrets about that, or yearning that it would have been different in any way. I was very happy in what I was doing, and the path that it led me, and it gave me an opportunity to do a couple of solo albums, to be part of an album called The War of the Worlds that has, to this day, given me great success as a solo artist around the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tI was the one, I think, at that time who was a bit lost. Because everybody else said, \u201cRight, we\u2019re not doing anything. I\u2019m going to plan this.\u201d But I found myself in Los Angeles at the end of that tour, we\u2019d finished in Japan. And I thought, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t know what to do now. So I\u2019ll just go to Los Angeles, because that\u2019s where things seem to be happening, and I\u2019ll wait for the phone to ring.\u201d And eventually it did.<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the time the Moodies weren\u2019t around, the punk movement broke out in New York and London. Groups like the Sex Pistols saw groups like the Moody Blues as the enemy. How did you feel about what was happening there?
I don\u2019t think they thought of us as the enemy. It\u2019s curious. I always think about those records now, like the Clash and the Sex Pistols \u2026 I just thought Sid [Vicious] was just absolutely brilliant. But you could see it was a car crash waiting to happen. And, when you look back now, how well-recorded some of those things were. They don\u2019t sound scruffy or un-together at all. They\u2019re well-thought-out and nicely recorded. So if you\u2019re rebelling against that part of the music business, it didn\u2019t work for them. But no, maybe the fact that we were apart for five years kind of helped us, because at the end of that we just seemed to be able to breeze straight back in, and we fit right in somehow.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMike left the band after Octave in 1978. How did his absence change things?
Well, then we became four people looking for a keyboard player, and then it was Graeme who got connected with Patrick Moraz. And I think he really turned us on. His contribution was really large, from that time on, \u201979 through \u2019til the sort of mid-\u201980s.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd then, personally, I think he just lost interest where he wanted to do other things. He wanted to really make it on his own. And not only had Mike left, but there was a kind of rupture with Tony Clark as well, who was the record producer. His personal life had changed so much that he didn\u2019t identify with being one of a particular group like the rest of us, somehow.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe deliberately put ourselves in a situation where we would meet people, record producers. And Pip Williams was great, Alan Tarney, and then Tony Visconti a couple of years later, changed the whole world for us.<\/p>\n

\n\tHow was it for Ray and Graeme in an era of drum machines and synthesizers, and less flute? Was it tough for them to find their way into these albums?
You really have thought about these things, more than I have. Well, that\u2019s interesting. Now, Graeme was totally on board with it. Of course, the first thing I did was rush out and buy myself a sort of time clock, a click clock I used to call it. And the first thing we did with that was a song called \u201cThe Voice\u201d from Long Distance Voyager. And so, I got it all set because I had a nice home recording system, and then I would take my click clock and my stuff into the studio, and do it to a time code.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Graeme loved that. Graeme was totally on board with that, which was wonderful. There was none of that, \u201cOh, you\u2019ve got to feel it, because the time needs to move.\u201d There\u2019s none of that. He was totally in with it. And I think he got a LinnDrum himself, that he was messing around with. So that was fine.<\/p>\n

\n\tRay was a different kind of, because his writing was very sort of tongue in cheek, and looking at life in a particular lighthearted way. And so I think as a writer, he always\u2026 He was never at a loss in the group. Neither of them were. Both of them were big characters within the group.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1986, 20 years after you joined, the band suddenly has this giant hit and you\u2019re all over MTV and Top 40 radio. I\u2019m sure it was surreal to suddenly have this whole new audience that maybe didn\u2019t even know your older work.
Exactly. You\u2019re right. A lot of people did start with \u201cWildest Dreams,\u201d really. And fortunately, I think we still looked good. I was coming up to the end of my thirties. We could carry it off.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was fortunate as well is that a couple of us had got really kind of skint. We had seen nothing, really, of the financial rewards of those earlier years. We were never celebrities. We were never on TV, or anything like that. We never commanded a huge price for our appearances.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in the mid-\u201980s, we were starting to be offered so many live gigs that I think we just went with it, and that really did change our lives. The summer tours that we did, the double headers, say with the Beach Boys or Chicago\u2026. I loved all that time. The wonderful sheds in America, that were such great places to play. And still are, I hope.<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you look back at that time, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger couldn\u2019t get a hit. Bob Dylan was struggling. So many giants of the \u201960s were flailing, and you guys have this enormous smash.
Well, Tony Visconti knew how to make a record.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA few years later, you found yourself battling Patrick Moraz in a courtroom, and the entire thing was broadcast on Court TV. That had to be a really strange moment.
Yeah, well, what can I say? I had a house in West London, and I went out one day, and there was somebody outside the door with a great big bunch of papers. They just had to touch me with them. I said, \u201cExcuse me?\u201d \u201cYou\u2019re being served with this writ,\u201d or whatever it was. It fell at my feet. And I thought, \u201cWhat the fuck? Oh, well, these things happen.\u201d Well, there wasn\u2019t a moment from the first day in the Moody Blues where we were without some kind of litigation, over some amplifiers or something going on.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd so I ignored it, very stupidly, until we appeared onstage in California for the first time after that. And it happened to me again. The sheriff\u2019s department came up to me, in the center of the group, and served me with these papers. And then, of course, I had to take it seriously. And God forbid that anybody should be served with something in California, have to sit in a courtroom in California.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe had, of course, had all the representation we could possibly muster. But we had to listen to the case against us that was\u2026. I have to say the words \u201cambulance chaser\u201d kind of representation that was against us. But it was actually brilliant, all the mud that was swung at us. I was sitting there when it was the other guys, not so much when it was me, and kind of thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s pretty clever. Because in that, there is a grain of truth, and 90 percent bullshit. But there is something in it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWas the Nineties a difficult time? After 1991 or so, a song like \u201cWildest Dreams\u201d simply isn\u2019t possible anymore. Radio and MTV basically only cared about young acts.
Well, a very fortunate thing happened to us, because a promoter in Colorado suggested that we might want to do a concert with the Colorado Symphony, at a place called Red Rocks. So PBS got on board with that. And I put a lot of work into that concert, into making it right. And that kicked off a whole decade of doing that.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn most towns in America, there is a subsidized orchestra, a proper professional quality, brilliant orchestra. And our agent realized, \u201cHey, there\u2019s one of these in every town. You could do 58 different orchestras.\u201d And so, once we\u2019d got the parts, that\u2019s exactly what we did. And we built a reputation through the \u201990s of appearing with local orchestras. Which was a great time for us.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhy did Ray leave the band in 2002?
The honest answer is that I don\u2019t actually know. His health wasn\u2019t good, and he was having to sort of drag himself up onstage. It was really tough for him, getting out there every night. And I think me, John, and Graeme were, particularly with three dicks like us, full of energy like, \u201cCome on, yeah, let\u2019s do it. We\u2019re great, girls, oh, it\u2019s fantastic.\u201d Ray was kind of struggling. He had to have a chair onstage. And I could see it coming<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last thing I wanted for him was that he should be unhappy. It came home to me one day when I called him about a tour. It was close to Christmas, like about this time of year, and we were talking about early the next year to do some stuff. And we were just having a general chat. And then I said about these dates that were coming in, and he said, \u201cWell, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to do it.\u201d And so I said, \u201cWell, never say never, eh? You know, Ray?\u201d And he came out with a great line. He said, \u201cYou can say what you fucking want, but I\u2019m not coming.\u201d I thought, \u201cRight, I got it. Understand, Ray. I understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDid you stay close to him after he left? Did you talk to him much?
A little bit, but if you leave a group, you don\u2019t tend to stay friends\u2026. No, \u201cfriends\u201d is not the right word. You don\u2019t tend to stay in each other\u2019s company, do you?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s tough to play drums every night when you get older. How did Graeme manage in his final years of touring?
Always happy. The group meant everything to Graeme. His love for the group\u2026. Well, I didn\u2019t know anything else like that. He wouldn\u2019t hear anything against it. Whatever we did, his advice and opinion was always for the best, always only wanting the best for the group. And I think that where we did need my click clock and my LinnDrum, he fiddled around for a couple of years trying to get it with him onstage, and him pressing buttons and stuff like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the end, I think we all agreed: \u201cMaybe we\u2019ll get another guy who is just a clock player. That the only thing that matters is the time.\u201d I think, actually I would have to say that in any recording, time is the most important thing. It helps the groove, and everything.<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was all on board with finding somebody to go to be with him onstage, a second drummer, to absolutely keep that time. And he could be free to do his thing, because the sound of his drums were the best-sounding drums I\u2019ve ever heard. I often would go with him up from Charing Cross Road to drum stores, to try and choose things for him. And the sound of his drums was beautiful, and he had a light, light touch.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was it like seeing Mike again at the Hall of Fame? Did you guys reconnect?
Yes, absolutely. I\u2019d seen Mike a couple of times over the years. In fact, he\u2019d come to see me in one of my solo shows. Married to a beautiful girl. I think that the issue was actually between Graeme and Mike. That was to do with Graeme\u2019s devotion to the band, and Mike wanting to do other things outside of the band, or not to be there. Not to make it a 24 hour a day job. I\u2019m not sure whether they reconciled it, actually.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you guys got into the Hall of Fame, did you know the touring days were coming to an end?
That\u2019s a really good question. I don\u2019t know. Were there any tours planned in 2019? And then of course, the world did end, really, during Covid, didn\u2019t it? For me personally, I have to say when Graeme Edge passed, I think it really did change things, for me.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThere was no farewell tour. Were you offered anything like that?
No, I don\u2019t think there was. It just seemed, for me, time. It was time. And I\u2019m very lucky to have my own things, and always an outlet for my songs, and fortunate as a vocalist that I\u2019ve been asked to do things as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tDid John agree it was time, or did he want to keep the band going?
I don\u2019t know. I\u2019m not sure that we saw each other. After that 2018 tour, I\u2019m not sure whether we even saw each other after that, because of Covid. And then, we came out of that all a little bit different.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe last show was in La Jolla in 2018. Did you walk offstage thinking to yourself that it was over?
This is something that, it\u2019s hard to describe, really. But right from the beginning, right from the start, there was never any plan or any strategy. That never existed. So there was never meetings about, \u201cWhat shall we do?\u201d Or, \u201cHow should we do this?\u201d Or something like that. Things just happened to us. We either did them, or we didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo many people love Days of Future Passed, and I hope it survives over the years. I think maybe the time has gone when people listen to things like that, but I don\u2019t know. But it\u2019s always assumed that there must have been a plan and a strategy, and a sort of blueprint for that and how it was going to happen. And there wasn\u2019t anything. It was just one afternoon, somebody saying something, and then the next afternoon you\u2019d do it. And then it was happening. And that\u2019s the way it was with the Moody Blues. If you say that\u2019s the last gig, at La Jolla, there was no meeting about, \u201cWhat should we do,\u201d or anything like that.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou didn\u2019t speak to John in the last seven years of his life?
I don\u2019t think so, no. But then, I didn\u2019t speak to Graeme either, much. I maybe had one call with him, or something like that. What we had in common was the group. That was what we were good at. That was our relationship. It wasn\u2019t a group of friends.<\/p>\n

\n\tPeople always have this fantasy that people in bands are best friends. It\u2019s rarely true.
I think with certain groups, Bono and Edge, it probably is true.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn recent years, people saw you touring solo and John touring solo, and presumed maybe there was some sort of falling out.
No. No, not at all. Actually, certainly not. No plan or strategy about falling out, either.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe died rather suddenly. The news must have been shocking.
Every one of the guys was, yes. Yes, the first one I think would have been Ray. That was shocking, and saddening. And then with Graeme, It\u2019s like, \u201cWell, that\u2019s the end of that chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDenny Laine died too. Did you have a chance to talk with him at the Hall of Fame?
I did. And I think I was probably the only one to speak with Denny, because there were some bad feelings from when I joined, really. I knew him, not intimately, but I knew him just around, in the years before the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. And I was so glad that he was there. He was part of it. And I also think that Clint Warwick should have been given a mention, too.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this point, it\u2019s really only you and Patrick Moraz left.
Oh. I didn\u2019t know Patrick was still around.<\/p>\n

\n\tHave you spoken to him at all since the lawsuit?
No. No. I have my own life. I got my own stuff, my own family, and my own music. And I\u2019m very lucky to have that. And I\u2019m thankful every day to be a Moody Blue for the very best years of my life. And in such a great band. We didn\u2019t have to go and socialize all the time, but when we were onstage, or when we were in the studio, we were a great band. And the band that I wanted to be in.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you playing solo shows next year?
Yes, yes, yes. I\u2019m offered a lot of work, and I find myself saying yes to it. I\u2019ve got great musicians around me, and I can call on great musicians, and I\u2019m very lucky. I have a fantastic crew, devoted, who love this music.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you feel any sense of obligation to keep the music alive since it\u2019s down to just you?
Well, I\u2019ve got nothing else. So I\u2019ve got my own music, of course. I\u2019m lucky to have had solo things, all throughout the Moodys\u2019 life. And the only thing I try to be conscious of, I try in my touring life to be true to the way\u2026. Because I\u2019m doing my own songs, true to the way I wrote those songs, and to the way I made those demos. True to the sort of click clock that I used to use, and yes, the feeling of them. That\u2019s why my acoustic guitars are mostly to the fore, and my guitar tech, Josh. I\u2019ve been teaching him how to play exactly like me, so that he can accompany me.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you ever think about any sort of farewell tour at some point?
A farewell Justin tour?<\/p>\n

\n\tSure.
I don\u2019t know. For me, it\u2019s about the voice. People say to me, \u201cHow do you look after your voice?\u201d And I always want to say, \u201cWell, my voice looks after me, really.\u201d So as long as that\u2019s there. I practice quite a bit, I had a practice today. I\u2019ve got a friend who\u2019s got a big room at the back of his house, and I was there today. Because I shout.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you working on a new record?
I\u2019ve got some projects going in the studio right now, yeah. And I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll come to fruition. And there\u2019s so many things from my early days, from my mother who loved show tunes, and who played the piano, and was a very kind of theatrical person. She was a teacher, as were both of my parents, and both of them academics in their way. But some of the songs from those days, I\u2019m still interested in exploring myself, and putting my own personality into them. But I know what people want from me, and I want to share that. I want to put myself into songs and to write more.<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tTo wrap up here, I know you weren\u2019t close with the other guys, but you must really miss them on a musical level and the camaraderie you all shared.
There was a time when it was wonderful, and then there was a time when it wasn\u2019t so. No, I don\u2019t miss anything. I don\u2019t miss anything, and I don\u2019t have any regrets. I\u2019m just thankful that we had that time together. Yeah, I\u2019m thankful for those times. I don\u2019t miss anything, and I didn\u2019t want to kind of recreate it with people who weren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

\n\tRight. Playing as the Moody Blues with other people would feel wrong.
It wouldn\u2019t seem right to me. And I don\u2019t have any need to.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Moody Blues entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2018, co-lead singer Justin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,122154],"class_list":{"0":"post-341358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-the-moody-blues"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}