Paul Weller: "I'm not a heritage act"

3 January 2024, 11:47 | Updated: 3 January 2024, 12:04

The former Jam frontman has discussed how he's had to fight against the term and why he insists on creating new music.

Paul Weller rails against the idea of being called a heritage act.

The Modfather launched his career with The Jam, before forming the Style Council in 1983 and eventually going on to carve out a solo career shortly after.

Despite being in the music business for almost 50 years, the That's Entertainment singer refuses to think of himself as a heritage or legacy artist.

On the final ever episode of Desperately Seeking Paul: The Paul Weller Fan Podcast, he said: "A few years ago there was a thing where they were talking about heritage acts.

"I am not going down that road, mate – I’m not a heritage act.

"I had to fight that term, my own little fight in a sense to get through all that stuff."

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Talking about the need to keep moving and processing musically, the Changingman singer also admitted that he may have lost some fans over the years, but he refuses to be derailed by what others want him to do.

He mused in the interview, which took place at the end of last year: "I probably lost a certain amount of audience along the way in this past ten or so years, the ones that just wanted to hear the Jam stuff.

"But they’ve kind of gone now, I guess they go and see [former Jam bandmate] Bruce Foxton's band or other people – whatever they want to do, whatever makes them happy.

"But it’s been worth it, because I’ve proved myself right. If you just plough through that and follow your programme and what you think it should be, eventually you will get there.

"But it’s easy to get sidetracked by people saying, ‘Maybe you should do this, or you could do that, or make it like the old record’.

"No, just follow your vision, if you’ve still got a vision."

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Weller has released 16 solo albums so far, with the last Fat Pop Volume 1 coming out in 2021.

Asked what makes him want to keep making so much new music, Weller said: "Probably a variety of reasons. The main one is that's what I think musicians are supposed to be doing. Like isn't that part of the job description that you go on tour and you make records? That's probably an old school way of looking at it, but I think that's what it's about."

He added: "A lot of younger artists, they will make an album and then won't release another one for five or seven years and I don't understand that."

Weller's need to continually create clearly still works for his fans, who are more than happy to see the Wild Wood singer on his sold out UK tour in 2024.

The 65-year-old musician will embark on several dates throughout April next year, which kick off at the Lighthouse in Poole and culminate in a show at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.

The English Rose singer will also play huge dates in July 2024, which will see him head to King John’s Castle in Limerick, Ireland, Trinity in Dublin, Ireland, the Scarborough Open Air Theatre and Edinburgh Castle's Esplanade.

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