Paul Weller reveals the best thing about making music as he gets older

20 May 2024, 12:00

By Jenny Mensah

The Modfather has talked about the freedom he has to experiment as he reaches his 66th year.

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Paul Weller loves being able to experiment as he gets older.

The former frontman of the Jam and Style Council is approaching his 66th Birthday this weekend and is set to release his album - fittingly titled 66 - the day before on Friday 24th May and believes he’s getting more “open-minded” when it comes to his creativity.

He told Record Collector magazine: "I don't want to keep going on about my age but one thing that is very nice about getting older is that you can experiment

"The older I get, the more open-minded I get."

Despite enjoying his age when it comes to his creative freedom, Weller has slammed the notion of being a “legacy” act, saying it’s not reflective

Speaking on 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.”

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.

"I probably lost a certain amount of audience along the way in this past ten or so years," he mused. "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."

Paul Weller's 66 album is set for release this Friday 24th May.