Interview: Black Country Communion

IF you thought 1974 was a good vintage for rock music, then you’re probably going to like Black Country Communion.

The Anglo-American supergroup take their musical inspiration from the hard riffing sound of the likes of Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple. And as supergroups go it’s a pretty rip-roaring line-up, featuring vocalist and bassist Glenn Hughes, formerly of both Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, blues rock virtuoso Joe Bonamassa, drummer Jason Bonham, who stepped into his late father’s shoes for Led Zeppelin’s reunion concert in 2007, and keyboard player Derek Sherinian, from Dream Theater.

The classic rock band have just released their second album and hit the road next month with a short UK tour that takes in the Leeds 02 Academy. So-called “classic rock” has come in for a fair amount of stick over the years, synonymous as it is with over-extended guitar solos, bad hair and Spinal Tap.

But frontman Hughes is unapologetic about the band’s musical heritage. “I think ‘classic’ became a bit of a dirty word for a while, but now I think it’s come to mean vintage,” he says. “We didn’t set out to go back to 1974, but we found ourselves back in that period.”

With a voice that sounds like it’s encountered more bourbon than is necessarily good for you, Hughes is about as rock ‘n’ roll as they come. He first came to prominence on the rock scene more than 40 years ago with his band Trapeze before going on to international fame when he joined Deep Purple in 1973.

Leaving the band three years later he has toured all over the world as a soloist, as well as making occasional guest appearances on other artists’ albums. So how did Black Country Communion come about? “Joe and I have been good friends for a few years and we sat down one day and said ‘let’s get together’, and Kevin Shirley [record producer] said rather than working on each other’s records, why not put together a new band in the great British rock tradition?”

Which is exactly what they did. With Hughes and Bonamassa at the helm, they were soon joined by Bonham and Sherinian. “There’s two Americans and two Brits in the band but this is a proper British rock and roller,” says Hughes. “When I’m in an audience watching a band I want to see and smell the sweat, I want to feel the music and I want to see that it matters.”

Black Country Communion’s self-titled debut album came out in September last year to a welter of praise from rock critics, reaching number 13 in the UK album charts. The band’s follow-up, 2, is their second record in less than 12 months – fast work by today’s standards. “Listen, I grew up in the 60s when The Beatles and the Stones were producing an album practically every eight months.

“If you have songs that are good enough and you have the time to record, then you just do it.”

They enlisted the help of legendary producer Kevin Shirley, who has worked with the likes of Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden and Joe Bonamassa, on the new record, which Hughes believes differs from the first. “It’s more mature, darker and sonically bigger than the first record if that’s at all possible. This is the big brother to the first one.”

From the moment they announced the creation of Black Country Communion, the band has been labelled a supergroup. Hughes associates supergroups with the 70s, bands like Blind Faith and Humble Pie, but it’s a tag he reluctantly puts up with. “You’ve got four guys who between them have won loads of awards, but we’re just like any new band starting out, with the same teething problems. I just want us to be a proper rock ‘n’ roll band, which is what I think we are.

“Some people call it fate, I call it karma, but some things in life are just meant to be and this band is one of those things,” he says. “We want to establish the Black Country Communion name which is why we waited until we’d done the second album before going on tour.”

As a rock veteran now nudging 60, how does he find life on the road with Black Country Communion? “When I was in Deep Purple I was 21 and no-one in the band spoke to each other, they each had their own limo and their own chauffeur and if they wanted to speak to another band member they would send them a note. Even the roadies had their own drivers. When we were putting the new band together I said I wouldn’t work with people I can‘t have a friendship with. I want to be in a band with the kind of people I can have breakfast with, or a nice cup of tea at the end of the day.”

This might not sound very rock ‘n’ roll but Hughes has done his fair share of hellraising.

“I’ve had what you might call an ‘interesting’ life, I’ve lived the life of 10 men. I’ve been to the gates of insanity and looked inside and thought, ‘I ain’t going in there again man’.

“I’ve been a wild man, I’ve stood on rooftops naked and been arrested by police more than once and I’ve come back down to earth.” And, unlike many, he’s lived to tell the tale.

Black Country Communion play Leeds 02 Academy on July 26, 0844 477 2000. The band’s latest album, 2, is out now.

Supergroups of yesteryear

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – David Crosby (The Byrds), Stephen Stills (Buffalo Springfield), Graham Nash (The Hollies) and Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield). Still the benchmark for any would-be supergroup.

The Travelling Wilburys – A line-up consisting of Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison could have either been brilliant or dreadful. Thankfully it was the former.

The Dirty Mac – featuring John Lennon, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Mitch Mitchell, this one-off group is many fans’ idea of rock nirvana.