I met the Blues musician Dennis Jones at his Gig at the Orpheum Graz.

Stefan: First of: Who are your musical heroes?

Dennis Jones: I had quite a few when I was growing up. Some of the first I ever heard where James Brown and Al Green. That was even before I started playing guitar. But once I started playing guitar, definitely Jimmy Hendrix was one of my major influences as a kid. As I got to learn about this music it started to change. I was then into people like Frank Zapa, ZZ Top, later on Led Zeppelin. But in my earlier years it was definitely Hendrix and people like the Who. I also used to hear Dylan’s albums and Janis Joplin. That’s how I got my foot into rock n’ roll.

What first attracted you to the blues and what does the blues mean to you?

Like I said it was the root of all the great music, which I heard when I was growing up. What really attracted me to it, was because the guitar players were always upfront and in the center, where as in Rhythm and Blues they were always in the back. You know supporting singers. And really when I was growing up, I never wanted to be in the back, but in the front. That’s what drew me to Rock n’ Roll and the blues. I really feel it in my soul. I don’t just hear it in my ears, but in my heart. There is not a lot of music I feel that way about.

Both Sides Of The Track is your fifth and latest album of contemporary blues. Can you guide me a bit into the making process?

I wrote 19 songs. I always have songs left over from other projects and I sometimes will take music that I already made 5 years ago and put it with something that I wrote today. It just all seems to come together and whatever fits. I had one song that I rewrote about three times over a ten-year period and then finally released it. So it is just a matter of where I am at the moment with my head in my own process. I had this concept of Both Sides Of The Track, because you know, in the south you have the wealthy people on one side, and the ones who are poor on the other side.

You’re often mixing up Rock and Blues Songs in your albums? How that?

So I kind of gave it that vision of Rock and Blues, so each song flips back and forward from a Rock to a Blues song. That’s the whole process of the album. Because that is what I do: I love both, so I figured most people would put all Blues or all Rock Songs on one album, they don’t really take the risk of doing it both. But since I own my own label, among publishing, I can do whatever I want. So I have nobody telling me: Oh, don’t do that or don’t. I listen to my engineers and my production people, who are in my life. But when it comes down to the final decision, it is mine.

1998 you started Blue Rock Records. Can you describe your label for my readers?

I really wanted to start releasing my own music and a lot of guys, myself included, where begging for record deals. But we were being dissapointed a lot of times. So I just decided to go ahead and do it myself. I went into the process of making it all legal and so I do own all that. every time I have a song on the radio or movie, it comes back to me, not to somebody in Beverly Hills, with a big house, who just gives you a little bit of what they think you deserve.

Do you have a favorite album?

Of all time? (laughs) That’s a very hard question. I really love Live Albums. B.B King (Live at the Regal) is an amazing album, The Who (Live at Leeds), Thin Lizzy (Live and Dangerous). I love even some of that have been doctored. The older ones haven’t been doctored with, but some of them, over the years have been and the editors added audience sounds and stuff. But still I like that spontaneous things happening on stage. You know seeing Zeppelin as a kid. That was just amazing.

Yeah stuff like the BBC Sessions

I saw them actually three times live. You know I am a bit older than you (laughs). It was my second concert in the capital center of Maryland. I actually still got the ticket for a concert in Germany where Bonzo didn’t make it. It was a very sad time for all of us.

Are there any other influences than blues or Rock in your music?

Certainly Funk. I love P-Funk and all those bands of this time. Even in the late 70’s, when bands like Slave and all these other bands were using a lot of guitar. I think Hendrix really influenced these guys. Even Motown, they started using the Wa-Wa pedals and stuff and Jimmy really influenced that in a way that the music became a great Funk-Mix. That was definitely a big influence for me.

I guess you heard this question a lot of times, but still I got to ask: Why do you think that blues today is kind of niche music?

I don’t really know. That’s a good question. I don’t want to offend anyone, but I guess a lot of music today is disposable. It is about getting a single out, making a bunch of money and not even worrying about putting together a whole album. That definitely is changing and people like me have to change with it, but I still love albums. I just love to listen to a whole structure of songs.

Are there any particular songs that you play that have a special meaning to you?

Yeah. (laughs) I was a little wild in my younger days and dated a lot of different women. So when I play songs today I kind of need to laugh, because people sometimes don’t know what they mean. Like Stray Bullet is one of my favorites. „You don’t know a thing about love “, songs like „Hot sauce “. I just love writing songs with a little humor, because you can’t be serious all the time. It’s a Ying and a Yang, you have to break it up, make people feel happy or sad and give them a wide spectrum. Personally I can’t hear a band who is playing the same style all night long. It could be Chicago Blues, but still it is always the same and if you just speed it up or slow it down and barely change the key it is hard for me to digest. Unless they are a phenomenal player on the stage. But this is a personal thing. For me to keep attention all night I need variation. I need something that’s going to mix it up and make me go WOW! I didn’t expect that. I really love dynamics in my songs.

Tell me a little bit about your band. How did you get together?

This is not the band I have in L.A! I’m out here on the road with Wyzard  from Mothers Finest. he’s a good friend of mine. I wrote a song for guitar on his last album „Bare Knuckles” and “Wyzard” produced this album. So I got to know him closer, when I gave him the song and he produced that. But my band at home these guys are also real fine players. Well, I just see guys out there go after them until I get them to play with me. I just do what I have to do. I like guys who are as good as me or better. Because they push me, they kick my ass. To come to an end, I have an amazing crew right now Raymond Johnson on the drums and Dale Black hitting the Bass. They are very very good players and good guys.

You have got a very tight touring plan. You already have been in Vienna, Slovenia and Oblarn in between 3 days. How is the tour kicking off till now?

It’s great. The crowds have been amazing. They love us and want us to drink and party with them all night, which we can’t do. I actually started off with a cold. I am feeling better today, but you really have to pace yourself, because a tour can easily burn you out and the last thing you want to do is to have people pay money to come see you and you just stand in one spot and look like you are dying. I want to give everybody, if it is 10 people or 10.000 people the same show. I want to give them the energy, give them something to remember. And if they like it, I’m happy. Just continue to kick ass on the road. No excuses.

What are the best and worst moments while touring?

The best are being on stage and getting that vibe from the crowd, having a large audience and just looking out there and you see nothing but eyes. The worst part is probably the travelling part. Getting up early, you are in a beautiful town like this, take a few pictures and then you are gone.

Are there any Austrian musicians you know?

I don’t know any. (laughs) I have actually been meeting some, while I was here, but I don’t really know bands.

How do you see the future of blues music?

I think it is good. I have a couple of younger guys in L.A that I try to give opportunities to play with or to help them out. One guy called me, because he never toured before, so I gave him a bunch of places to call, to help him get out on the road. His dad is going to take him out there. There is a guy Anthony Cullins in San Diego, who is amazing. He is 15 and he came to one of my shows and I let him play with me for one set. He is just awesome. When he is a little bit older he is really going to take of. I also think it is very important to mentor and try to help out the younger people. If you don’t give, you don’t get back.

Future Plans?

I have five albums out by now. My next plan is to make a live album. To take the best material from those albums and those the audience favours. I want to involve my fans and ask them what they would like to hear on the record. I am going to play a bunch of songs in two nights in one place and recording both nights. That’s what I think about doing, but if another opportunity comes up or someone tells me something that makes sense to me I will do that as well. I keep it open. I never have just a staring way of thinking, somebody could see me and say: „Hey you guys are awesome, here is some money, let’s hit the road.“ You got to keep your options open.