You may not know the name, but if you grew up in the ‘80s, you probably know the hell out of the songs.

British new wave pioneer Howard Jones has proven in recent years how much he hates not working and experimenting with new musical ideas. When COVID-19 hit, he was in the middle of a tour on which Jones—who’s playing Clearwater on Saturday, July 23—took his originally synthed-up hits, and reimagined them in an acoustic fashion.

The 67-year-old “No One Is To Blame” star fulfilled most of the canceled dates earlier this year—with the exception of a few, including a previously scheduled date at SPC’s Palladium—and has now moved back into the synth game, after a prosperous, creative time in lockdown.

“I found it very difficult to write lyrics, because I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind,” HoJo told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay on a recent phone call. “But the music? Plenty of time to experiment, try new things, and get some backing track ideas ready to put vocals on.”

Partially as a result, he has three new albums in the works right now, one of which—Dialogue—releases in September, and is being promoted on tour right now.

Joining HoJo is his old friend Midge Ure, formerly of Ultravox, and the man who co-organized Live Aid with Bob Geldof. “He lives not far away from me,” he revealed, later describing Ure as a great person to talk things through with, mainly because of the guys’ similar backgrounds.

But this won’t be the first time HoJo has been on the road with a legend. In 2001, he was part of Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, sharing the stage with Mott The Hoople’s Ian Hunter, Prince alum Sheila E., and one of his heroes, Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. He even got to play the ELP classic “Karn Evil 9” with his hero on the nightly. “The rest of the band came offstage for that. It was just the three of us: Me, Sheila, and Greg,” he recalled.

Get our full interview with Howard Jones below, and go see him and Midge Ure at the Bilheimer Capitol Theatre on Saturday, July 23. You’re putting out your new album, Dialogue, in September, and it’s described as the conclusion to a trilogy that includes your last two records Engage and Transform. What is the connection between all three that create a proper trilogy?

Well, I have to say that I’ve added another one there. The next album is going to be Global Citizen, so it’s going to be a series of four. The connection is that I wanted to set myself a goal to do four albums over the next 10 year period. I think I’m sort of keeping up to that.

So, Engage was about, you know, don’t be a bystander. Get involved, and lend your voice to the things that you care about. And then Transform, if you want to change the world, we have to start with ourselves and look at our behavior – how do we behave towards each other and towards ourselves.

Then on to Dialogue. It’s really important to communicate to each other. It’s this unique thing that human beings can do, and it really defines our humanity. The fact that we can exchange ideas, look into each other’s eyes, and relate to each other. And then, Global Citizen will be just putting all of that stuff into action. It was sort of a way to motivate myself to do four albums, really, and it’s worked. It’s kind of worked for me, so I’m delivering on what I promised myself.

That’s good. So another recent project that you did was doing some audio commentary for Human Lib and In The Running. I really enjoyed hearing your insight on that.

Oh yeah, great. Well, I’m glad to hear that. I’ve never really done that before. But Cherry Red Records are rereleasing my earlier work. They’re doing a great job and they asked me to do it. It’s quite fun to do that, and I think it’s interesting to the fans, to have a bit more insight to the tracks, and how I feel about them now compared to then. There’d be different answers if they’d asked me when the album was being released.

Would you do the commentary for your other records?

Yeah, I think on all five Warner Brothers-era records, there’s going to be audio commentary.

Cool. So how did you survive the pandemic?

I was in the same boat as everyone else. You know, stuck at home. We were actually out on tour, here in the States, and suddenly things got really bad, and flights and gigs were being canceled, so we quickly made our way home, and then came lockdown.

But I mean, I kind of made it work for me, in the sense that I just worked in the studio every day, even though I couldn’t tour, and we couldn’t go and see each other. It was a very productive time. I found it very difficult to write lyrics, because I wasn’t really in the right frame of mind, but the music? Plenty of time to experiment, try new things, and get some backing track ideas ready to put vocals on.

So I quite enjoyed that aspect of it. Obviously, I really missed touring, and I missed seeing my friends and my family, like everyone. It was tough, but luckily I got some good things out of it with this new album.

When you headed off the road, you were on an acoustic trio tour, right?

Yeah, that’s right. So, we had finished it two-thirds of the way through, so we came back earlier this year to finish off most of the dates that had to be canceled, so I felt it was really important to fulfill my obligation to the fans. And then now, we’re out on the Dialogue tour, and Midge Ure is out on the road with us as well. So yeah, it’s great.

I want to ask you about Midge Ure, actually. This is not the first time that you guys have been on the road together. How did you meet?

I don’t think we can remember the exact day, but it would have been 1984, and we would have been doing some sort of TV somewhere in the U.K., or in Europe. Obviously, then there was Live Aid, and I met Midge there again, and we’d become really good friends. He lives not far away from me: in Bath, which is in the southwest of England, where I live as well. Our families have gotten together, he’s been to my house, I’ve been to his, and we’ve become really, really strong friends.

It’s so great to have him on the tour, and just musically, he’s a legend to me. But on the human side, he’s a really great friend as well. A great person to talk things through, because we have a similar background, and there are things that only he would know about that other people wouldn’t.

Would you consider recording with him?

Well, he played on one of my records. It’s a song called “Two Souls,” and it’s on the…which album is it? It’s not In The Running, is it? *laughs* But we’re hoping to do a track together on the tour. We’re just working out what it’s going to be. We had a conversation yesterday, so I always think it’s great when artists collaborate on stage as well, so hopefully we’ll be doing that.

Cool. And you were right, it’s on In The Running.

Yeah, In The Running. Great. *laughs* I should know!

When you release so many records in a career, it gets hard to remember what’s on what, right?

It does, that’s right. There’s a lot of songs now…exactly.

I want to talk a little bit about your Piano Solos: For Friends And Loved Ones albums. Each track is for a different person. How do those pieces connect to the people they’re dedicated to? For example, what is it about “For Jeff” that screams “Jeff?”

Yeah. Well, the way I approached it was…it was for people really close to me, and friends who are celebrating something, or family members or whatever. And I would sit at the piano and I would think of that person. Jeff was the person who introduced me to Buddhism, so I wanted to include a reference to that in the music, and I chose to use a rhythm, which was the rhythm of the chanting. And when he heard it, he recognized it. I really tried to construct an improvised piece while really thinking about them, that’s the way that’s the way it worked out.

I mean, I’ve got another piano album in the pipeline now, which I hope to release maybe early next year or the end of this year. There’s 10 new tracks, but I didn’t take the same approach. They weren’t improvisations, they were more composed and more thought through as pieces of music. I’m going to continue that theme over the next few years. There’ll be more piano records from me, because I really enjoyed doing it.

Cool! So you mentioned Buddhism earlier, and I definitely wanted to ask you about that. The lyrics that you’ve written over the years are most likely clearly linked to your spiritual journey and growth. What connection do you think that the music has to that journey?

When I started as a solo artist, I was 28 when I got signed, so I had plenty of time to think about what my music was going to going to be about. And what I wanted to do was to have lyrics that could encourage people during the difficult times that we all have as human beings. There’s nobody who doesn’t have a tough time to get through, and maybe on a regular basis.

So, I thought “I want to write music that is for those times, when you just need a little boost,” you know? For when you need a boost just to get over the next little hill to see the big vista beyond. So I always had that in the back of my mind, that the music should have that effect, whether people were consciously listening to the lyrics or not. And the music has always flowed quite well for me.

It sort of pours out if I open the tap, but lyrics? I have to be much, much more considered, because if you think that you’re getting into somebody’s head with these tunes and this music, make sure that when you’re in there, that there’s some good nourishing food coming from the lyrics, and that’s the way I think of it. You have this privilege of going into someone’s consciousness. So make sure that you take something good, you pack something good to give them.

That’s a good point. So moving on, you were also with Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band, with probably one of the craziest lineups ever. I mean, Ian Hunter, Sheila E.…the biggest one being Greg Lake, one of your heroes. So, did you find it more intimidating to be with Greg Lake or with a Beatle?

I was definitely more intimidated to be with Ringo at first, but he quickly made me feel so, so comfortable and so appreciated. Obviously, being with Greg, I wanted to play Keith Emerson’s part, so we did “Karn Evil 9,” which is one of the most difficult ELP tracks to do. And the rest of the band came offstage for that. It was just the three of us: Me, Sheila, and Greg.

And so, I could pay homage to one of my biggest influences ever, Keith Emerson, and it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to learn and play. But we got such an amazing reaction every night. But it was just wonderful.

You know, when I first saw ELP in 1970 at the Isle of Wight Festival, I never thought that I’d actually be playing one of their pieces with Greg, and also one of the best drummers in the world, Sheila E. I think there is a recording of it up there on the Internet somewhere. When I listen to it back, I feel very, very proud, actually, that I got the chance to do that.

Of course. That ELP gig that you saw was their first one, wasn’t it?

It was. They actually played a warmup gig just before, to try it out. But that was the first proper gig, you’re absolutely right.

Lucky…

Yes. *laughs* Definitely! I was in the right place at the right time. I mean, everything changed for me. I knew what I wanted to do after seeing that show.

Good for you, man!

I know we’re running out of time, so one last question for you: What advice would you have to offer to young and up-and-coming artists?

Ooh…right, I think the the biggest one is don’t compare yourself to anyone else. You are unique, you do music in your own way. Don’t try and be like somebody else. Try and be 100% yourself. Don’t look at other people’s Spotify numbers. *laughs* Just concentrate on doing the best job you can with circumstances you have, and don’t worry about what other people are doing. That would be my biggest advice, and I aim that at myself now. *laughs*

Fair enough. Howard, this has been great. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this with me. I hope the rest of the tour goes well.

Well, thank you so much. It’s been great talking to you, Josh, really. Thanks for doing this.

Of course. I’ll see you in Clearwater.

Okay, fantastic. Bye now.

*This interview has been edited for clarity purposes*