Paul Weller wants to challenge his fans but doesn’t want his new music to “alienate” them. The former Jam frontman is keen to “challenge” his audiences so stays away from crowd-pleasing greatest hits sets in his live shows but hopes they appreciate that and enjoy his “journey”.
Asked if he worries his fans won’t move on with him, he said: “Of course. I wouldn’t do it to try and alienate people. I would hope that people would come along with me on the journey. “Not everyone does and that’s fair enough, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if I was a fan I’d take it as a compliment that the artist in question was trying to challenge me.”
However, he admitted when he first left the Jam, his decision to ignore his time with the band and not perform their songs was done to be “confrontational”. He told Q magazine: “I was doing it from a confrontational point of view back then, which is absurd really. “Instead of trying to involve people and be nice about it, I was trying to set up a wall. ‘What do you mean you don’t f***ing like it?’ This is great, this I where we’re going. “Now if I do something different, I genuinely want people to come with me.”
The 60-year-old musician enjoyed a career resurgence with the release of his 2008 record ’22 Dreams’ and he admitted he’s embraced the “creative freedom” he’s had over the last decade. He said: “I loved my 50s. I’ve got creative freedom in the last few years where I’m not afraid to try whatever. I feel like the sky’s the limit.
“Time’s the biggest thing for me, my clock is ticking over, my meter is on the go.”
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