“There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me”: Joe Bonamassa accepts some people will never appreciate his take on the blues
Joe Bonamassa is done wrangling with the critics. With his new record Breakthrough fresh out, the blues legend is clear-eyed about where he stands: not everyone will like his music, and that’s perfectly fine by him.
In a recent chat with Guitar World, Bonamassa declares, “What I interpret the blues as is different from what other people interpret the blues as. I’m long past the point of caring. There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me, nor do I wish to.”
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For Bonamassa, the point of it all is simple: “What I offer is an escape for two hours and 10 minutes. When we play a show, it’s an escape from politics, the world’s problems and your personal problems. You enjoy the show, or put on the record, and you forget. That’s what music is about. It’s always been about that.”
And while the so-called “blues police” might nitpick, he shrugs it off.
“Even the people who get praised and championed by the blues police think the blues police are a joke. They all roll their eyes in private,” says the guitarist. “It’s like, ‘Who cares? It’s just music.’ It’s made to be enjoyed; it’s not that important.”
That attitude extends beyond genre debates to his gear too.
“Everybody has room. There’s no right or wrong,” JoBo explains. “We live in a world of influencers going, ‘Well, here’s the ultimate way to do X.’ The next thing you know, someone comes up with some oddball approach that changes the game again. But everybody is dealing with the same wood and wire as everybody else.”
As for the critics who still want him to play it straighter? Bonamassa’s simply not interested.
“It doesn’t matter, because when I look at our last set of gigs and I see full arenas, I think, ‘We did something right, and the music struck a chord with a large number of people,’” he says. “So do I placate the minority of folks, or do I play an arena gig with blues songs that nobody else is doing? I’d rather do the latter.”
Ultimately, Bonamassa wears the “polarising” label like a badge of honour: “You have to, at some point, say to yourself, ‘This is who I am, but not everybody is going to like it.’… You’re not doing it right until you’re polarising. You’re not doing it right until someone you know makes a stupid meme about you.”
“There’s a quote from a bass player [Derek Smalls] from a great band [Spinal Tap], who said, ‘There’s fire and ice,’ but what you don’t want to be is lukewarm water. I’d rather quit than be lukewarm water,” says the musician. “I’d rather be loved or hated – but not tolerated.”
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
