Reinvigorated Jones leads band toward 40-year milestone

Mick Jones knows sometimes to keep rocking you have to step away for a bit.

In early 2000, the original Foreigner lead guitarist took a break from the band he founded in 1976 to take care of his own health – both physical and mental. But then in 2004 he brought a new, reformed group back together. Since then the new lineup has been cranking out Foreigner’s unmistakable staple of hits ever since.

“It’s been like starting over again, really. I had to make a decision. I was fortunate enough to put a band together that was very, very inspiring,” Jones, 71, said from him home in Soho, N.Y. “It’s a bunch of guys that really seemed to get behind what it took to be able to put this thing back and running.”

Jones is the sole original member left, but that hasn’t stopped them from packing theaters with Foreigner fans eager to hear the hits from “I Want To Know What Love Is” to “Feels Like the First Time,” “Hot Blooded” and “Cold As Ice.” Since the band burst on the scene with its self-titled debut in 1977, it has released 10 multiplatinum albums and 16 Top 30 hits. Next Foreigner comes to rock Gallo Center for the Arts on Saturday, Oct. 29.

As is has for the past several years, the band will bring on a local choir to sing on stage during “I Want To Know What Love Is.” At the Gallo Center performance the Modesto High choir has been selected for the honor and will receive a $500 donation from the group.

Jones spoke with The Modesto Bee about the new band, old hits and what to make of that reunion talk with Lou Gramm.

Q: You are the current lineup’s sole founding member. Why is it so important for you to carry on the band’s legacy?

A: Well, Foreigner was my dream vehicle. It was the sum of all my experiences, the things I’d learned in the music business growing up. I was in the position where I was either going to be forced to go back and sing things over in England for a while or stay here and put up a fight. That’s really what it represented (starting Foreigner); it was a major turning point in my life.

Q: When the band was creating “Feels Like the First Time,” “I Want To Know What Love Is” and the rest, did you realize these songs would stand the test of time as they have?

A: No idea, no clue. Our sights were set on just getting a foothold with the first album and then having a shot at a few more albums. That was really the biggest aspiration we had. To imagine what it would become, what it has, was impossible. Nobody had trodden those waters before. We were basically a new band. The only other band that had done that was Boston. It was whirlwind; it was crazy. Nobody was geared up. We thought it would have modest beginnings and hopefully develop into something.

Q: So what inspires you to carry on today?

A: That’s really a big part of why we are there – the songs. They’ve managed to endure somehow. They’re still kind of part of the scenery of American radio. We’ve worked very hard since I reformed the band in 2004; it has been just work, work, work all the way through. I don’t really know what else I would do. I don’t want to retire and start playing golf again. So it’s exciting.

I’m very, very fortunate to have a career that has given me all sorts of opportunities in my life. I feel as long as the people want to hear it, we’ll be playing it. They’ll have to carry me off the stage, I’m sure.

Q: In the early 2000s you famously left the road and band for a while. You’ve spoken about how you had a nervous breakdown as well as other health issues. How were you able to come back?

A: It was just a huge challenge. It was discouraging at the beginning. It was literally going back to the beginning. I chose to do it that way. I didn’t realize what I was getting into. But then gradually I thought, “This is fun.” These guys are great. There’s a tremendous feeling in the band, and everyone wants the same thing. It’s been really enjoyable and way beyond my wildest dreams, really.

Q: Earlier this year there was some talk of you and fellow original member and former frontman Lou Gramm perhaps reuniting for the band’s 40th anniversary. Where does that stand?

A: We’ve been in touch and communicating a bit. Nothing is set yet. There are one or two events we might have an opportunity to reunite the band perhaps. Our next year is our 40th anniversary, so we’re working on ideas.

This story was originally published October 26, 2016 at 12:42 PM with the headline "Reinvigorated Jones leads band toward 40-year milestone."