Jon Allen: Paul McCartney’s NBF

Jon Allen

A graduate of The Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Jon Allen has gradually been acquiring a large fan base thanks to his debut long player Dead Man’s Suit and his relentless touring up and down the country. After one of his songs was used in a Land Rover advert he began to attract the interest of a number of A&R men, surprising them all by deciding to release his album on his own label. Here, Muso’s Guide puts a few questions to him and finds out what it was like sitting down to write with the one and only Sir Paul McCartney.

MG: You’ve been on tour all over the UK in the last few months. With your profile steadily rising how have you found audiences reactions?

JA: Well the first thing that’s great is there is now audience to give a reaction. They normally applaud having left a classical recital-length pause at the end of each song. I have yet to witness, even at the festival gigs I have played, topless women with ‘I Love Jon’ festooned across their bosoms. Perhaps that will come with the second album!

MG: Any particular place that was your favourite to play?

JA: For some unknown reason I have a really good following the south cost of England. I always get a great reaction at a place called Mr Kypes in Poole.

MG: You’ve cited Bob Dylan as an influence and your voice seems to share some qualities with Rod Stewart. Are there any other singer/songwriters who have informed your writing and style? I’ve seen you compared to Elliott Smith, for example.

JA: I’m a big fan of Van in his golden period; would love to be able to sing like Ray Charles. I also like a lot of music that doesn’t sound like my own. I know and love Stevie Wonder’s ’70s work really well.

MG: Conversely, do you get tired of constantly being compared to other artists?

JA: Putting things in boxes is fun. We men love it particular. Once we have filed something away we have neutralized its otherness risk and it can then be forgotten. Being original is impossible being good is all one can hope for.

MG: I understand that while attending the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts, Paul McCartney became a fan of your writing. Can you tell me more about that?

JA: Yes, we did a one to one writing thingy that was fun. I was pretty nervous waiting for him to arrive but he is very disarming and good at making you feel like he just an ordinary bloke (which he clearly isn’t).

MG: How much do you think that kind of education has shaped your songwriting?

JA: Well you don’t always know when or where you are going to get you education. Most of the time it ain’t in school (see grammar error). I think my university education was a costly three-year social activity and little more. Sometimes I wish I had had some discipline beaten in to me at an early age and now I wouldn’t be so lazy. Instead I went to a lefty progressive school and learned how to sit under a tree and make friendship bracelets! But hey, I might not be an artist either so it’s swings and roundabouts.

MG: Your album was released on your own self-funded label. Can you tell me a little bit about why you chose to go down that route, when the high profile of ‘Going Home’ no doubt attracted you some record label interest?

JA: Yes it did. If I had a penny for every A&R man who has bought me a cup of coffee I could afford to buy my own cup of coffee.  So when I got the Land Rover ad, I decided to metaphorically by my own cup of coffee, as it were.

MG: Would you like to put out records by other artists or is the label solely designed to have control of your own work?

JA: Yeah. Potentially. Please send demos to… and I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.

MG: You’re playing some more shows throughout the summer; do you have any plans to go back into the studio any time soon?

JA: There is a plan to release the second album in the summer of next year, so yes, I will be back in the studio soon!

So get your demos in to Mr. Allen as soon as possible; you never know it might lead you to a writing session with a former Beatle, too.

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