LIGHT THE TORCH // Joining Us In The Low Lands

Following some serious drama, the Howard Jones-fronted outfit, Devil You Know, ended their journey, rising from the ashes as Light The Torch.

Wasting no time, the band announced plans for a new album, the aptly named Revival. As we all know, there’s not really much in a name. Light The Torch are just as punchy, savage and accessible as its previous incarnation

MORE: REAL TALK: Don’t See Female Bands? Blame Yourself // Story Of The Year – Waking The Pack // Dead Of Winter Festival Line-Up // Our epic wrap of the first Australian Download Festival

We caught up with the man himself, Howard Jones.

This is far from the first release from Jones, who’s helmed a plethora of albums in his career. As a result, the dude’s vibe could not be more relaxed during what could be considered a stressful time. “I’m just still plodding ahead, doing what I’m doing. I’m just staying pretty busy.”

At the end of the day, Jones, really, is just happy to be here “From what I’ve heard, there’s been a nice response. I mean, that’s all you can ask for.”

Despite being credited on enough records to sink a ship, Jones is yet to determine a metric for success on his albums. “I hadn’t really considered what I consider A success”, he says. In a time where charts mean nothing, and sales mean nothing, Jones has set his standards to minimalist median; “I think it’s just walking into the studio and walking out with a song. For me, that’s still just … I still get so much pleasure out of that. As a band you love the live performance. That’s fantastic. But I don’t know, for some reason, I like the creative process, so that’s what I’ve just been diving into.”

“That’s why my head is everywhere else.” He adds

“Plus, I don’t have social media, so I don’t see all that. People let me know that there’s stuff going on. Like, “Oh, there’s been a big response.” That’s cool. I’m literally to the point now where I need an assistant, because I don’t stop. If I’m working I’m mentally much better, so I stay busy. And I don’t sleep, so I’m always doing something.

Despite Light The Torch being a full time commitment, Jones can’t help himself. He continues to round off a series of other projects currently on the burner. I’m writing an album with Peter from Soilwork and he and I are also … We have a thing going where we’re helping bands with demos, you know, with songwriting and arranging. We’re working with a record label, with some of their bands, with songwriting and arranging…I got to work with Dee Snider…”

Everybody has to have a cathartic moment to transform.
[ HOWARD ]

“I just stay busy, because that mentally keeps me a lot more regulated. It keeps the darkness at bay, for me. If I sit too long, I’m chemically imbalanced. For me, if I sit still, I go dark. It just gets bad. So that’s one of the things I figured. I was like, “I have to stop sitting. I have to keep moving.” So, there you go. So I just keep doing stuff, and if it interests me and I can fit it in my schedule, I’ll do it.”

Indeed, such is the case with many songwriters–or tormented creatives if you will. Jones continues to explain his personal relationship with, well, darkness, explaining “I’ve been like this since I was a kid”.

“I’ve always had trouble sleeping. I’ve always been a loner. I’ve always been manic-depressive. I just didn’t know it. But, you know, upon looking back and just going through everything I’ve gone through over the years, it’s now apparent to me, and had been apparent to pretty much everybody else I knew. “Dude, you’re manic-depressive.” So, yeah. It’s just been like that. I just always thought I was a little odd. And I guess I am, but you just gotta figure out how to work around it. It just took me a very long time.”

When questioned as to whether he feels that affliction is what connects him to a larger social consciences, allowing for an affinity with his fellow human, Jones doesn’t back down.

“That part I get. But at the same time, I’m the dude who sleeps three hours a night and literally never stays put. It gets a little odd. Even at times, I just look around and go, “How on earth did I get here?” So be it.”

Fans of Jones’ damn-near iconic penchant for melancholy should be fairly chuffed, as Jones stayed well within that lane for Light The Torch’s latest record. Shunning away external distractions, Jones focused on what he knew the best–“I pretty much just write about life.”

“Because, there was three years in between the last Devil You Know album and this one and a lot happened. I mean, that’s kind of how I write. I just write short, sad stories, I think…I have no problem joining you in the lowlands. Good deal.” I seem to traverse most places quite a bit. So, all good. Honestly, that’s the best thing I can get out of this is if somebody can, I don’t know, just get a little something out of whatever lyrics I’ve written. And that’s awesome. Hopefully I can keep doing it. I just want to keep doing this. I just like it.”

“I’d say that that’s probably one slight advantage I may have is I’m really … Because everybody fails. Everybody has a bad moment. Everybody has to have a cathartic moment to transform. I don’t know, this has gone deeper than I would normally go, but just the band and I, we went through a lot. We just had no intention of stopping. So, we were like, “Okay, let’s end Devil You Know and just flip it. Let’s just put some effort in this, put some real effort into the songwriting again, and just change it.” It was a little darker. “Let’s make this a little death.”

With the album now out, the question on Fan’s minds will be when they get to experience the thing live. “All that stuff’s starting to get mapped out right now.” Jones confirms.

Basically, we’re going to be putting on some travelling shoes for this album. We’re going to be out and about…It’s a-coming.