Bruce Foxton - Smash the Clock (2016)

The words ‘legend’ and ‘icon’ are sometimes used too frequently these days but not when being used to describe Bruce Foxton. As part of The Jam, Bruce’s thumping bass lines exploded onto London’s live music scene in 1976, and when the followingyear the anthemic ‘In The City’ album and single were released shockwaves were sentout across the music industry that still reverberate today. Just recently Bruce wasvoted one of the Most Influential Bass Players of all time in an NME poll, showing the high regard he is held in by fans, musicians, and the music press alike.

Now, three years on from the critically acclaimed album ‘Back In The Room’ (Number 21 in the UK Charts), Bruce Foxton returns with a brand new studio album entitled ‘Smash The Clock’. Carrying every ounce of the energy, attitude and punch that he is associated with, the first single ‘Now The Time Has Come’ does not disappoint. The fact that it is to be released on the weekend of St Georges Day is poetry in motion. The quintessentially English sound is unmistakable. Recorded at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios the album features guest appearances from Paul Jones, Wilko Johnson and Weller himself, who contributes guitar and piano to a number of tracks. Bruce emphasises that his renewed friendship with Weller, which was rekindled in 2010, is more important than the music.
Bruce and co-writer Russell Hastings tour as ‘From The Jam’ with Hastings taking guitarist and vocalist duties. He is the only frontman other than Weller to have workednwith both Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler (former The Jam drummer). His passion and understanding of The Jam has entitled him to be credited by fans and critics alike as the perfect candidate to respectfully and admirably slip into the shoes of former frontman Weller, whom he also worked alongside in 2011.

Sell out tours across the UK, Australia, Singapore and the Middle East in 2015 alone has seen the band credited as one of the most hard-working in the business, and with the classic material Hastings takes his role very seriously: -
“It’s spine tingling to play those songs. I’ve always treated them as if they’re my own children, and have felt like I’ve got a responsibility towards those songs, and a responsibility towards the legacy of The Jam. I treat them with the utmost respect, and lots of energy. As a result, oddly enough, I understand them a lot more these days. Lyrically, Paul was very advanced.”

But it’s not just the old songs that the fans swarm to hear. Between them, Foxton and Hastings have not just rehashed the power of The Jam. Instead, they have kept it going, with the new material sitting comfortably alongside the hits, and growing the legacy of one of the greatest bands to have ever come from these isles. Now, with the new album, and the approval of Weller himself, they are about to embark on a whole new chapter.