BURNING down the house

ONE OF THE most popular vocalists to emerge from mid-1960s Britain, Sir Tom Jones will be back in Thailand next month for what promises to be a sold-out show at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani.
In a career that has spanned more than half a century, Jones has segued between pop, rock country, soul and gospel, sold more than 100 million records and given the music world countless hits including “It's Not Unusual”, “Kiss”, “Delilah”, “What’s New Pussycat”, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again”, “Green, Green Grass of Home”, “Burning Down The House” and “Sex Bomb”.
He recently took time out between shows to chat with us about his return to the Thai capital.

HOW HAS 2016 TREATED YOU SO FAR?
This is my first tour of the year. I started in Australia, New Zealand and Tasmania and then I come to Asia. The year is pretty full with live shows.

SO NO NEW MATERIAL COMING OUT SOON THEN?
Not at the moment. This year is going to be taken up with doing live shows. I’m very proud of the last albums that I’ve done with Ethan Johns who produced them and who gave me the chance to do songs that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. I’m trying to think about the next album. I’d love to work with Ethan again because he’s a great producer so we’re just thinking now about our next move.

HOW DO YOU TAKE CARE OF YOUR VOICE AND YOUR HEALTH?
I try to work out as much as possible. I walk whenever I can because cardiovascular exercise is very important especially for singers, as you need to breathe right. If you’re not breathing correctly you can’t sing properly so I get into the gym, use the elliptical machine and get that cardiovascular thing going, get the blood pumping. I also take care of myself in general, you know, the usual, not drinking too much alcohol and watching my diet because I’ve got to be fit in order to be on stage. [Being on stage] is what I love to do and I want to do it for as long as I possibly can.

HOW DO YOU LIKE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW?
Well I think it’s pretty healthy because you’ve got so many different kinds of music that are popular. There’s dance music of course, but there are also some really good singers around and good live music, so it’s not all electronic. Also, there’s a lot of natural-sounding music so I think it’s a good mixture. It’s not being dominated by any musical style, there’s plenty of room for |different types of music and |I think that’s a good thing.

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN LISTENING TO LATELY?
I like what Bruno Mars is doing as a young singer and I like the English singer James Bay and Adele, of course. She has a really lovely voice. I listen to all kinds of stuff. I was one of the coaches on “The Voice UK” for four seasons and I loved |listening to new people singing. |I’m always curious to know |about new singers.

WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOUR SHOW THIS TIME?
The show will be a mixture of old and new songs. It’s changed over the years, of course, with different songs but I’ve always had a wide variety of material in my show – new songs, old ones, some rock ‘n roll, country, blues, everything.

The writer wishes to thank 105.5 Eazy FM for its assistance.

>> Tom Jones performs on April 5 at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani.
>> Tickets from Bt2,500 to Bt4,500 are from Thai Ticket Major. Call (02) 262 3456; www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.