Babybird
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Babybird, aka Stephen Jones was enjoying cult status among keen music lovers and fickle critics in the mid-1990’s until something happened that changed everything…mainstream success.
Creative by nature, Jones advanced his artistic talents at Nottingham Trent University. Upon graduating with a degree in creative arts, Jones received a grant from the Arts Council. With it, he started Dogs in Honey, an experimental theater group that Jones called “anti-theater” taking on such light subject matters as nuclear war. It was during this time, composing soundtracks for the company’s controversial productions, on a 4-track paid for by the Council that Jones realized his true love was for music.
A prolific songwriter, Jones, had over 400 tunes penned by the time he and his two manager-friends decided to send around his demos to major labels. After being summarily rejected by everyone, an idea was born from a night of heavy drinking. The new plan was to release a series of lo-fi albums with a limited pressing of 1000 copies each. Around the same time, Chrysalis came to the table with a small publishing deal and Jones used the cash to put the plan into action. Because Stephen Jones is such a common name, not to mention the famous guitar player of the same name in the Sex Pistols, Jones chose to release the albums under Babybird, an apt moniker representing the fragility, simplicity and innocence of his songs. In short succession, between July, 1995 and March, 1996, four of the five lo-fi recordings were released according to plan, I Was Born a Man, Bad Shave, Fatherhood, and The Happiest Man Alive.
Armed with incredible gifts for crafting sunny, unforgettable melodies and whip-smart lyrics, and a heart-melting voice that’s been likened to Bono and Ian McCulloch, Jones quickly built a loyal underground following, including McCulloch, himself. “The first time I met Ian McCulloch, he pulled me into his dressing room and locked the door. I really thought he was going to kill me since I had been compared to him. Instead he walked over to me, poured a half-liter of Jack Daniels into my beer and told me he was a fan.”
The lo-fi releases garnered a tremendous amount of critical acclaim from all the major publications including Melody Maker, NME, The Guardian and The Independent. When the final lo-fi album, Dying Happy was released in 1997, the series – meant to represent an entire lifecycle of a man – was finally completed. Eventually all five albums were repackaged into a boxed set, in 2002 by Sanctuary, called The Original Lo-Fi. Not surprisingly, the set received tremendous praise including the All Music Guide which raved, “The Original Lo-Fi should cement Babybird’s reputation as one of the finest experimental pop artists of his time…Written, performed, and produced as only Stephen Jones is capable of, the songs are easily among the finest musical confections of a generation.”
With the press handily on his side, a burgeoning fan base culled from playing countless gigs in Sheffield, intermittent residencies at London’s Splash Club, and Stephen’s growing reputation as a wild, uninhibited front man, Babybird started to finally get noticed by the major labels. “By the second or third gig of a residency, people would be sat up front waiting for us to play. Record companies would see that and then they got interested.”
Echo Records (a subsidiary of Chrysalis) came to the table and offered Jones his first major label recording opportunity. With his band in tow – guitarist Luke Scott, bassist John Pedder, keyboardist Hugh Chadbourne, and drummer Rob Gregory – Babybird released Ugly, Beautiful, a collection of re-recordings of previously released Babybird material.
The first single, “Goodnight” received a decent amount of radio play and charted. Legendary DJ, John Peel, who had been an ardent supporter from the get go, led the charge. But, it was the release of the single “You’re Gorgeous” that propelled Babybird into the mainstream limelight, seemingly overnight. The single went all the way to #3 and stayed there for 17 weeks. “When you release a very big single and it’s called “You’re Gorgeous” people think you’ve done it deliberately to sell a million records. But, releasing that single was the record company’s idea.”
The single changed everything for Jones and is, in retrospect, an excellent example of how he has often been misunderstood. In spite of Jones’ lyrics, describing a scenario in which a man, instead of a scantily clad woman, is being used as a sex object to sell a product (You took me to your rented motorcar and filmed me on the bonnet. You got me to hitch my knees up and pulled my legs apart), the song became a staple at weddings and even used in greeting cards. The proliferation of the single was so massive that it forced Jones to move from his home in Northern England to London. “In a small town, you can’t escape. I was recognized wherever I went and followed everywhere. In London, at least I could escape.”
Jones recognizes that it would be “silly” not to appreciate the positive impact success had on his life. With the money came a nice flat and the freedom to do things he could not do before. One of the biggest advantages was that Babybird was also making money for the label, so, for the second Echo album, There’s Something Going On, the band were sent to a beautiful studio in Spain. Outside the watchful eye of label execs who were hoping for “You’re Gorgeous 2,” Stephen steadfastly stayed true to himself and made the album he wanted to make. In spite of his best efforts, three singles off the album all made it to the top 40.
In 1998, Babybird released the third and last album for Echo, 2000’s Bugged, and an album that Stephen remains very proud of. “This is my favorite of all the Echo albums. The songs on it are great.” Babybird sold over 2 million albums for Echo, but, when it became apparent that they were not going to make another single like “You’re Gorgeous,” the band and the label parted ways.
Between 2000 and 2006, still making money off of the hit singles, Jones got back to his roots, “making music for myself and like-minded people.” A logical progression from making music for theater, Jones began composing music for film, most notably for the 2004 movie, Blessed. He also, impressively, penned two novels, The Bad Book in 2000 and Harry and Ida Swap Teeth in 2003. In addition, he had two children with his girlfriend of 20 years (Jones doesn’t believe much in institutions, be it religion or marriage, “I’m a child with children,” he jested.)
2006 saw the release of a new Babybird record, Between My Ears, There’s Nothing But Music, released on Chrysalis. And, in 2008, Jones released a double CD as a side project titled, Death of the Neighborhood. Jones never stops songwriting and has amassed over “1000 pieces of music, ready for 90 new albums.”
It was about this time that Johnny Depp, who has been a fan of Babybird and a friend of Stephen’s for years, connected him to Grammy nominated producers, Bruce Witkin and Ryan Dorn, co-founders of the indie label, Unison Music Group, LLC. Johnny had found Babybird’s music several years earlier with Marilyn Manson when the two of them were checking out the video for “Bad Old Man” off of There’s Something Going On. The tune is a typical Jones track with “massive lyrics,” and propelled Depp to seek Stephen out.
While Depp was working with Bruce on the music for Sweeney Todd, Babybird was still on his mind and Depp urged Bruce to go meet with Stephen on his next trip to London. Bruce did just that and subsequently asked Stephen to send Bruce and Ryan a few demos. “We listened and immediately called him up and said, ‘want to make a record?’” Bruce, Ryan and Stephen did just that and Ex-Maniac was born.
Set for release in March 2010, Ex-Maniac is Stephen Jones at his best. The album is riddled with irresistible melodies that accentuate Jones’ rich, warm, angelic voice. Poignant and poetic lyrics tackle subject matters that everyone thinks about, but not everyone has the moxy to talk about. Babybird fans will immediately recognize familiar themes such as struggling with addiction, feelings of displacement, the difficulties of intimate relationships, a false sense of freedom and protecting innocence. These topics are examined in the way that only Jones can – by combining the sunniest of melodies with the darkest of subject matters, all topped with a dark sense of humor to help lighten the mood.
While some of these themes have certainly touched Jones’ own life, his songs are not necessarily autobiographical, “I’m reluctant to say I’m playing characters in my music, because people think you’re pretentious, but I do play those roles.” Coming from a theatrical background, with talents that extend into all aspects of the arts, it’s not surprising that Jones is such a convincing storyteller.
Ex-Maniac was recorded at Unison Music Studios by Bruce Witkin and Ryan Dorn. Bruce and Stephen played all of the instruments, except the drums. And, a special guest guitarist on the first single, Unloveable, was made by the link that brought them all together, Johnny Depp. Mr. Depp also directed a brilliant video to accompany Unloveable. Babybird will tour throughout the UK March 2010. Ex Maniac marks the first UK release from Unison Music Group, LLC.