Michael Messer & Chaz Jankel Talk New Album, Influences And More

Michael Messer is a virtuoso slide guitarist, singer, songwriter and roots & blues innovator. He has joined with Chaz Jankel who is most widely known as the co-writer of many hit records with Ian Dury & The Blockheads. They chatted to us all about their new album:

When and where did you both meet?  

MM: I first met Chaz in 1978 in Northwood, Middlesex. Chaz’s girlfriend was a friend of mine’s cousin. 

Your new album ‘Mostly We Drive’ is released on 19th January 2024. How did you want to approach the making of the record?

MM: It was March 2020 and just as we decided to write and record some music together we went into lockdown. I started writing lyrics and coming up with song ideas and Chaz started creating musical soundscapes for me to work with. By the time we started recording in late 2021 we decided to do the whole thing ourselves and not involve any other musicians or a recording engineer.  We recorded and rough mixed one song at a time.  So we didn’t start the next song until we had finished the one we were working on. This was a very interesting and creative way of working and we both got inspiration and energy from each other. We did bring in two other people – we were working on the song ‘I Have Seen The Light’ and Chaz suggested we ask his old friend, the great drummer, Ric Parnell, to play on this one. Ric was living in the US, so Chaz sent the track to him and he played brilliantly on the track. We were very lucky and it is poignant that it turned out to be Ric’s last recording session. Ric Parnell passed away a few weeks later. Ric Parnell was the drummer in the rock band Atomic Rooster, but he was probably most well known for playing the ill fated drummer Mick Shrimpton in the film ‘This Is Spinal Tap’. The other person we brought into the project was analogue mastering engineer, Noel Summerville. I have worked with Noel on many albums and his mastering skills are superb. 

CJ: It was an intuitive approach from myself offering up bluesy/soulful grooves that I thought would fire us both up and we could develop and expand together. You could also call it  “stock for the soup.”

Where did you record it and who produced it?

MM: We recorded the album in Chaz’s home studio in his garden in North London. A very simple setup of a computer, a couple of microphones and a roomful of instruments. We co-produced the album. We did try working with another engineer to do the mixing, but we felt happier and more focused doing the whole thing ourselves. As I said in the previous question, we just brought Noel Summerville in to master the album. 

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?

MM: There are probably quite a few, but one that springs to mind is… The song ’Slow Down Billy’ was born in March 2020 when Chaz and I hooked up for a jam. We sat together with two guitars and played on a groove for half an hour or so, which we recorded on our phones. I loved the vibe of that jam so much that I started writing a song around it. Then at some point in 2021 Chaz sent me a recording of a song he was working on called ’Slow Down Billy’. He asked if I could maybe write some lyrics or play some slide that would fit with his musical idea. I loved the title of Slow Down Billy and I loved Chaz’s musical idea, but I couldn’t make a song fit to what he had recorded. Then, completely out of the blue I started putting three elements together – Chaz’s title and opening lines, my new song and the recording of us jamming back in 2020. I took this to Chaz, he loved it and we immediately jumped in and created what is now the song ‘Slow Down Billy’ on the album.

In addition, you have your new second single ‘It Doesn’t Matter’ which is out now. What was the inspiration/story behind the song?

MM: I think the lyrics speak for themselves. It’s about the truth. Some of the verses had been in my head for a while, but it was in the summer of 2022 when Rishi Sunak & Liz Truss were on our TV’s every night, that the chorus came to me….”Come on my TV telling me all those lies, I see their body language, I see it in their eyes” . Musically, I had the slide guitar riff, melody and the lyrics. I was singing it as a slow gospel-type of song. It was Chaz’s idea to take the tempo up and make into a rock & roll song. It was such a great moment when we played it like that, it made the slide guitar part turn into a rock riff and it gave the whole thing an edginess that was exactly what it needed.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals?

MM: My stage setups are not complicated – when doing acoustic performances I play resophonic guitars, either straight into a Shure SM57 mic, or plugged into a Fishman Platinum Pro pre amp. When I play full band shows with an electric guitar, I plug guitar into a small 1950s National Valco valve amp and I don’t use any effects or pedals of any kind, apart from sometimes a handbuilt SlideRig compressor. I rely on my playing to get the sound.  It’s old school and it works for me.

CJ: With Michael Im just going to be playing on my 70s Yamaha acoustic  guitar with Elixir Strings 11 to 52s. When we play electric I will probably play my Gibson 335.

Do you have any live plans for 2024 in the UK and Europe?

MM: Yes, we plan to take this material out on the road as much as we can. We will be doing some shows as a full band with a rhythm section and some as a duo, just the two of us.

How do you look after your voices?

MM: I never used to think about it, but these days I am much more conscious of looking after my voice. I try to practice every day, even if it is just singing along to music in my car. I do vocal exercises, but that is not a daily thing. I no longer eat dairy, which is not good for singers, and I don’t over push it when I’m performing. My voice feels and sounds more relaxed and controlled than it used to. Decades of singing has made it warmer and more rounded. 

CJ: I do limited vocal warm ups. When I was playing a festival few years back with The Blockheads, whilst I was in a cubicle in the artistes toilets, I overheard Tony Hadley doing his vocalise before performing on stage with Spandau Ballet. I do follow some of the routine I secretly heard that day plus I do a bit of humming that apparently stimulates the Vargas nerve and relaxes you.

Was it a difficult album to write?

MM: No, it kind of flew out of both of us. We were firing each other up and it was working. Lyrically, because of how I was feeling, I found myself writing about subjects that I had not touched before. It just felt right and it was flowing. 

CJ: Not really. But to get the album so Michael felt  comfortable with the balance and the different  musical ingredients, that took a little while, as we sent audio files back and forth between us. Because we recorded the album during lock down at times I would try various O/Dubs ands send them to Michael for his approval as this was a collaboration.

You are given the opportunity to write and create the score/soundtrack for your favourite book/graphic novel. Which book/graphic novel would that be and how would you approach that task?

MM: Chaz has written a few film scores and soundtracks, but it would be a whole new area for me and is something I would love to do at some point. There isn’t a book that springs to mind, but if the right thing came along I would dive right in there. 

CJ: As Michael said I’ve written film scores including D.O.A and about 14 others. I’m still interested in writing if the right oppotunity presents itself. By the way, Robbie Robertsons’  slide guitar playing for the score of Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is wonderful. Tragically Robbie passed away recently, but he left this beautiful score and some other amazing music.

Who are your musical influences?

MM:  I have a broad musical taste and my influences come from right across the musical spectrum. Here’s a few names in no particular order…. King Sunny Adé, Rolling Stones, Ali Farka Toure, JJ Cale, Muddy Waters, Brij Bhushan Kabra, Mississippi Fred McDowell, King Sunny Adé, Son House, Staples Singers, Beatles, Blind Willie Johnson, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, Chuck Berry, Sol Hoopii, Jim & Bob ‘the Genial Hawaiians, Johnny Cash, Bashful Brother Oswald, Bob Dylan, Daniel Lanois…. I had better stop, I could just keep going! But you know, my most powerful influence is not the musicians I love to listen to, it is something else, family, friends, life experiences, our world…

CJ:  I love Michael‘s response to this question. My influences would include Sly and The Family Stone, Max Bruch, Bill Evans and Debussy. But thats an “Edited Highlights”. I’m also hugely inspired when I go to art galleries. Colour and light and a quiet reverential space feeds my soul and stimulates my imagination.

The album includes the instrumental ‘Arcadia’ and I wanted to ask you what was the thought process behind the song. Also, have either of you read or seen Tom Stoppard’s play called ‘Arcadia’?

MM: Chaz created the basis of that composition and its title. He came up with the chord structure, the mood and the feel. I played a slide guitar part that came naturally to me whenever I listened to Chaz’s idea. It is not particularly melody based, it is all about creating a mood and a sound. I have not read or seen Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia.

CJ: The seeds of Arcadia came to me as I was looking at some clothes in a menswear shop in Crouch End.

What makes Michael Messer and Chris Jankel happy and what makes you unhappy?

MM: I can’t speak for Chaz, but for me… being around my family and friends, making music alone and with other musicians, playing beautiful guitars, listening to music, being outside in the natural world, eating great food, travel, adventure….. All these things bring me happiness. What makes me unhappy…. just look at the state of our world!

CJ:  Agreed with Michael. I read a phenomenal book called Flow…and to paraphrase the last paragraph, that if you can align your own personal flow in  a positive creative way with that of  the world, thats the purpose of existence.I cant disagree with that…I find that helps to keep me focused and balanced.