Credit: Mark Owen
The Moody Blues‘ Justin Hayward is out on a solo acoustic tour, but when he’s got some downtime on the road, you won’t catch him going out of his way to see other veteran rockers in concert. He admits he finds some of them “kind of creepy.”
“People often say to me, “Oh, are you going to see Rod [Stewart]?” or somebody who’s coming around. It’s like, no. Not interested,” Hayward tells Variety, when asked to name other stars whose longevity or careers he admires.
“For me, it’s about dignity. The last few years, I’ve wanted to maintain some dignity,” Hayward explains. “Not try and be that Justin that was….some musicians of my era, when they still try and do the leather trousers and the poses — I suppose Mick [Jagger] can get away with it, but he’s about the only one I know. Even Keith [Richards] has some dignity about the way he does it.”
But, Hayward laughs, “I sometimes meet people in hotels on the road, and it’s like, ‘Hey Justin!’ And I think, ‘Oh s**t, that’s kind of creepy, [the look] they’re working’ — they’ve got silver dangly things and s**t, and tattoos, and creepy kind of hair. So I hope there’s some dignity left. That’s all we can do.”
“Aging is very difficult,” Hayward, 72, allows, declaring it “frightening” to think that one day, his voice might go.
“It’s frightening because I haven’t done anything else,” he laughs. “I’d disappear into a library somewhere, I think. A monastery sounds quite a good idea sometime.”
By the way, Hayward says he would go see Gordon Lightfoot, and has high praise for Steely Dan‘s Donald Fagen, saying, “He’s still got it.”
Hayward’s current tour leg wraps on Tuesday. He’ll return for more U.S. dates starting October 6 in Harrisburg, PA.
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