Foreigner Reunion Re-energizes Jones

LOS ANGELES‹With the release of Tina Arena's "In Deep," Foreigner guitarist, writer, and producer Mick Jones is back in the music business. Not that he ever really left. But it's that project that has sent Jones back to the studio.
"During the mid-'90s, I lost interest in music in general," he says. "I went through a very "blah' phase, and I think music did as well. Looking back, I feel working with Tina started me thinking about what I was doing as well. I thought a lot about the journey she was on, and it reminded me about the energy, the vitality, the things that got me into music in the first place. It rekindled my interest."
That interest was further influenced by the mini-Foreigner reunion that Arena's cover of "I Want To Know What Love Is" triggered. However, shortly after completing her project, fate threw Jones, and Foreigner, a curve.
"Our lead singer, Lou Gramm, came down with a brain tumor," Jones says. "It was dire days for a while. It was pretty wild. Fortunately, he came through it amazingly well and is back to his old self, singing better than ever."
According to Jones, he and Gramm had their "little problems" over the past 10 years. Even when they reunited several years ago, they weren't completely focused.
"Watching Lou's journey put things in clearer perspective. It brought the entire band back together, and certainly Lou and I are much closer than we've ever been."
Jones and Gramm are now focusing on a new Foreigner album with other band members Jeff Jacobs (keyboards), Bruce Turgon (bass), and Bryan Tichy (percussion). The new album is already two-thirds written, and Jones anticipates it will be finished for an early-summer release. The group is now signed to BMG International for Europe but has not yet secured a U.S. label home.
Recently, Jones has been temporarily sidetracked. He recently completed songs for the soundtrack to "Still Crazy," a British film that chronicles the misadventures of a successful '70s rock band that reunites in the '90s (see review, page 26). The film is something that Jones calls "an odd parallel. It's quite amusing."
Amusing, indeed. His work on the soundtrack, including the cut "And The Flame Still Burns," was nominated for a Golden Globe Award this year, prior to the U.S. debut of the film Jan. 18.
Despite the excitement of the film, Jones is most interested in the reunion of Foreigner.
"It's been a long time since I've been so excited about what we're doing," he says. "I jokingly said to Lou, "You know, you're sounding better than ever before,' and he looked at me with a droll expression and said, "Well, you know Mick, there's a bit more room up there now for things to reverberate around.'
"Maybe we are "still crazy,' like the movie says, to want to be doing this after all these years. But it's an insanity I welcome."