In the May 2025 isssue of the German music magazine Good Times, Jeff spoke with writer Von Philipp Roser about the new album and how his music has evolved. Here is a longer version of the article that was printed.

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Q. HERE & NOW is your first album-release since No Turn Unstoned (2012) with unreleased songs from the 70s - why did it take so long to do a new album?

J: Actually only a small number of 70s songs are included and the rest have been around for some time in skeletal demo form. The reason it took so long is in 2014 and 2016 I had to undergo two spinal surgery procedures for spinal stenosis. The condition is painful and left me with numbness in my right thumb and first finger which cause difficulty in playing guitar or keyboards.
   I took some time out to adjust to this new reality and didn't pick up a guitar or any other instrument for some time, then around the beginning of 2019 I decided to try and find a way to get back on my 'horse' and work on these songs that were gathering dust as well as some newer ones.
   This was a long tedious process as playing was and is challenging and slow, thankfully I found that with a lot of patience and practice I could play small sections at a time on keys and guitars, so you can imagine how this makes the process much longer and time consuming.

Q. You've released only the digital way, no physical release yet - why?

J. Record companies don't want the expense of funding and marketing physical product these days unless they're guaranteed recoupment at the very least. This isn't guaranteed unless you're a mainstream artist or group guaranteed to meet those requirements and turn in a decent profit for the companies.
   I funded this album myself and own it all lock, stock and barrel. I don't expect to recoup my costs but accept that. It was a triumph for me to make this album and it's now out there for the world to hear that was my main objective.

Q. You're writing songs since the mid-Sixties - how far has your style of writing changed over the years/decades?

J. Good question! I like to think perhaps a bit more mature and a wider remit in terms of lived life experience, age and a healthy dose of cynicism that help me see the world as it is not as I would like, which help me craft songs that reflect a wider palate hopefully.

Q. You did most of the work yourself, but also had some other musicians in the studio or exchanged files with them? (A new experience, I guess, quite different from the way you work before)

J. I've always worked this way with the exception of always using a drummer and sometimes a bass player at the same time if that's convenient. I then build the tracks up with guitars, keys and vocals.
   If I need additional instrumentation that I either can't play or not proficient enough at, I find the appropriate musician to do the job. On this album on a couple of occasions I did use a couple of musicians in the studio and also a couple of others over the internet.
   Snake Davis' Sax solo at the tail of One in a Million worked really well as we Facetimed and I was able to sing him the solo note for note, which he did admirably and then sent me the audio file. The harmonica that follows the bass riff at the tail end of Building Bridges was done remotely by someone else also, but the harmonica in Ordinary People was me.
   I used another musician who had a Wurlitzer electric piano which has a lovely depth on a couple of tracks, and another guitar player with a different style to me to help out on few tracks also.
   Because I had to work through the COVID/lockdown period it slowed things somewhat and threw up these other challenges of remote internet arrangements. It's also sometimes more time efficient and economical if you have good people to work with in this genre. The old days of everyone being in the same room at the same time still exist but I suspect getting less and less.

Q. How did it happen to work together with Lorenzo Gabanizza?

J. Originally Lorenzo was a fan who I was aware of only through his keen interest and contributions to my website. He had done some tribute covers of my songs and that's about all I knew until out of the blue I got an email from him asking me if I would consider duetting with him on a song he wrote about love and loss, after the death of his mother.
   As a rule I don't tend to do collaborations, mainly because I'm too busy working on my own songs.    He told me that his mother was a big fan who would sing my songs to him when he was a small kid and because of this he grew up also a fan.
   This put me on the spot as I was quite moved by this story and didn't want to be unkind for refusing if the song was poor or not the kind of song that resonated with me.
   The song was called You're Not There and I was surprised how well it was put together and recorded as well as being really quite good. I said 'yes' and recorded my parts and that was the beginning of a line of collaborations that continues to this day. At some point I think an album of all the songs we've done will be released.

Q. You once started out as guitarist in an instrumental band (The 3Gs+1 or The Tremmers?)- when did you start singing?

J. 3Gs+1 was a short-lived instrumental band that I was in when I was 14. There were two Geoff's, one Gerry plus one Jeff, I was the +1. That outfit morphed into the Tremmers, still playing instrumentals with me on lead guitar.
   Eventually we got a couple of lead vocalists, one white for doing white singer covers and one black for Little Richard covers. That was going well until the white vocalist decided to go back to London where he was from originally. That left us with one vocalist who was good but unfortunately he became increasingly unreliable.
   I was the one that always had to spend hours with my ears pressed to the speaker of my Dansette record player getting the words to the Little Richard songs, as he never knew them well enough and would often get creative with the lyrics on stage.
   We had a Friday and Saturday night residency at the Tahiti club in Leeds and we were very popular especially as we had a black singer and most of the other groups in Leeds at that time didn't. One night he didn't turn up and after a panicked debate in the dressing room it was decided after a vote that I should stick my head in the lion's mouth and be the lead singer that night, especially as I knew all the words to these songs and anyway someone had to try or we might not have got paid.    Thankfully and unbelievably it went well, they actually applauded! That's how it started.

Q. You're combining a lot of different styles and influences, from Pop to Rock, Soul, Blues, Motown - all music you listened to growing up?

J. Yes, for me there was no musical snobbery, I listened to such a wide range of music from an early age from the great classical composers, some operatic arias, flamenco, the great American songbook and then the 50's rock 'n' roll greats, through the Motown, Stax and blues to the great British and American bands of the 60's and 70's.
   So many brilliant songwriters to listen and learn from. They were the best of times musically for me and still are to this day. My songwriting style and influences are all from those three great decades.

Q. You had big hits with Yellow River and San Bernadino, which also helped your bank account and made it possible for a long career, even in less successful times?

J. Well I can tell you it helped CBS and Gale Music's bank account much more than it did mine and that's all I'll say about that. Those two songs in particular were very successful for me and seemed to form a life of their own in terms of cover versions, syncs and worldwide radio over the years.
   Iron Horse, whilst not reaching the same heights as the other two, was still a top 50 in the UK and other territories. It has spawned many covers, one in particular used recently in the highly successful US TV series White Lotus.

Q. How is it to live with those songs, the fans always want to hear them live - was there a point in your long career of more than 50 years when you got fed up playing those songs?

J. Not really, as the audience reaction always brought me back to earth if I ever got a bit picky and made me realise that these songs are the reason there is an audience in the first place. I never lose sight of that.
   Of course you wouldn't be human if sometimes you didn't get a bit jaded with the sheer repetitive factor. My songwriting gives me the opportunity to explore different styles and in reality, it's always been like that. I hit a vein in the 70's with a particular style but as a songwriter that alone doesn't define me.

Q. You recorded Yellow River for The Tremeloes, but they didn't want to use it, so you put on your vocals and released it yourself. Did you ever hear anything by the Tremeloes concerning their "mistake"?

J. I never intended it for the Tremeloes. I had a song called Tomorrow Night which I offered them as it was in the style of hits they were having.
   They were trying to look for a new direction and when they heard Yellow River, they asked if they could have that instead. I was surprised by this but said yes as they were so hot for it. They had it for many months and finally decided to put out one of their own songs but asked me to come down and do it myself which I did.
   In the early 90's I was doing the TV show 'Let's Have a Party' with Thomas Gottschalk in Frankfurt and Alan Blakley came over and said it was the biggest mistake they ever made.

Q. Yellow River also was a kind of sublime anti-war-song - would you agree?

J. Yes, especially in the US. I used to get Vietnam vets writing to me saying how much they loved the song as it reminded them of home. I found out later that apart from the Yellow River National Park there was also an army transit camp with the same name so obviously it resonated with the vets, but yes, it has a universal anti-war message.

Q. It seems you love to write/sing about "normal people" - like Ordinary People on the new album? Also about human behaviour?

J. Yes, I do because human behaviour provides an endless number of opportunities to explore in music and verse.

Q. Driving Down To Memphis came out of a dream about Graceland? Do they really have a cup with Elvis on one side and you on the other?

J. Yes, a really vivid dream which happened after a close friend had just returned after taking his daughter on the Elvis/Graceland tour and brought me an Elvis coffee mug as a souvenir. Obviously, a typical tourist thing to do to personalise the visitor's visit to Graceland. There must be thousands of similar Elvis mugs with their owners' names written on them next to Elvis.

Q. Outer Limits were your first professional band. You performed with them also in the Royal Albert Hall, toured with Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. Any special memories, anecdotes for our readers?

J. So many stories, and a few from that time when we (Outer Limits) toured with Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd in '67. This was the last of the great UK rock package tours of the '60's taking in Theatres and City Halls across the country. The largest being the Royal Albert Hall in London. Not long afterwards came the stadium era, enabling seating for thousands as opposed to hundreds.
   Pink Floyd's founding member Syd Barrat lost his mind on that tour and became a reclusive lost soul for the rest of his life. The big four bands at the time on that tour were Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, The Move and Amen Corner, supported by less famous but popular up and coming ones, The Nice, Eire Apparent and Outer Limits.
   Interestingly a few years later from those three less famous bands three key members were to find fame, Keith Emerson from The Nice to Emerson Lake & Palmer, Henry McCulloch from Eire Apparent to Wings, and myself to Christie. Jimi's roadie Ian Kilmister re-emerged several years later as Lemme, front man of Motorhead after a few years in Hawkwind.
   The standout memory from that tour was watching Jimi from the wings and the audience response, and on one occasion at Newcastle City Hall he was having problems with the tuning of his Gibson Flying V and getting increasingly frustrated, finally throwing his arrow shaped guitar at his Marshall Stack Amp from roughly a seven-yard distance. Instead of either missing or falling short it hit bull's eye centre speaker, quivering and feeding back whilst some sort of smoke started belching out of the stricken amp as it rocked backwards and forward under the assault, Lemme most probably standing behind it to stop it toppling over. I was standing in the wings watching next to Carl Wayne of The Move and we just looked at each other in awe as did much of the audience who went ballistic!

Q. You've performed all over the world, even in Africa, in Russia and often in Germany, I guess? Any special "German memories"?

J. Well German fans have always been some of the most loyal and enthusiastic ones since first touring there in the 70s when Christie toured extensively, but only in Western Germany. In the 90s, after the wall came down, we toured the length and breadth of the united country, east, west, north and south. German TV and radio stations have been playing Christie hits for over 50 years and I'm deeply grateful for this.
   South and Central America, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, Europe, Scandinavia, Poland, the Baltic States and Russia all exciting in their own way. When I look back some countries that existed then don't now!

Q. Are you still performing live?

J. No, unfortunately spinal surgery put a stop to that as it seriously affected my balance, amongst other issues, which just made it untenable. Brexit has also contributed to causing endless hassles for British artists to tour in Europe.

Q. Are you still in contact with the original or later band members of Christie? Was Kev Moore involved in the new album?

J. Paul Fenton and I have kept in touch since 1969 because we were always pals as well as musical travellers. Kev wasn't involved in the new album and I haven't spoken to the 1990 reformed band members for a while, but since I stopped live performance it was obvious that contact would diminish as we didn't socialise, but we all got on well and it was basically a happy unit for the 25 years we worked together.

Q. Songwriting seems to be the most important factor of your life - you've been writing for/with others and also did workshops?

J. Yes, it does seem to be the case because it's much more than just creating tunes and lyrics to accompany them, it's actually a kind of therapy, a sanctuary, a place I can go to where all my creative musical intelligence is allowed to flourish in some mental isolation chamber that can shut out all the noise, distress and dissonance of the world.
   It's something of a life saver for me not just a soothing distraction and I've always been so thankful that this ability or gift has been granted to me. I cannot imagine a world without music and if there ever was, I would not want to exist in it.
   The only workshop I ever did was in Copenhagen in the late 90s with a bunch of Danish songwriters. There was a team of British writers of which I was one, working with our Danish counterparts, and it was very productive for me and most of the UK team although one or two writers didn't or couldn't rise to the occasion and went home early.
   The idea was to try and co-write a song every day for a week. It's very rare for me to collaborate with other writers, mainly because I like the challenge of trying to create a song without any outside help. I can think of perhaps only one or two occasions in the distant past when this happened.

Q. I guess you're still looking for the perfect song? How would/could it look/sound like?

J. It's the equivalent of the lure of a musical Utopia or like the mythical search for the golden fleece that every songwriter worth their salt wants to achieve. Of course it's unachievable just as perfection is, and then who is to decide what is perfection, but it's a potent subconscious driver nevertheless.

Q. Any plans for a new album?

J. I'm writing all the time but there's no deadline or pressure, unlike the old days, and when there's enough songs that I feel will be right for an album that's when it'll be, but I also may just release single tracks in packs of two or three as it is a faster process.

Q. Are you still reworking older songs?

J. Yes, I really like trying to reimagine and rework certain songs from the past, either because they didn't get the treatment they deserved at the time or simply because it's a fun thing to do to re-imagine, re-vitalise and remaster.