INTERVIEW: Another new chapter for Andy Crofts as he brings Paul Weller into focus

An accomplished singer-songwriter and live performer, frontman and band leader of his popular Northampton outfit The Moons, a former keyboard player and current bass player with the Paul Weller band, a host of his own radio show and also a film-maker.

And now, add to that list - published author.

On August 20, Crofts' first book is released, and it is simply entitled 'Paul'.

It is a pictorial account of the past five years of the life of Paul Weller on the road, and in the studio, with Crofts making the most of his position as colleague and friend of one of Britain's best loved and most popular music stars.

Being a Weller band member certainly gives Crofts something of a unique perspective, and after amassing 1,000s of pictures over his 10-year stint working all around the world with the Modfather, a book to show off that work seems a logical step.

But it's not one that Crofts was expecting he would be taking, and indeed, he admits the book has only come to fruition after an encouraging nudge from Weller himself.

"It is something that has built up naturally over the years, and Paul was the one who mentioned it me once," said Crofts.

"He said 'you should do a book', although I don't think he meant about him as such.

"I think he meant a book about touring, the band, and my snaps of it, but I had to narrow it down, I couldn't be too vague, and just say it's Paul Weller roughly on tour, it had to be about Paul Weller.

"So I have just called it Paul."

The book focuses on the past five years of Weller's career, and Crofts says the idea was to capture the musician and the band as naturally as possible.

"Putting together a book was never the plan, and I think if I had planned it more then it would be a completely different thing," he said.

"The pictures are off the cuff, and it has been very rare, perhaps a handful of times, where I have said 'Paul, come here a minute, because there's this cool bit and I want to do a picture here'.

"In general, it is walking down the street to a venue or wherever we are going, and I am like, 'hold it there a sec', i will take the picture and we will carry on. That's all it is.

"I have a second to capture that moment, as he will probably get bored if I hold him there for too long and he won't want to do it. I have learned to be quick."

So how did Weller react when Crofts told him he was going ahead and creating a book about him?

"He was encouraging, although realistically I think he probably wanted less pictures of him in it. He probably wanted more of my artistic, documentary style shots, because that is what he likes," said Crofts.

"But I had to explain that you can't mix up the book that much because then it won't make sense.

"There are a few landscape shots of streets and whatever in the book to break things up, but in general I couldn't. I tried putting more of my own stuff in, and it just didn't work.

"Paul has been really encouraging, and he has written a really nice foreword for it, and that was like the final touch really."

Crofts, who grew up in Kingsthorpe, joined Weller's band as a keyboard player back in 2008, and it was a huge moment in his life and career.

It also enabled him to expand on his love of film and photography, and as time wore on, the seeds of what is now his new book were sown.

"When I first joined the band, I had never had any money before, and don't get me wrong I wasn't rich, but I was finally getting paid and I went out and bought a little video camera," said Crofts.

"I already had a camera, so straight away I was taking my cameras around and I was snapping away, but I had no intent of releasing a book about Paul Weller.

"As the years passed I started taking more photographs, and then once I said to Paul, because he sometimes likes the pictures I showed him, I asked him 'do you mind me just taking these pictures as and when I like?'.

"Obviously I won't take the mickey, and I said to him 'if you are having a private moment I am not going to stand there taking pictures', and he just said 'yeah'. So I kind of have a free rein to do that.

Crofts admits he has experienced a handful of trolls on social media, criticising him for what they see as him exploiting his relationship with Weller, but he shrugs that off.

"I have had some comments, but only a couple to be fair, going on about me 'going off the back of Paul Weller', and yes, of course I am! I am taking pictures of Paul Weller," said Crofts.

"If I don't do it then someone else will, and what's wrong with me doing it?"

Crofts' talents as a musician are clear for all to see and hear, both with The Moons and as a key and influential man in Weller's band, but not so many people may have been aware of his work behind the camera.

He has in the past though created videos to go alongside Weller tracks, produced an insightful tour documentary called One back in 2016, and his pictures of Weller have regularly been used in various publications alongside interviews and reviews.

So how did his love of photography come about?

"Photography has always come naturally to me," admitted Crofts.

"When I lived in Northampton I sold some stuff and went out and bought my first SLR 35mm camera, and I remember the first time I looked through the lens, I was just like 'wow!'.

"I thought 'this is like another dimension', and I had never seen anything like it. I could adjust the focus, I could create depth and feel, and I was hooked.

"I was young, I wasn't very good because I didn't understand it, but I had this feeling, and I have basically been doing it all my life.

"I don't consider myself as being a professional at all, but it is just me observing, and luckily enough I have a very good subject to observe!"

The book is landscape in design, is a top quality hardback with the pages all textured cream paper.

There are around 200 pictures included, with one printed per page, and Crofts said: "I wanted something that was stylish, almost like you are looking in a mini art gallery."

Among the pictures, there are also 20-odd pages of Croft writing about selective shots, or 'a few scribbles' as he puts it.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 has been a very difficult year for the arts, and for musicians and bands in particular.

But Crofts has certainly been keeping busy.

As well as the book on Weller, he played on and contributed to several tracks on the 62-year-old's recent number one LP On Sunset, and is already working on the former Jam and Style Council front man's next album.

He also released an album of acoustic covers he had performed on his weekly Night Train show on Boogaloo Radio, and a standalone single with French band Le Superhomard called Forevermore.

And what about The Moons?

Well, the exciting news is the band, made up of fellow Northampton lads Chris Watson, Ben Gordelier, Ben Curtis and Tom Van Heel have announced they are releasing their fourth studio album, Pocket Melodies, in October, and also a catchy new single called Today which is released next month.

Vinyl versions of both the album and single are currently available to pre-order from cargorecordsdirect.co.uk and the LP can also be ordered on CD.

Those releases follow on from the release of the excellent single Riding Man in May, with all the new tracks having been recorded last year in Studio Two at Abbey Road - the room where The Beatles created all that magic back in the 60s.

Meanwhile, a special edition of Crofts' book, Paul, is available to pre-order now from thisdayinmusicbooks.com/product/paul-weller/

The special edition is numbered 1–1000 and is signed by Crofts, and the the limited edition also comes with five free bonus postcard photographs presented in a folder within the book.

A regular edition of the book will then be on general sale from September.

Watch this space for further news on that new music from The Moons!

For more information, go to www.andycrofts.com