With Jones at the helm, like the captain of a worthy ship, and a crew of players that includes today's lineup of stellar vocalist Kelly Hansen, guitar/keys/flute/sax man Tom Gimbel, bassist Jeff Pilson, and keyboardist Michael Bluestein, For-eigner is ready to take on the music business, and make a new play for fans around the globe with a brand new album of original material.

According to Jones' bio, after working on his own as a songwriter and musician in Europe--including session jobs on Peter Frampton's album “Wind of Change” in 1972, and George Harrison's “Dark Horse” in 1974--he moved to New York City and formed Foreigner with fellow Brits Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott, and Americans Lou Gramm, Alan Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi.

"My initial musical vision for Foreigner was to combine blues and R&B with Brit-ish rock and make it sound soulful and authentic," Jones said. "I'd grown up in England and had the English influence, but I was also inspired by many elements of American music, from Mississippi blues to country and western. Foreigner was the vehicle to get that musical blend across."

Jones took a break from production duties on the brand new Foreigner album to talk with LiveDaily about his history with the band, and what fans can expect in the future.

While Foreigner has been a staple act on the touring circuit in recent years, it’s been a long time since there was fresh new material. Why is this the right time for a new Foreigner album?

We renewed the band completely pretty much four years ago. Until then, we had been touring endlessly around the world and in the states, and really it was to get some recognition back for the band. I had taken a couple of years off myself just to have a break, and it was our intention in the last few years to do a album. We finally had some time this year, so, for the last three months, we have been writing and recording. It’s a great feeling because the band is [running] very well now and it is the right time to do an album.

When a bandmate comes to you in the process of recording with ideas for injecting something into a song that you have created, something maybe for the new album, what is the process for considering that?

I consider ideas from everyone in the band if they have something to contribute. We talk about it, and they give me ideas. If something works or can spur a new idea or new song, it is very democratic. Most of the impetus or the ideas come from myself originally, pretty much as it has always been. I have been working with lead singer Kelly Hanson and also with the producer I chose for this project, Marty Frederickson, who is an accomplished writer himself. It has been a sort of combined effort. Jeff Pilson has also submitted some ideas. I feel there is good involvement from the band. They are involved in each stage of the recording, which is a live-in-studio album.

You came to the band with Ian, and then recruited Lou and the rest of the starting lineup. But you also came to the project with a lot of credibility after working with Gary Wright, George Harrison, Peter Frampton, and earlier on, songwriting for Sylvie Vartan and Johnny Hallyday. Did this resume earn you a lot of freedom or control while you were making the first album?

We were never really that pressured. We had a good demo we were taking around [trying to get] the first album. As a matter of fact, that demo included three songs that eventually made it onto the album. At first, we actually got turned down by most of the major record companies. It was just sort of our persistence--going back to them, and then finally someone called. The guy who got us our first record deal had actually just moved from the press department to the A&R department at the label. He picked up the tape and went crazy and fired up the whole company about us. As far as the recording sessions, I can’t really recall the record company, per se, laying down any rules--we were really given a free hand. Maybe they were thinking, "We might as well leave these guys alone; they know what they are doing."

Is it true that in the beginning, you never really had a solid plan for Foreigner?

I had a vision for the first album, and I did not really know what was going to happen after that. But as we were growing up in the band, so to speak, and honing the direction of the first four albums, it evolved in such a way that Lou and I developed a very strong partnership--which I hadn’t envisioned at all. And changes sort of happened while we were making those albums. I had no idea of the dimension the project was going to take on. I was prepared to do one, or two, three or four albums, which was the usual way for bands to emerge, to build a name and a following. But our success pretty much happened overnight. Any plan I had went out the window; I just had to hang on for the ride--and it was quite a ride from there. The pressures of following an album like that, like the first album, were tremendous because it had broken brand new ground.

As the band became established as one of the world's top-selling on the record racks and in concert halls, how did you approach making the personnel changes you felt were required to keep your vision for Foreigner on track? I mean, was it typically a business decision to bring new blood into the band?

Not at all. It was actually just a band that was put together at that time, and who knew what direction it would take? I kind of hand-picked the musicians at the time. I was living in New York City and I still do. I was going out to Brooklyn to see people, and it was quite modestly put together. I did want it to be fresh and didn’t really want to work with name people--the exception being Ian McDonald, and he hadn’t played on stage for six or seven years. Dennis Elliot had made a bit of a name for himself with Ian Hunter, but I went searching for these musicians. I wanted to see how it gelled--it was always to do with music, not business. It was always about making room for greater musical horizons.

Speaking of expanding musical horizons, at one point I understand you actually recruited Thomas Dolby, who is no slouch when it comes to creating tasty synth work, but in a much different vein than the classic rock genre of Foreigner. Can we talk about your induction and integration of synth and keyboard into the Foreigner mix, and the support that Dolby was able to provide you?

On the first album, I was kind of learning to play--that is to say, I had to learn to play the keyboard. I had never played the keyboard for an album, even though I wrote some of our songs for the keyboard. As we formed the band, I gave the responsibility over to Al Greenwood. But for the nuts and bolts of some of the songwriting, I started them on piano. And there is an element of that remaining, even though it may be a riff that I contributed or an idea that I started off with on keyboard. I would still say, in the balance, guitar has actually been the most important foundation for me.

The first thing I knew about Thomas Dolby was the work he did in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s when he was playing with Lene Lovich, an English female vocalist. Mark Lang had also heard about him and we tracked him down to Paris where he was playing down in the subways. He was quite eccentric playing in the tunnels with a hat and people putting money it. So we invited him over. He had pioneered some of the Roland (effects on) one of their synthesizers. He knew the machines very well. He had a bank of interesting sounds. His whole approach was basically from that field, and I wanted to have some unique sounds. What we would do sometimes was leave him in the studio, we would go out do dinner and come back and see what ideas he would put down. Then we would sort through them.

Back in 2007, you were chosen to open for the Led Zeppelin reunion show. What was more exciting: playing the opening set, or getting to hang around to watch the Led Zep reunion?

You know, it was just one of those magical moments for me. I saw Zeppelin way back, and I recall getting the same feeling when I saw Jimi Hendrix or James Brown. And it was pretty stunning seeing them again; they were very well rehearsed, and it was great watching Jason [Bonham].

As we stand here in June 2009, what's ahead for Mick Jones and Foreigner?

Continuing our touring and putting on the most exciting Foreigner show you can see. It is a very dynamic show. Kelly is doing an excellent job--he’s hitting some crazy notes. And the new album probably will be coming out at the end of the year.

TOUR DATES

July 2009
30 - Morristown, NJ - Community Theater
31 - Atlantic City, NJ - Tropicana Casino & Hotel

August 2009
1-2 - Williamsburg, VA - Busch Gardens
4 - Eaton, OH - Preble County Fair
5 - Columbus, OH - Ohio State Fair
6 - West Allis, WI - Wisconsin State Fair
8 - Maumee, OH - Lucas County Fair
9 - Quapaw, OK - The Venue & Downstream Casino Resort
12 - Sterling Heights, MI - Freedom Hill Amphitheater
14 - Biloxi, MS - Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino
15 - Valdosta, GA - Wild Adventures
16 - Orlando, FL - House of Blues
19 - Eugene, OR - Lane County Fair
20 - Lyden, WA - Northwest Washington Fair
21 - Chehalis, WA - Southwest Washington Fair
22 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Amphitheaer
23 - Wenatchee, WA - Town Toyota Center
25 - Boise, ID - Western Idaho Fairgrounds
26 - Lancaster, CA - Antelope Valley Fairgrounds
28 - Lodi, CA - Hutchins Street Square Theatre
29 - Cabazon, CA - Morongo Events Center
30 - Thousand Oaks, CA - Thousand Oaks PAC
31 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery

September 2009
4 - Loveland, CO - Budweiser Events Center
5 - Huron, SD - South Dakota State Fair
6 - Norfolk, NE - Divots Center
17 - Phoenix, AZ - Celebrity Theatre
18 - Prescott Valey, NM - Tim's Toyota Center
19 - Santa Fe, NM - Buffalo Thunder Resort & Casino
20 - Mescalero, NM - Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino
24 - Frederick, MD - Great Frederick Fair
25 - Chareston, WV - Clay Center for the Arts & Sciences
26 - Pittsburgh, PA - PNC Park
27 - Jim Thorpe, PA - Penn's Peak
29 - Indiana, PA - Fisher Auditorium, IUP Campus

October 2009
1 - Westbury, NY - Capitol One Bank Theatre
2 - New York, NY - Nokia Theatre
3 - Lakewood, NJ - FirstEnergy Park
6 - Englewood, NJ - Bergen Performing Arts Center
8 - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
10 - Irvine, CA - Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
11 - Primm, NV - Star of the Desert Arena