From a young age, Paul Janeway was groomed to be a good, old-fashioned Southern preacher.
But as the lead singer of St. Paul And The Broken Bones, he makes his living ministering to a very different crowd. He hasn't completely given up his roots; he and his band perform in sharp suits. “As my Mom would say, our Sunday best.”
He doesn't drink or take drugs, a strength of character that earned him the apostolic moniker of the sextet's name. But with his band enjoying wild success, from opening for The Rolling Stones – “it was kind of insane” – to performing on 'Letterman' – “he actually was a fan, so it's kind of crazy” – and gearing up for his first Australian tour, this Southern boy has certainly made good.
Growing up in Alabama, Paul learned to appreciate soul music from a young age. “Nat King Cole was born in Alabama. Sun Ra was born in Alabama. You have a strong history of great music in the State. I think in a way, you're standing in the shadow of musical giants.”
Paul counts Otis Redding, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett among his influences. Paul's attraction to “raw, meaningful music” drew him to soul, and he credits the genre's resurgence to this very rawness. “It's big bands with real musicians. It's raw vocally, there's no Autotune. You can't hide with soul. You have to put on a show. You can't pretend the audience isn't there.”
The band's unusual title is owed to the first song Paul and bassist Jesse Phillips every wrote together, 'Broken Bones And Pocket Change'. “The line is, 'broken bones and pocket change is all she left me with'. Heartache is the one thing that gets us all together.”
This theme of heartache, Paul believes, unites all humanity, and he strives to bring it across in his music. “I think universally, what I want music to do is take people to the peaks of happiness, then I want to take them all the way down to the valley of brokenness, sadness.
“Everyone has brokenness and everyone has joy. It doesn't matter what rung you are on the socio-economic ladder. What your sexuality is. What your ethnicity is, religion, all of those things, they don't matter. Our music has a message of 'we all have these experiences, and they all bind us'.”
Paul's preacher background helps him to win over the crowds, bringing the audience together. Though no longer as close to the church as he once was, Paul still believes in “something beyond myself”, and he sees his music as fulfilling a need not unlike that of the profession he was groomed for. “It's a similar feeling to being in church and having a religious moment.
“We go to concerts and provide that service a little bit. We get to have these moments together where you don't know what it is that makes it so special, but there's some sort of emotional reaction of all these people coming together and having these moments with a band. I think that's what makes music beautiful.”
Written by Justin Smareglia
St Paul & The Broken Bones Tour Dates
Mon 21 Mar - The Metro Theatre (Sydney)Thu 24 Mar - The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
Sat 26 Mar - Bluesfest (Byron Bay)
Mon 28 Mar - Bluesfest (Byron Bay)
