From The Jam back on stage in Perth against all the odds

Times have been hard for From The Jam away from the concert halls in recent years.

The legacy rockers’ frontman Russell Hastings suffered a heart attack in 2022, then bassist Bruce Foxton, 69, signalled his intention to retire from touring in January amid ongoing cancer treatment.

As if those blows weren’t enough, the pair had to contend with the unexpected death of their friend and ex-bandmate Rick Buckler, also 69, the following month.

“I was devastatingly shocked,” Hastings tells me, reflecting on the passing of the legendary Jam drummer.

“I was in Thailand when I heard, somebody called me. I heard about six hours before the news broke in England and you could literally have pushed me over with a feather, and I phoned Bruce, who was just as shocked as I was.”

Singer-guitarist Russell Hastings formed The Gift with original Jam drummer Rick Buckler in 2006.

The Gift was a vehicle for playing The Jam’s music and the line up extended to another  original Jam member when Foxton joined and the musicians changed the band name to From The Jam.

Losing a close ally tough for From The Jam

Sticksman Buckler left in late 2009 but remained a close ally.

Hastings makes it clear he’s firmly in both his and his followers’ thoughts as the four-piece’s tour to celebrate The Jam’s 1979 fourth LP Setting Sons reaches its halfway point in Perth tonight.

“We’ve got a lovely huge backdrop of Rick,” he explains.

“It’s 25 by 20 foot – a big photograph blown up – and he sits proudly looking down on us all night which makes the crowd very emotional. Also, I’ve been playing Thick As Thieves off the album for Rick these past few weeks because it always reminds me of him.

“We were very close in that period we were working together and I think people hold that song very close in their hearts and identify with it.”

Thankfully, Foxton has felt strong enough in recent weeks to put his own plans to exit live music on hold. “There’s a lot of things you can’t plan in life, but Bruce has had a great time and it’s what he’s done since 1974,” says Russell, 59.

“That’s 51 years, and just to quit doing that is not something that he wants to do, so we’re all happy. We love each other’s company anyway, we’ve been best of friends for the last 20 years.”

Setting Sons just a chapter in The Jam’s music catalogue

Featuring the first of The Jam’s 10 top 10 hits Eton Rifles – they had four No1s – Setting Sons was a part-concept album about the lives of three boyhood friends whose bonds are irrevocably loosened by the experience of war.

Hastings can still remember the joy of taking his copy of the album to his local youth club in West Sussex in 1979 and it playing loud on the venue’s disco speakers.

Given that From The Jam perform material from every phase of a prolific recording career, it’s understandable that he refuses to nominate the opus as the Paul Weller-led outfit’s finest offering.

Turning back time

“The Jam went wonderfully through very different periods and I think Setting Sons was as different as Sound Affects, and that was as different as All Mod Cons,” he declares.

“Collectively they’re all a great body of work, and I enjoyed The Gift as much as I enjoyed In The City. It’s just where you’re at in life when you heard these albums and you relate that back.

“From playing this stuff I see people going back night after night in their memory banks. They get highly emotional about it and literally go delving into their childhood or teenage years.

“Music is the only thing that really does that apart from hypnotherapy.”

Russell says From The Jam have never sought to replicate the sound of any album on stage – and that continues with Setting Sons.

“I just go and play the song from memory and I guess that’s why it’s worked over the years,” he adds.

“It’s always been like that, even from the moment me and Rick started playing together, and I’ve never gone out to try and emulate Paul’s voice.

“There isn’t a song on the album that I don’t enjoy playing, although Wasteland is my favourite at the moment, it’s a beautiful track. The great thing about Paul’s songwriting is he was just a normal guy everybody could identify with and could capture that in a moment.”