Alan Hewitt, and his band mates which comprise One Nation have extensive resumes; very extensive resumes. The Moody Blues, Pat Benatar, Motley Crue, Britney Spears, NSYNC, Martina McBride and John Lodge are only a handful from the list of artists this group of musicians have performed with or supported.
So, with that much talent assembled it's only logical that there should be a recording or three in the works and this "Super Group" has not disappointed. So; when is the much-anticipated release of their latest work titled "2021" due?
"We are going to base it around a tour, that's why we are waiting but it's probably going to be at the end of the summer; especially at the rate it's going," laughed an enthusiastic Alan Hewitt. "We are all in different areas and sending tracks back and forth but it's coming out good. What happens is, I put everything together and send it out to each of the guys to put their own stuff on it; we've actually been doing this since before COVID. This is kind of the way for years that we've been doing it so, it's nothing new but it's nice to do the thing all together too. We've played together enough where I know how to write for the guys and get the correct stuff down; it's working out well actually."
Oh? So; what you're saying Alan is that the pandemic hasn't affected your methods of recording?
"The kind of recording where you are all in together has become kind of a rare thing. Even back in the day when I was working on Earth, Wind & Fire or any of the bands that I used to produce or record with, we'd only have the horn section in at one time and then maybe the drums and rhythm section or the guitar; it's not as if the whole band was in there doing a song at one time. Way before that, everybody did that because they didn't have the tracks to deal with but as soon as there was the luxury of having multiple or 24 plus tracks and now it's unlimited; it's really up to the guy writing the song or the arranger to make it so everything fits in the right places and then the guys add their own character to it and that's what brings the specialness out in a song; the person's performance. A lot of times I think a person will have a better performance when they are working in their own space and not having somebody putting pressure on them to get what they think should be there instead of what really should be there. That, to me, is what kind of gives it life, especially when you are working with top-notch people. I just got tracks from David C. Johnson the bass player and they are excellent and this song that we are working on now has kind of a Moody Blues, Beatles vibe to it. He used a Hohner bass like McCartney had and he plays with The Neville Brothers. So, there's so many ways to do it but I kind of like this way because it gives me a chance to zone in on everybody's performance and fix the things that I don't like."
Hewitt has been touring and playing keyboards with the Moody Blues since 2010; he and guitarist Duffy King have also worked with Moody's bassist John Lodge and the connections to those legendary rockers have played a part in the band's formation.
"I've been in his thing since the beginning and co-wrote and co-produced some of the songs with John," he explained. "We started our first little stint over in England; we had a band over there to tour and then we regrouped and used Billy Ashbaugh from the Moody Blues and he's also in John's band and then Duffy King is in One Nation as well and then we have a cello player from Detroit named Jason and that's that band. So, yeah, I've been with John Lodge from the start and as a matter of fact, John has a new album coming out called "A Royal Affair," after the tour we did of the same name with Yes, Cal Palmer's ELP Experience and Asia."
They've released two singles from the forthcoming album; the latest being "We're One Nation" and the name of the song reflects on the band's young history.
"We're One Nation;" this band, I've been doing this since 2015. The first record was with Sonny Emory the drummer of Earth, Wind & Fire and Bruce Hornsby and JV Collier from Bruce Hornsby and Jamie Glaser from Chick Correa's electric band. That was the first version of this and the label wanted to have it called One Nation so, that's what we did and rather than change it we just kept it going. I do pretty much all of the writing and in most cases do the lead vocals on the new thing but we wanted to make this a band as much as we could; Duffy and David sing really well too so we are doing a lot of harmonies. I've always loved Crosby, Stills and Nash and Yes does that kind of stuff too so we wanted to combine that with what we are doing."
"There's going to be 10 tracks and we did a live show and I think we are going to put some of those on as bonus tracks too," continued Hewitt. "They were on the last album but we did them a little differently and just added a little bit. Did you ever notice when you do an album it's; oh, there's not enough songs? The thing is that most of the songs on this album are six minutes plus and some of them are eight minutes so, they are typical progressive rock type long songs; there's plenty of time for somebody to listen to it and enjoy it for long periods of time (laughs)."
Hewitt has had his hand in many projects with multiple artists and in various roles from producer to session player, writer and performer.
"I actually co-wrote "Cherry Pie" with Warrant and how that happened was, we both had the same management and they didn't have the single that they needed and the label called their management and said, "There's no single for this record," and of course the guys got a little ticked off about that as you do when somebody tells you that you have to do more. So, Eddie our manager called and said, "Alan, they're coming down to write with you; you guys have to write a new hit single" and I said, Oh, OK, no pressure (laughs) and we knocked it out in about 30 minutes. Then we took it to the studio because we were kind of on a time limit and they were waiting at the studio and we downloaded all of the stuff from the computer and away they went with the guitars and drums and they did the vocals the next day. I was doing the B-3 stuff on "Uncle Tom's Cabin" before that happened so, we were already friends."
He doesn't stop there, Hewitt's tree has many branches; including scoring for film and television.
"I do film and TV scoring; I've probably done over 200 shows so there's lots of stuff there. I did "Bridgette Jones The Edge Of Reason" "National Lampoon's Van Wilder;" that kind of stuff. I've had a nice run with all of the different things that I've been able to do and it's a good thing too because I get a little bored doing just one thing. I did "Dr. Oz" for Oprah; I'm not the only guy, there are lots of guys who do that but if you do one show you pretty much do them all for her."
With the new album coming together and things settling down across the globe; where does One Nation go from here?
"Right now we are in the process of putting it all together and there are two or three labels that are interested and as soon as we get it done we'll go with one of those labels and then I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I've been doing about three or four interviews a week and just kind of getting the name out there. We're also going to be doing "Cruise To the Edge" in 2022 and probably a tour prior to that; it's always fun on those cruises because you meet a lot of people and it's like a musicians hang, I love it. I got to have dinner with Roger Daltrey and he was a gas, he was so funny and I had breakfast with Greg Lake. These are people that I grew up listening to and it's pretty awesome. You find out that everybody pretty much is the same but it's just different situations they were involved with."
To discover more about Alan Hewitt & One Nation, please visit www.alanhewittandonenation.com .
That's it for this week! Please continue to support live and original music and until next week....ROCK ON!
