Paul Janeway Discusses Change in Perspective and Next Chapter for St. Paul & The Broken Bones Ahead of St. Pete Show

After the success of their debut record in 2014, St. Paul and The Broken Bones looked at their music the way many young artists do. It had to be complex, it had to be groundbreaking, and it had to make a statement. Several years and a few albums later, two events occurred that began changing that perspective—the touring industry shut down, and vocalist Paul Janeway welcomed his first child into the world.

What followed was a burst of introspective creativity, culminating in the 2023 release of Angels in Science Fiction, the band’s fourth studio album. With a softer, more atmospheric synth-jazz sound, St. Paul and The Broken Bones felt like their story had reached its end.

 Then, English songwriter and producer Eg White entered the picture. Janeway had been working with White on a solo project, joining the likes of Adele, and Florence Welch, when he ended up pitching the songs to the rest of The Broken Bones. Soon, the band found themselves back together in Alabama, working on a new self-titled album with Eg White joining as producer. St. Paul and The Broken Bones was recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, a room with a history of southern soul hits from artists like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, and Etta James.

 Ahead of the band’s show at St. Pete’s Jannus Live this Thursday, Paul Janeway took some time to discuss his recent change in perspective on both his life and his music.

Before your latest album, you released Angels in Science Fiction, and a lot of that dealt with fatherhood, and kind of how that changed your worldview. So, now that a few years have passed, how has touring, or just any of the work overall kind of been affected by that? Is there any change?

More desperate for money, that's for sure. I think it's really funny because, and you know, you understand this, albums are time capsules, and it's like a very particular time in your life. What you're going through, which is kind of the beauty of it, right? And then, obviously you have a child, and then you understand what that actually means. It definitely makes touring harder at times, but at the same time, that's kind of what I do. Like, that's the job, right? I do think it does put it more in a job category. It felt a little bit more than that before having a child, and now it's kind of like, it's a great job, I love doing it, which a lot of people don't get to say that, right? But it is a job, and I think that that has changed a little bit. You know, my view on it has changed a little bit.


Okay, so it's more about perspective than anything else, really?

Yeah, it's just what I do. It's what I do to pay the mortgage and those kinds of things, and I genuinely enjoy it and it's a passion. It just kind of changes that perspective a little bit because there's no joy that I've ever gotten at a show that compares to the joy of having a child and dealing with that. As cliche as it is.


When you discussed that previous album, Angels and Science Fiction, I heard you mention that it felt like the end of a book, like whatever you were trying to do with your music, that felt like the end. So, what does that say about this new self-titled album?

I think that's the reason why it's a self-titled album, because it feels like a restart in a lot of ways, a rebirth in a lot of ways. You know, it's funny, I think a lot of bands would have probably broken up after that last record, just because you feel like you've gone as far as you can creatively, without just doing straight up noise rock, or something that no one's going to have any interest in. And so, I was working on other projects and so I kind of thought that was what I was going to do, and then the guys started hearing the other stuff I was working on and they were like, “I think the band will be open to doing this”, and so when that happened, it kind of opened that door, and it felt like a rebirth for us in a lot of ways.


A self-titled album at this point in your career definitely feels like a statement of identity. You mentioned it was kind of like a reintroduction, but do you have any idea where that new story is heading?

You know, honestly, I don't. I think the best way I've best said it is that, for a while, we were like, hey, we want to be a 3 Michelin star restaurant, right? And now I think there's confidence that we know who we are.

Like, we know where our strengths are, we know where our weaknesses are, which is a great place to be. Because to me, I am still fascinated by classic songwriting. I worked with Eg White on this record, and I felt like I got like a PhD in songwriting. And so, there's still territory to explore there. And now I think where we're comfortable is like, being the great barbecue joint down the road.

I think that's where we're comfortable now. And who knows, I think there's still some juice to squeeze with what we just did, and I think we're going to explore that, but who knows? I mean, I say that and then we may do a space jazz, heavy metal record. I don't know, but that’s not what my gut's telling me.


Yeah, so does it feel like a little bit more of a return to form kind of thing?

In a way, maybe. Like the thing is, it's hard saying that because we're such a much better band. Like, we could never make Half the City again, it's not possible. We're much better musicians than we were at that point, so it's not even possible. So, I think we have refined the “back to form” thing. I think we're just such a much better band than that point. I think even half the city has a little bit like, garage soul punk attitude to it. We're just so far past that as a band that it wouldn't even be possible. But I do think sitting in a room and playing, that's the element. That’s what we did this time that we hadn’t done in years, and I think that's been the difference.


The lyrics on this album are very playful, but often melancholy, despite that upbeat tone. Is there an optimism involved with that? Where you’re heading next?

Yeah, I think so. This is the first time within the band I have let someone into all of that process with Eg, who produced the record. Me and him wrote about half the songs on the record. And I think we just have a really special connection. And it took a long time to find that, trust me. But I think there's always a tinge of melancholy, like I have a hard time not doing that, so that's always going to find its way in.

We've done a lot of like, themed records and kind of concept records, and for me, it was kind of liberating to be like, “just write a great song”. What are you feeling today? Instead of being like, “well, we have this concept, so let's work within those boundaries”, which is great sometimes, but I'm at a place now where I'm like, just write the best song. Write what you're feeling in that moment. Figure it out and build from there and that's kind of liberating because we've done a lot of concept records. I would say most of the records after Half the City have a concept, so that part is nice, to kind of just be liberated try and write the best song you can. You know?

Seeing where the story unfolds instead of trying to push a narrative.

Exactly.


I know you've worked at FAME studios before, at least partially, but what brought the band back to Muscle Shoals for this particular album?


Well, it's significantly cheaper for us because it's home. We don't have to pay for hotels, because we got people that live there. We've actually never recorded at FAME, we had mixed at FAME, but we never recorded there, and so we just thought it was a great home for us. It just makes sense. It made sense going up there and it's far enough away. Like, I live in Birmingham, so it's far enough away from Birmingham that you can get stuff done. But if something does happen at home, you can go right back.

And honestly, that studio's great. I mean, I would be lying if I said it’s always been up to date, but they've done a tremendous job getting that studio up to date. It's fantastic. I would not be shocked if we ended up there again, because it’s just a great situation. Obviously, there's the history and stuff like that, but, I mean, history's great, it’s fantastic. But if the channels on the board don’t work, I don't care how much history is there. So, that’s kind of the part to me that they've done a tremendous job with, getting it as a working studio.

And with that history, recording there, is there any weight or pressure to that, or does it just feel like coming back home?


It just feels just feels like coming back home. I mean, are we a part of that lineage? Probably. I mean, maybe. I don't really look at it that way. But you do feel a sense of like, “don’t write shitty music”. Like, you do hope maybe there’s some ghosts, but it's also a good sounding room.

You know, we cut in the room, but it's not like we were trying to replicate what's happened in there. But I do think having that history around is a good reminder. I was like, hey, there is a legacy to respect, so don’t release shitty music, or do your best not to.

I did pick up on some of those raw, swampy riffs on the album. Were those intentional based on being there? Or is it one of those things where that sound is produced by that room because of certain recording limitations?

I think for me, those songs were written before we got in the studio, so it’s not like we were writing in that studio. So, I think what happens is you write the songs, and it’s like, you know what would be a great place to record this record at? FAME.

So, it just went the other way around.

Yeah, because you get all the sounds. Like, you can get the horn sounds, and they’ve got the echo chamber in there, and they have the hardwood in the middle of the room that makes a particular sound. But it’s more that the songs catered themselves to be recorded there than the recording brought that out of the songs.



You mentioned it was far enough away from Birmingham to get stuff done. I remember reading an interview with The Black Keys about recording Brothers there, and they mentioned a lot of the great music that comes out of FAME could be explained by there being nothing else to do in Muscle Shoals but work. Does that ring true at all for you?


[Laughing] It is in that we are away from our families, but I mean, some of the guys live there. So, they’re not away from it. They get to go home and sleep in their beds. Look, you can find trouble. It’s there, you just gotta look a little harder sometimes. But that’s not really our style. It’s not like recording in LA, of course. There isn’t a ton to do. You’re not going there to be like, I gotta experience the ambiance and go out every night. You’re going there to work.

It’s funny, I wrote with some people at Muscle Shoals Sound one time, and they came from LA. I think they were just enamored with the idea of like, Muscle Shoals Sound, this amazing history. But I tried to tell them, I was like, “hey y’all, there ain’t places to go after we do this. There’s not a ton to do”. And they kind of thought, “whatever, you’re just saying that”. And then then they got there and, yep, ain’t much to do. I was like, “I told y’all”. That’s kind of the point. I mean, it’s beautiful up there. You got the river and stuff like that, so I like it up there.

With Alabama being home, and the band’s sound rooted in southern identity, between gospel, blues, jazz, and everything that came after. Has there been any change in a feeling of responsibility in how you represent southern voices throughout your career?

You know, it's funny, because I think when we first started, you don't think about that kind of stuff, you just kind of do. And I never thought that being from Alabama, being a part of that, would ever be a part of a story that I would have to tell, because it just was. Like, certain things that I grew up with. I just thought that was. And you just didn't think about like, there's people that have a lot of respect for this history or they find it fascinating. You just think, well, that's how I grew up. I don't really think of it as a responsibility.

But as we've gone on, we're in this for over 13 years now, it's a career. You do start feeling a little responsible to be at least an advocate. Like, a representative, whereas I didn't think I felt that way at first, but now in a way, we go around the world and we represent being from Alabama, growing up in that culture and those kinds of things, and you do feel a little bit of responsibility.

Well, I do appreciate your time. That’s about all I got for you, but I’m excited for the show.

Well, thank you for talking to me.