John Lodge has always kept one foot in the cosmos. It’s how you end up writing classics about floating cities and light years—and it’s how you survive a pandemic with your optimism intact. “If you’re positive for yourself, the people around you become positive,” he tells me from Naples, Florida. “It’s an old adage, but it’s true. The sun will shine.”
That’s not just a life mantra—it’s also the lead single from his latest EP, On Reflection, which plays like a sonic pick-me-up from a man who once helped redefine orchestral rock. The song is a buoyant declaration that joy isn't naïve—it's essential. “I started writing during lockdown,” he says, “and realized, everyone’s in the same boat. So why not aim for the dawn?”
The EP’s three tracks—written and recorded during isolation—capture a kind of spiritual regression. “I locked myself away, built a tiny studio, and learned GarageBand,” Lodge says, laughing. “It was like being 16 again, locking myself in my bedroom, learning bass.” Somehow, the former Moody Blues bassist stumbled into quarantine Zen, crafting songs that sound like sunrise and feel like hope.
Also, he names his instrumentals like vacation destinations. Sunset Over Cocoa Hatcher Bay arrived with that exact image in mind. “I see that dawn every day,” he says, describing the bay outside his window like a man already halfway to a Jimmy Buffett lifestyle.
Lodge isn’t just living in the now—he’s curating the past. Between live albums (Live From Birmingham) and greatest hits compilations (Beyond The Very Best Of), he’s been combing through decades of solo material, Moody Blues deep cuts, and fan favorites that never quite got their due. One such track is “Evening Time to Get Away,” a deep cut from Days of Future Passed that Lodge didn’t fully understand until he played it live—50 years after writing it.
“I’d never performed it before. Then one day I sang it on stage and suddenly realized what the song was about,” he says. “It deserved its own life.”
Like many veteran artists, Lodge has spent recent years re-recording some of his 70s solo tracks—not to remake them, but to reclaim them. “I didn’t want to change the emotion,” he insists. “I just wanted to bring them up to date sonically, so they could sit next to the new songs and still feel right.”
That balancing act—between nostalgia and reinvention—has always been the Moody Blues’ secret sauce. Even when they were singing about celestial travel in the ’60s, it was somehow rooted in something achingly human. “We all grew up reading comics like The Eagle and The Lion—fantasizing about space, about leaving Earth,” Lodge recalls. “So we wrote about it. Because why wouldn’t you?”
The 40th anniversary of Long Distance Voyager only reinforces the point. At a time when NASA’s TikTok game is stronger than most major labels, Lodge is already back in orbit, quietly marveling that the record still resonates. “What is it about space?” he muses. “I think it’s the great unknown. It inspires wonder. And wonder is the seed of music.”
And while he's still inspired by stardust, John Lodge is also embracing his earthbound side. In between recording sessions, he’s prepping for next year’s Flower Power Cruise, where he’ll sail the Caribbean with fellow legends Procol Harum, The Zombies, and The Hollies. “It’s sold out,” he says, “so I’m planning a tour around it.”
That kind of slow-burn comeback fits Lodge’s arc perfectly: a quiet craftsman who never stopped working, even when the limelight dimmed. “You take every opportunity,” he says. “Doors open at different times in your life—you just have to walk through them.”
If that sounds philosophical, it’s because it is. Lodge has spent 50 years making music that tries to answer one question: How do we stay human when the world feels like it’s spinning out of control?
Turns out the answer might be GarageBand, a bass guitar, and a quiet morning watching the sunrise.
Listen to the interview above and then check out the videos below.
