WILMINGTON — Paul Janeway didn’t grow up listening to The Rolling Stones, he was raised on gospel music in Alabama – but that didn’t stop his band, Saint Paul and the Broken Bones from opening for rock and roll royalty in 2015. Now, the band is heading back to Wilmington for a sold-out show Friday at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater.
The band is coming off a European tour after finishing with a final gig in the Czech Republic, and is now heading out for several shows in North Carolina and Virginia before heading to the Edmonton Folk Festival in Canada in August.
Janeway started singing in church when he was just four years old, but making a living as a musician was not always his plan, instead, he planned on becoming a preacher.
“Growing up, basically any time the church doors were open I was in them. As a kid, up until I was about 18-19, I really enjoyed church and I thought my calling, or whatever it is, was for preaching. I thought that was what I was going to do for the rest of my life … The goal was not to become a singer, for sure, it just kind of happened,” Janeway said.
It would take a few years, but Janeway eventually found himself opening up for one of the biggest names in rock and roll – The Rolling Stones. Raised on gospel and soul, when Janeway got older he became more aware of the importance of The Rolling Stones and their impact on music as a whole.
“It was great, you play to 60,000 people, I got to meet them (The Rolling Stones) and hang out with them a little bit, that was fun … I told the guys when we did that, for the rest of our lives it will be something that people will want to talk about and hear about,” Janeway said.
While Janeway calls Alabama home, the band is no stranger to Wilmington, having played the venue formally known as Ziggy’s as well as Greenfield Lake Amphitheater in the past.
Janeway is known for his high-energy performances during his shows, and he has no intention on slowing down anytime soon.
“For me its a situation where I kind of have one speed that I go at, and its 100 miles per hour, I don’t like half-assing anything. I want to really put everything I can into a show, I feel like if I don’t do that at every show I am doing a disservice to the audience and a disservice to me,” he said
The band will stay busy for the rest of the summer and into fall, in September the band will head out on tour with Hall and Oates. While Janeway did not reveal exact plans, he said he hopes to start making new music as early as this fall.
Michael Praats can be reached via email at [email protected].
