Credit: Found On Internet

As a founding member of The Animals back in 1963, Eric Burdon has had a hit or two. 'House Of The Rising Sun' and 'We Gotta Get Out Of This Place' will surely go down in history as some of the best-loved music of the '60s - and it didn't stop there. As each Animal left the band one by one, Walker-On-Tyne-born Eric moved to California. There he stood by the band's name, pausing only for a brief spell in '70s funksters War and the odd solo album.

Now he's back with 'Soul Of A Man', a joyfully reverent collection of blues covers old and new, and gearing up for an Animals tour that arrives at Londons Jazz Cafe on the 13th & 14th March. At the ripe old age of 64, Eric's seen a few things, you know...

Hey Eric, what is it you love about the blues?

"The blues has lasted for 100 years. People were singing the blues before electronic recording was invented. The amazing thing is that 'Red Cross Store', which is on my album, was written in the late 1920s I think, and yet it's perfectly in touch with today."

How did 'Soul Of A Man' come together?

"What I did in the construction of this album was to take all of the symbolic elements in the blues, and to apply one symbol to each track. God and the devil, relationships with women, the worship of material things like automobiles, the violence, guns, and also frivolity and laughter and fun. I tried to do an album that would cover all those different elements."

You've dedicated the album to New Orleans.

"Yeah, I made up my mind to do that, and then Hurricane Katrina happened, so I had an even more powerful reason. The magnitude of what has happened there will have ramifications for years to come. I realise you should never say never, but I won't be going back there within the near future, that's for sure."

It sounds like it hit you pretty hard.

"It made me go out and buy a 12-guage shotgun. What happened down there made me realise that I'm on my own. The US is not behaving well under the current circumstances, and that's all part of what's on my album."