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BIO/Interview (Complete)
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GROOVY—layers of guitars, bass, sitar, loops, blues harp...
ACOUSTIC—attitude, organism, dominant sound...' SOUL—legacy, passion...
Why "arrogance, procrastination, fear, humility?" It's a cycle I and a lot of people go through all the time and also I think culturally as a nation we go through this cycle, too. It seemed really prescient as I started making this album in September of '01. On a personal level, I feel a lot has been gifted to me and I can take that for granted. Then I start to doubt myself, think that I haven't worked for anything in my life and if I did I'd fail. Then I put my nose to the grindstone and, with a little help from friends, come up with something I feel is pretty respectable. It's probably a standard middle class state. Ask me privately about the political application. I put a few of my thoughts on that in the CD book anyway. Who's in your CD player right now? I've got the new Beck. I listened to a little Aimee Mann yesterday and blasted Nirvana for a bit to exorcise some New Year's funk. I've been on a Charlie Parker kick since I saw Cassandra Wilson sing "Ornithology" on TV the other night. Joni Mitchell's played non-stop in my car this week. I've this sexy soul idea that people will be listening to me between Isley Brothers and D'Angelo. But in reality it'll probably be in a mix with people like that, Badly Drawn Boy, John Mayer, David Gray, Ani DiFranco and Norah Jones. What made you want to augment your sound and put so much electric guitar on this record? I've always loved electric guitar and over the past couple years I've had the opportunity to play it with some really great musicians. I kind of eased up on the solo thing and backed up a few people in their bands. I also scored a couple short films and did music for a few motorcycle commercials. So I've had a lot of opportunities to explore sonic possibilities and wanted to bring that knowledge to my own stuff. One of the great things about those experiences was that I got to know Est, who plays drums with me on the disc and in my friend Kevin Frank's group. That group, the Kaliband, is kind of a Caribbean Hip Hop Soul thing. I hear hints of Steely Dan, Prince, Paul Simon, and maybe even Travis in this disc, yet there's also poetry, a little reggae, and even some sitar samples mixed into a laid back California soul. What influences were you calling forth when you put this disc together? Well, it's interesting that you mentioned California. In LA, we're a city of a lot of pain, poverty, crushed dreams, violence, and tangible economic extremes. But it's a place where more often than not you'll have a warm sunny day (eventually!) and have the opportunity to see a beautiful sunset even if it's from the rooftop parking of your local Best Buy. So it's natural to have pain and pleasure co-exist and the overall feeling be of a beautiful and thankful place. So that's what I like about the artists I grew up listening to like Prince, Steely Dan, Simon, Joni Mitchell, and an album like Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks." There's a truthful cohesion of pain, melancholy, and beauty in their work. Certain things will make you uncomfortable, creep you out even, but you get the sense that—even where the artist looks like he may not believe it at times—this huge power of love and creativity will endure. It's definitely not "all good," but love is supreme. (I had this conversation with my sister the other day and I think we're going back to what the folks said in the seventies: "Everything is everything." Ambiguous, but true.) So, musically, I started feeling that seventies thing when I started layering the tracks, and I was listening to Beth Orton, Travis, D'Angelo, Sade, and Bebel Gilberto's "Tanto Tiempo" while I was putting this together. Also Jaco Pastorius (Joni's bass player on my favorite disc Hejira) has an album called "Word of Mouth" that starts off so painful then releases so beautifully. That was definitely on my mind, too. Also Beck's "Mutations." Obviously, you've got a wide musical taste. What shaped you growing up musically? We had a lot of bossa nova in the house as a kid. Lots of Miles Davis. Nina Simone for your heavy and political kick start! The Who, Beatles, the Bobs—Marley and Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder (who actually came to the house once, but that's another story). I was into the Jam, the Smiths, definitely Jimi and the Beatles. I wanted to be in succession: Michael Jackson, Woody Guthrie, Paul McCartney, Jimi, John Lennon, Bob Dylan, and then Billy Bragg. I never wanted to be a rapper, but we used to make little rapping phone messages that would freak out my old fashioned (white) grandmother from Maine. Ah…race, you mentioned it! What's your "Mescege Nation?" (Referring to the song "Celebration.") Well of course it's a play on the word miscegenation, the old derogatory word for race mixing. I've always tried to address issues of race in my art first because I felt really alone in examining my "status" as a youth. Black Pride didn't work for me completely and the subtle and not subtle racism of my white peers (I grew up in Irvine, CA) definitely didn't work for me. Even if there was Lisa Bonet, and Jennifer Beals, I never heard any discussion or even acknowledgement about what it meant to be biracial. I don't know if these "icons" felt alone in their junior high school. And there certainly weren't any men to identify with, until Lenny Kravitz came along. But that was too late for me and he didn't really seem to break it down in any real sophisticated terms to my mind anyway. So I've been writing about my family and this stuff since I was 9 and in my Woody Guthrie phase. It's interesting, the very first song I wrote was a song about the North and South and loving truth and the world. The second was called "Heartbreak Blues," about the girlfriend I left in LA when I moved to Irvine at 8 years old! You said it in "...Seriously:" "nothing's really changed." Yeah. -Interviewed by Jimmy Rabitte |
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Interview by Chris Jay Happy, happy, joy, joy Staying positive with Jason Luckett by Chris Jay I met Los Angeles-based writer, poet and singer Jason Luckett on a street corner in a ghetto-like neighborhood in North Jersey To make a long story really short, this total stranger went out of his way for me on that hot summer night in 1996 and I'll never forget it. He makes a rare Ventura County appearance this Friday, Man 9, at the Garden Village Café, and if you value emotional, honest songwriting, you'd be doing yourself a bigtime disservice if you miss this man. I chatted with Luckett last week regarding what exactly makes this barefoot troubadour so damn happy Chris Jay: Who are you and what do you do? Jason Luckett: Let's see. I'm a guitar-playing singer-songwriter. I've been playing around L.A. for 10 years. I have four releases. I do a lot of session work and backup gigs. Did a whole tour with Phil Cody I had a publishing deal in the ‘90s, and it was your typical story: guy who signs you leaves the company the day after you sign. Then the other people who liked you leave six month later I sort of begged my way out of the deal. Since then I've been able to do it on my own successfully CJ: You're really known for your live shows. You present such a comfortable vibe with the audience—It's Like an instant connection. Beyond that, you're just passionate on stage. How do you get in that zone? JL: I look at it like a conversation. You're initiating communication with the audience. I think with solo shows the audience and the performer really get to listen to each other and that can help carry a show I really don't know how to explain it, you just improvise. Sometimes I try to plan it out, I'll have some grand idea or story I want to tell, but mainly it's a conversation and you can never plan how they're going to go. As for passion, I just love it. It's the greatest job in the world and I guess that can come across as passion. CJ: Your songs are extremely open about your personal life. Ever get worried that you're crossing the line? I know if I were on the other end of some of those songs—I'd blush. JL: They're not all verbatim. (Laughs) CJ: There's an element of fabrication? JL: Oh yeah. I haven't had the most successful relationships and songs can help me express my feeling towards them. There are definitely songs I don't sing if the person who inspired them is at the show I think the painful honesty inspires other people though. I can see people thinking, Wow, I guess you can talk about that shit. CJ: Unless you've been scamming me for the past five years or so, you're one of the nicest guys in the world. Has that helped or hindered your career? JL: (Laughs) Thanks. You know, I'm sure it's done both. I think the people that I've been around that are successful tend to be self-centered. They possess a certain ruthlessness that I don't have. It does seem necessary I suppose. If I was more of a bastard maybe I could be a rock star. Being nice has its benefits, though. You meet good people who do ultimately help your career CJ: Being the positive ball of energy that you are, does anything in the music industry ever get you down? JL: Yeah. Bad music (Laughs). That brings me down. Stuff like sitting with a head of a record company and having him listen to my stuff and him saying, "That'd be great, kid, if you looked like Tom Petty." That brings me down but only for a bit. Also seeing the compromises that so many people have to make. All the sharks out there. There are probably some people that can convince you for five years they're the nicest guy in the world (Laughs). CJ: Given the staggering odds, especially in L.A., is a career in music still the way to go? JL: Oh yeah. There's nothing else I would want to do. Career is a weird word, though. I do what I do. I make music. I sing for people. Hopefully get them to open themselves up. Create dialogue. Don't get me wrong, there are things that aren't quite as inspirational—making flyers, Web site updates, duplicating CDs—but at the end of the day if you cause some good for someone somewhere with your music, then it's all worth it. CJ: Speaking of that, what do you want someone to walk away from a Jason Luckett show with? JL: After seeing me, if someone can be a little less afraid to express themselves, if they can walk away with a little less fear in opening their heart, then my music changed them for the better and that's what I want to do. Ventura County Reporter, March 8, 2001 |
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