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Jeffrey Gaines
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articles/contests
"At a party, music was on and it made people happy. And I thought, 'man, this is the source, this is the nucleus of everything.'"
"...we were recording in Los Angeles, so the sun was ever present. It's in everyone's personality, and in everything you do. From the moment you wake up and open the blinds, it's like a sound stage."
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9.10.03
Jeffrey Gaines Looks Toward The Sun for Inspiration
by Paul Rosner
Singer/songwriter is a term used far too often these days to have any real meaning, beyond the obvious. It used to be that this definition implied a certain type of music, a sincere, folky style that was at times quickly pigeonholed. These days, however, the "singer/songwriter" type's sound ranges from classic acoustic guitar-laden folk and sentimental piano ballads to a zillion different versions of electronic music and everything in between. Jeffrey Gaines falls somewhere in between—an acoustic guitar-toting songsmith with a knack for insightful wordplay and a deeply soulful, wounded voice that soars majestically when called upon. Gaines, like so many other talented but hard-to-classify artists, does not get the recognition and airplay he probably deserves, and yet, in talking to him, this doesn't seem to be a sore spot. Rather, the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, native is upbeat, humorous, and enthusiastic, traits most critics would not have attributed to him following his self-titled debut in 1992.
A dark, sparse affair, Jeffrey Gaines introduced the world to a new talent, one who used a wealth of personal experience to express himself completely. It was almost as if the process of writing the album was like wringing out a sponge, leaving nothing but an empty vessel awaiting refill. The record was aided by a chance meeting with The Band's Garth Hudson, who happened to be rehearsing in the same studio as Gaines. Such fortuitous events have certainly helped this artist transform over time from melancholy (some have said bleak) to uplifting. Two years after his debut, Gaines released Somewhat Slightly Dazed, an album with a good deal more instrumentation and mainstream ambition, followed by 1998's Galore and 2001's Always Be, his first set to get significant radio and popular attention. Late last year, Gaines dropped Toward The Sun, by far his most dynamic record and one that has the potential to finally push him into the rarified air of, as one writer put it, "his less talented but more successful peers." Produced by Mitchell Froom (Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, American Music Club, Cibo Matto), Toward The Sun is a big, pop hook-filled collection of advice, inspiration, and melody. Thus far, response has been favorable from both critics and fans, but that isn't what makes an album successful in the eyes of this artist.
Musictoday recently spoke with Jeffrey Gaines prior to starting another extended stint on the road. In addition to his trademark solo performances, Gaines often tours with a band now. We spoke to him about the difference between those two scenarios, working on the new album, and chilling poolside in L.A.
Musictoday: Did you grow up in a musical household?
Jeffrey Gaines: My folks had a serious appreciation; records were very important to them, and they were very contemporary too. My parents were very cool. You know they just stayed with whatever was happening. You know how [with] some parents the kids rebel against them? I think my parents were really cool; they had all the current stuff as well as all the old stuff. They started out listening to '50s crooners, but then through the '60s they got cool, dad got the sideburns and the bell-bottoms and just went on with the music as it changed. You know, through the '80s they gave the music a chance [laughs]. They were very social and they had lots of parties, and I guess as a kid I noticed that music was part of it. You know, if you were doing anything, whether it was driving in the car or whatever, music was playing. At a party, music was on and it made people happy. And I thought, "man, this is the source, this is the nucleus of everything. What they're considering the background is becoming the foreground for me. Man, I can't hear people talking because I'm cueing in on the music, the albums, and the instruments." So by the time I was like five or six years old, I was beginning to sing along and beginning to practice. I didn't know why but I wanted to master this skill that everybody seeks. In some weird way, they cherished these people who make music. Like, "don't touch that, you'll scratch that." Obviously, something's very important about what's on that vinyl. So I wanted to possess or at least get next to whatever that was about. Because if it's having this effect on every grown-up and every person I encounter...basically, during the time I was growing up, educational TV, everything was taught to you through a song. It was like how could you not be a musician in this culture.
Mt: Who do you remember falling in love with as a kid?
JG: Ozzie [laughs]. It's the funniest thing, but Ozzie. As a little kid, I had a little 45 of "Iron Man" with a b-side of "Electric Funeral." I think that was the first album of mine that wasn't a kid's record. But I was relating to it like a kid: [in a child's voice] "yeah, it's a song about a monster, and he's nice, and they abuse him, and he gets revenge…" I would get all these hand-me-down records from my cousins, who were like hippie kids, so I got like Donovan and the Zeppelin collection and all this stuff that was traveling around at the time. You know it's funny because a lot of it never really ended up coming out in my music but I just listened to so much different stuff, people would be surprised.
Mt: What's the key, do you think, to capturing a crowd as a solo lot performer?
JG: Hmmm. I'm not really going to give that out [laughs]. I got something good going; you're not printing that man. [laughs] Woo! I think for me, what I've found is that you've got to have conflict, and I don't mean conflict in your life. You've got to take that form and have some elements that don't fit neatly into conventional wisdom. Like if you walk into a place, you look up at the stage, and there's a solo performer, there's all this stuff that you immediately assume. "Oh, it's going to be like that." And if that person is exactly like that...if it's exactly like you expect… We make these prejudicial judgments all the time. And if it starts to flair out from that expectation, if it starts to have opposing or conflicting information, it makes it compelling and confusing. If you can't put your finger on it, you can end up being amusing and entertaining for two hours on stage. Just when you think you've got it, it opens up another door and takes you to another place. I think it's nothing you can really be aware of and manipulate, it's just a part of your personality.
Mt: Compare that with playing with a band.
JG: Playing with a band is entertaining and amusing cause there's all this other stuff going on: people can get off on the pulse of the drums and the beat, so that's a no-brainer. It's like "turn it up." Volume works. For me, I get to run around a little bit more because someone's playing my guitar parts. I get to put the guitar down and actually get to go back to being a front man, which is something I miss. I really enjoy being on stage with a straight microphones stand.
Mt: How did you hook up with Garth Hudson from The Band?
JG: Wow. Initially, I was recording up in Bearsville—you know, up in New York in the Woodstock area—and he was living up there at the time. I was using one of these big-ass studios with a Studio A and Studio B, and he was in one of the rooms because he's got access like that. He can just go in there and practice. We'd go out into the hallway and get a coffee, and we'd hear this saxophone and be like, "who is that?" And then we open up the door and he's just sitting there with the saxophone, or walking around playing to the echoes. Thankfully, Richard Gottehrer, our producer on that album and a bold guy, says, "come on in and listen." He listened to the whole record and he said, "I think I can play a couple of things on here." It was really casual like that. "I think I can do a couple of things," with this really low grumble of a voice. So it was like anything he wanted to—like "play whatever you want to play." He played some mean organ, and if you can imagine it, this Arabian sax solo. The only weird part was at the end of the record we had like another four minutes, and at some point we had to pull the plug on it. We were going to have a 10-minute song. It actually ends with everyone dropping out and him still playing. It was a real sweet moment. There's been a lot of little things like that that just kind of fell into place. You don't think anything of it at the time, you know what I mean, it just kind of happens in real time and then you're in the middle of it and you look back and go, "wow, that was as cool as I thought it was."
Mt: Why the title Toward The Sun? What does that represent you?
JG: For me, it's about optimism. It represents a choice that you make every day; you can look down at the ground and look at your shoes or you can look up. You know, "a crystal ship is passing my way"…Jimi Hendrix. It's all about perspective, so this album is about giving a nod to positivity. And we were recording in Los Angeles, so the sun was ever present. It's in everyone's personality, and in everything you do, from the moment you wake up and open the blinds, it's like a sound stage. Your like, "no way." Forty-five days of being the same perfect day. It's so inspirational. Again, my whole social world was just making the record, so I don't know about people saying that people are fake and it's a terrible city and all that stuff. I was making music out there [laughs], so I don't know what you're talking about, because my days are pretty good out here. I stayed at this dumpy, touristy hotel called The Roosevelt, and everyday I opened my blinds and looked at the pool. It was like, "it's going to be a good day. Damn, look at that." All these bikinis out the window…not that I had access, but if I felt the initiative...it's good to know that it's there if you want to step up and ask.
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