 |
| |
|
I meet a lot of people after the shows that say they are in college now and they got the first record when they were 14 years old or younger. It's a weird trip that somebody sticks with it and doesn't grow out of it with a musician. Jack Johnson |
|
|
| |
|
"J.P. thought not to make it '4 to 6 feet and glassy,' he wanted a couple of 'one-foot long board' days and '20-foot big paddle in a storm' days to make it more dynamic. The interesting thing about this record is that there is more electric [guitar] on it. But, there are [also] more songs that are just voice and acoustic than any other thing I have done. There's 'Angel,' 'Same Girl,' 'Adrift' [and] 'While We Wait,' but there is more electric and more stripped down acoustic. Does that make sense?" he laughs.
 Jack Johnson |
I met Jack Johnson when he was a surfer and budding filmmaker who played music on the side. I had hair then and Johnson was a skinny, talented young guy with a super nice family and kind, supportive girlfriend. Today, I'm balder than a Brazilian wax. He's still an amazing surfer but now he's a fulltime music maker and a filmmaker on the side. His girl is now his wife and that glimmer in their eyes has grown into two toe-headed young boys.
"We are all getting older. The Curious George record brought in more kids than ever but that's a whole different trip. I meet a lot of people after the shows that say they are in college now and they got the first record when they were 14 years old or younger. It's a weird trip that somebody sticks with it and doesn't grow out of it with a musician," he comments.
However, Jack Johnson is like that, too. He'll buy the new Pearl Jam record. He'll buy the new Jackson Browne record. He'll buy an old Minor Threat 7-inch. "I have bands like that. No matter what, I'll go out and get their new record. They might lose relevance in the radio world and those concerns, but it's fun to have a relationship with listeners and vice versa. I want to go on and keep writing the songs for every point in a person's life. There are a lot of people who have been going through a break up with their college sweetheart or whatever and now they are 32 or 33 and having kids. It's fun and hopefully we can enjoy having that parallel thing happening with the songs and their lives."
 Jack Johnson |
The situation right now in America between Jack and his contemporaries - that's me and you, i.e. U.S. citizens - is that war still rages on and a deep political divide has befallen this country. There are also environmental issues that affect us all. Johnson knows and fully understands these things. There's a great quote attributed to author George Orwell that draws a parallel to the new album's title track, "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." But, Johnson isn't sleeping through his alarm or hitting snooze.
"Sometimes it's dangerous to let people know exactly what you mean in a title because it's fun to let people read into it. To me Sleep Through The Static comes from this one line in that song that says, [he begins to sing] 'I will cook all your books/ You're too good looking and mistook it/ You could watch it instead from the comfort of your burning bed/ Or you can sleep through the static.'"
His intentions are wide open to interpretation and yet it's a pretty linear thought. "You can read it in different ways depending upon the mood," says Johnson. "That whole song actually came pretty easy. It was a stream of consciousness kinda thing. I saw a sticker on a car and it said, 'Support Our Troops.' There was another sticker next to it about Jesus. I thought to myself, 'What would Jesus think if he saw this?' I was trying to see it objectively and not too be cynical about it. He was human and lived here on Earth at some point. What would he think about a bumper sticker with his name on it and right next to 'Support Our Troops'?' Now that got me thinking. There is nothing wrong with supporting our troops, but when supporting our troops becomes synonymous with supporting this war, then [pauses]. I have a friend who had a sticker that said, 'Support Our Troops. Bring Them Home,' and somebody took it off their car. You get labeled as being unpatriotic if you think the troops should come home."
Continue reading for more on Jack Johnson...
|
