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KGRL Exclusive Courtney Jaye Interview
Club 20/20 - August 10, 2006
KGRL had a chance to go on a very intimate one on one interview with Courtney Jaye. The interview was held in Club 20/20 - 08.10.06.
Listen to Courtney Jaye's responses in High Quality MP3 Stream using the player below:
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KGRL: Being an Indie artist, do you foresee yourself signing up under a Major Record Label if given full creative control over your work?
Courtney Jaye: You know what; I don't think it's an issue of creative control anymore. I think with the state of the music industry, as it is, I really think the major labels are going to be obsolete pretty soon. I think it comes down to, if you can do it independently - it is harder but at the end of the day I think you're able to make those key decisions without having to go through ten different people in the label - and that can get frustrating.
I don't know, it's one of those questions I can't really answer because it comes down to, for me, anybody that understands what I'm trying to do and supports it 100%. My last label obviously wasn't the case so; yeah I'm a little scarred from that. I prefer to do everything I can independently from now on.
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KGRL: Did you have any formal music training?
Courtney Jaye: No formal music training. I took some voice lessons a couple years ago and then I actually took three lessons from a guy out here in Los Angeles back in March of this year. I swear I learned more in those three voice lessons/sessions than I did the whole time I was taking lessons down in Atlanta. For the most part, I just learn from the people around me. I surround myself with great musicians and I pick little things off from them - and it just becomes who I am musically.
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KGRL: We read that you worked as an acupuncturist or assistant acupuncturist in Arizona. Did you take schooling for that?
Courtney Jaye: I wasn't an acupuncturist. I was just in the office, kind of training and learning, doing sort of an apprenticeship to a Doctor. It was around the time that I decided to do music full-time, so I knew I wasn't going to go to acupuncture school or college - for that matter. I decided to take the job with him to learn as much as I could about holistic healing, herbs, and eastern medicine, which I think is pretty fascinating stuff.
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KGRL: One notable venue we noticed you played in is the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas - where a lot of legendary musicians have performed (one of our flower-powered artist - Sarah Sharp got to play there too). How do you feel playing there?
Courtney Jaye: Cactus is a great venue. I think it has this nostalgic Austin quality to it. I drove through Austin when I was 19 years old. I knew I was going to live there one day, I knew it. I also went to the Cactus Cafe on that trip. I remember saying "I'm going to play here one day, I'm going to play here." I saw the people on the wall - Patti Griffin, Ani Difranco... I think it gave me some motivation, something to work towards. Then I was engaged to be married and I moved to Austin with my ex-fiancée, so I got to make that a reality - playing at the Cactus. (KGRL - Were you able to record anything there?) No, I didn't get to record anything in Austin.
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KGRL: We heard about you being sort of like a sponge. You absorb the predominant type of music/genre in the places you go to. Which place/environment influenced you or played a major influence in your song creating process with regards to your new EP?
Courtney Jaye: On the new EP, I think I went back to really rootsy, tropical vibe. I went down to St. Lucia which is in the Caribbean. I just hang out down there and just absorb the culture. Of course, I go back to Hawaii, I live there part-time - that always play a big role in my writing. I just think it's the combination of getting back to playing in a room with other musicians and being able to have the freedom to have marimbas, ukuleles, banjos, and harmoniums - all these fun instruments that I just love. I think it just mainly focuses on the breezy kind of tropical elements of music that I like.
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KGRL: The Sweetest Thing... That song is very Hawaiian-influenced...
Courtney Jaye: You know what... I think that song - I was trying to channel, when I was writing it, an old Don Ho. Back in the day, there's something about him, I just think he embodies, to a certain extent - he put a face on Hawaiian music back in the early 60s. I think, just listening to some of those records, I wanted an unabashedly romantic song that wasn't afraid to be romantic.
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KGRL: About the song, 'Til It Bleeds... You co-wrote it with Nina Gordon around the time you were writing materials for Traveling Light. Why did you decide to hold off on it?
Courtney Jaye: For many different reasons... My producer at the time, Peter Collins and I had two different opinions on where we saw the song going. He wanted to keep it more in the ballad world and I kind of wanted to rock it out a little bit. I just remember we had that conversation of "Ok we're not seeing eye to eye on this. Let's hold off... let's hold off on it."
I wanted to record the song. I just remember thinking to myself; I've got to do this song with somebody that gets it. I didn't feel that Peter was as connected to that song as the other songs on the record. So I said, "You know what, we've got the record... I'm going to record it for my next record..." and here we are.
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KGRL: You were a fan of artists such as The Dead and Ani DiFranco... speaking of which, you did shave your head during those days, right?
Courtney Jaye: One of the many things of my youth... I wouldn't ever do again but I'm glad I got the opportunity to do it. Everyone always asks me and I'm like "You know what? I'm never going to shave my head again, but it was a great experience!" I was 19.... I was 19.
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KGRL: Any new artist that you listen to currently and/or inspire you?
Courtney Jaye: I'm listening to a guy right now by the name of Jose Gonzales, a singer/songwriter out of Stockholm, Sweden. He's awesome... I'm listening to a lot of him. I love the Brandi Carlile record. I think she's got something pretty special in her voice, in her song, in her personality. I really like Brandi.
Let me think about this... I'm on the spot here... I'm listening to the new Dixie Chicks record; I'm really enjoying that one. Let me think.. I know I just bought a bunch of music. It's like when somebody asks you to say what you're listening to, even though you just bought a bunch of new stuff, you can never remember.
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KGRL: Do you have anything out of your genre, Indie Pop that you want do in the future? Anything you want to experiment with?
Courtney Jaye: Well, you know, it's interesting though because I think I inherently write pop songs. I've gotten really weary of putting myself in that Pop category; it's never been easy for me to get those words out that I'm a Pop artist. To a degree, yes, I think I am. I think where I see myself going is just kind of exploring the more rootsy, the more real and organic sounding music.
I'm listening to a lot of Brazilian music right now. I'm listening to a guy, an old artist. I believe he's been out for over 30 something years.... Jose Feliciano, Bebel Gilberto... I'm kind of influenced right now more so by the tropical world of music. I don't know where I necessarily see myself going with that but I definitely want to explore more.
I'm finding that I really love/enjoy writing sexy and romantic songs that make you feel like you got your feet/toes in the sand. I don't know with Pop music. I think I'm a little bit jaded... Not jaded, I hope I'm not jaded I'm 28 but I'm a little discouraged by popular music today, so it's hard to say. I don't know where I see myself going with it.
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KGRL: The first song that you wrote for a funeral of your friend, Shine On... Did you ever get to revisit and record it?
Courtney Jaye: No. I played it for the family at the funeral of my friend who died when I was 17. He died in that ValuJet plane crash. It was really a tough time for me because I wasn't very happy... I wanted to be out in the world. Of course, when you're in High School everybody goes through that, they want to be out. He was a good friend that I actually had done a lot of traveling with. We were in Grateful Dead Tour together. We saw a lot of the world in varying age. When he passed, I wrote a song.
The only thing I remember about it was the reaction of his family. Feeling like, "Ok I just wrote something..." I knew three or four chords at that time... It just came out. I looked back and obviously I don't think it's coincidence, but it was pretty inspiring to me to want to explore it - because I didn't know I was doing. It wasn't formula. I didn't have any rules, I just wrote a song. I think that that's a big thing that I've lately gotten back to... Not putting any restrictions on writing songs. I remember the chorus and it goes (sings)...
You take the fire
Then I'll take the flame
I will shine on everything
I'll heal tomorrow
If you'll heal today
And you make this all OK
It was just very basic stuff...
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KGRL: When can we expect the full length? How much of it is done?
Courtney Jaye: I don't know... I would say sometime next year. I went to Minneapolis. I made a record with Gary Louris of the Jayhawks. I came back to LA and I realize that I needed to work on it a little bit more. Work on some of the songs. I would say it's about 70% there. I've got three songs that need to be recorded.
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KGRL: Any new collaborators with the new album?
Courtney Jaye: No, not really. It's pretty much the same crew. I have my good friends that I really enjoy writing with. Like Matthew Sweet, Gary Louris (I've written a bunch with him). Obviously Nina and I wrote 'Til It Bleeds together. Let's see... I've been writing along with a girl by the name of Julianna Raye, who is also an independent artist - she's really fantastic. So yeah, it's pretty much the same crew.
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KGRL: Any plans for a DVD?
Courtney Jaye: No, probably not for the time being… We're just going to throw the EP out and see how it sticks.
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KGRL: What's the most memorable show you ever had?
Courtney Jaye: The most memorable show I ever had, I got to tell you… just recently, this past June. I played at the Temple Bar here in Santa Monica with a band - these really amazing players. It was just nice to be on the stage with some other musicians. I've been doing the solo thing. It's nice to do because I can do it, but I think where I feel like I belong is with other people on stage with me. It's kind of collectively sharing and creating sound and music. It was in June and it was just a fantastic night. It was something really special going on in that room and I felt it.
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KGRL: So you prefer being with a band than playing solo?
Courtney Jaye: I do, yeah I do... There's just more energy to feed off of. I could look over at my bass player - because we have so many inside jokes - It's like I could miss a chord or something and then look over at him and he just makes me smile, he makes me want to laugh. It just changes the whole mood of the song and the show. (KGRL - Do you do session bands or do you have your own band?) Oh no, I have a band, yeah.
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Special thanks goes to Courtney Jaye for letting us gather our exclusive content.
Courtney Jaye Links:
Official Website: http://www.courtneyjaye.com
MySpace Page: http://www.myspace.com/courtneyjayemusic
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