Jabe Beyer combines the brilliant lyrical incisiveness of Tom Waits and Bob Dylan with the tuneful country-politan twang of Wilco and Ryan Adams, and delivers it with the blistering fuck-all intensity of Appetite for Destruction. His songs are the sound of a flickering neon light in a bar at the end of a dark, dusty highway; he knows the pain of letting the one he should’ve clung to get away, and he’ll sing the soundtrack to every rough moment in your life. He won “Outstanding Debut Album” and was nominated as “Best New Singer / Songwriter” at the 2000 Boston Music Awards for his self-released debut Twenty Point Turn, and won the 2000 Abe Olman Songwriting Award from the Songwriting Hall of Fame. Jabe’s been touring the country relentlessly for the past few years; I caught up with him a few hours after he stepped off a plane after playing a showcase for the South by Southwest music conference in Austin, TX, to discuss the release of his third full-length album, Drama City.
Do you think the strength of your material is enough to satisfy an audience, or do you think of ways to improve your stage presence and put on a more entertaining show?
The more I think about that stuff, the less I care, really. I hope the music is enough, ‘cause that’s all I can offer. I really wish I could sit around and think of how to put on a better show or how to dress cooler or whatever, but I just can't. My dork filter turns on and I just feel weird taking the music and myself so seriously that I have to wonder about stage presence or entertaining. To me, good songs and good music are enough. If I go see someone play live, I'm totally satisfied with just some good honest music. Cool clothes or cool hair just distract me. Nowadays it seems good tunes aren't enough for the “music [buying] public.” They want bells and whistles; hocus pocus, and what they see on the TV. I kind of feel like you can't live up to that – and why try anyways? I get off on real things without glitz. That's just me. I'm a pretty boring dude.
What keeps you motivated to keep struggling and touring and making music even when life gets really difficult? †Would you say you're happy and content, or are you frustrated, and if so, why?
There's no question that trying to make a living playing original music is tough. When the music you love to play isn't the music that sells eight billion†records, it’s tougher. And everyone thinks you’re in it to be a rock star, like you’re either a rock god or nothing, and I think that's a shame. Everyone I know plays music for next to no money and have been for a long time, and they still play out every chance they get. It's not about the big time all the time. Would I like to make a bunch of cash playing my songs? Who wouldn't? Am I willing to fly all the way to Texas to play for 35 minutes for a record label? Yeah, sure – am I willing to do anything to make money and compromise my art, which is the only thing I really have? No way. I mean, I get frustrated just like every other guitar player in town, but in the end, it's better than any job I've ever had and I just plain love to play music. I don't think I could take anything else seriously right now. Maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and say, “Screw it” and want to be a painter or janitor or a clam flappin’ biscuit maker, but right now this is what I do. Anyways, I think there's bigger things to worry about lately, like, "Can I please have an order of freedom fries?" What a fuck is that? Freedom toast?! Come on! I was on a plane yesterday and read that they're taking cigarette images out of old albums. They digitally took Paul McCartney's cigarette out of his hand on the cover of Abbey Road! Who let that happen? I'd like to erase that person! They're erasing truth when it doesn't fit the plan anymore. That's scary stuff, man. We're all in the same boat, you know? We're all just trying to get through another day without freaking out. †Be good to people, and have fun. Then there's all the shit in life that comes along with that: love, relationships, wearing different hats, work, friends, family, responsibility, all that stuff. †It's the human condition. We're complicated thing, us weird humans. Trying to make sense out of the human condition is the goal, for me anyways. And for me, if I write it down and sing it into a mic, I feel like I'm getting closer.
Who's a better songwriter, Tom Waits or Bob Dylan? †Who would you pick if you could only choose one to ever listen to again and why? †Who else do you think is just as good or better than them?
Hey, that's not fair! That’s like asking, ‘Stones or Beatles?’ ‘John or Paul?’ It's not a race. Sometimes it feels like it, but I don't really think of music or songwriters in parts or pieces. I mean, yeah, Bob and Tom are two totally different guys doing two different things, but to me, their tunes kinda aren't. I don't have a personal connection with either of 'em as people – even though I did meet Tom Waits once. It's more how their songs affect me than it is about who they are or how they're different. Not just them, but anyone, you know? †If I was forced to pick who I would listen to, first I'd shoot the person who asked the question, then I'd hide bunch of records in my pants. Then I'd go eat some sushi, light cars on fire and quack like a chicken.
You've written a lot of songs about having hard luck with love; tell me about the woman who really broke your heart, and do you think you'll always write songs about her? †Are you still hurt and angry, or would you take her back if you could?
Well, I never used to write songs about personal relationships and stuff†just because I thought it was cheap when I heard other people do it so much. On the first two records I don’t think I said ‘love’ once. The word “love” is in 99% of the songs I grew up with and I just think it got cheapened getting used like that. †Like, “Hey, it rhymes with 'dove,' cool!’” or something. And by some bad cosmic joke in space I was born with the curse of actually caring about song lyrics. †They matter to me. It's a cryin' shame. I mean, when I'm writing I don't sit around and think about any of this stuff or what words to use or while I'm writing, ‘cause it's usually such a quick process for me. Most songs are written in like 15 minutes. I just try to capture a moment and zoom in and out on it 'till I can see if from all angles, you know, and have some perspective on it. Once I feel like I'm onto something, I'm good to go. It's just a song anyways – there's gonna be more, so if I don't nail it on one song, maybe I'll get it on the next one. [Laughs] What was the question again?
Do you consider music to be primarily art or †entertainment? †
To who, me or other people? Music affects me emotionally. To me, that's art. †A porn film, that's entertainment. That might be a bad example. I just pick porn ‘cause I think most people would agree that porn isn't trying to make any huge statements. If we're talking about the music industry, I think its all entertainment to the labels putting that stuff out. It’s just tits and ass, ticket sales and merchandise. Which is fine, ‘cause that's business and business is money. But just be honest about it, please. Don't try and pass it off as amazing art. It could be CDs or used cars – they don't care. †Not to be mean or whatever, but everyone knows the music biz is a mess.† When I see MTV and a singer on top of a digitally made mountain singing in the wind and I know he's really in front of a blue screen in some movie studio in front of a fan, I'm like, "Is this where I'm trying to be? What the hell is that? Do I want to be on a stage, 50 feet from the front row, under a million dumb lights with a shiny guitar?" Uh...not really.
- Mike Baldino
