The Record Life :: Interview

Courtesy of Total Assault

By: Sindy

Sindy:: Hi Jake, I’m glad I caught you!

Jake:Yeah, I’m just finishing packing. We’re playing three days in Chicago with Drake Bell so it’s gonna be fun.

Sindy:: Do you wanna tell me a bit about the new album, Into the Sea of Something Big?

Jake:: Sure, right now there’s 11 songs but we’re probably going to get in the studio to record a couple more before it’s released. I was trying to make it as nostalgically modern as possible—have as many ties with old, classic rock as I could while still maintaining an undertone of what’s still going on currently.

Sindy:: So who would you say are your old school influences and your contemporary ones?

Jake: The older influences are the Beatles, Queen, Elton John, Billy Joel and probably the Beach Boys and the new influences are Third Eye Blind, Oasis, Death Cab for Cutie—stuff like that.

Sindy:: Do I heard something about a life-changing trip to California—what’s that about?

Jake: I came down in September 2007 to meet with the record label but the meeting went pretty well and they wanted me to make some demos, so I got really excited, nixed my flight back and stayed!

Sindy:: How did you find a place to stay?

Jake: I crashed on a few people’s floors for about a month then I found a place in Hollywood—just a little two-bedroom house but I lived there with eight other people sooo I was on the floor in the dining room. But it was the best I could find for $300 a month. It was horrible but there was an old piano in the house so it was somehow an appropriate workspace.

Sindy:: Ha, cool! Were any of the other guys musicians?

Jake: Yeah, actually they were in The Record Life for like a minute.

Sindy:: Oh I was going to ask if you have a regular band that you play with!

Jake:: I do, now I do. They’re awesome. It was hard to find guys that fit the bill.

Sindy:: But now you’re besties?

Jake:: Oh yeah, we’re BFFs.

Sindy:: What instruments do you play?

Jake:: I play piano and guitar and then the band, we’ve got a drummer, a bass player and another guitarist.

Sindy:: I saw you played the South by Southwest festival in Austin, was that crazy awesome?

Jake:: To be honest, some nights were a little hazy, but we really tryed to take in the culture. I mean we’ve been to shows, we know what it’s like, but we’d never witnessed the city getting behind music like that—tens of thousands of people out in the street with one thing on their mind—music. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. We played the Rusty Spurs and this place called Black and Tan. We’d start the show with nobody in the club—like nobody, just us and the bartender—but by the end of the show the room would be totally full!

Sindy:: Awesome! Did you catch any other bands?

Jake: We saw Echo and the Bunnymen—they’re kinda old but they’re still just as weird. We didn’t get in cause it was packed but we heard Third Eye Blind so I was stoked cause they’re pretty much my favorite band. And we saw Lights play—I have a huge crush on that girl. I actually met her when I worked at American Apparel. She walked in and I was like “Who are you?” and she was like “I’m Lights” and I was like ohh that’s a weird name. (laughs) But then she told me what she did and I told her what I did and it was cool.

Sindy:: Nice, you should do a song with her.

Jake:: That’d be amazing. She does great work.

Sindy:: What’s your favorite song to perform?

Jake:: My Lover the Floodlight--it's like 6 minutes long but we never want it to be over—it’s the last song on our set.

Sindy:: I hope I get to see you perform it soon! Thanks for the chat, Jake!

Jake:: Thanks Kidzworld!

Check out The Record Life on MySpace and buy some music at Jake's merch store!

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