Jason Yates
Jason Yates has released his sophomore solo album on Vapor Records. The self-titled set, recorded at Manny Nieto's Estudio in East L.A., was produced by Yates along with Nieto and Shane SmithIf the name Jason Yates isn't instantly recognizable, the sound of his Hammond B3 is surely familiar:
Chris- How did you get hooked up with Citizen Cope?
Jason- First record that he did, he came down to LA , and he was using a keyboard player friend of mine named Chris Joyner. He needed an organist to play some TV shows. So, I got hired to do the Craig Kilbourne TV show. Back than we did 3 or 4 shows, me and Clarence got along really well, so we kept in touch, became friends, whenever he came into town doing solo acoustic, I’d come see him, hang out with him, take him around LA. We kept up our friendship and he called me to do some keyboards on his next record. We just kept in touch. He was the only one after Ben Harper that I called and told him if he needed a keyboard player, just let me know, would love to play with him again, probably within 5 months of that phone call, he called me, ‘Hey man I’d like you to do this’, It kind of worked out perfectly.
Chris- So you guys got along good as friends?
Jason- Yeah, we have a lot in common as far as attitude about music, what we like, and what we appreciate.
Chris-How did you start playing the B3 organ?
Jason-The music that I love, I just gravitated to ….WHAT IS THAT??!! What is that sound? There are a lot of keyboards that try to do that, but there is only one. I realized I had to drag that thing around in order to get that sound.
Chris- It seems like a different instrument to pickup early on.
Jason- Yeah it is. The funny thing is the B3, if you listen close, there’s probably some B3 thru generations ever since the early 50’s. Someone gave me this crazy statistic. It’s been in every top ten song for decades. Its not something you really hear, its not really the prominent instrument, but its been an amazing amount of songs and an amazing amount of styles, not just blues thing, or a rock thing, it’s really crossed over to all sounds, country music even. There’s B3 everywhere.
Chris- I saw you had a bio on the CMT website.
Jason- That’s cool, you know country music has some great songs, I think no matter what style it is, and it can still be a great song. A good song to me, you can play it in any different style and it would work. That’s a true testament of a well written song. You can play it country, you can play it reggae. The melody is good, the chords are good.
Chris- How did you get to join Macy Gray?
Jason- Actually I was in a band in LA that was getting a lot of attention from fellow musicians. We were the house band at this club, so a lot of musicians or mutual friends would come by to hear us.. Macy Gray heard us play back when Wil-Dog from Ozomatli, and Gil Solo on Guitar. She hired my back than called 2Piece to be her backing band to showcase her material for her very first record deal, so we actually landed her first record deal for her. Than shortly after that I got asked to go on tour with Natalie Merchant, so I had to let the Macy Gray thing go, much to my dismay, not that record but one she made a couple for years later, that record blew up. The other keyboard player Jeremy ( a good friend of mine) went on to play with her. We were all a really close knit of musicians. Whie I was out with Natalie Merchant Macy Gray kind of blew up, I was real happy for her, but a little dismay about the timing. It just goes to show you about decisions you make, I mean I didn’t regret the decision, but you make crucial decision not knowing how it will affect your whole life. Im glad I took the road I did, Im glad I toured with Natalie Merchant for a few years. It was a good learning experience, I had never been on that level of touring before. That was the first time I really toured Europe, and across America. It gave me a lot of professionalism. I had always been in a band and been a big contributor to songs and what we were doing, it taught me how to be a team player, and play someone else’ music. A lot of the stuff she played, I had to emulate, I had to play the piano like she did. She had a really soft touch, back than I was kitting the keyboard really hard. It was good for me and my musicology. It taught me how to be professional, how to live on the road, how to be consistent at shows, don’t just make one great night than next one suck, how to keep them all great. Natalie really put it out there. She is an amazing singer. She has a really strong voice and I have a lot of respect for her consistency every night that she delivered.
Chris-When you were with Ben Harper did you contribute a lot to the song process?
Jason- Ben was real great and open. He wanted to hear our ideas and the more I was in the band, the more trust he gave me. He opened up and I really felt like I was a contributing member. I gave him a lot of ideas, they didn’t always get listened to but at least they got heard.
Chris- I saw you played with him on a couple of late night shows, I believe one was Craig Kilbourne.
Jason- We did a bunch. We did all of them a couple of times. I think we did Letterman at least 3 or 4 times.
Chris- You’re out promoting your CD now. This is kind of a different way of doing it, out with someone else while promoting your own CD.
Jason- Well I really love this band and really love Cope’s music. I don’t mind being out here, I don’t feel like Im taking away from my project. I’m going to be opening up on shows later on during the tour. It’s a great opportunity, also I plan on giving away little EPs, it has about 6 songs from first and second record. Cope says I can give those away to anyone I want to. I just want to get my music out there, by any means so people can here it, hopefully some people will pick up on it and dig it.
Chris- That’s probably the tough part, getting your music out there.
Jason- Yeah it is. Theres so many artists out there now. Its become more affordable to make records. People can make them at home now, so Im competing against a lot. I just want to get out there for people to hear. I don’t expect this record to make tons of money. I want to see if Im even on the radar.
Chris- Ever listen to internet radio stations?
Jason- Im not that big of an internet radio guy. I think its cool, but I have so many albums and cds that im still getting into. I don’t keep searching for new music all the time. Im still digging in the past pulling out great records. There are still treasures back there that I enjoy.
Chris- I know Pandora and last.fm will do this thing where if you listen to a certain artist they will suggest similar artists you may enjoy.
Jason- I stay a little leary of those things. I love to be turned onto word of mouth, like if someone says they really dig a particular song you should listen, rathere than a computer program for it. It is a good way to find someone, like if you find a genre you like it would turn you on to a couple of other people. I like all kinds of music from funkadelic, to blues. I really like eclectic music. I don’t think it would work for me. I would never underestimate what people would like. Cant always assume people who like Ben Harper and Jack Johnson are going to love Citizen Cope. People are more eclectic than that I think.
Chris- People like certain styles.
Jason- Yeah, and certain moods. I mean if you are in the mood for that.
Chris- You worked with Mark from the Black Crowes, how was that?
Jason- That was great, one of the songs that we wrote together came together in a hotel room, we had a couple of hours to kill and we just wrote ‘Sing for You’ which is the last song on the cd. I personally think Mark is a phenomenal player, him and I are kindred spirits, like when I met Clarence (Citizen Cope) we just clicked and got along. One of those guys where you become friends forever.
Chris- How did you meet up with him?
Jason- It was Ben Harper, we needed a guitar player. He came in and started touring with him.
Chris- Whats next for you?
Jason- Its kind of hard to think of whats next when Im knee deep in Cope’s world right now, but I have a show at SXSW coming up. We will be performing on 3/17 I believe.
Chris- That should be a lot of fun.
Jason- Yeah that’s the last leg of this tour, so I will do the SXSW show than go home to recoup. I really want to make another record to be completely honest. I feel that I just made my first record with the sound that I like, I want to continue with that, and take it to the next level
Chris- Will it be a similar mood as this one?
Jason- Not the same exact mood, but the vibe. I was really trying to crosspolinate a Crazy Horse Neil Young feel with a really earthy feel with soul music. I want to explore that somewhat. I want to come up with something different. It wont be like something you have heard before. I am kinda excited about tripping out and writing more songs that have that kind of influence where I can cross Neil Young and old soul Sam Cooke, you know heavey on keyboard/organ. I want to do that. I don’t think anyone else has really explored that.
Chris- That would definitely be different than whats out there now. There is a lot of similar stuff out there now. Do you have more songs written that you are already to finish up on?
Jason- I got a few songs from my past . I got a little tape recorder out and putting ideas on there. Songs just hit me like lightning. I cant just sit down and say now is the time to write a song, so I just have to have the tape recorder so hopefully I will be ready when it hits me. I can write the idea down. Its a lot of work for me. When they do come they flow pretty quickly.
Chris- Where do you draw on for insirations for your songs?
Jason- Usually I juast, I just sit down with it hits me. They come from a really personal place. I tried to sit down and conceptually put together a story and kind of stand outside myself. I think this tour is going to last till about May 1st. I love being outon the road, I love musicians, I love hanging out with them, with drummers, and bass players, song writers. They are good people, they really are.
Chris- It seems you have to do it because you enjoy doing it, instead of chasing the dollar.
Jason- Yeah, the amount of damage that you do, being away from home and relationships, even your friendships, you know you leave a friend for 4 months, than you come back and he could be in a completely different place. The money isn’t worth it. It is however worth it, if you enjoy what your doing, and the people, and believe in the cause that your doing it. You have to believe in the people your working with. You have to believe in your purpose for doing it, otherwise your up there for 2 hours, and the other 22 hours in the day your just wondering. I just spent the last 2 hours doing drawings. We could’ve done this thing hours ago.
Chris- What else do you do on the road to help you unwind?
Jason- Besides the drawing, I like to read a lot. If I have a good book, and a guitar. I could practice and I could read, and my doodle and drawing stuff. Than Im good, I could do this for like a year.
Chris- I really appreciate the time you took to talk to me.
Jason- Its cool. It was good, hope you enjoy the show tonite.