You may know Jake Clemons as one of the latest members of the E Street Band and nephew of the great Clarence Clemons, but coming onto center stage is Jake Clemons. He is branching out and becoming a solo artist, after winding down a great and lengthy Wrecking Ball tour with the E Street Band. He has his debut EP, “Embracing Light”, dropping on December 3rd, 2013. He has already done some shows here in the USA and on the 3rd of December, not only is his EP dropping, but he is embarking on a European Tour. Then, in January he is back with the E Street Band and after that only time will tell.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Jake over the phone and got to ask some questions. We went over his first single, “You Must Be Crazy”, the many organizations he is involved with, what the Wrecking Ball tour was like, and much more. Keep reading to see my full interview with Jake Clemons!
So, let start off with your latest single, “You Must Be Crazy”. I’ve listened to it a bunch of times and it sounds great, what is your inspiration behind it?
I wrote that song a few years ago and that is the only song on the EP that is not brand new. I made the decision a couple years ago to move forward with life and not let myself be held back by my fears anymore. That was the birth of that song and the decision to keep pushing forward and not look back and fight for happiness, peace, and not dwell with the past. That song communicates to a lot of people that way. We were able to work with a few organizations and used that song to promote the eventual end of global poverty. We have to look at this beautiful world we live in and realize that people are living in extreme poverty, and become a place that pushes forward and doesn’t look back. I wrote the music and the lyrics and I have a great band that is behind me.
I’ve had the chance to listen to the EP, Embracing Light, a few times and it is just as good. The rest of the songs on the EP have been written more recently?
Yes, all of the other songs on the EP have been written more recently. The Song For Hope I wrote when I was in Barcelona, last year or so. Last Spring I was in Barcelona and I have a god-daughter in England and she’s got this amazing story. Her mother became pregnant and the doctor told her she was very irresponsible for getting pregnant and that this baby was not gonna make ii, don’t expect anything Really horrible, horrible story. This went all the way up to 9-months and going into labor the doctor told her don’t be surprised if it’s a stillborn and the baby is going to have problems.’ Really terrible. She eventually named her daughter Hope and I have the honor of being one of the godparents. I was in Barcelona last year, getting ready to go to her christening because lo and behold she is an incredibly intelligent strong healthy baby.
As a whole, do you think the message of Embracing Light is similar to You Must Be Crazy, kind of the idea of moving forward?
Yeah, the record as whole is about hope and is about moving forward and embracing light. And hope for right now, and hope that is not waited for, you know. I have this philosophy that your life begins the moment you open your eyes in the morning and it’s like the first day of your life and your life ends when you close your eyes at night. So, you don’t need to hope for tomorrow, if you hope it needs to be today, and you need to embrace all you can. To live in the now.
Saxophone is not your only instrument as we know, what is your background with instruments?
Yeah, saxophone was the first thing I wanted to play, but my dad insisted that I play piano first. I am really grateful for that and it gave me a foundation for rhythm, melody, chords, and even percussion. From there I picked up saxophone, clarinet, flute, and then guitar and bass, and drums. Its a great background to have.
I know you relaunched your site, did you have some input in the designed of that?
I got a fantastic design by Brandy Collins, who is out of Seattle She is in charge of my branding in general and she is pretty amazing. She did the logo and it’s a great ride to be on. Having the team behind you, that lets you get the vision and there is a handful of people that believe in what we are doing and are excited to be apart of this. It’s great to have these people and they are all investing themselves into this greater experience.
I know that you have been trending on Twitter for quite some time, did this come as a surprise to you?
When it first happened at the Apollo Theater show, it freaked me out. It’s amazing, it seems so lofty that it is reserved for presidents and space exploration, i don’t know, haha. It seems very revered, it’s really phenomenal … for It for to become so signficant and it is a relatively new technology. History is moving and we’re moving along with it.
Do you like to keep up on the new technology stuff?
I would consider myself a moderate tech buff, I am a victim of Mac. I went through the iPhone 4, to the 5, and stopped with the 5S. I’m waiting for the 6, I want the bigger phone. The competition is crazy.
Did you do the recording of the new album all digitally?
Yes, we did and it’s not something I’m sure we will always do, there is something really nice about analog as well. As far as technology is concerned the fact that I can have a small interface with a MacBook and microphone so I can record a demo and send it over to my band overseas is huge. The way we recorded a lot of the songs, I was on the tour with E Street and I had all recording studio in my back pack. I would send them over to my producer, who could listen to them and record them with the live instruments. The time during the tour was a whole new level of busy for me. I mean the digital software kind of got popular around 10 years ago, and gosh, I got stuff on my tablet that can record stuff now. The product software is growing; there’s this a cool software that I got introduced to that is for writing sheet music. It’ll transcribe stuff for you and will make the process a lot easier, setting up the chord structures and it is phenomenal. Just apps, you know? When it comes down to ideas for a music video or song, “The Song For Hope”, I was literally walking down the street in Barcelona and sang into the phone on the recording app and imported it out to my computer at the hotel and got the demo done in like an hour.
You were at the Little Kids Rock event a few weeks ago, how was that?
Little Kids Rock is phenomenal. Clarence kind of championed the organization back in 2009 and they named an award after for him, the Big Man Of The Year Award. He was the first recipient and I immediately became involved through him. They put me on the honorary board a few years ago and to be able to continue the legacy is pretty cool. The work they do is so important, with the budget being cut in schools constantly. Kids are not being given access to creative thinking. How are you gonna creatively solve the problems they will face in the future. Little Kids Rock goes in and creates these creative music programs in these schools. It’s all independently funded, no government funding is attached to it. They’re reaching hundreds of thousands of kids and it is amazing, for an organization that was started by a 1rst grade teacher. It is hard and depressing at the same time that they have taken these course away from the kids, but they make it great in that they bring it back.
For me it is important to be involved in 3 different levels, locally, nationally, and globally and those are the 3 parts of the world I exist in. There is an organization in Virgina where I live, called the Sinkinson Dyslexia Foundation. They do some amazing work and help dyslexic individuals learn how to read, which has been largely overlooked. If someone is dyslexic they are regarded as learning disabled and basically passed over, and people are largely unaware that it doesn’t have to do with learning ability. They can literally do rocket science, but just have a struggle with reading. They do some amazing work in being able to correct that part of the process and help individuals learn how to read. It is something that people take for granted, if you can’t learn how to read, it is trigger in the brain that’s not putting things together it makes it Impossible to read a menu or street signs. It is a great organization that I am happy to be a part of.
On the global level I am involved in the Global Citizen Foundation. with the Global Poverty Project and their goal is to erase global poverty. To make it not exist. They have done this for 2 years and we are over half way there already. They are using a lot of technology for awareness. They have this big festival called the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. This year they had Alicia Keys, John Mayer and it was broadcast on TV. The amazing thing about it is that you cannot purchase tickets- there are no tickets for sale, so you have to do something to go. You have to help spread awareness or do something specific to go. There are no box seats you can pay an extra $5000 for, you are all there for the same purpose. 60,000 people there and it must’ve reached around a billion. I’m extremely happy to be a part of the cause on a global level. HP Life integrates with them to build software to teach and educate people on how to start up their own business, to empower entrepreneurs and teach people to create jobs in any 3rd world location. If there are no jobs, they empower people to start businesses. They have done phenomenal work in educating and giving accessibility.
The progression is here, you are now a solo artist; what would you like people to know about you as a solo artist? It is the big question.
At the end of the day I am passionate about music. It’s purpose, and what we can use it for. It is a phenomenal thing that can heal a hurt and feed a hungry mouth at the end of the day. As a solo artist I’m about reaching that part of humanity across the board.
You are going from the Wrecking Ball tour and performing for at least 55,000 people in an arena and now you are going to smaller venues. You had a lot of passion in with Springsteen. Now you are making the change and I’m sure you are putting the same amount of passion in, so has it changed?
It’s not too different; I mean it just is a more intimate setting. The incredible thing to me is it’s normal if you are a vulnerable, open individual you can express that and if the audience is like that, you can have a great conversation. It is amazing that is possible in front of 70,000 people and the tone hasn’t changed at all. The volume has changed and is certainly different, but is still a really rich thing. When I’m with E Street I’m an oar in the boat and giving it all you can to keep the thing moving. In my settings it’s different; it’s up to me to be the one that’s steering the ship and engaging the band and my audience. It’s an incredible lesson to observe from the E Street Stage, like what Clarence brought.
Can you tell me about the tour plans and the shows you have done?
Its a real cool experience to walk into a room of people who are familiar with you, but not your music. Some people didn’t even know that I play guitar. The authenticity of the experience is great; they are engaged and interested in the music. It’s a very raw and pure thing- the last shows have been incredible. Bringing the same experience from a recording to the live show is great, I am looking forward to December 3rd.
What was it like preparing for the Wrecking Ball Tour?
Yeah man it was highly focused and dedicated; I spent 9 hours a day just trying to get into it- investing myself into the saxophone completely and listening to live recordings of Clarence, it was a lot of lot of work. It was beautiful experience and defiently worth it, very encouraging and definitely blood. sweat and tears.
You’re reuniting back with the band in January, are you excited about that? And do you know if it’s expanding after that at all; maybe we will see you back in Jersey?
I have no idea, I am very excited about, my first time in South Africa and New Zealand. It’s the greatest band in the world and we have the opportunity to reach the fans. I am really looking forward to being with the band and seeing the new audiences. Yeah, we touch base, members of the band, I’ve been familiar with these guys my whole life. It’s a family off and on stage. I grew up under my uncle. As far as the future is concerned, I have no idea what Bruce’s plans are. I know that after we can get back from New Zealand my band is going back on tour.
What is your favorite memory of the Wrecking Ball tour?
Oh man, you know for me that entire tour was like a full life cycle, it was kind of like it started with Clarence passing away and the rebirth of a new tour. Uhm, then it’s a whole life, O don’t know. I remembered being born, and then when you graduated high school, got married. It felt like a whole life tour; there were definitely points that stood out along the way. A beautiful experience; each song means something different and whether it was Badlands, Spirit In The Night, or Dancing In The Dark, or Jungleland. Evey single one of those notes became invaluable to me and in terms of the connection with Clarence and understanding even what those notes mean. I mean come on, they’re all amazing songs!
That is my full interview with Jake Clemons, we were able to cover a lot of ground. From the inspiration behind his new album and all the way to the Wrecking Ball Tour! Our full review of Embracing Light, Jake Clemons debut EP, will be coming soon. Keep checking NJTechReviews for the latest news on Jake Clemons! Thank you Jake Clemons for taking the time to do this interview!
