By Kevin C. Johnson

The leader of The Wallflowers talks about his famous father and today's music. The group comes to The Pageant Sunday.

Just mention that you're interviewing Jakob Dylan -- lead singer with The Wallflowers -- and you're liable to elicit any number of reactions from interested parties:

"Are you going to ask him about his father?"
"Do you think he'll flip out if you ask about his father?"
"I hear he hates talking about his father."
"Doesn't he know his father is the only reason why anyone cares about him?"

Of course, in the case of Jakob Dylan, we're not talking about just any father, but none other than rock music legend Bob Dylan.

Ever since Jakob broke out in a big way with his 1996 album "Bringing Down the Horse" and the hits "One Headlight" and "6th Avenue Heartache," he's been dogged by the assumption that, in interviews, any conversation involving Bob is taboo.

But is that really true, or have people blown it out of proportion?

In a recent telephone interview from Los Angeles, Jakob responded that he's "not concerned with how people perceive me in that regard. People would be disappointed if they didn't expect something out of me."

That isn't exactly the kind of response that would clear things up -- once and for all -- about whether he has issues about being in Bob's immense shadow. But the younger Dylan elaborated.

"I think people assume there's some kind of friction, and I've not made any attempt to clarify that. But I have expressed countless times that it's a matter of professionalism more than anything else," he says. "And the opportunity has never come up before."

Most people assume that the two Dylans could never record or perform together, without even realizing that they already have, at a private affair in 1998.

"It wasn't that unique to me," Jakob says of the show. "The truth about that was that no one had ever asked us to play (together) before. We hadn't been asked. It was that simple. But at the time we were both on tour, and we both got there."

Although he doesn't rule out the possibility of future collaborations with his father, right now his focus is on The Wallflowers, its new tour that includes a stop at The Pageant Sunday night, and the current CD "Breach" (down to No. 54 on Billboard magazine's top 200 albums chart after five weeks).

The record is meeting a fate it doesn't deserve, quietly slipping down the charts even though it's a top-notch rock album with a great lead single in "Sleepwalker."

"I tune into the charts every once in a while. I tuned in in the beginning to see how the record was doing. I'm pretty happy it's doing well," he says. (The interview took place when the recording was much higher up on the chart).

Jakob is quick to admit it'd be nice if "Breach" did as well commercially as "Bringing Down the Horse," which sold 4 million copies.

"Who wouldn't want to? But I didn't have much to do with that last record doing what it did. I just wrote what was on my mind and toured for 2 1/2 years. That's all I could do. The game plan was to go out and tour, and it worked."

The new CD is getting lost in the shuffle of mega-high profile superstar releases hitting record stores every Tuesday, as well as by holdovers that won't quit by artists like Nelly, Creed and 3 Doors Down. Not to mention the unstoppable Britney Spears and 'N Sync. "That stuff seems to be hot. Everybody is waiting for it to end. I don't have any predictions about it, and I don't know why everyone is so surprised by the (pop music) climate. A lot of people are having a good time with it," says Jakob, who believes some people bash pop music to make themselves sound superior.

"I don't have anything bad to say about it. It's not any different from when we had Pat Boone, the Archies, and those bands of the '70s. It doesn't have to be summarized and there doesn't have to be a big discussion about it -- it'll turn eventually. It always does. And who really cares what's next?"

"Breach" includes guest appearances by Elvis Costello, Frank Black, Michael Penn and Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The CD was produced by Andrew Slater of Fiona Apple and Macy Gray fame. Slater, incidentally, produced The Wallflowers song "Heroes" for the "Godzilla" soundtrack.

Jakob said that Slater, who manages The Wallflowers, was brought in to produce because sometimes an artist can benefit from a different perspective: "You need somebody not stuck in the middle of it to take you to the vision you're striving to get to. He makes amazing records."

And having someone involved with that sort of background was valuable.

"You try to keep consistent through the record, and sometimes you need somebody to push the artists. That's not always comfortable. It's not always agreeable. It's rarely fun. But that's not the point," Jakob says. "Breach" found the band in a work mode similar to that utilized with the recording of "Bringing Down the Horse," which was vastly different from the recording of the group's 1992 self-titled debut CD.

At the time of that first record, the group felt it best to record everything live, including the vocals. There were no overdubs, and the job was completed in a scant three weeks.

"I sang everything with the group. I think all groups should do that at some point. It's not encouraged much these days. You gotta be (gutsy) to do that."

The band never considered changing, softening or hardening its sound to better compete with today's hottest acts: "Trying to keep up with people is dishonest," Jakob says.

So instead of compromising, the group released a record that sounds as if it picks up perfectly where "Bringing Down the Horse" left off.