JAKOB DYLAN By Mercedes Hervás Translated From An Interview Published in Spain (Summer 1997)
The son of the poet Bob Dylan would like to someday play with Eric Clapton. "We'd form a supergroup together, we'd be great," Jakob predicts. At the moment, he continues on tour with his band The Wallflowers and with an album "Bringing Down the Horse," which has converted him into a rocker in fashion. In a lost town of New Jersey, his fans, or those of his father, wait for him.
It's been like looking for a needle in a haystack, up and down the same New Jersey road in between exuberant greens and the sunny sky where Manhattan looks like a mirage. Where is Jakob Dylan? There's no trace of the rocker, son of the legendary poet of rock, front man of The Wallflowers, the voice of "Bringing Down the Horse"; the album that has placed him in the musical firmament making a big entrance into the Billboard's Top 10. But this afternoon, he performs in this sea of trees without billboards or any visible directions, so one has to rely on the red painted stone on the crossroad. "After 517, the third one on the right," say the people dining in a deli lost in the road. Then we head right into Alamuchy Reservation.
New Jersey is full of multinational industries hidden in between the woodlands, of Native Americans on reserves preserved by the local folklore, towns dating back to the 18th century with cemeteries where tourists get their pictures taken, between the smells of summer barbeques and Coca-Cola. But, where is Jakob Dylan? He has gone to Waterloo, one of those mummified towns where festivals are now held. It's populated with pompous Canadian geese who walk calmly by the ponds trimmed with white water lilies until the cosmic crash of rock unchains a flight of hysterically flapping wings.
At the end of the dirt road in front of a church, where people pray at the bottom of the flag, just in front of the tombs from the Seven hundreds. An enormous green circus-like tent rises to match the green environment. Strong workers in T-shirts with walkie talkies with looks of "We'll see if I let you in," move like ants between the tents and the huge trucks parked behind their backs. We finally strike up with The Wallflowers.
Dylan is taking his time practicing in the middle of the concert of an unsettled flight of geese. On stage, he appears fragile and his somewhat rough voice tones down and gets lost between the noise. You can't even hear well what he's singing but that doesn't matter much when the crowd knows the songs by heart: "Sixth Avenue Heartache," "One Headlight," "I Wish I Felt Nothing," or "The Difference," their third single.
But this fragility is not just an illusion that disappears in person. Jakob shakes hands firmly. He talks with confidence and slips away with skill from the questions. He's a 27-year-old veteran, an expert of the road, of interviews in the dressing trailer between filled up trunks and the buzzing sound of the air conditioning. His name is Dylan but he's second generation, so he bears the emblem with a mixture of modesty and pride. However, he makes clear where which one is. Poetry, yes, politics no. These are no longer the times of Vietnam or of protest. They're times of intimacy and day-to-day living.
Interviewer: "I've been told all sorts of things about you, for example, how you don't like to do interviews."
Jakob: "No, I don't mind. I don't mind them at all."
Interviewer: "I've also been told that you're very timid."
Jakob: "Oh yeah? Well, maybe I am a little in social relations but not when I'm up on stage."
Interviewer: "Do you look at the people while your playing?"
Jakob: "Yes, of course I do."
Interviewer: "There are artists that say they don't look at the audience, they only concentrate on playing and they don't look at the people."
Jakob: "I think that they're probably lying because when you get up on a stage, it's impossible not to see the audience. But you don't concentrate on it, rather on what your playing."
Interviewer: "Is this the type of place where you play regularly?"
Jakob: "No, I've never played in a place like this under a circus tent. We play in very different places and, during the summer, in many outdoor venues."
Interviewer: "Are you right now halfway in a tour?"
Jakob: "We're closing one right now; we're only playing in the United States."
Interviewer: "Have you played in Europe as well?"
Jakob: "Yeah, we've been to Spain, France, Italy . . . we played in Madrid, Spain."
Interviewer: "How did it go?"
Jakob: "That was a little different from how it is here. We had played only in the United States and had work to do in Europe, since it was our first time that we went and it was a little different. We didn't have any expectations, but it turned out very well. The audience was great."
Interviewer: "Did you make some form of contact with the people outside of those who form your band?"
Jakob: "Yeah, well I don't speak any Spanish, but fortunately in your country there are a lot of people that speak English so I had opportunity to speak with many people."
Interviewer: "Tell me, would you like to do something different from what you're doing now?"
Jakob: "I don't know how to answer that. Right now, I'm a musician, it's what I know how to do. What I do is a dream, something that many teenagers begin to do, but in the majority of those cases, leave to find a real job. But there are many lawyers around here that dream about this."
Interviewer: "Why didn't you leave it?"
Jakob: "Because it's an interesting job. As simple as that."
Interviewer: "Do you consider yourself more of a composer or more of a musician?"
Jakob: "I'm a composer more than anything. I play the guitar primarily because that's the way I can compose songs. I'm a composer/writer of songs."
Interviewer: "Would you write songs for other people?"
Jakob: "Yeah sure."
Interviewer: "For whom?"
Jakob: "Oh, I don't think I'd be picky; I'd write for anyone."
Interviewer: "Besides you father, who were your models when you were growing and developing as a musician?"
Jakob: "I didn't have role models, I never wanted to be like anyone in particular. I liked many bands and went on to discover people like The Beatles, The Band . . ."
Interviewer: "Do you like listening and watching other people play?"
Jakob: "Yes, but I don't go as much as I used to. I'm always on tour, on the road. When I'm not playing, I try to give my ears some rest."
Interviewer: "Where do you live?"
Jakob: "In Los Angeles, I have a house there, a place to keep my things."
Interviewer: "Is it really tough to have to live on the road, to go from place to place on a bus for months?"
Jakob: "It's an adjustment that you have to make, you learn to live this way. We're all different. There are people, who don't like to travel, go out, meet new people; they'd rather stay in a known environment, while others don't mind going out to other countries. I like [traveling] and I also like going back home, but I feel fine this way. However, I recognize that this isn't for everyone. That's why it's an adjustment."
Interviewer: "Was having the name `Dylan' any help or was it a problem when you tried to make your way into the music industry?"
Jakob: "I'm not interested in knowing what was or what is. I know who writes my songs, who rehearses with the band and spends all the time on the road. And that's me. What I can't do is interfere with the perception that people have of me."
Interviewer: "Do you see your father? Does he stop by to see you play?"
Jakob: "Yes, he comes to see me sometimes."
Interviewer: "And what has he told you?"
Jakob: "What has he said about how I do my job? Well . . . what I've always done has been my choice. Both my mother and father have always supported the things I want to do; it's what parents should do." Interviewer: "Were you lucky?" Jakob: "Maybe."
Interviewer: "How is your father? Has he recovered from his cardiac problems?"
Jakob: "Uh-huh!" (He affirms.)
Interviewer: "Besides music, are you interested in other things, like literature, poetry, architecture, picking flowers in a field?"
Jakob: "I'm interested in all those things. I like architecture, I like picking flowers, I like poetry."
Interviewer: "Have you ever thought of writing poetry?"
Jakob: "Well, depending on the way you look at it, writing songs can be considered as writing poetry."
Interviewer: "Would you be interested in writing literature?"
Jakob: "I haven't thought about it. Maybe it would be interesting and I'd like to learn how to do it. There are many people who do it, but with the help of someone who rewrites what they produce."
Interviewer: "What, in your field, would be the equivalent of that way of writing?"
Jakob: "Well, with many albums, when you look at them, you can see that every song is co-edited with another person who's not the composer. I'd say that the co-editor has probably written the majority of the whole song. That hasn't happened to me."
Interviewer: "Are you interested in politics?"
Jakob: "Politics? The politics of the dance . . . ?"
Interviewer: "The politics of politics, that of Washington and the White House, you know."
Jakob: "Yes, but I don't get too involved in politics. I don't think I'm important enough to have a say in those things. I pay my taxes, so I guess that makes me interested in what they do with it. This year, I've payed a lot of taxes, so yes, I'm interested in what's going on here."
Interviewer: "Oh, so you must be rich then if you pay a lot of taxes."
Jakob: "No, I didn't say that. I've paid a lot this year but in the year before that I didn't pay anything."
Interviewer: "You're a great conversationalist. You must have done a lot of interviews."
Jakob: "A lot, especially when a new album comes out, to get it going so people know who we are."
Interviewer: "Tell me how do you want me to describe you to my readers?"
Jakob: "Tell them I'm incredible."
Interviewer: "I already know that, especially if I go over how incredible it has been to come in contact with you."
Jakob: "With me? You mean to say coming to this town?"
Interviewer: "Coming, and before that, getting an appointment to see you. But let's go back on how you want me to describe you."
Jakob: "Thank God I'll never have to describe myself. I am who I am. I live my life and I don't have to describe my music, nor my lyrics, nor my songs nor why I'm making them. I don't have to think about what they are. Anyway, it would be impossible to give you a description of who I am in thirty seconds."
Interviewer: "Are you working on another album?"
Jakob: "No, because I've been on tour almost a year and a half and I still have another six months because the last album is doing well. I've written some songs while on tour these months. I've had to learn how to do it on the road, although it's not the best place to write songs. I guess that when we finish the tour, I'll compose again."
Interviewer: "Do you compose for yourself?"
Jakob: "I believe that in the best songs, one talks about himself and then they become universal. I communicate things about myself. I write about everything that's important to me. I find it impossible to write about things that don't touch me, about things I don't have experience with. However, that's what many people do. I'm very sensible on certain topics but I don't think it's acceptable to write about them in an album like others do who present a song about child abuse, the homeless, mothers on welfare, the tropical rain forests . . . By doing it, those people accept the responsibility of talking about those themes to people who aren't really interested in them."
Interviewer: "Do you think that the public isn't interested in those things?"
Jakob: "Some aren't and, anyway, I haven't had sufficient time to have experience on those topics that can be much greater than what I see. One can only write about what he knows because, if what he says doesn't come out of his own head, it would be the same as lying."
Interviewer: "Who is your audience? Twenty-year-olds, veteran rockers who go because you're the son of your father, students . . . ?"
Jakob: "Ah, a little of all that. People from six to sixty years old. But there are a lot of young people from 15 to 25 years old that listen to rock on the radio or watch music channels on television like MTV."
Interviewer: "Do you think of the future?"
Jakob: "Do I think of the future? I take life day by day. I feel happy having a day every day."
Interviewer: "That's not a common thought for a young person . . ."
Jakob: "The future doesn't look great, so I prefer to concentrate on today." Interviewer: "You have a young son. Do you ever think of him as a musician tomorrow?"
Jakob: "I think he can do what he wants, whatever makes him happy."
Interviewer: "Hearing you speak seems as though no one forced you to do anything, not even your parents, nor you teachers, nobody."
Jakob: "There are many ways of growing up. I could have become a lawyer if I had wanted to. It all depends on the way of life you want to have. I never had to rebel against anything. I never had to run away from home or anything of that sort. Is it wrong not having anything to rebel against? Is it wrong for someone to like their parents? Of course, they tell you things along the way, but children end up doing what they want anyway."
Interviewer: "How long have you been with your band, The Wallflowers?"
Jakob: "Four years."
Interviewer: "Would you like to go solo?"
Jakob: "Without them? I really like being a part of a band, although I'd play with other people and encourage other members of the band to do the same. Look, if we decide to take a break for seven months and, for example, an opportunity springs up for our bass player to play with someone and earn some money, I would encourage him to do it. But when we regroup, the Wallflowers become our priority."
Interviewer: "With whom would you like to play?"
Jakob: "With Eric Clapton, because we'd form a supergroup together."
Interviewer: "You're very modest."
Jakob: "That's to give you an idea because I think we'd be great together."
Interviewer: "How do you kill time when you're not dedicating yourself to music?"
Jakob: "I like all the arts: painting, photography, movies, but the truth is that I really don't have experience in doing anything else besides music, although all of these things are connected. I'd like to take time off to do different things."
Interviewer: "How do you find being on tour after a year and a half of roaming around the world? Don't you think all the places look the same?"
Jakob: "Well . . . we've been playing six nights a week, sometimes twenty consecutive days. The places we play aren't really important. What's important are the people who come see you, that changes from place to place and you never know how it's going to be. Tonight's audience could be fantastic and tomorrow's not so great and that affects the show as well as the band."
Interviewer: "Have you had many fantastic nights?"
Jakob: "Many."
Interviewer: "Tell me one."
Jakob: "I played recently with Bruce Springsteen here in Jersey. He came to see us."
Interviewer: "Any bad nights?"
Jakob: "Yes, but we don't talk about them. Anyway they're not that bad. It's simply not your night. I try to forget about them."
Interviewer: "Do you know many people outside the band in your profession?"
Jakob: "Yeah, a bunch of people every day. I don't live in an empty space. I try not to."
Interviewer: "And what do you do when you're not playing or on tour?"
Jakob: "Well, I've been on the road such a long time that I don't remember. As soon I get home, I think I'll sleep for two months. Once I rest, I'll start writing and composing and then I'll go back to the studio and start working again."
Interviewer: "Do you like any European band in particular?"
Jakob: "You mean like Prodigy or the Spice Girls? I don't listen to them much."
Interviewer: "Will you return to Europe soon?"
Jakob: "We're talking about it but I don't know when. I'd imagine we'll go to Spain as well. The last time, we weren't there for more than three or four days . . . Do you think you will be able to describe me?"
