Music: Jace Everett Interview

Our Take

Things are certainly looking up for Jace Everett these days. In addition to having one of his songs featured on HBO's True Blood, he recently released his new full length Red Revelations. Cosmos Gaming had the chance to ask Everett about his new album, touring plans, and more.

Compared to a lot of other albums in the genre, Red Revelations seems to have an evenly split mixture of country and rock. Is this indicative of the type of music that you listen to and take influence from, and what bands/artists have inspired you throughout your career so far?

I guess so. I don't really think there's much "country" on the record at all. Certainly not in any traditional sense. As a songwriter the craft of country, folk, or traditional pop certainly permeates what I do, but this isn't a "country" record. When I listen to country it's typically the old stuff; by the late '80's it became something else and I kinda lost interest.

You have a great group of musicians backing you on this release, are these the same people you worked with prior? How did you get connected with them?

I've worked with several of these guys prior to this record. Chris Raspante (piano, organ, electric guitar) is a buddy from Texas. We have been playing together for 10 years. He actually played the solo on "Bad Thing" that you hear on True Blood. Dan Cohen (guitar, lap steel) was a co-writer on this record. Dan has a band called The Levees and that rhythm section (James Cook-bass, Derek Mixon-drums) came on board for the record. Also, Chuck Prophet, my co-producer with Brad Jones, wrote with me and played guitar.

Has your style and songwriting approached changed for this album, and if so what is different from what you did for the first two releases?

My song writing is always evolving, I hope! Certain things stick; melodic ideas, rhythms, lyrical cadence... some of those things stay no matter what. But hopefully you're always trying to improve them and they therefore change. A good metaphor in the gaming world would be the Halo franchise. Throughout the three iterations of Halo certain things stuck; characters, plot points, even gameplay. But with each sequel Bungie did its best to improve things. Some would argue they blew it! Hopefully, that won't be said of me!

Red Revelations has been released on vinyl as well as other formats. Are you a vinyl junkie and were you excited to have the opportunity to release one? Is the release only available through your website or will it be available for purchase from other places?

Vinyl is pretty killer. I'm old enough to remember actually buying vinyl at the store! I'm really proud to have finally made a "record", you know? Right now you can only get the physical disk or LP via www.jaceeverett.com or Amazon. It's available at iTunes and the like as well. We may have some distribution scenarios play out in the future.

Your previous material was put out by Epic/Phantom. Is Red Revelations an independent release or do you have a different record company helping you with this album?

The label I'm with is a boutique label called Weston Boys Entertainment. I put the album out via a partnership between Weston Boys and my own company, Haywood Group.

How did you get the opportunity to create the theme song for HBO's True Blood? Was this a song that you had already written previously or did you write it after orienting yourself with the show and receiving input from its creators?

"Bad Things" was a track on my Sony/Epic release in 2005. It was a "country" song. Country radio hated it and it failed miserably! Thank God. Alan Ball, the creator of True Blood, found the song on iTunes and put it in the show. Simple as that. Good tune, good show, and damn good luck!

Are you going to be touring now that the album is out? If so do you know who you are going to be on tour with, and if not, who would you like to play with in the future?

Touring doesn't work quite the way people think it does. Without a huge radio hit, label support, or something like that, it's virtually impossible to "tour" in the traditional sense. That said, I do gig a bit and will hopefully be gigging more. I'd love to open for any number of people. I'd love to tour with a rockin female; Pink, Gwen Stefani, K.T. Tunstall, somebody like that.

Do you feel that any of your other songs could be adapted for use with other television series or even movies/video games? If so which ones do you think are most appropriate and what type of movie/video game/television series would they be suited for?

I'm a gamer myself. Not a good one. You don't want me in your clan! But I'd love to have a tune in a game. This new record was inspired by film, TV , and games. It's very cinematic. C'mon, "Possession" is a no brainer for a horror film or FPS kind of game. "One of Them"? Zombie movie or Resident Evil 6!! Why not!

As we are also a gaming site, do you play any video games by chance? If so, what do you play?

I'm what I guess they call a "casual gamer". I think that's a euphemism for Newb for Life! I'm an Xbox 360 guy; Halo franchise, GTA, and the like. I like to try new games, but I find that the more advanced games get the dumber I seem to become! I'm a big fan of games like Portal, N+, and Braid. Of course, I suck at all of these games, but it's fun to play from time to time.

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with me. It means a lot to me!

For more information on Jace Everett visit his website at http://www.jaceeverett.com/.

Chris Dahlberg
July 13, 2009