Jack Johnson is a truly inspired artist. A previously sponsored professional surfer, award winning film producer, and platinum selling recording artist—Jack’s proven his abilities as an incredibly well-rounded and multi-talented creative being.
Jack’s new album, In Between Dreams, revisits similar themes from past records, but this time his intriguing word play and thoughtful lyrics are backed with more up-beat funk and blues influenced rhythms. His humility, intelligence, and songwriting skills are all apparent once again, as In Between Dreams, is an album filled with inspired reflections and refreshingly creative melodies.
Glide’s Jack Spilberg recently sat down with the other Jack, and despite the much anticipated album, discovered his true passion in life still has more to do with catching waves than rocker fame.
Following your previous records, and all the attention they generated – was this new album more difficult to create?
This new one was a little bit more challenging. It was fun in a way, because it was a fresh start and I didn’t have any leftover songs. Although there are a couple on this one that were ideas that go back to before the first record – like that song “Situations,” which was a little something that I’ve always had and never used, and it just matched together with that “Crying Shame” song so I ended up throwing that in there. “Where Did All The Good People Go” is kind of an old song, the hook of it, and then I wrote all the verses for that this year. It takes me about a year to write all of the songs.
How does the songwriting process work for you?
I never really put time aside to write. If they sort of come along, then I get a new one. Sometimes I go for a few months without thinking about writing songs. Other times I’ll write two in a week.
Were there a lot more distractions this time around?
Yeah, definitely with being on tour a lot. When I’m on tour it’s difficult to write songs to be honest. For me, once I’m home in Hawaii or on a surf trip, somewhere where I’m far away from performing then I write a lot easier…and just more naturally.
You worked with the same band members on this album, Merlo Podlewski on bass and Adam Topol on drums. How did you all originally come together?
Adam is who I met first. I met him from JP Plunier who is Ben Harper’s manager and producer and just a good friend. JP and I knew each other for a while. He was a fan of the surf movies we were making so he was coming in and hanging out in the editing bay with us while we were doing that. He hooked me up with Adam. At that point I was making surf movies and didn’t really have a band together. Adam was a surfer who JP thought I’d really get along with because he’s really laid back. So we hit it off and just had a real good time playing together.
Adam was doing this other Latin jazz gig with some friends and that’s where he met Merlo. So he brought him over and we just hit it off once we all met.
How would you say the themes have changed from Brushfire Fairytales to On And On to In Between Dreams?
I think they’ve changed slightly, but I think I can narrow it down to three broad themes. One would be just fun love songs, that are all about feeling good. Then there’s songs where I’m talking about how I turn on the TV and maybe get a little annoyed with seeing someone getting beat up on the street or something and there’s really no need to watch it. It’s just sensationalism and it pulls you in, so I guess the other theme is just kind of being annoyed at media or TV or entertainment. And then the third theme is just more serious relationship songs, like “Cocoon” or “No Other Way,” on this new album that talks about when someone that you’re really close to is having a hard time – it’s really hard for you to just go on with your life and being effected by the waves that hit you from that.
In Between Dreams is more upbeat than your previous records. Is your musical style becoming less mellow?
The second record was definitely mellower then the first record. I kind of assumed that this record was going to be mellower then the first two. I’ve always pictured that I’d just get mellower and mellower and then I’d eventually just kind of be doing straight forward acoustic folk stuff as I get older. It’s funny how this one ended up being more upbeat. I don’t know how that happened. The songs, like you said, just kind of ended up being more upbeat.
Your fanbase continues to grow in huge numbers. Do you attribute the initial growth to opening for Ben Harper?
I think that was a huge thing. It’s gotten way beyond anything I ever thought it would get to now. It definitely all started off because of Ben Harper and a lot also because of G Love and Special Sauce putting me on their fourth record.
Are there pitfalls to having such a huge following so quickly?
I don’t think so. There probably could be. I guess if you dreamed and thought your whole life that you were going to be a performer and all this stuff, and then you started to get a fanbase and it wasn’t exactly what you wanted or something, I guess you could over analyze it. For me, just to be able to play music for a big group of people, I have no complaints. I think the type of music we play is just feel good music that is for everybody.
Well the audience is quite diverse.
Yeah, I get happy when I look out in the crowd and see kids on their dad’s shoulders, young girls in the front rows, and older college age kids around. It makes me happy that so many different types of people can get into it.
I do remember a point when we first toured with Ben Harper, and we got a really good fanbase of people that came to shows, and listened, and got real quiet during the acoustic songs and were really appreciative of live music when we were playing in theatres and stuff. [Then] when we were getting a lot of radio play– all of a sudden you’d look and there’d be a lot of 16-18 year old girls who’d kind of be talking a little more and screaming and stuff. I remember hearing a lot of people starting to complain that the fanbase was changing at that point. It’s been a couple years since then and it’s kind of blended into what it is now and it’s all kind of fine now. I can’t complain– I like when there’s girls in the front (laughing).
You come across in your music, and in person, as very humble and grounded. How has life changed by being in the public eye?
I’ve actually truly been surprised. I think there was a moment where it all started to grow a little beyond what I thought it was going to. I had these preconceived notions of the weird things that were going to start happening. To be totally honest, nothing changed too much.
Have any of your high profile friends like Ben Harper or Kelly Slater been helpful to you through this period, or acted as a mentor in dealing with being in the spotlight?
Both those you mentioned have actually been people who I’ve talked to a little bit about it.
What did you pick up from Kelly Slater in terms of dealing with being a celebrity?
Kelly was a good friend of mine when he was the world champion surfer, and before I had any kind of attention for making surf films or music. When I first started making surf films was when he was at his prime, so I’d be traveling with him through France and he was like one of the Beatles over there. We’d go to Australia or somewhere – and especially at the contests – he would really get hounded. He dealt with it pretty well.
Kelly’s on his own time and I’ve always noticed that about him. When everyone wants a piece of him, he doesn’t get pushed to this thing where he’s always in a rush to make all these deadlines and making sure he’s accommodating everybody. I just see that he has to kind of get into a zone and take his time and be late. He’s pretty known for being late. I’m sure I got a little bit of that.
I put disclaimers on my answering machine message going out. I put these little songs on there that sort of say, “Kim will call you back and Jack probably won’t because I’m lazy and she’s not,” and I have this funny song.
What did you learn from Ben Harper?
Touring with Ben the first time was interesting. He would consider interacting with the fans as part of the night. He would think ahead about giving people backstage that wanted to meet him a little time after the show. You’d do a show for a couple hours and you give these people all this energy and then you’re definitely tired, but I noticed that he didn’t have this separation between rock star and fans, it was more like he treated everybody the same. It’s what I would’ve hoped to have been like naturally, but it was a good example to see that right off the bat and I think that makes it all a lot easier too.
After graduating UC Santa Barbara with a degree in film, did you work on any other productions before getting into working on surf films?
Before I started working on my first surf film, Thicker Than Water, I was getting hired to shoot commercials and stuff like that because I had learned how to use the cameras. I had a few friends that were down in L.A. but I didn’t do too much. We shot some music videos for bands like the Foo Fighters and Limp Bizkit. I was also working for this guy shooting stock photography of people just jogging down the beach and random things like that. It was funny stuff, but it also helped a lot to practice with the camera
You’ve taken a departure from making surf films to pursue your music career. Do you have any plans to work on another surf film any time in the near future?
Not in the near future, but it’s definitely something I can see myself getting back into. I see the realities of the music I play. Folk music has been around for a while. It’s not like some trend that’s coming or going, but at the same time I realize that in a year or two it could fade way off. I kind of feel like this is a fun wave to ride for a while, whereas surf movies are the world I grew up in. It’s something I feel like I probably will get back into but when I have more time.
Right now I want to spend my time off in Hawaii [surfing]. When I do get to go on a surf trip, I just want to bring a board. When I was making the surf films, I’d get to surf a little on the trips and then I’d come home from the trips and I’d be in Hawaii and get to surf. I’m touring a lot of the year now so when I have time for a surf trip, I don’t really want to bust out a camera.
