Jake Beck – I Wish It Would Never Stop Raining

By starrymag | June 20, 2020

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) It’s always difficult to describe my sound, as each song is constantly changing.  I have heard everything from “futuristic throwbacks” to “Harley Quinn pop bangers.”  I personally listen to Floyd, so this is all a bit jarring to me but I’ll take it for sure.  In fact, I love that people fail to describe it because that means it hasn’t been done ad nauseam in the past.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) My biggest musical influences are Chopin, Pink Floyd, Alt J, Gorillaz, and The Beatles.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

A) My songwriting process is a little bit unorthodox.  I pick up a guitar, piano or listen back to a beat…Then, I sing whatever syllables, rhythms, notes and accents that the music calls for.  It never makes sense and I generally end up repeating some line like “baby, baby, whatchu down for, I see it in your eyes,” so that I can get the correct energy and melody.  Then, I go back and retroactively change the lyrics to make sense.  Funnily, more often than not, I go back to the original nonsense I initially spewed as any alteration of that feels contrived.  When I write lyrics without music… it’s just poetry.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) I have a major hand in the production of my music seeing as I am the producer of all my music.  There are times when I outsource certain things or build off a beat that one of my boys send me, but only once have I ever sung over a beat made by another that I hardly touched.  That song is my most recent release called “Back Then,” which is an old school hip-hop throwback vibe with modern pop, indie, and bedroom producer chillness.  Also, I send my music out for mastering.  I think that the person who masters the track should be a different person than the one mixing and I always mix my own music.  The only time you should pay someone else to mix your music is if you like the way they mix music in general more than you.  Mixing is an incredibly important part of getting the sound that you want and too many producers neglect that by cooking up an easily replicable beat on FL studio and then “sending it in for mixing.” Like bro… Outsourcing mixing is like going to Picasso and being like, “PAINT ME A PICTURE THAT LOOKS GREEN,” – then he makes a beautiful painting which you release under your name and are like, “Yo, I’m so sick at painting.”

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “I Wish It Would Never Stop Raining.”

A) I was listening to this Chillhop playlist on YouTube and I kept singing this hook over a specific instrumental.  That song was called “I Wish it Would Never Stop Snowing.”  I DMed the producer on Instagram asking permission to use a similar title out of respect and he said it was cool.  I immediately lifted the chords, transposed and wrote a completely different song out of it, taking inspiration only from the vibe and the name – not to understate how important that is though.  Consider this song my attempt to make the genre of Chillhop mainstream

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

A) Fans connect strongly to the vibe of comfort that I put into it.  I was going to release a Chainsmokers type banger, but then the world fell apart into this COVID-19 crisis, so I pivoted and decided to release this one after my friends told me it made them feel warm and that it’s the vibe the world needs right now. The other track would have sent the world into a synchronized panic attack.

 

Q) Will there be an at-home video made to accompany the track?

A) I have an animator that I work with who will pull off some really interesting animated videos for this and Carol and I will likely do a split-screen acoustic version.

 

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future?

A) I’m launching an EP with professional Canadian tennis player Carol Zhao this summer!  I am releasing most of it as singles leading up to the summer, so make sure you stay tuned along the way.  Carol’s voice cuts through the mix like glass and she can more than keep up with songwriting. So, we have some very original and unique material coming your way that will hit not just the feels but also the loins perhaps.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

A) My favorite places to perform are Cherry Cola’s in Toronto because of their wonderful staff (shoutout Cherish and her legendary team) who really had my back and made sure that all I had to worry about was performing well and nothing else.  Of course, in Baja I played a festival called Valle En Blanco with one of my best friends Cyrus.  That is dear to my heart because it was my first international music festival that flew me out there.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them? 

A) Right now, I am big into the Bombay Dub Orchestra. I’m into them because they just get it, man.  No BS on their end, just straight sonic feels.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

A) I would most like to collaborate with Finneas [O’Connell] and Billie [Eilish], because they were a great force in the massive makeover the industry has experienced over the past few years.  But also, mainly so Carol would stop mentioning them. [laughs]

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way to connect with your fans?

A) Social media has been incredibly important to me because I love being able to show everyone my process.  When I play shows, they only see the final version, which is great because they feel the emotion to its fullest.  However, when I use social media, people can really understand how I do what I do (so they can stop DMing me questions now [laughs]).

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

A) I’d like to say to all my fans that over the last year or two… I wouldn’t be able to do any of the cool stuff I have done without you.  Thanks to you, someone who was so close to being wasted potential now gets to travel the world to play his music – the only thing that’s kept me going this whole time.  For this, I love you.