Jake Davis Band – The Valley

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) How would you describe your sound?

A) I write everything myself and arrange and play all the instruments myself. So, it is a singular vision. I guess I would describe it as pop music meets a more edgy jammy mentality. I get bored with genres. The single we put out “Saying It Right” is electro pop, I would say. The next one we are coming out with “So Let Me Go,” is more straight a rock song kind of in the vein of Jett or bands like that. So, we switch around. Actually, the most fun song we play live is a rap song where I tune on this autotune and lay down some sick raps over some phat beats. We really switch around a lot, but I think the common vein throughout is pop because I grew up on The Beach Boys and The Beatles, all those bands that made different types of music yet regardless of the style of the song it was going to be a catchy melody, which is the most important thing.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

A) When I was really young I started playing piano so I got into classical music and that kind of transitioned into the stuff my dad was listening to like The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Neil Young, The Who and The Rolling Stones. Growing up, I grew up in the late 90’s/early 2000’s so it was the pop-punk scene of Green Day, Blink 182 and Jimmy Eat World. Also, in hip-hop I liked Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. In terms of modern stuff, I like the band Twenty-One Pilots just because I think that they are blending so many genres. It’s been a long time since a pop artist who has been selling out stadiums has been able to do that. So, that was kind of a cool inspiration to see that people were responsive to that.

Q) What is the story behind your song “Saying It Right?”

A) The story of it was that I went to a show one night in Los Angeles to see one of my friend’s bands. I had a little too much to drink, amongst other things, and I was trying to talk to people. I just kind of felt that weird disconnect where you are probably speaking normally, but you feel like everything you are saying is not being received and you just kind of feel like an idiot. So, I went home and I just put down a quick melody and some words. I fell asleep and forgot about it. When I woke up, I was like, “Oh, there is a pop song here!” I decided rather than make it just that simple of “I’m drunk and can’t talk,” I sort of related it to how you might talk to a girl or a friend where your relationship has become estranged and you aren’t able to communicate the same anymore. I kept it simple. Every lyric in the song is a question and there are no answers. It’s that sort of feeling of confusion.

Q) How do you think fans are connecting to the song?

A) Well, first of all it is summertime and I think it is a summer anthem. When I made it, I came up with that little marimba thing at the beginning, which is like a Jamaican instrument that is typically very summery. Then, just the fact that it is really simple and catchy. The beats are on it. I’ve always made music by myself, but on this new release I worked with an EDM producer named Dekku and we spent a long time making sure it was a really solid dance song with a phat ass beat. I think it is also cool that there are a lot of song on the radio now, but very few of them have real instruments on it. I put real keyboards on it and real guitars and it has a guitar solo, which is rare for that style of music. So, it’s a little change up.

Q) What is your song writing process like?

A) I would say more often than not it all comes at the same time. I hear melodies in my head. The only reason I’ll start writing a song is when I hear something in my head first. I’ve tried to just sit down and write songs, but it just comes out terrible. You have to have that random inspiration that can’t really be forced. It’s that random neuron firing off in your head where you realize, “Oh, that’s a little melody.” Then, I usually write songs in about ten to fifteen minutes. All the lyrics and melodies come out at the same time. Then, I’ll just play it on guitar or piano and the cords, but then I’ll spend the next forty-eight hours fleshing it all out and writing all the individual parts, demoing it and obsessing over the individual parts. If I write a song, my phone will be off for the whole day and I’ll have had all these plans and people will have been trying to reach me. I’m constantly apologizing to people for missing things. I feel like it is so much more important than anything else because it will last for so many longer than whatever is happening that day. I just like to see it to completion and then deal with the real world.

Q) You touched on the fact you like to self-produce your work. Talk about that process.

A) The way it worked on this EP that is coming up, which is called The Valley because I’m from San Fernando Valley, I wrote all the songs and made demos for all of them. Or, I played all the instruments and did all the vocals. I gave it to my friend Dekku, who I have known for a really long time. He helped pick out samples and add in some electronic elements that kind of brought it to the 21^st Previous to this I had been making more traditional rock music. But I’ve always liked sampling and all this other stuff that is going on now. I’m able to do it myself, but he is really a master at it. I think it blends together nicely. He has a SoundCloud where he has written some cool songs that have like a million hits. He’s definitely done some cool things and is trying to transition now from the EDM world into the pop world to become a pop producer. Hopefully, I can help him foray into the area.

Q) What can fans expect from a live Jake Davis Band performance?

A) The cool thing about our live show is that I play in a band with all my best friends, people that I have known for most of my life. And the all happen to be really good musicians because I think those are the type of people that I gravitate towards. So, we’re hanging out all the time in addition to practicing all the time. I think that comes off on stage where, especially in pop, a lot of solo artists that you see show up for the gig and rehearse without the artist and then they come in and play. It’s really not like that at all. We’re a live band. The other cool part of it is that as far as pop music goes it is not so cookie cutter sound. We all take solos and jams. It is definitely different than hearing the record, which I think is the best thing you can do because if you want to listen to the record you can just listen to the record.

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to your album The Valley?

A) The first thing I hope they take away is just the melodies and singing along. I think that’s the coolest thing about music. It’s the ability to get stuck in people’s heads and the fact you can’t remember anything from your childhood or conversations you have had with your parents, but you can remember the chorus of some song you heard at a party. It has this staying power that seems to be stronger than any other memory. So, if they could take away anything it would be getting the song stuck in their head and they enjoy listening to it.

Q) What can fans do to help promote your music?

A) Obviously, hearing it online is cool, but really the coolest thing to do is to tell people about it. Now, more than ever, that is the best way to share music because there are millions of links online and everyone is posting them. So, I don’t really think there is that much about individual links anymore because it is so over saturated. But if you sit someone down or say to them in the car, “Hey, check out this new band I’m into,” I think that stays with people. Bands I listen to are people that have been turned onto me in person more so than discovering them on YouTube or something else. So, definitely tell people about it.

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

A) Mainly because it is easy and we have fans all over the world that I can’t afford to fly in to see. I’m super involved. I run all my social media accounts myself. I don’t hire people to do that for me and I don’t’ think I ever would, even if I had the resources for it. I see everything so I’m a pretty open book if my fans want to talk to me.

Q) Is there anything else you want to be sure we share with fans?

A) We have a show at the Santa Monica Pier on August 25^th. We’re opening this big concert called The Twilight Concert Series. There is a band playing there called Cibo Matto and the headlining band is Save Ferris. The reason we are on this bill is because we won this competition called Santa Monica’s Emerging Artists Competition, which we were in for all of this Spring this year. Now, we’re on at 6:30pm at the Santa Monica Pier. It’s a free show and it is pretty awesome. It has all these wonderful sponsors. Also, there are lots of Pokemon to be caught at the Santa Monica Pier. If that is a reason to get you out there, there are plenty of Water Pokemon!

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

A) It’s incredible. For so long, I was doing it by myself in my room. I thought that might just be where it stayed and then a couple of people seemed to like what they heard. I started putting it out and more and more people say that. So, now it is like I don’t get to do what I do if they didn’t exist. It’s kind of the best thing ever.