Jaxon – Wildwest

By starrymag | August 16, 2016

By: Lisa Steinberg

 

Q) Talk about your journey with making music.

A) When I first moved out here, I came out to do music, but I didn’t know how hard it was. I didn’t the journey artists go through to becoming an artist and finding your sound. When I moved out here, I was way more R&B and sounded like Drake. I didn’t really have a direction I wanted to go as an artist. So, really these last couple years have been me founding my sound and who I want to be. So, Wildwest was a couple steps in the right direction of what artist I want to be. I found the love in old music like Jimi Hendrix, Lenny Kravitz and Prince. I was like, “That’s who I want to be. I want to be a rock star in 2016.”

Q) Which of the tracks have you found are stand out to you or are your favorite?

A) One of my favorites is “Smith & Wesson” because it has a real psychedelic groove to it and has a strong message about the Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. Writing that record, I was just connected to the world and felt like I had a voice to say something about it. “Hennessey ft. DYSN” is another one of my favorites. It’s just a very sad, happy song. [laughs] We made a sad song sound happy. Of course, “Wild West” is one of my favorites. It’s like 80’s rock, but I brought my own thing to it. It is 80’s rock, but also made it R&B of now. It’s very sexy. I can’t wait to perform that song live because it just goes crazy.

Q) How do you make a sad song sound happy?

A) I have no clue. It sounds like a summery song, but if you listen to the lyrics you’re like, “Oh crap! That’s sad.”

Q) What is your writing process like? Do you need music before you can have the lyrics?

A) I literally love being there with a producer there from scratch. So, when we start making music, I like to hear every little piece going into it. I like to be able to say, “No, I don’t like that. Take that out or put that in.” I’ll go into the booth and freestyle hum and sing melodies until I get the one I want. I piece lyrics together. It’s like a movie in my head. Every time I make a song, I see a movie in my head and I kind of sing about what is going on in the movie. I make movies to the films that I see in my head.

Q) Does it lead you through an emotional journey or inspiration?

A) It guides me because if I’m writing about a girl, the girl in my head is not a specific girl. It’s about every situation of a girl that I’ve been with and made into one girl in my head. It’s about a dream girl that I have in my head who my songs are about. If I’m happy, I think about all the happy times I have had with girls or stuff like that and put it into one person. There is a girl in my head that I sing about – if it is a girl. If it is anything else, it really depends on the movie in my head. If it is a fight scene, I want to make something really rockin’ and up-tempo.

Q) You touched on it a bit, but how much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

A) I’m there for everything. I got to talk about riffs and choose what kind of riff pattern I wanted to do. I got to choose what kind of drums we wanted – if we wanted super loud drums or soft ambient. I was there the whole time for production. I like to hear my music become a sound.

Q) What do you hope fans take away from listening to your music?

A) Just the project as a whole, I want people to expand their music library and understand that there is way more than Top 40 radio hits. There is music that has messages and music that makes you happy and makes you sad. I just really feel like walking away from this project, I want my fans and people who listen to my music to be like, “Wow! Jaxon is actually very versatile. He knows R&B. He can do rock. He can rap. What can’t he do? What sound is not possible from Jaxon?”

Q) Moving forward, what kind of artist do you hope to progress into?

A) I feel like this is a stage in my life. I can only become more of that person so this next project might be like Wildwest, but I want it to have more production where it is a little bit less live instruments and a little bit more and produce sounds from a computer, give it some weird vibes. Really, it’s whatever I feel in the moment as to what type of music that I want to make – in that three or four months that I work on something.

Q) What is something you haven’t tried your hand at yet that you’d like to pick up?

A) During this project, I learned how to play guitar. So, my thing now is getting extremely good at playing guitar because I want to be able to play my music with my own guitar when I go on tour. I want to be a real musician on stage, not just singing to a live band behind me. I want to be a part of it. So, I want to work on that “rock star aspect” where I am a Prince or a Lenny Kravitz. I want to be Robert Plant on stage!

Q) When can we expect more live performances?

A) I think we are going to let the project run for a month because it is about to jump on iTunes and Spotify. After that, we’re getting show dates together and will do a little tour. Hopefully, it will be across the US, but if not it will start with California.

Q) Will there be any music videos to come as well?

A) The track “Wild West” already has a GO music video that we’re shooting for this week. Like I said, I make movies so that song to me was a bar fight. So, we’re hiring actors and everything. It’s going to be crazy! I think I get punched in the video so I’m going to have to learn some stage combat. Being an actor was one of the reasons I moved out to Los Angeles. In high school, I acted and did a lot of plays and stuff. So, being a performer is part of my persona. When I get in front of a camera, I love getting to play a role or do something really cool.

Q) What kind of fan feedback have you gotten to the EP?

A) A lot of people have loved it and said, “This is so dope! I love it!” Those are my genuine fans. Then, a lot of people have been like, “Whoa! I wasn’t expecting you to do that, but this is so dope! I can appreciate how much effort and time went into this project!” That was my overall goal. You may not want to listen to this type of music, but you are going to appreciate the sound, production and how sonically it is a piece a work. The response has been awesome. I can only take what they say and run with it. If they want more songs like this or that, I’m going to watch for the ones they really like and produce more songs like that.

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

1. A) Check out “Wild West” and get ready for a tour because it is coming and we’re coming to a city near you! It’s coming out on iTunes and Spotify so you’ll be able to download and stream there, too.