INTERVIEW WITH Jeffrey Gaines FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES
DM) How does this album compare to the albums that your fans are already familiar with?
JG) It's hard for me to compare my albums, as I didn't take a departure. It's probably more of the same stuff that they like. I think the whole overall thing is pretty optimistic in its romanticized view of loving. That's my perspective, and I offer the songs up for the listeners to interpret and use in any way they see fit. For me, I'm doing the same thing I've always done--writing down my thoughts, clearing my head and playing with words.
DM) I've heard that you get a lot of fan mail about how you "touched somebody's heart with your words."
JG) Yeah, no reactions were too unusual. When you put down your personal feelings, your ups and downs, and express yourself honestly to whomever listens, certainly they're going to feel close to you because I'm now close to them via the intimacy of the record. It's not surprising to get a strong reaction from somebody who's had the record for a while and then I've played in his or her town. It's like the worlds collide. The entity which been existing on the record has come into their real life. I embrace that reaction, because that's the reason why I'm communicating in the first place.
DM) Do you write songs for your own benefit or for the reaction you get from the fans?
JG) Well, when I'm writing, I don't have an audience present, so I'm writing only what agrees and appeals to me. When I write a song, I don't know what it's going to be until it's done. It's not as if I say, "Now I'm going to craft this emotion." I can have control over what the song becomes...Wow! With me, I start to hum things in my head and that primal sort of humming takes shape and words start to occur, phrases that sub-consciously come into the present. And then I feel that it sounds like what I'm trying to say is..." And then it starts to take shape, and then when I have an idea of what the song is going to be, I then can expand on it.
DM) Do you write the songs or do they write themselves?
JG) The first half of the songs write themselves. Do you know what I mean? Half of the song is written while I'm taking dictation, and then during the wrap-up and the cleanup, I finish them. That pretty much explains it.
DM) You were saying how songs come to you. How many songs have you lost because the idea came to you but you weren't someplace where you could dictate it?
JG) Well, there have probably been about three that I recall, and those are the ones that are complete. They're the soundtrack of a dream I was having, a complete and amazing song, and then when I woke up, I was just thinking how amazing that tune was... But as soon as I reach for it, it's lost. It's like, "I'm in a dream, I'm in a better place, you will not exploit me. Maybe later, but you're not worthy yet."
DM) You were talking about the honesty of how some songs hit your fans. What's the most honest song, truest to your emotions, which you've ever written?
JG) Wow, I think it might have been a song called, "Alone" on the album "Galore." That was the most honest song for me, because a lot of times when you put a record out, there is an audience and an expectation. But if you like something that's against what the record is for, there's a chance that on that particular day you'll feel a certain way that might not fit the audience. To write down and tell people when you feel bleak, and in today's society where people are looking for escapism and fantasy... (pauses) well, everybody else is usually projecting those feelings... A lot of the rappers and pop artists seem to be portraying their lifestyle more than the music. To put something out there that is something you wouldn't want to sing along to is certainly honest and even risky in a way. Now, a lot of fans feel that if you can admit something bleak and negative, then maybe they shouldn't feel as ashamed to be there.
DM) What song do you remember hearing which you identified with the most? A song that you feel you could have written?
JG) Based on my being in the music industry for such a long time, that song changes over and over as time goes on. But probably the Dylan stuff, there's a "Desolation Row" song by him... it really depends on my mood... most recently it was track 11, "In My Dream", by P.J. Harvey. From my earliest recollection to the present, I really have to remain available and interested. I remember the first record I ever owned and wrote my name on in crayon... "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath. Sure, most people might just be hearing Ozzy and go into a mindset, but I think, no matter what kind of music you're using to express yourself, the emotions you are expressing are from the human experience.