by Stephanie Kinnear
What do you get when you
cross an accordion, Tom Waits, a medieval circus
performer, a few bells, a tomato and a sprinkle of some
sort of magic music dust? Answer: Something or someone
that sounds a lot like Jason Webley. Webley’s brand of
music is surprisingly beautiful, unexpectedly playful
and pretty much unpredictable. So we took a couple
minutes to find out how and why he is the way he is.
VC Reporter: It says in your bio
that you just kind of picked up and left your day job in
1998 to go tour the countryside with your accordion.
That sounds like a pretty rash decision. How did you
decide to do that?
Jason Webley: I kind of felt like I
was going crazy, kind of suddenly, and it was just sort
of something to do. I didn’t really think it was going
to be a successful something. I was working as a
recording engineer, but doing horrible stuff. Those
voices, when you get put on hold, when you call a
company? I used to record that. I used to also engineer
muzak, like cover versions of popular songs. Pretty
horrible things. Something shifted, and I just had to do
something else.
VCR: When did you learn to play the
accordion?
JW: I don’t know how to play the
accordion. I just press all the buttons.
VCR:You don’t know how to play the
accordion? Is it another myth?
JW: I’ve never taken any lessons.
I’m not the greatest instrumentalist. But that’s the
instrument that I’m most associated with, and I love it.
It’s a pretty magical thing.
VCR: It
seems like there’s some kind of mythology that goes
along with your live performances. How important is that
to you?
JW: There has been an element of
that. I’m right now working a little bit to dismantle
the sort of mythological stuff. Or at least sort of
remove myself from it. There’s been the whole dying and
being reborn every year [For the past four years Webley
has staged his own “death” in the winter and “rebirth”
in the spring]. And I want to continue to pay attention
to those times of year, but I don’t know how much I want
it to be about Jason Webley dying and being reborn
again. So this year, instead I did a day of fun and
games in Seattle for the springtime. It was called Camp
Tomato. It was great. We had registration stations and
membership cards and all these stamps you could earn by
doing different activities. We had a game of tomato raid
which was basically capture the flag with lots and lots
of tomatoes. It was messy; it was fun.
VCR: There
is definitely that sense of playfulness in your music.
Do you have a lot of kids in your audiences?
JW: In the earlier albums there’s a
bit more screaming, but in general I’d like to think
that it’s not aggressive music. It’s not to push things
away but rather to pull things in. Because of that there
are a lot of young kids who like my music. There are a
lot of older people who like my music also.
VCR:If
you’re moving away from some of the mythological aspects
of your stage persona, what are the live performances
like right now?
JW: There’s a bit more … I just
started on this tour. I did the fourth show last night.
Well, there’s been a bit more stupid in the shows than
usual. I’ve been doing some kind of stupid songs, rather
than being quite so serious all the time. And I enjoy
it. We’ll see how much longer I can enjoy it.
VCR: How do
you describe your music, because it seems like each song
is so different than the one before it?
JW: What to call the music? I call
it gypsy punk or folk punk when I’m trying to use just a
few words to describe what I do. It kind of works,
although neither of the terms is all that accurate. A
friend of mine used to call it revivalist music, just
because it brings groups of people together and at the
live shows there is usually some kind of thing that
happens. By the end of the show everyone is usually
doing something together—singing—and it feels kind of …
VCR: Like a
revival?
JW: [Laugh] I guess. But I wouldn’t
use that word.
|
In case you
haven’t turned on the radio in a few years,
here’s the deal: the 80s are back, in a big way.
Suddenly, the artists we spent the last decade
mocking—Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Motley Crue—are
being recognized as artistic visionaries. Oh
well, that’s revisionist nostalgia for you.
Luckily, though, this neo-new wave boom might
beget appreciation for groups from that era that
deserve more than their one-hit wonder status.
For instance: Berlin and Bow Wow Wow. Both of
these female-fronted bands never fit comfortably
into the umbrella categorization they’ve been
retroactively forced under, the former crafting
ethereal ballads and the latter combining
African tribal drumming with surf guitar and
candy-cane vocals. Both had singles that have
left indelible marks on the pop culture
landscape. And both have inspired more creative
minds than critics and pop historians are
willing to give them credit for. (Billy Corgan
is an avowed Berlin fan, while No Doubt drummer
Adrian Young is currently touring with Bow Wow
Wow.) There’s never been a better time for these
two kindred relics to snatch the respect that as
eluded them for twenty years, and they’re going
to do it together, at the Canyon on Saturday,
May 14.
For the last four years or
so, the Livery Theater has served as the steady
epicenter of the Ventura music scene’s all-ages
community. A pretty incredible achievement,
considering how fleeting the lives of
practically every other venue that springs up in
this town are. The place is kept alive by the
Blackbird Music crew, who book shows there
nearly every Sunday night. But, occasionally,
they need the help of the local fans to maintain
the building. That’s why they’re holding a
benefit for the Livery on Sunday, May 15. All
proceeds from the event will go toward keeping
the theater in good enough shape to keep the
concerts going for, hopefully, another three
years. On the bill are Livery regulars Le Meu Le
Purr, Monroe and Hail the Black Market. But the
standouts on this lineup just may be Rage
Against the 90s, a thrown-together cover band
featuring members of No Motiv and From
Satellite, doing versions of hit songs from the
Flannel Decade. Grow out that greasy hair and
get indifferent, it’s time for some big-time
nostalgia! |
