HOLDING TRUE TO HIS ROOTS: WES JEANS
NIGHTFLYING MAGAZINE
---David Hughes
So…it's Saint Patty's Day '07 and I'm hanging out on 6th Street down in Austin, Texas, smack ass in the middle of the SXSW music conference and showcase. It's been an incredible week already and I've just walked out of Nuno's after catching Wes Jeans' fourth packed house set in four nights.
I've been trying for about two years to catch Wes on a slow night to get an interview. Now, several months, a live DVD and a new CD later, the stars have aligned and placed us in the same strat place at the same strat time. Wes and I found a wall to lean against just around the corner from Nuno's front door and began to chat.
I've followed Wes' career since he first started playing. Before me now is a confident but humble, bold but respectful, young man who is coming into his own, both musically and personally.
Wes released his first CD at age 17 with Icehouse Records. Ironically, the title of that CD was Hands On. "I was told who was gonna play on the record, what songs" says Jeans. "They told me what studio, what engineer… They wouldn't let me use Syd (Hydro, bass). I had no say so in that record."
"I had only been singing for six months and they stuck me with all scratch vocals. I came from East Texas in the winter to Memphis and I was sick. They said I'd get to redo it but we ran low on studio time. I listen to it today and cringe."
In spite of the rough edges, Hands On is not a bad recording. It captures that version of Wes Jeans…Raw, wild, full of piss and vinegar. "There's some good guitar and good songs on there, but my voice… I was a kid. I knew I had a lot more in me than what came across in that record."
The new record, Forest of the Pine, could have been disastrous. It was recorded in only five days with Wes battling strep at the time. "I had strep throat the entire time…the vocals were done with strep. We did the vocals and split up the time mixing and mastering…"
The result, however, ended up being a much smoother, more comfortable record than the first one. It's that way for a reason. "Rather than rush in putting out another record that was half ass I took my time, got the players I wanted. I independently went out and found my financial backer, made sure I got the studio I wanted, the musicians I wanted, the songs I wanted…pretty much every aspect of that record came down to my decisions which is complete night and day from my first record."
Forest of the Pine features a couple of heavy hitting guitar players in Lance Lopez and Eric Gales. Both have added to Jeans depth as a player, in the studio and live. "Lance Lopez is a really good friend and one of the most talented guitar players…he's ridiculous. He's one of those guys that make you re-think your whole position as a guitar player. I spent seven months with him in my band on the other end of the stage and it really makes you re-think your shit as a guitar player when somebody bitch slaps you on the guitar every ten minutes."
"I'm ten times the guitar player now than I was a year ago and I credit most of that to Lance Lopez and Eric Gales. You're gonna pick up stuff from the guys you surround yourself with. I make it a point to pick up the good tricks and not the bad from anybody I'm around. Both those guys really helped me as a guitar player."
Back track to a few years ago when a Wes Jeans show was a shredding, angry-white-boy, guitar attack. Now, Jeans looks more comfortable on the stage, soulful vocals and smooth guitar licks, interacting with his audience…his guitar has become more of an extension of him than a tool used to pile drive the music at the crowd.
"I've come 180 degrees in my playing in the last year. I've spent nine or ten years playing and the biggest growing spurt I've had in the entire time has happened this last year. I was doing the same thing over and over… trying to refine it. It got to where I felt I had what I was doing down. I've grown a ton as a musician by surrounding myself with other musicians that are far beyond what I was capable of. I think that's the only way you get better is to surround yourself with people who are better than you."
The growth shows in the live performances. Nuno's was packed four straight nights for Jeans' shows. And this was in the midst of the live music capital of the world hosting the biggest music festival in the world where the bands change out every hour on the hour and so do the crowds. "It's a revolving door. People wander in and out. To hold the audience in Austin at something like SXSW is something special. It's not good on the tip jar because the same people are still here but it is a good feeling to know we kept them."
Through it all, with people swarming him, wanting to shake hands or pat him on the back, get a picture or buy a CD, Jeans is humble and appreciative, always quick to credit his influences, his fellow players and his work ethic.
"I've never been a player who was complacent. I've never thought I was worth a shit… Ever. Every time I come off stage everybody tells me how great it was and I'm like, 'Yeah, but I kind of sucked on this one.' Confidence grows with time and experience and you are going to get better or you're doing something wrong. My opinion on it is this…If you think you've played the golden note and you think you're great… you'll never get any better."
"I've played with BB King, Buddy Guy… I pay a lot of respect to people better than me. I try to make damn sure that I learn something from every guitar player I play with even if it's what not to do."
Wes Jeans' family tree appears to have pre-ordained his lot in life as a musician. Jeans' dad, Mike, turned him on to music. His dad was a drummer. His uncles and his granddads played guitar. One granddad played with Hank Snow. This musical pedigree, though, was not the thing that landed Jeans in music.
"Early on in life I was an athlete. I cared nothing about music. I was completely into sports. I got injured playing and wasn't as good as I used to be so I said 'Shit, if I'm not the best at what I'm doing then it's time to move on and find something else'. When I started playing guitar there was no looking back."
It turns out that being the best at what he does motivated Wes to practice…and practice…and practice.
"I really did play ten to twelve hours a day, literally. It sounds absurd but I did. I played guitar every day. I woke up every day and went to sleep every night listening to Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock or Monterey Pop… Stevie Ray Vaughn. That was like my bible of music. Albert King's Blues Power changed my life. It doesn't matter where I go or what I'm doing that's my reference book… Freddie King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Johnny Winter."
"When I started playing I learned a couple of Nirvana and Metallica songs and I was never happy with it. It was not pushing my buttons. I will say the first song I ever learned was 'Sunshine of Your Love' by Cream. Mom grounded me to my room from my dirt bike and my baseball because I made a C on my report card. I said 'Alright, I'll go to my room.' I had this guitar that was my dad's that had three strings on it. I'd heard 'Sunshine' that day and I sat there with three strings on that guitar until I figured out that song. I came out of my room and played it for my mom & dad and they said 'Thats great now get back in your room… you're grounded'. That was all I needed. The second song I learned was the 'Star Spangled Banner' by Jimi Hendrix. I learned it from front to damned back. To this day, ten years later, Hendrix is my guitar god."
Those influences are still with Jeans today. Listeners can hear a variety of sounds in Jeans' music, but ultimately, the music is his own making.
"Nobody will be better than Johnny Winter or Stevie Ray Vaughn or Freddy King or Albert King and what they did. What you can do is take all of them and mesh them all together. I strive to be a culmination of all my favorite artists and if I can make them proud of what I'm doing then I'm happy."
"What I got from Hendrix was the improvisation and being free…whatever is going on in your life, whatever is bothering you, I've learned to channel it and put it through my guitar. To me that's what it's all about, especially blues guitar. Players today play the same blues song and don't ever add themselves to it. It's nothing but an imitation, which is not all bad because I try to imitate Albert King ALL day long just trying to get it right. What I like to see is when somebody pushes it one notch further…not better, but different."
"I've got so many musical heroes from so many genres… I try to be a melting pot of all those guys. I love rock, blues, funk... I am absolutely infatuated with Motown… I love it. Can't sing it worth a shit but I love it. I try to blend it all together and hopefully people love it…"
So, what do these influences think about Wes Jeans and what he's putting out there?
"(Johnny) Winter loves what I'm doing. Allen Haynes has given me his stamp of approval. BB King, Jimmy Vaughn…all those guys."
"I don't measure my career or success by dollars and cents. I measure my career by the people I play with and the people who dig what I do. Shit, it made my whole life to have BB King say 'Son you sounded great'. I'm a young white kid in a genre that was started by repressed black people. The acceptance of guys like BB King means the world to me."
"The respect of other musicians is what I measure my success by. It may limit me in my success in that I don't conform to the cookie cutter idea of popular music. I try to stay true to myself… and the thing that means the most to me is the respect of fellow musicians. That's hard to do, even harder than commercial success, trying to get other musicians to like you and respect what you do."
Jeans has surrounded himself with a top notch rhythm section that consists of Syd Hydro, from Shreveport, on bass and Jack Miller, from Dallas, on drums. This version of the Wes Jeans Band has a tighter feel to it than the other versions that have rocked audiences over the years.
"Syd Hydro has been with me nine years. I feel like he's my right arm. Lots of musicians have come and gone but he's the one guy I've had in my band that I don't feel like I can replace. I play from the seat of my pants but Syd knows me so well he knows what I'm going to do before I do."
"Jack Miller is the tone of heart, ambition. He knows Hendrix songs as well or better than I do and that's fucking weird for a drummer to know the stuff better than I do. We'll be doing a Hendrix song and he'll be like 'Hey man, actually that part went like that' and I'll be like 'You know what… you're right'. My drummer just corrected me on a Jimi Hendrix song. And that's great. You look for that in your musicians."
"We are gellin'. We mesh well together. With Jack, he makes a point to draw the audience in. With me, I try to draw the audience in. Most side men leave that to the front guy but I look back and Jack'll be pointing to the audience and trying to get people to stand up and raise hell with me. It's great. So, I've got my steady right hand with Syd holding everything down, me going ape shit all the time and Jack going crazy."
Things have gone well for Jeans on the music front. His personal life hasn't been too shabby either. This summer Jeans and fiance', Kristal Reagh, will tie the knot. Their relationship began in quite an interesting way.
"I was in a completely different place when I met her. I was 22 years old… full of piss and vinegar…in the process of raising hell. I had a woman that was not good for me in any way. My music career was taking a nose dive in a serious way. I met Kristal and I didn't know her from anybody but she knew who I was. The first thing she said to me was 'You know what the two things are that can end a musician's career faster than anything?' I thought 'Damn! Nobody hits me that real right off the bat!' Here was a beautiful woman in a bikini that hit me with this. I said I didn't know. She said 'Drugs and a bad woman'. I was like 'Holy Shit…I like her.' That was four years ago. And the most time we've spent apart since then is three days and that wasn't by choice."
"Kristal is the best thing that ever happened to me. She helped me grow up a bunch and helped keep my wild ass in line."
Reagh has turned out to be a good match for Jeans in his music too. She penned or co-penned three of the songs on Forest of the Pine.
"Kristal co-wrote some of songs on the record. She's a better lyricist than I am. I can sit all day and write guitar riffs...its second nature to me. It's in her nature to write her ass off. My investors were asking 'Who is Kristal Reagh?' I'd tell them that she's my fiancé and they were going 'We want more songs by you two!'"
One of the questions I like to ask musicians when I interview them is about their songwriting…where their inspirations come from, their process to get to a song. Jeans enlightened me on his current view of his songwriting skills.
"I'm writing some. We just got done with the record and there were a lot of situations in my life that I drew from to make that record. I hate to say it but… I'm so fuckin' happy right now… I'm fixin' to get married. I'm engaged. Things are good. I'm working. I'm getting to do what I want to do… I'm so fuckin' happy right now that I'm having a hard time writing the blues. I'm not one of those guys that can say 'You know what? Today I'm going to write a song.' I just can not do it. The blues can be happy. But for me, every time I write a song there has to be something that is on my ass… Something on my brain that I'm not going to be able to get through the day with until I write it out and get it off my chest. When I'm happy I want to enjoy myself."
Enjoying himself usually means getting in a car and drag racing. Jeans owns two Corvettes, a 1973 Stingray and a 2002 Z06.
"I love to build and race Corvettes. I've been so fed up with music that I've said I'm selling all my shit and becoming a pro race car driver like I've wanted to do since I was a kid. I spend one day away from my guitar and I'm like 'Nevermind.' I'll go race on the street and then go play my guitar."
"I still can't outrun my dad. That pisses me off. He's like 'You're never gonna outrun me. I build your shit and you're never gonna outrun me.'"
Jeans influences run deep in his music. He pays homage to his heroes and his influences at every opportunity. Jeans has been in the business long enough that younger players are starting to emulate him and to list him as their influence. One such player is up and comer Tyler Bryant.
"You gotta be true to what you're doing. I try to drive home the point to other guitar players who look up to me. And I don't take it lightly. Tyler Bryant is my favorite young guitar player coming up…I look at him like my little brother and he looks at me like his big brother. The thing I try to stress to him is about drugs and bad women and I try to steer him clear of all that shit. I became a better musician because I went through some of it…the trials and tribulations. But I'd really love to see him learn some of my lessons from me without having to go through some of the shit."
"I'm trying to instill in him that guitar playing is not a competition. Nobody is watching you, taking score on how fast you played or if you got outplayed. It's about being true to yourself and pleasing the people that come to see you play. It's not about being the baddest kid on the block. Everybody hits us with this gunslinger mentality. So many players have that. I did it. I fell into it. Push up on me and I'd say 'Ok, let's go.' Now, I'm like 'You know what? I'll play rhythm. I'll let you dig a hole. When you're done I'll play.'"
"Tyler just turned 16. He has such a solid foundation for being an amazing blues guitar player without trying to play flashy. He didn't play with any pedals, just guitar and amp. I corrupted him. I gave him my old tube screamer and hooked him up with all these pedals. But he had that foundation which is so critical. He can always fall back on that. You get a guy that wants to play faster than you… you can always fall back and hit'em with a BB King lick and turn their world upside down because they can't do it. It's ridiculous how much tone and taste and sensibility he has. The kid is starting to worry me."
"Lots of guys are looking at me now…Tyler, Josh Taylor (Dallas), Nathan Keck (Branson). I try to tell them to not get up there and try to burn everybody's ass. It's about honing your shit and making yourself look good. When you get up there and battle everybody, that's bullshit. Guitar playing is not about that, especially not in blues. Guitar playing is about expression and being true to yourself. To me it's a personal expression of what I'm feeling and what I've gone through. It's not about playing faster than the other guy."
"My advice to the young players is to listen to the older players because they didn't get where they are by being a dumb ass. Richard Pryor said 'There's a lot of young wise men that's deader 'n' a motherfucker. You don't get to be old being no dumb ass.' If you can learn a lesson without having to go through it then you're one step ahead."
Let's face it, dude. Wes Jeans is a bona fide bad ass on the guitar. He won't say that… but I will. He is making a name for himself in the music business and people are paying attention to him. From the shape of things, the best is yet to come from what Guitar Player Magazine called "one of the nation's top young guns".
"I play maybe 150 gigs a year. I'd like to make it around 200 or so. I've got a few other things in the works right now that I can't talk about yet."
"I'm way more driven, way more focused and more goal-oriented because I've cut out all the bullshit in my life. Right now its guitar…and guitar. Right now I want to do whatever I've got to do to do what I love for the rest of my life. Very few people get to do what they love for their living. That's where I feel that I'm very fortunate that I've been blessed to play guitar for a living since I was a teenager. I've never had to have a real job per se. I drive all day, load my own shit in and out, play my ass off and then drive twelve hours after the gig. I bust my ass."
"I'm my own boss and I feel very fortunate for that. My goal is not to be rich and famous. My goal is to continue doing what I love for the rest of my life."
For more information about Wes, to purchase a CD or to just say how much you dig his music, check him out at one of these sites…
www.wesjeans.com or
www.myspace.com/wesjeans or
www.myspace.com/wesjeanspage.