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Spotlight: J*Davey

J*Davey
If great music is the product of a labor of love then it’s parents would be a hot chick named Jack and a cool dude named Brook and their lovechild would be a beautiful androgynous baby called J*DaVeY. The Los Angeles based Soultronica duo has tore up the club scene, won over a loyal following via the internet, partied with the legendary Prince at his mansion and conquered the fearsome reviewers at Pitchfork Media with a hot new sound that has music industry insiders talking and talking and, well talking. So who is J*DaVeY again? Meet multitalented singer/songwriter Jack Davey (The hot chick) and producer/composer Brook D Leau (The cool dude). They have a classic EP called “Beauty in Distortion” dropping soon and they are the future of urban music right fucking now!

There’s an interesting story how you two got together and came up with the name J*Davey, care to tell it?

Jack: The story really isn’t so interesting
Brook: It really just came out of nowhere, it’s an androgynous name…..there’s no real meaning to the name…..the meaning is more so the sound
Jack: the “j” stands for ‘jack’…Jack Davey is an alter ego.

Wait till you have a fan named Jack Davey. That’s going to be surreal

Brook: Oh no
Jack: I know (laughs)

You’d never know it may have come from the sub conscience and Jack Davey is really like the sonic ID of your music. You just don’t know in this universe…Sketch artists through sonic vibrations (Laughs)

Jack: I feel you on that. It’s like, we’ve created this name out of nowhere…no one knows what it means or where it came from. Our sound is just like that I guess. Or maybe that’s a little too pretentious of a statement.

I think there’s something to it. I remember reading about how the creator of the comic “Invisibles” (part inspiration for the matrix) said he would draw women he would want relations with and they would come to life. They would be at his door the next day (Laughs)

Brook: That’s freaky
Jack: Hmm…maybe I should try envisioning boys…
Brook: Sounds like bullshit….but I’d give anything 2 have that kind of power
Jack: I’m with that. There must be some reason why we came up with this random identity…we just don’t know what that reason is yet. Thru our music I’m sure we’ll figure it out…who cares anyway? What’s in a name?

I understand you two have built a fan base through both live performances and the internet and you are currently putting the finishing touches on your debut EP “Beauty in Distortion”, what should we expect to hear from you?

Brook: It’s basically all of our earlier material that the general masses have yet 2 hear. These r the songs that got us the initial recognition

When I think of Beauty in Distortion I guess what comes to mind is Sonic Youth and what they were able to do with Distortion. It’s off topic but it’s visualization with that title that I personally get

Jack: We know that a lot of people have heard these songs over and over again, but there’s still the untapped market that needs to be exposed to it. Plus, we don’t want to outgrow the industry just yet…It’s like a prequel anthology?
Jack: I feel like the music we’re working on lately is far beyond where we started. Since this is the sound that’s giving us recognition, why not ride it out for a little while?

I agree it’s better sometimes for the listeners to see the early pictures if they are fully formed as well. But I think a lot artists get self conscious about it because they listen to them over and over and then they start to say to themselves, “No one wants to hear that!”

Jack: I’m that artist all day long.

Really? I guess I look at music as individual experiences. Each one is an entity unto itself.

Jack: I hate these songs now. But that’s how it goes. I remember seeing De La live and when it came time for them to sing “Me Myself and I”, Pos started off the song saying, “I’m over this shit, but I don’t hate it because I don’t think its good enough…I just don’t want to listen to it anymore. It’s a healthy hate.

I like to hear it all I guess some people get jaded if they pay for it. But my feelings is if you think it has possibility to inspire somebody in their day then I say its still worth putting it out there.

Brook: The songs are still relevant and people can appreciate them right now….so we’re giving everyone that opportunity to hear it.
Jack: We wouldn’t put it out if we didn’t think the music was inspiring. I’m just the over critical artist. I’ll never think that I’m good enough…that’s what keeps me going though.

I don’t doubt that at all. It’s always different for the listener who wasn’t involved in the creation process. That’s what I’d say to a lot artists.

Jack: That’s true.

What is the creative process for your songs? I ask because when I listen to your music I notice there is a natural yet progressive vibe to your sound that displays an elevated level of songwriting that the everyday man or woman can easily relate to but there is also that element of art that stands out in your music. Is that a conscious decision in the J*Davey formula or do you two just go for it?

Brook: This ain’t rocket scientry.
Jack: There’s really no rhyme or reason to it. We just go for what we know. We give each other creative space, which is golden
Brook: We do as we feel and it’s that simple.
Jack: Our partnership is like a marriage…with enough love and space it’s bound to work out right. He’ll go in the studio and do what he brilliantly does and then he’ll pass it to me already knowing what I’ll think about it
Jack: I’m constantly writing, and it’s crazy how he’ll give me new tracks and I’ll already have something written to them. It’s like some psychic connection between us…it just…works
Jack: Brook said “scientry”. Love it.

Do you see any duos out there in comparison to your partnership? Where you were like, “If they can stick together then so can we” One that comes to mind is Eurhythmics…

Jack: The white stripes

That’s an interesting comparison. You might be able to play the Brother/Sister angle to the media (Laughs)

Brook: Eurhythmics definitely
Jack: Well, that’s the beauty of the white stripes…the mystery of their relationship…they definitely ain’t bro/sis
Brook: But who cares
Jack: Right

Remember listeners care about everything they like making mental scrap books even the haters do it so they can pan through their memory banks and mentally scowl.

I know you two have made your rounds within the music industry where you have been courted by quite a few major labels and yet you decided to empower yourselves by going the independent route, what led you to make such a decision?

Brook: People were very scared when it came to how they would market us since we’re not a traditional, black R&B group.
Jack: The independent route wasn’t a conscious decision. It’s not like we’re trying to go indie just to appeal to a certain type of listener. The majors just aren’t ready yet. We’re too much of a risk for a major right now.
Brook: Others were just attempting to take advantage or sit on us. So now we make our own moves

Is it the eccentric factor and the fact some people can’t deal with Black artists being unique for the future?

Jack: We’re in a cool position right now. we have the majors watching us…we’re talking to the right people and making connections and playing that whole game so when they’re ready we can have a lil more control over our destiny.
Jack: It’s a lil bit of that paired with the fact that our songs don’t follow a certain structure…
Brook: We’re not easily categorized

Like if you did hit it big, some companies would be on the look for the next “J Davey” and no one knows how to formulate originality. But they still try every day.

Brook: Exactly
Jack: It’s a marketing thing…they don’t know what demo to sell us to…radio guys at majors have argued with me, saying that our music can’t be marketed to the urban crowd, so we can’t make the label any money. It’s a business…

It’s like the industry thinks ahead so much to stay with the trends they wouldn’t know how that would affect music trend that they are already having success with. It might disrupt their current cash flow so they try to keep what they don’t understand from the public until the time is right for them to capitalize off of it.

Brook: Right, We’re not attempting to hit one demographic, there’s more than the urban market.
Jack: That’s what labels don’t understand. there’s a lot of black and brown kids who look like us…dig the same shit that we’re into…we’re not so far off. But still…it’ll take time for the money men to see.

The urban market has always been to me a bad attempt at segregation pits. And I feel this because if more black artists were mixed in the main charts there would be a civil war.

Jack: I think the major music industry is experiencing a dynamic shift right now…the faces of urban music are starting to change…look at Gwen Steffani and “Hollaback girl”.

I think I have a perfect example of someone who completely escaped the urban charts being black artists and it wasn’t prince. I look at one band like Fishbone which was able to stay on a major label for so long and they didn’t sell Gold Records. It’s amazing when you think about how much Columbia let Fishbone do what they wanted. They even performed on SNL.

Jack: That’s what I’m saying! I would love to see j*Davey get that type of opportunity…I think of artists like Prince, who was signed to Warner Bros and put out multiple albums before he even got a big hit. Black Eyed Peas too.

They did Lollapalooza and they could do any song they wanted. And the label would back them. I wonder what made Columbia want to roll with Fishbone for so long. I think it must have been because they were a touring/promoting machine and they were self contained musicians.

Jack: Nowadays, you got to come out with a record full of singles or else u won’t see another light of day.

Personally I think that a lot labels are losing out that way. If you look at Sheryl Crow’s success story, people in the industry were making fun of her record when it came out because it was tanking and you could see the visible face of not believing in Sheryl, but then when she kept pushing for 9 months club to club that’s when the record started getting legs.

Jack: An artist has to put in work to get the respect…that’s only if they wanna be around for longer than the hits…but anyway…we could go on and on…

That’s an example to me of not giving up on a record and not having a stopwatch potatoes sack race to the finish line to see who gets platinum certification the fastest. Because that record is probably tracking major units all over the world because the belief. Some have sighted your music as apart of the next wave of black music known as Soultronica. How do you feel about such labels?

Jack: It’s music. Period. People can call it what they want, but in a few years it’ll sound corny…take neo-soul for instance…
Jack: Even Jaguar Wright wants to divorce Neo.
Jack: We understand people need labels and shit like that just so they can know where they “stand”…they need something to hold on to. In a perfect world, we could be the antithesis of that, but…
Brook: Despite that…..the new wave is simply people who are not content with mediocrity.
Brook: And that’s who we are…..so yes, we’re a part of THAT movement
Jack: Yeah!
Brook: Safety and security only limit your freedom to be imaginative
Jack: Like I said, labels make people feel safe. So, let them come up with whatever they want for this sound. I’m over the safe shit…if I was trying to be safe, I’d get some back up dancers and imitate Beyonce like the rest of them, but that’s a whole other conversation.

(Laughs) and do lap dances on BET awards for Magic Johnson and Nelly?

Jack: ha!

err… Moving on….

Jack: Terrence Howard though…hmm…I ain’t mad at that one, but that’s neither here nor there. Brook is shaking his head at me right now (Laughs)

In five words describe your sound. (Ducks at this question)

Brook: Here we go with the labels.
Jack: uninhibited
Brook: Sexy, Soufullyfuturistic (that’s one word)
Jack: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Brook: and….One more….Hmm, Jack?
Jack: Good.
Brook: DOPE
Jack: the shit is just…good…and dope. Period. It ain’t got to be nothing else if it’s good.
Brook: (Laughs)
Jack: Our shit is CRACK!
Brook: (Laughs)
Jack: Uh oh, our egos have come out to play.

Next question…Jack, I heard you use to rhyme before you sang will we hear you spit on “Beauty in Distortion”?

Jack: well, “Beauty in Distortion” is the old stuff, so there’s no spit on that…
Jack: but the new stuff, I stopped writing rhymes for a while because it became hard for me…which was kind of weird…but I was trying to find a new way to spit and it just recently came back to me, so stay tuned.

So who made you want to MC was it a female MC or male MC or both?

Jack: I’m thinking of releasing an ep with no singing under an alias…I was a big Rakim fan as a kid…I grew up on his stuff…Gil Scott too. I was that boho blend of poetry and hip-hop, so when I got sick of that I just stopped. Now I’m digging into it again, ooh

You can’t lose with Gil Scott and Rakim

Jack: I used to wanna be in Salt n’ Pepa. I thought they were so fly. They wore leather jackets and had ill haircuts
Jack: (Laughs) But yeah, Rakim…I remember seeing him in concert when I was 6…it was just him and Eric B and this big pyramid backdrop with a light beam…sick. But yeah, next question…

Where do you guys record your music and what production tools do you use?

Jack: D’leau, take it away…
Brook: We were recording in my house…now we have a real studio space…
Brook: I use a digi 002 rack mount (Pro Tools+ )…mpc2000xl…Roland Jupiter 6…Rhodes…mainly outboard gear and synths…I’m not too well versed in the software game, but I’m learning.
Jack: D’leau is the one man band…I’m always amazed at what he does…
Brook: So I hear
Jack: He ain’t too bad on the eyes either ladies…
Brook: Thanks Jack.
Jack: No prob bob

Did Brook’s computer lose its files?

Jack: Maybe
Jack: Let’s not talk about it.
Brook: That’s a touchy issue.
Jack: my stomach hurts now
Brook: (Laughs)

Jack, every singer I know has a favorite microphone, what’s yours?

Jack: I’m not particular, we use an AKG C3000…but I’ve recorded on so many different mics and gotten so many crazy results, I’ve learned to not get attached to just one as long as it can record vocals, I’m with it..

Well that’s it. Anything else to add? Any last words? We could end it on a James Lipton note “What do you want to hear God say when you enter the gates of heaven” (Laughs)

Jack: hmm…if I make it there…”I wanna be like u when I grow up”. (Laughs)
Brook: “Don’t u owe me some money?”
Jack: Fuck yeah!
Jack: okay, enough with the blasphemy…

That’s a wrap….. “Don’t you owe me some money?” (Laughs)

Jack: Much love to Pete Marriott, Tha Amplifierz, Tanya Morgan, Loud Minority, Waajeed and Saadiq of Platinum Pied Pipers.
Brook: And we Audi 5000

I’d say “Where’s 2pac? I think he earned it. 2pac better be here. I saw him in the I Ain’t Mad atcha video!”

Jack: (Laughs)
Brook: Good one god, Iight
Jack: Somebody Tell Kenny McAlister to Holla at me.

For more info, visit www.jdaveybaby.com

Message J*Davey and Andy Roberts and tell them what you think

By Andy Roberts on 11/7/2005[read on] [6 comments]

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