Interview from StevenGFullwood.org
Why
Do You Play - Jerome
Why are you a
liar?
I am a liar
because it is fun. It's like writing a work of fiction whenever I open my
mouth. I place no value on truth over lies. I don't know why I should. If you
as a reader place more value on the truth maybe you should not read the rest of
this conversation. Maybe you should ignore even this answer: maybe I am not a
liar at all. But then if I were lying about it I would be a liar. As I liar the
best answer should have been, "I am not a liar at all". So does that
means I am a truthful liar? I don't know and more important, I don't care
because I place equal value on truth and lies. I don't feel anyone should have
any responsibility to always tell the truth (or lies) to me and I don't feel
responsible for telling the truth to others. When I absorb information, it is
up to me to determine how I will use the information whether it is a lie or the
truth and what to actually read in the truth or lie, how it was given, what it
is about. The actual information might not even be that important. Sometimes, I
feel that it is my duty to lie. As an entertainer, the lie becomes an art form.
You are supposed to bring people emotionally to a certain state. Usually,
entertainers put on an act to bring you there. Sometimes there's a little truth
in that act to make it really effective. The best liars always use truth.
Actually, I think the best liars tell the exact truth like the trickster or the
court jester. If you are smart and a good listener you will hear the truth in
lies and lies in the truth. Therefore my job as an entertainer is to keep it
unreal. The question still stands though: do you believe anything I, as a liar,
just said?
See, now wasn't
that fun?
What
instruments do you play?
I mainly play
guitar and I also sing. I play bass. I play a little keys and drums to get by.
The first instrument I started studying seriously was viola. I'd like to say
that I play all string instruments. If you remember your High School physics,
it is very likely that if you know one string instrument you can learn them all
somewhat easily with a little access. Mastering these instruments is a
different thing though. And, no...I do not play saxophone.
(Note: Jerome
was featured in BeyonceÕs ÒWork It OutÓ video and he was ÒplayingÓ a
sax-a-ma-phone.)
How do you
describe your sound?
I like to
describe my sound as Psych-Soul. Why? Because people need a label to attach
stuff to. It's like naming a color, it helps a conversation. Really though, Psych-Soul
describes a sound that is based in an old soul sound, and it's kind of trippy
and spacey, sort of rock, very song oriented with jam band potential. It's
hip-hop through osmosis and beautiful by nature. The subject matter deals with
multiple universes at the same time.
Talk to me
about the contemporary pop music scene.
A lot of pop
music (not all) is not very good or exciting to me because I think that I am
misunderstanding the current definition and goal of music, pop music today.
Seeing that pop music is "pop" music, I'd have to concede and say
that I am the one not understanding what music is today. Therefore, that
automatically makes me and my music, cutting edge and hip, right? Does it still
work that way? Am I on the outside now and in a few months, my music will be
the most important thing this side of Sprite's Tropical Remix? (a soft drink
name referencing various aspects of Black culture {or at least what was Black
culture} all at once.) I can't tell if the industry (artists and everyone)
thinks that the listeners are stupid or if the listeners think that the
industry is stupid and they are all just dumbing down because they don't expect
any more from each other. Maybe we are all just stupid. ItÕs hard to discuss
pop music today without thinking about economics and advertising. It seems
music today is more about selling a culture and a life style. I guess it
probably has always been that way since creation of pop music, huh? If it hits
people it hits them. (Does it always have to be a hit and run? I don't know).
However, there is some good pop music.
What are you
spinning now?
Right now, I am
listening to traffic and a cat meowing outside of my window. What I want every
one else to listen to is my Psych-Soul sisters, the Onliest. You can check them
out at the Onliest.com. Check out my links page at jeromejordan.com. I recently
just got the last Lewis Taylor album and a live concert CD of the Rotary
Connection. Stevie Wonder, Chaka, Fishbone and Chrome always. Omar's bossa-funk
styling is hot. Have you heard David Ryan Harris? I have been known to listen
to Donny Hathaway, Bauhaus, Kenny Loggins and the Birthday Party in the same 20
minutes. It's just endless. It's music. It gets you up. It gets you down. It
makes you think. It scares, it entices, it thrills, it soothes. I try not to
limit because you can learn a lot that way.
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