Talking Wallflowers with Jakob Dylan
Beginning in 1996 with Bringing Down the Horse, The Wallflowers became a band in name only, with a singular vision. “There’s really no one lineup that ever made two records,” Jakob Dylan said by phone from Los Angeles in mid-May. “One person is actually putting the ideas together, and that’s always been me.”
That tradition continued with last year’s Exit Wounds and a lineup including producer Butch Walker, session ace Val McCallum (who played on 2002’s Red Letter Days) and singer Shelby Lynne. Led by standout tracks like the raucous “Dive Bar In My Heart,” the tender ballad “Darlin’ Hold On” and “Who’s That Man Walking ‘Round My Garden?” — an homage to Dylan’s guiding light Tom Petty — the new record is a solid addition to a stalwart catalog.
Here’s an edited transcript of Dylan’s interview with The Hippo.
How did the songs on Exit Wounds come together?
Refining songs is the dirty work, but you can’t start with nothing. You have to have a bunch of ideas sketched out, and then when you’re going to be recording, you gather all those ideas up. So, I would not say I wrote this record all in one sitting. I had collected song ideas a couple of years before that. It takes the motivation, the excitement of getting in a studio to really go to work on them and make them what you hope they’ll be.
Butch Walker produced — what was that like?
Butch is one of the rare people who can do a little bit of everything, and he does those things better than most people in the room [and] he’s a songwriter…. One of the more important assets that I need in the studio is somebody who understands and has the range to make these songs as strong as they could be. Because … a songwriter always thinks their new songs are their best songs, which is rarely true. I always work better with somebody around who does the same work that I do to bounce ideas off of.
Shelby Lynne was another fantastic element; you mesh so well together. Do you go back?
No, we don’t … we run in similar circles [and] she was always on my wish list. Val McCallum, who plays guitar on this record, worked with her a lot. He mentioned her one day. Butch and I lit up thinking we should call, and we should ask. It’s very organic to do it that way, rather than calling through agents or something.
You worked during a fairly tumultuous time in the country. What were you thinking about when you put it together?
You can find a way to translate those things into an individual perspective without having to use a lot of words that I don’t think really sound good in a song … there are other ways to write about how they affect you as a person, how you see things, rather than hit the nail on the head.
Yes — “Move the River” is a good metaphor, and it’ll endure.
Well, yeah, I appreciate that, thank you. Because that is how I prefer to do those things, rather than put buzz words in songs — thoughts and prayers, and all that. Like, it’s too timely. Songs should be timeless. So, that is a song where, yes, I did try to find a way to write about current times, [but] if you haven’t been paying attention, and you live under a rock, I hope you can still like the song without really caring what it’s about.
What are your memories of Tom Petty?
He was a huge impact on my life, my career. When I was a teenager, I got to watch him from side stage. I visualized forming my band in that same mold [as] the Heartbreakers. I thought that band could do anything, they’re one of the best American rock bands that we’ve had, so I thought that was a good starting place…. I found that with younger artists, he was only complimentary and encouraging, which is not always the case [with] some people from the generation before me. Maybe perhaps they feel threatened by the next generation. Which is ridiculous; if you’ve made your mark, you shouldn’t be worried about those things. I always found that Tom wanted the younger crowd to come in and be great, he wasn’t threatened … and he was encouraging, he understood that, in kind of a patriarchal parental tone, with a lot of artists. He wasn’t there to be competitive with you. He was encouraged, and he wanted to transfer that music, and he was so moved by younger people, he wanted them to be great. There’s a different spirit with everybody, and his was just very powerful and very strong. It was very positive.
Over 30 years of performing, what’s changed for you, and what’s stayed the same?
Well, that’s a broad question. A lot has changed. I don’t know that I’ve changed too much. The record business has really changed; I don’t know if there is one anymore. But that’s OK, things change. They have to, and you find other ways to do your thing, and hopefully make a living. People think that’s a dirty word, but everybody has to work. That’s what I chose to do a long time ago, and it’s treated me very well. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t remember, you know? It’s been a long time. I see pictures, it doesn’t look familiar, but I was there. It’s a long time for anybody to be doing any one thing, and sometimes I don’t believe that my first record was 30 years ago. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. But, you know, the calendar doesn’t lie.
Given your background, it seems inevitable that you’d become a musician…. However, early on you quit to study art in New York. You lasted a semester, then came back. What prompted you to go, and what made you come back?
Well, I generally was interested in the arts, all of it, [and] at that age — 18 or so — it was a good time. You don’t have to be sure. You don’t really have to make any real big decisions. I’d already been in bands, and I wanted to try art school. Part of me does regret that I didn’t stick it out longer, because there is room [and] time for everything. I may have stayed longer and still been in a band, I don’t know. But there’s also part of me that probably was hoping that I would go and find a real calling that might release me from the reality of myself being in a band and what that might involve, and that’s stupid. But ultimately the desire to play music won out.
Will you do another solo record?
I don’t know; that usually depends on the songs … my mood, where I’m living, how I feel. … My solo records have a very different context than The Wallflowers [but] there are just no rules. The only rule is you should do whatever you want.
The Wallflowers w/ Ari Hest
When: Friday, May 27, 8 p.m.
Where: Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia
Tickets: $39 to $89 at coloniallaconia.org
Featured photo: Jakob Dylan. Photo by Yasmin Than.
