AV ProductionWorld

Jake Labotz talks about his latest album Graveyard Jones.

What was the motivation for your latest album Graveyard Jones?

I left my first month long, group retreat (dathun) in January 2004 with my then girlfriend, now wife, Abby. Our relationship had gone sideways during retreat and we weren’t speaking to each other much. By the time we got home things looked hopeless and it became clear that we were going to break up. In other areas of my life things were also falling apart. In martial arts training (aikido) I had broken my shoulder…which left me unable to do much of anything physical for several weeks. Abby and aikido were my two main endeavors at that time…so I was left feeling very much alone.

Me and Abby eventually got back together; my shoulder took longer to heal. In the month of time that she and I were separated (and my shoulder was separated) I was homebound and extremely depressed.

As an artist I see depression as part of a creative cycle. When it lands it flattens everything, which can sometimes bring real insight as it takes one out of one’s ordinary situation and the inner horizon widens. With this insight, I believe, comes the call to creativity.

In my experience this call must be answered or it can make me ill; physically, emotionally, and mentally.

I don’t particularly enjoy depression, but I try and honor it when it comes. I generally find it to be a choiceless situation…depression comes and I write songs.

So during my month of Abbylessness, and without any chance of leaving the house to enjoy physical activity, I wrote most of the album Graveyard Jones. The songs came sometimes fast and furious…others I wrestled with through the night. I don’t know where they came from. They are the strangest group of songs I have ever written…I wasn’t sure whether or not to keep them at first…I didn’t know if people would like them…but I felt obliged to record them and see what happens…
           

How did you and two songs from Graveyard Jones end up in the latest Rambo movie?

I’ve acted in a few films in the past. One of them, Animal Factory (dir. Steve Buscemi) had the same casting director as Rambo. She remembered me from the Buscemi movie and contacted me via email to come in for an audition for the part of a mercenary named Reese. Sly Stallone was there and liked what I did. He asked if I could gain ten pounds, carry a 200LB guy on a stretcher up a hill, and then they handed me a script.

When I got to Thailand I gave a few copies of my CD’s out to the cast and crew, including Sly’s makeup guy who happened to play them while Sly was getting his hair and makeup done….which led to the question “whose music?”, and the answer “your mercenary, Reese”.
The next day I came on set Stallone asked me to sing a couple of original songs from Graveyard Jones on camera…

When/where did your passion for the blues begin?

My Mom was listening to a lot of old-timey blues stuff when I was conceived and during the time I was being formed inside of her…I’m sure this had a lot to do with it. When I was a teenager I “discovered” the blues and eventually the old bluesmen that were still living in my hometown Chicago with whom I established long-term friendships and learned from.

What aspects of your music career do you manage (i.e. writing, booking, recording, networking, etc.)? 

Right now I do most of the work. I manage, write, network (not much), and I am my own record label.

I have people who occasionally book me in Europe…but I do most of my own booking in the States…such as the Tattoo Across America Tour where I perform at tattoo shops around the U.S.

Does this leave much time for acting projects?

I don’t book many tours so I am generally pretty flexible time wise. Also, acting jobs often pay better than music jobs…so I can always make time J.

What’s in store for 2008?

I just got home from a short Euro tour…I’ll be doing another one in the fall.

Right now I’m finishing writing songs for my next album which I hope to be recording in April.

Hopefully there is some more film work out there for a singing mercenary…

And of course I’ll be doing a lot of meditation practice!

What keeps you inspired?

That’s a tough question. I’m not sure I am inspired most of the time. I feel inspired sometimes towards the middle-end of writing a song or during a performance…or enjoying other people and their creativity. Its more like “what keeps me putting one foot in front of the other?”…for that I would answer: curiosity.

www.jakelabotz.com                   www.myspace.com/jakelabotz

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