Wake Up & Smell The Coffee

12/14/2003 8:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Dave DiMartino

Fame may be back on the air in the form of a Star Search/American Idol-style reality-TV competition, but for real talent, look no further than Mechanicsville, Virginia's finest, singer-songwriter Jason Mraz, who got his showbiz start attending a Fame-type performing arts academy before heading west to work the same San Diego coffeehouse circuit that spawned guitar-strumming superstar Jewel. Now, with his major-label debut--the self-described "pop-jazz" folk collection Waiting For My Rocket To Come--Jason is rocketing to superstar status himself, and really finding out about fame firsthand.

Jason recently visited our studios, where he performed acoustic for an appreciative audience of LAUNCH staffers and chatted with executive editor Dave DiMartino about going from the SoCal coffeehouse circuit to nationwide tours, adapting to life in the recording studio, hanging out with Broadway babies at his old college campus, outgrowing his famous lucky red hat, and his secret past obsessions with Axl Rose, George Michael, and Madonna. Read on for more details!

LAUNCH: Your record came out last year, but it's just beginning to get national attention now. So how does it sit with you in general, hearing it and promoting it now? Can you reflect on the process from that point until the point you're at now?

JASON: Well, I had never made a record before, so I didn't know anything about it. I don't know anything about knobs, frequencies, tones, any of that. It was a very bizarre experience for me, to get the songs together, go in there, and try to deliver them as I would perhaps in a live setting. But I caught on quickly and I realized that I couldn't take on that coffeehouse style that I came from and go in there and burn it up. So what I ended up doing is working with the guys to kind of write new songs, and ended up actually writing an album. But it's still somewhat scary, 'cause you make it and you're like, "OK, these songs have never been performed live versus what I'm used to." So you're done with it and you immediately go, "Oh my gosh, are these good songs, are people going to buy it, are people going to believe me?" People had never heard these songs live--I'd never heard these songs live! So it was really wild, and for the past six months that it's been out, it's been really interesting to see who is really connecting to it--and myself, I'm connecting to it as well, 'cause now these songs are coming to life. As we've been playing them out, even the words are changing, the attitude, the tempo...everything is changing in these songs. And the album itself, in the writing process, became more about the process of writing a record, which is really wild for me, 'cause nothing like that had ever happened before in my life, and nothing else at the time was going on in my life except album preparation. So it became all about the relationships I gained and lost in the album-making, the relationships in my own head and my hopes and sacrifices, and everything...it was really wild, man.

LAUNCH: Tell me about the coffeehouse scene in San Diego that you came from.

JASON: I get that question all over the world about the San Diego coffeehouse scene. First of all, it's the weather. I came from Mechanicsville, Virginia, where you have four seasons. And I really loved the summer, but it was only a summer. And I was looking for inspiration: I was looking for a yearlong summer, and I found it in California--Southern California, especially--and I realized that everyone goes out all the time. The weather was always great, and the majority of San Diego seemed to be youth--at least what I was seeing--and if you weren't 21 and couldn't get into the clubs, you'd go to a coffeehouse and hang out. And there was just so much artistic stuff going on in these coffee shops; there would be paintings on the wall, there would be a poetry night, or an open-mic night, or a songwriters' night, and there were just tons of songwriters. There was a place for people to go and do their thing. I thought I could really learn from them down there, set up a family, set up a home down there, 'cause I really hadn't found it yet in my travels. So it was more of a learning experience for me, to have a place where I could always go out and perform and work out my material, and it was really nice. You don't get that bar environment. You don't get the yelling--the most you get is an espresso or a cappuccino machine going exploding during your quiet number. But they tune the espresso machines actually, so they're always in the key of the song that you're playing [laughs]. I've now I've seen it explode more and more around the country. It's a great way to sell coffee!

LAUNCH: What was the determining factor that took you from the coffeehouse to the studio?

JASON: It was through series of studio experimentations. Like I said, I had no studio experience except for little demos I would do every now and then. The first studio I ever went into was a friend of mine's, which was a computer setup in a storage closet in a studio space, 'cause he didn't have to pay for the storage closet; we recorded a song, "You And I Both," which is on the record. We went full-production on it, just the two of us, and we slipped it to an independent radio station, and they started playing it regularly, and then I kind of heard what recording artistry is about. And it was through that rotation that we started getting phone calls: "Who is this unsigned artist on the radio?" And it was quite interesting to us. We were never quite eager to get a record deal and do the record-making thing. I wasn't ready. We figured we would let them come to us and let things happen naturally, and let it feel like a natural evolution. We started talking with labels a good year before we started making decisions on how we were going to make the record. It was a very clam, slow process--very easy for me, 'cause I didn't have to change my life in any way. And I didn't have to cram for any tests; I could take my time learning and accepting these new challenges. So it wasn't one experience that led me to it. It was a gradual process. Careers can disappear just as quickly as they're made, so I'm in no hurry. I just want to do my thing, and whoever wants to get aboard, we'll do it.

LAUNCH: So I read somewhere that you didn't start playing the guitar when you were 18. Is that true?

JASON: Yes, it's true. I had always been singing, all of my life, but it wasn't until I got out of high school and was on my own that I didn't have any accompaniment. Like in high school, I had a chorus and a pianist and we could sing all the time, and when I got out of high school I needed something, so some friends of mine who played the guitar showed me a few chords. I couldn't figure out anybody else's songs, so as I learned new chords, I would write a song around it. And I just felt really good, and after a few months I said, "Ah, this is something that I'd like to pursue." And I just went for it. It was tough, I knew it would be tough, and my parents dreaded the fact that I was changing my life to do this, but I just kept telling myself, "If I keep playing the guitar by the time I'm 40 I'm going to rock, so you got until 40 to totally suck and be unemployed and do what you got to do, and then if you're 40 and you still suck, you'll go back to college and be a doctor or something." So I never put any goals on it--I just kept doing it.

LAUNCH: Can you classify what you're doing? Can you describe your music?

JASON: That's tough. I used to say it's pop-jazz. It's pop music with jazz influences. I say jazz because I hope that in the melodies and in the variety altogether it's as spirited and as improvisational as jazz, so I've always called it pop-jazz.

LAUNCH: You seem to have a pretty sizable Internet following--tell me a little about that.

JASON: When I first got into the coffeehouse scene, you know how back in those days everyone that's coming to your shows, and they become your "friend base"--they're not your fans, they're your friends. So I would try to get everyone to sign up on my email list and then I'd let them know when my next show was. I'd always add something goofy to it, and then as the years go on, the list got bigger and I eventually couldn't email about every show, so I started to put up my website journal entries. The whole thing was to try and keep in touch with everyone that came to the shows, 'cause they're more friends than anything. But I didn't realize what an impact it was having until our last tour, we finally were going to cities that we had never been to: Lawrence, Kansas, never been there in my life, and to have 500 kids show up, all singing the songs that aren't even on the record--old songs--I realized that had been online, they had been communicating, they had been reading what we have been doing. They had been sharing, and it really made a huge difference on the amount of fun we had on the road. We looked forward to meeting our friends in every town. Everyone had something in common, everyone had a great sense of humor. On my website I like to try and not keep any secrets; I think especially with the Internet and the amount of reality shows that are going on, there's no way to keep a secret anymore, so I try to let my project be as much as reality show as I can allow it to be. And it's worked out really well. 'Cause I never know when I'm going to need to call those people and go, "I need a place to stay. The label could stop sending cars to pick me up!" I'm going to need to call somebody else to use their van [laughs]

LAUNCH: When people compare you to other artists, is that something that bothers you, or do you just deal with it and live with it?

JASON: I live with it. I've been compared to people since the beginning; I think that everyone needs to go through that. When you're starting out, you need a comparison so people will understand you right away. But you know, someday I'll be one of those cats where people will say to an up-and-comer, "Oh, you kind of sound like Jason Mraz," and he'll hate me for it. But then, so on and so on.

LAUNCH: In your bio, it says that you spent some time at a Fame-type school. Can you tell us about that?

JASON: It was a two-year program. It was like a college, but a little bit easier to get into. There was no math, no science tests, it was strictly singing and dancing and acting. I was mainly looking for a ticket to New York, to get out of my small town, to get inspired, and I spent a year at the academy before I realized that I didn't want to do these songs, I didn't want to be a headshot and get a chance to go compete to sing--that's not me. I don't have the body for it in the dancing department, so I figured I'd stick with what's strongest and start playing guitar and start singing. It was a lot like Fame, 'cause everyone was fresh out of high school and in New York and all singing show tunes and skipping to school and wearing tights...it was a very jolly experience!

LAUNCH: Speaking of wearing certain items of clothing...what does the hat you're wearing say about you?

JASON: What does this hat say about me? I don't know. I think this is kind of my gentleman hat. I'm trying to be more of a gentleman. The other one was more of an attitude--a "hatitude," if you will, the red hat. And I wore it out. That's why I'm not wearing it today. I still bring it on tour just in case there's an emergency and we need the red hat, but that thing is beat up. We tried washing it, 'cause there was this disgusting amount of sweat 'cause I wore it onstage every night, and then we washed it and that kind of ruined it. I actually it on the last day of recording; it was just hanging on a big set of deer antlers and I put it on and it ended up in every photo, and it connected with the studio, the record, the whole process, this and that. I think I'll give it to somebody else, some other singer-songwriter that wants to have the power of the red hat.

LAUNCH: So what records did you buy back when you were in school? Who did you want to be when you were growing up?

JASON: That's a tough one--it changed so much. When I was in 7th grade, I wanted to be Axl Rose. In 8th grade, I wanted to be in Boyz II Men. In the 9th grade, I really would have loved to been George Michael. And I really went through a heavy pop period, when I was into Madonna and Michael Jackson like crazy, and then I wanted to be Dave Matthews, and then Miles Davis and do what he does with his trumpet, but do it with my voice. Then I wanted to be Bjork. I buy records from all across the board. Sometimes it's more of a pain than anything, 'cause I can't get into anything 'cause it sounds so great, but then so does this, and then so does this. I'm just really pleased with how much is coming out these days and what people are doing. But it's getting to make my music a bit schizophrenic, 'cause I want to represent what all these people do 'cause it's like, "I want to be a part of you, I want to be a part of you, I want to be a part of you," but I can't make up my mind and I think that's what happens: I get kind of a hybrid of influences in my own music.

LAUNCH: You said earlier your career choice filled your parents with dread. How are they now coping with your career now?

JASON: They coping now, they're dealing. They're happy. Especially my mom--she's the most popular person at church, I would imagine. They're pleased. I mean, sure, at first it was hard, but now they're hearing me on the radio and they're seeing it on the television, and my dad is still the only Mraz in the Mechanicsville phone book, so he's getting calls from girls to see if I'm home! They're excited that I stuck with it and that I'm not doing a day job that I wouldn't be happy with.

LAUNCH: In your heart of hearts, do you find yourself to be a happy guy?

JASON: Oh yeah, I'm a happy guy. I've always been happy, especially for the last four years, I've just been loving doing this. It's just great. I couldn't ask for anything more. I've great friends and family. I just feel there's not enough time to feel bad or sad about anything. Plus, I'm totally into new age and self-help books. I used to work in a bookstore and that's the section they gave me, I guess 'cause nobody wanted to alphabetize it, and I got way into it. I just loved the power of positive thinking, letting yourself go. Surrender to life itself and you'll just be rewarded with so many things. And I've been rewarded so many times, in so many mysterious ways. So I have no reason to be disappointed with anything.