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Jason Bieler first came on the scene in the early ’90s with his band Saigon Kick. He is now about to release his latest solo record, done with some help from his famous friends, under the moniker Jason Bieler and the Baron Von Bielski Orchestra. The record is called Songs For The Apocalypse and Jason recently took some time to talk about it.
Please press the PLAY Icon below for the MisplacedStraws.com Conversation with Jason Bieler –
On creating the record – I wanted to write everything of this record for this record in the time period that this record was gonna be done. So I started writing in March. We probably finish it in May. So everything was new and brand new. And I think the best way to explain my music is just that I grew up listening to everything. So from The Fifth Dimension to the Beatles through Ozzy, to Donny and Marie to Meshuggah, to Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond, to Bjork and Tom Waits, Jane’s Addiction to the Clash to, Jane’s Addiction is one of my favorite of all time, and that’s always just been in my head circulating. So whenever I tend to open my mouth or brain or musical toolset, I think it all just comes out like that. It’s never a conscious effort to try and be diverse or to try and be adventurous or it’s really just the way I hear music and things that I find interesting selfishly so because I really don’t think about anybody wanna making a record or sales or how it’s gonna work as much as is it piquing my interest at that time? 1:50
On what his fans expect from him – I’ve been lucky to build this little microcosm ecosystem of warped individuals. I think if I were to make a rock record they would kill me. Not that it can’t have elements of rock or metal or anything on it. They get on this ride expecting at some point Bieler is gonna try to throw us, he’s gonna try to knock us off track with, he’s gonna make a left or right, and we have to be strapped in at all times. The older I get, the more I really appreciate that back. What an amazing thing that your fan base is only gonna desert you if you do the typical thing. 3:25
“Beyond Hope”
On the special guests throughout the record – The basic idea was starting to come into my head in January that I was gonna do this record. So I figured I’d reach out to everybody, like a bunch of my friends, 25 or 30 of my friends, all of whom, before we even get started on the guesting part of it, I’m a massive fan of in their own way. I can go down each one of those wormholes and explain to you why I love that person and what they do. But I reached out, and then I assume, just due to the nature of life, and you know this when you talk to tons of people, people are touring people are in the middle of their record or have other obligations that, like, three or four of these guys, maybe with a little luck would say yes. And it turns out that all of them, to a person, instantaneous were like, “Yes. When, Where How what are we doing?” Which was just mind-blowing. The other thing I learned a lot, I mean about making music with these types of people is they’re all obviously amazing musicians in their own right. But they’re also music fans of almost all of each other in a weird way, even though they hadn’t necessarily worked together, or some of them didn’t even know each other per se. But they’re all aware and just everybody fed office really like amazingly positive “Let’s make some music”. So I’d say the thing I’m most proud of, I don’t think having a guest on a record is in and of itself really interesting anymore. I mean, every record has a guest. But what I’m really proud of is that I have a record where Devon Townsend is on a record with my buddy Clay Cook from the Zac Brown Band. And Bumblefoot is on a record with Butch Walker. I mean, those are the things that I find really interesting and compelling, and none of it feels to me, again, shoehorned in or like, “Oh, he just tried to get Todd LaTorre to do it.” I think it feels like it has a purpose. 4:22
“Apology”
On the possibility of touring – I’m so thankful right now because every day by day, this record actually seems to be getting a bit of a head of steam, and it’s getting embraced by all these different things that I was never really part of before. Like these prog metal playlists on Spotify and all these things. There’s a whole new group of people discovering it. So my ultimate goal would be to put a band together and bring these songs to life at the same time, though Jeff (Scott Soto) and I talk nearly every day or every other day and we’re talking about doing more of that because that was developing his whole own life of its own, all the shows were starting to sell out. To be able to go out with your buddy like that, just have nonsense the whole weekend of comedy slash songs, doesn’t get any better. So I mean, yes to all of it. I just wanna make sure that everybody’s safe, I don’t want to force it and try to tour too soon. So hopefully by the end of the year, with any luck, we’ll be getting to some sense of normal. 7:50
“Bring Out Your Dead”
On the impact of playlists – It’s been funny because I mean, being associated with a playlist that is more focused on Devin Townsend, Steven Wilson, or Hakken, all these other bands all of a sudden, they have no idea, they think Saigon Kick is maybe some kind of snack food that they missed a child. It’s not relevant to them. And then obviously all the people that I’ve been fortunate to carry within all this time. So it’s like these two different, completely different non-connected factions are kind of supporting this at the same time. So for me, man, I never look at it like, “Oh, I wanna be a rock star. I’m hoping this sells 10 trillion records and I’m on TMZ.” I wanted to make a record that I found that I was into and then hopefully my friends that were on it felt cool about it, and everything that’s happened beyond that is just an awesome bonus, that’s great. But it’s exciting to have people like it. And it’s exciting to have at this point in my career to have a whole another faction of people, kind of discovering it with no context is super rewarding. 9:11
“Love Is On The Way”
On the success of “Love Will Find A Way” from Saigon Kick – I think there were ballads on the first record. There were ballads on the second record. There is a ballad on the third record and beyond. And there’s softer music on this record. It just happened to be that this tectonic shift was happening in music. So we were never really accepted. I know some people take great offense to the term “hair metal”, but I don’t mean it as an offensive term. That era of rock, which I think had some great band in it so it’s not a disrespectful reference. We weren’t really accepted by those bands because we were too weird. So in the beginning, we toured with The Ramones, we did some shows with Faith No More, did some shows with Soundgarden, played with Ozzy, the most rock thing we did was to tour with Cheap Trick a bit. And then the ballad hit right as grunge was kind of making it. And we didn’t even release it. It was played on a station and just exploded. So it wasn’t even, like a plan single thing as much as all of a sudden It was selling 10,000 records a week out of Florida, South Florida, and it was like, okay, obviously the song has something to it. I’m definitely not one whose highest aspirations were to be a super cool seventy-year-old dude playing a club in front of 30 people with immense amounts of integrity, that holds no appeal for me. I think had it been contrived, had we tried to make a hit, or had that not been part of what I’ve always done. I mean, I make no apologies. I said at the beginning. I love Barry Manilow. Yeah, I love that. I love classic songs, but balance. So it just happened. I’m super glad it happened, and it’s kinda hard to go back and “Well, what if we did this?” Or “What if one of the heavier tracks work? Would we’ve been more than the Alice In Chains column”, but it’s all good. 10:36
On his thoughts when David Ellefson compared him to Frank Zappa – “I wish you would have just compared me to something more realistic. Like Jesus or Mother Teresa” is what goes through my head. First of all, even being acknowledged by David Ellison as a decent musician is beyond what you could ask for. I don’t see myself as fit to work on Frank Zappa’s sprinkler system in his yard, let alone be even remotely in that world. But I think in the context of how Dave meant it, in the spirit of adventure, adventurousness, and experimentalism and maybe not sticking within the standard box, I totally absorbed that with all humility of the breadth and scope that it means and also, the oncoming avalanche of hate about why does Justin Beiber think he’s Frank Zappa?
I tell you, there’s not a day I don’t wake up and I’m anticipating, just because of the nature of the music business, it’s like every time you read something as delightful as that the pendulum must swing and so I’m always like, “Oh, here it comes”. It’s so funny Jeff and I were gonna do a show for ProgPower USA, I couldn’t believe they were gonna invite me of all people to be associated with, in any way, shape, or form, prog And it was so nice to invite me and Jeff to do our thing. Obviously, Jeff does it as part of the Sons of Apollo. So they announced this, and I’m just sitting at the keyboard going okay, here comes 150 either; A – “I read that as Justin Bieber” comments or whatever the hell that was gonna be; or “You’re desecrating the honorous ground of prog”. And as I’m sitting here ready to just do these funny, sarcastic fire-backs, nothing but positivity came in, and I had to talk myself down off this ledge now because I was totally ready to internet battle. But anyway, all this positivity has just been amazing, and I’m definitely basking in it, but I’m also a realist, And I anticipate any moment now the trolls will get wind of this slight air beneath my wings and try to shoot me down out of this sky. 14:00
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