RECORDING BB: What's your process of recording music? What do you think are
the important things to remember when you're trying to get your best
stuff down? Jonatha: The important thing to remember is not to make it too
perfect. That's what I've learned over the years is that you can beat a
song to death by doing take after take after take, especially vocally,
until its lost any immediacy, any vibe, and any of the imperfection that
makes it really connect with an audience. That's my biggest thing. The
recording process keeps changing for me, and I think that every record
has been so different from the last. And that's an exciting part and
that's the daunting part because every situation is different. I mean,
on the major labels I had a ton of money, they were fronting the budget,
so I could pay for a studio for two months and invite new editions to
come in for two weeks to do basic tracks, and then over dub at my
leisure. Then when I went out on my own, when I started Bad Dog Records,
it was like, ok, I'm paying for everything, I got to figure out how I'm
going to swing this. On Steady Pull, I was lucky enough to work with Bob
Clearmountain, who was pretty much my patron. So that's how that
happened, and then Back in the Circus was all out of pocket, so I had to
do it by bits and pieces. A lot of it is in ProTools, done in sort of
four day spurts when I had enough cash to go back in and work on things
BB: Tell me about Back in the Circus. How do feel this record
relates to your previous albums? Jonatha: I think that each record informs the next one, and at
the same time I'm very conscience of not repeating myself. So I think
whatever I learn from Steady Pull I learned from Steady Pull, and then I
went for a completely different vibe on this one. I think I had more
confidence as a producer, so I knew ok, I'm going for this particular
sound palette, I want this intimacy, I want these colors but every time
it’s kind of a new frontier for me, so it was a definite learning
process as well.
BB: This album features your first cover song with Fire and Rain.
How did that come about? How do you think it turned out? What's your own
relationship to that song, and to James? Jonatha: Yeah, Fire and Rain, and I also did God Only Knows and
Eye in the Sky. They were kind of surprises, actually. I certainly did
not set out to cover other songs. I had never really done that before.
But when I was opening for The Hooters in Germany two summers ago, I
thought ok, how am I going to connect with these total strangers every
night, five thousand people in all these German cities. I decided to do
Eye in the Sky, and come at it very acoustically and very plaintively
and see if they would catch on. It indeed went over big, and they loved
it. I could see, as I got to the chorus every night, them sort of figuring
out “oh, it’s that song, how cool this is awesome, we like her.” So it
was a great icebreaker for me, and I ended up recording it just to see
how it would sound recorded, and loved it. So that went on the record,
because it kind of fit the vibe. God Only Knows it was my husband’s
idea. He just thought what a cool song, what a great chord progression.
He just thought I would really love it, so I just decided to demo it and
see what happens, and again it just took on its own intimacy and vibe
that I thought was special. I certainly wasn't trying to top the Beach
Boys, but it just came out in a way that I thought suited me, so I put
it on the record and it went with the vibe. Same with Fire and Rain, it
was my guitar player’s idea. So we were just messing around with it in
his studio one afternoon and I loved it. I had no relationship with it
really, it never would have occurred to me to do Fire and Rain, if
Godfrey [Moore] hadn't brought it up. I mean, I'm certainly a James
Taylor fan, but covering Fire and Rain was not at the top of my list. It
is a classic song. But the approach was so different; I know I'm not
treading on anyone toes. I'm not trying to cop his signature acoustic
guitar riff, in fact I decided there must be no acoustic guitar on this,
or else it’s just death. So it was just fun to try and come at it from a
very different approach.
BB: Which of your own records is closest to your heart? Which has
been the biggest seller? Jonatha: Well, this one is now, Back in the Circus. They are all
pretty close, because their now pieces of me.
BB: Which has been the biggest seller? Jonatha: In terms of in the time span so far, Steady Pull has
been the biggest. I think Angel in the House is now getting way up
there. It must be at 150,000 by now. Steady Pull is somewhere over a
100,000, but it’s more recent. I'm not sure where Back in the Circus,
but it's coming along.
BB: Do you prefer the studio or playing out? Jonatha: I love them both, they are so different, but I think I
would die if I didn't have gigs. I don't know that I would die if I
couldn't ever record again, although It would be a close call. But I
think performing really is one of the biggest sustaining factors of what
I do.
PLAYING OUT
BB: What makes a good show? Jonatha: Building a repoire with an audience, including them in
what ever is going on, creating some kind of chemistry or inside joke,
and singing your heart out.
BB: Do you have a favorite show from your past? Jonatha: Well, there was one crazy one in San Francisco that was
pretty fun, in ‘98 maybe ‘99. The audiences in general in San Francisco
are out of their minds, they are really fun, and they will just yell
random things at the stage. The spontaneity is pretty ripe there, so you
can do anything. I think I ended up doing some sort of dance, impromptu
dance number on stage and that was pretty fun. I loved playing in Paris.
That was the summer of ‘96. I did like ten nights in Paris at this
little supper club, and that was really exciting and terrifying but
great. The Newport Folk Festival is right up there. That's really fun,
looking out over the boats on the water. That was a couple years ago.
I'm trying to think of a recent one. I mean, the shows in New York last
spring were just spectacular, in terms of theatricality of it and the
lighting and the moods that we were able to create and the intimacy of
the theatre, that's got to be right up there. And then of course there
was the Letterman Show, which didn't suck, that was very exciting. That
was three summers ago. He was awesome, he was so lovely.
BB: Who are some of the big people you've played with? Who were
you happiest to get the chance to meet? Jonatha: I met Bonnie Raitt once, and that was pretty
killer. She was lovely, and wicked normal. Marcus Miller, Joe Sample,
Dave Sandborn, these are all people that I've sort of been lucky enough
to be around a lot more recently. I loved meeting Neil Finn; he was
great. He sang on my record. He was so dreamy, he came over and was just
hanging, and he was like, “was that good, did you like that, how was
that, will this do?” He stayed for dinner and we hung out and that was
that. It was Bob’s idea to call him; I didn't realize they were such
good friends. Bob brought it up, and I had been thinking, “wow, this
would sound really cool with Neil Finn,” and then the next morning Bob
said “hey, I think this would sound really cool with Neil Finn.” So I
said yeah, but he lives in New Zealand and Bob said yeah, he's here a
lot, I’ll give him a call maybe it'll work out, then the next week he
was there.
BB: Any pre- or post-show rituals? Jonatha: I try to stretch before shows, and that comes from my
dance background. I just need to feel sort of limber and grounded before
I can out there and sing. Singing is so physical. After shows I just try
to guzzle water for ten minutes before I go out and start talking again
and signing autographs.
BB: Do you do any other covers on stage? Jonatha: I used to do this funk version of Girl You Really
Got Me, with the band. That sort of developed impromptu one night. I
forget where that was, but it’s pretty fun. Gets pretty raunchy.
BB: Has anyone ever heard the Jonatha Brooke cover of Creep by
Radiohead? Jonatha: No, but that is a good idea; although that is a perfect
song I wouldn't want to touch it. But that's a good idea; I’ll put it in
the book.
BB: Tell me about your audience. What are your fans like? Jonatha: You know, they keep evolving and changing. I find they
are more kids and parents coming. So like teenagers are kind of getting
clued in, but they've been listening because their parents got the first
record ten years ago and now the kids are on board. And their buying the
new ones and bringing their folks along to the rockier elements of what
I do. It’s kind of weird but very cool.