Interview with Jason Reeves

24-year-old singer/songwriter Jason Reeves will kick-off his Vespa Experiment tour Friday at the Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa. Jason’s debut album "The Magnificent Adventures of Heartache (And Other Frightening Tales...)" was released on Sept. 9 2009 and debuted at no.2 on iTune’s Folk chart. The album was also named one of iTunes’s Top Folk Albums.

Jason is touring the California coast with his friends this May. “The Vespa Experiment” will feature Reves along with fellow singer/songwriters James James and Amber Rubarth. They will be playing venues along the west coast in protest of Global Warming.
I recently had the opportunity to discuss the upcoming tour with Jason, as well as his influences in music.




Tell me a little bit about your style of music, what can people who are going to come out to see the Vespa Experience expect to hear?

I don’t like the words that people usually use to describe music and I am not trying to say that I am defying the genres or breaking rules, because I certainly am not. My music is honest and you can probably call it acoustic, it’s not too hard core – definitely not rock music, and I don’t know what to call it, it’s not pop-music in my mind.

Who were some of your influences growing up?

The two main people that made me want to write music are Bob Dylan and James Taylor. They definitely were the two biggest inspirations.

Where did the whole idea of the Vespa Experiment come from?

It was sort of a crazy idea that I came up with one day. I was hanging out with Brendan James, who is also on the tour, and we were talking about how fun, amazing and totally insane it would be to do a tour on a Vespa. Riding up the California coast just sounds like the coolest adventure you could ever partake in, at least in America. We didn’t really think it was going to happen this fast. We were just making an absurd statement and our managers thought it was a good idea and they made it happen. We are just very lucky that we are actually doing it.

The folks that are joining you on this experiment are they on your album, how do you know them?

No, each of them has their own records out and their own music. Amber and Brendan are two of my favorite musicians anyways. Even if they weren’t coming on this I would say that. I am just really happy that they are going to be a part of it.

Are you guys all close friends or just collaboratively your styles match?

We are all really good friends and I am just really fortunate to have all these friends who are incredible musicians and somehow it just works out that they are really good people and it is fun to be around them. I couldn’t have asked for 2 better people, though.

You guys are going to be on this mini-California tour for a few weeks or so. Is there a message you are trying to send, or is it just for fun?

There is definitely a message and a reason for riding the Vespa’s instead of cars. We will also be sleeping outside in the woods or campgrounds instead of hotels. The reason is to just promote taking care of the Earth in any way; it is not necessarily a specific or a hard-core message it is just that we need to be doing anything we can in any tiny or large light to stop destroying the world. It is just a little step we are taking by doing this but the reason it is called the Vespa Experiment is because we want to keep doing things like this and keep experimenting with ideas of how we can try not to ruin our atmosphere.


Tell me a little about your writing partners on your album Mikal Blue and Colbie Caillat, how do you guys work together?

When I came out here from Iowa it was because Mikal had called me , he heard my music and he wanted to know if I wanted to come out and record with him, and I obviously jumped at that. When I got here the first person I met besides Mikal was Colbie and she was just starting out writing music, and they just put us together and thought that we might be good writing partners, and it turned out pretty well. Mikal, Colbie and I became kind of a team in making music and it was an unexplainable process that came together pretty easily and magically.

Your album started out in August on MySpace, are you guys working only on just electronic distribution or are there physical copies available?

No they are out, it is in stores Nationwide in BestBuy and whatever record stores still exist, the ones that have not died out yet.


What are a couple of your favorite tracks off the album?

I think one of my favorite songs is “New Hampshire” because of the way it was recorded, it was pretty much one take. Everybody just freaked out. We had no idea what was going on or what the plan was for the song. Even a lot of the vocals are just made up. I just like how the song didn’t exist in the way it does at all before we tried recording it. I just left it with all the mistakes and whatnot in there. It felt cool to do that. I never let just one take of pretty much madness just sit in the track and stay there. There is usually a lot more planning and editing than that.

Growing up as a kid who guided and shaped you as a person?

My parents have been a great influence. My dad used to play guitar for my sister and I when we were kids, just around the house. Other than that I had a couple of teachers in high-school, especially my chorus teachers. They had a big part in encouraging me to sing, just proving over and over again that music is powerful.

Musically who have been some of your mentors?

Well, all my friends who play guitar. I never took lessons so I consider them the ones who taught me how. I would just play terribly with people who were better than me and by doing that over and over again, I learned how to do it. I don’t think it was anyone specific, but just all my friends combined, everyone teaching me something different.