Labor of Love: Jaye Jayle

Our favorite men in black, Jaye Jayle, are out on tour supporting Emma Ruth Rundle when they stopped in to dig on Fender Coronados. They treat us to the tune "Low Again Street," off of their recent Sargent House release "No Trail and Other Unholy Paths."
We talked with Evan Patterson about the process, time travel and how he gets his tone in this episode of CME Labor of Love.

YES THAT IS Yakuza's Bruce Lamont on saxophone!

How did the making of music become your life?
Before picking up a guitar, I was sculpting, drawing, painting, and creating visual art. When I began making music, the entire experience was such a gratifying form of art. It was immediate and seemed endless. Still does. Writing and composing has always been the focus.

How did you get your start?
I've been touring since I was 16. I was the youngest, but still am the youngest in the group and still writing the songs. That band was called The National Acrobat. Later was Breather Resist, then Young Widows, and now Jaye Jayle and Emma Ruth Rundle's band.

In these times it's a challenge getting by making music, how do you make it work?
It's challenging work. Most hours spent writing and experimenting at my home and in the rehearsal space to make these pieces of music art that we enjoy. Performing over 250 shows on the road in the past two years as well as making an album. It's work, but it the kind of work I enjoy because we always end up making music that is indescribable.

What are your hustles/gigs?
I attempt to not stress the business of art and music. Simply stay proactive and creative. Connect and enjoy what I make, tour as much as possible, don't take any shit from anyone, and always be appreciative to those that believe in where I've gone and where I'm going.
Our album No Trail and Other Unholy Paths has been out for 7 months. The recording was mixed by Dean Hurley who was David Lynch's sound design engineer for the past 12 years. Dean was in the middle of finishing the new season of Twin Peaks while mixing our album. From the time of finishing recording to the release of the album was 13 months. Well worth the wait.
We've been opening and playing with Emma Ruth Rundle for the past year and a half. Todd Cook and I have been on double duty live as well as both recording on her new album.

How does it all come together?
The songs and pieces are generally written on guitar and transposed to all of the other instruments. Even the drums I will tap and beat out on my guitar in demo recordings. A song isn't ready for the band until the majority of the composition, vocal, and lyric are nearing completion.
From there it's a bit of trial and error until that magical moment of "yes, that's it" happens. Could take months to finish a song or could take a day. Those are the best ones. The songs that are writing in a day always hold true to the test of time.

What guides your playing style?
The concept has always been and will always be to keep things minimal. Stream of consciousness and connection of the metaphysical self to the mood of the music. To create sounds and rhythms that bring the allure of time travel.
Lately, on guitar exclusively finger picking without finger nails and without finger picks to avoid the scraping and scratching attack of the pick or nail. The guitar becomes more of a percussive element. Similar to a piano. As for the synthesizer, it's a bit of a lead instrument at times, but mostly used to sonically propel. The drums are more primitive and void of traditional saturated washes of cymbal crashes. The bass guitar carries and compliments the percussion as that of a conjoined twin. The additional instrumentation hovers the songs even further out into the unknown.

What's your rig?
We're using all custom cabs made by Verellen. Two 2x12 for guitar and two 1x15 for bass. The bass head is a solid state Ampeg SVT 200T. I use a Verellen Loucks as well as a the 10th custom amp that Verellen manufactured. As far as pedals: Red Panda's Raster, Context, and Mixer. Old Blood Noise Endeavor's Excess, Dark Star, and Procession. Line 6 DL-4 for the stereo delay. Akai Head Rush for looping. MXR micro amp for boosting. I believe that covers most everything.

First guitar?
1980 Gibson SG Firebrand Series.

Current?
The Fender Coronado II. I write on an early 60s TrueTone arch top. It was a bit on a struggle finding the best guitar for this music. Went through a variety of semi-hollow guitars until ending up with the Coronado II. The cleanest tone I could find.

Any gear you can't live without?
The Univox Mini Korg K-2 is unlike any other synthesizer I've heard or played. We consider it a member of the band.

What do you or the band have coming up?
We are currently in the middle of a 10 week tour supporting Emma Ruth Rundle. We'll be off to the west coast in just a couple weeks.

NOV 30 Nashville, TN @ The High Watt
DEC 01 Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn
DEC 03 Dallas, TX @ Double Wide
DEC 04 Austin, TX @ Barracuda
DEC 06 Albuquerque, NM @ Sister
DEC 07 Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
DEC 09 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
DEC 10 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop
DEC 12 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
DEC 13 Seattle, WA @ Barboza
DEC 15 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
DEC 16 Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
DEC 17 Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room