JAY' TALKING

REGULAR READERS will realise that I say this in a loving, caring sort of a way but when it comes to being a flash bastard rock ‘n’ roller, Mark Olson makes a very convincing librarian.

Take this evening, for example. The Jayhawks have just played a suitably ballistic set at Whelan’s and rather than sniffing a line of showbiz sherbet off of some buxom young lovely’s cleavage, the sensibly-attired guitarist is relaxing with a good book and a glass of Mr. Perrier’s finest – the still variety, mind, because once that effervescence hits the bloodstream who knows what might happen? Not, to be honest, the type of namby pamby, nay, girlie behaviour you’d expect from somebody who reckons Gram Parsons to be his all-time hero.

“That 24-hour-party-person philosophy sucks,” drawls Olson in a voice that’s so laid back you suspect he’d be more comfortable lying vertically on the floor. “Gram Parsons, Nick Drake, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin . . . those guys all got hung-up on the rock star trip and look where it got them? Approach it from whatever angle you want but the bottom line is, what a waste of talent. “As for that macho sexist crap,” he adds with obvious disdain, “I suppose when you start off you go through a phase of thinking, ‘wow, this person’ll sleep with me ‘cos I’m in a band’, but once you realise how shallow and demeaning that is, you get over the groupie thing real quick.”

While The Jayhawks haven’t gotten to the stage yet where they’re public property, there are enough clever moves and deft touches on Hollywood Town Hall to suggest that at least part of their budget is one day going to have to be diverted to personal security. The Gram Parsons comparisons are inescapable but there’s also a hint of Dylan, a smattering of hippie-era Beach Boys and a healthy dose of 90s attitude which ensures that the album is as relevant now as it undoubtedly would have been 25 years ago.

“Yeah, those are the kind of influences we wanted to draw on without making the LP a museum piece and the fact that it is contemporary is probably why Rick Rubin, whose past track record centres around rock and hardcore rap, was willing to let George Drakoulias sign us to his Def America label.

“Actually,” Mark enthuses, “I admire the way Rick hires A&R guys and then – within reason – gives them free reign to do what the hell they please. A lot of people, us included, were surprised when The Jayhawks went to Def America but I think Rick and George wanted to broaden the roster and now that they’ve got Johnny Cash as well, they’ve achieved that.”

Seeing as they’re stablemates and have a direct line to The Man In Black, did Mark and writing partner Gary Louris join the stampede to have a song or two of their’s included on his comeback album?

‘“We had a few things lying around which we passed on but chances are they won’t get used. George played me some of the work-in-progress when I was in L.A. recently and judging by that, it’s going to be a cool record. You’ve obviously heard ‘The Wanderer’ on Zooropa – well, there are more tunes like that and some real contemporary stuff which I’ve mixed feelings about. Who’s written what is still under wraps but there’s one track, ‘The Beast In Me’, where you know that the guy putting it together is trying so hard to be ‘authentically country’ that it almost ends up a pastiche. You’ve got a lot of happening names on the credits but from where I stand, it’s the cover of Neil Young’s ‘Heart Of Gold’ and the song Johnny wrote himself which work best.”

One person who The Jayhawks have managed to team-up with in the studio is Maria McKee, a musician Mark has the utmost respect for whilst feeling that she may need to focus her songwriting gaze a little more sharply.

“The thing with us is that we have a pretty good handle on what we’re doing and where we’re going but in Maria’s case, she covers so many bases I get confused. Diversity can be a weakness as well as a strength and although the individual songs on her last album were great, I couldn’t detect a stylistic thread to bind them together. She did a version of ‘Precious Time’, so we didn’t actually pool ideas which was a shame. Hopefully, that’s an option for the future.”

Although they have influences in common and often stray into the same lyrical territory as ‘New Country’, The Jayhawks have received short shrift from the Nashville establishment who are obviously preoccupied with how they’re going to squeeze the next million out of Garth Brooks’ stetson.

“If you want to be accepted in Nashville, you’ve gotta play by their rules and any sign of deviancy is severely punished. People talk of ‘crossover’ but the likes of Garth Brooks, Randy Travis and Wynonna Judd are just more of the same but with sharper haircuts and stage shows. That’s not to say that what they’re doing isn’t worthwhile, in most cases it is, but the only artist who’s come close to bridging the huge gulf between rock and country in recent years is Dwight Yoakam. I mean, Nashville regards Steve Earle as a renegade, so what hope is there for us?”

And do they find that frustrating?

“No, we’ve never tried to court Nashville and, well, it’d be nice if we occasionally got played on country radio but it’s not something that’s pivotal to us being successful or not.”

Mark adds that by opting to record in Los Angeles rather than Tennessee, The Jayhawks made a hostile political statement that Music City USA’s more fundamentalist citizens won’t forget in a hurry. Add to that Gary Louris’ extracurricular activities with Mick Jagger, their championing by well known rock ‘n’ roll subversives The Black Crowes and a steadfast refusal to wear silly hats, and it looks as if their chances of getting to the Grand Ole’ Opry are precisely nil.

“Thankfully,” Mark laughs as he downs the last of his Perrier, “that’s a disappointment we can live with. As far as career goals go, the thing I dreamt of as a kid was playing with Bob Dylan and seeing as we were able to do that last year, I could drop dead tomorrow and there’d be a smile on my face!”

And that just about sums up The Jayhawks. High on life – and death – itself!