[Interview] JACOB PEARSON

“Do you want to see a giant hickey?” Pearson lifts his guitar like a gentleman over his head to put it to rest for a little while. He turns his back to the crowd, and scrunches up his shirt. There it is; there they are. “Yeah, an elephant gave me this.” Or maybe he got sucked into a vacuum cleaner fight. Or maybe he just got acupuncture and the suction cups left whopping welts to be the storytellers.

From the Central Coast comes Jacob Pearson, a quiet yet deep soul who puts his whole heart into his music. With a bowlful of cheeky humour on the side, this twenty-three year old, up-and-comer is on the move, and it doesn’t look like he and his guitar will be stopping their rendezvous anytime soon.

Being born and bred (and always) on the Coast, Pearson was bound for his carefree character. His boyhood was nothing out of the ordinary; he loved making his own fun at home and loathed school’s existence. It was his biggest struggle throughout his youth. “I actually broke out of Preschool. I lived pretty close and thought I could break out and go home. I managed to get out of the gates before they caught me. That’s pretty good ground for a four-year old.”

Throughout his years as a schoolboy, apart from scheming his next bail, he’d either be running around playing sports or video games, or he’d be talking about secret crushes with his best friend. But this wasn’t their only fun. “I remember one thing we would always do after school was sneak into the house before Mum knew I was home. We’d creep up behind her in the kitchen and then we’d jump out! Then she would scream and break a dish. That was definitely my idea of fun.”

Then there was the classic ‘first picking up a guitar’ moment. But Pearson didn’t fall in love with his right-hand man straight away; it was a relationship that grew over time. And Pearson is all about relationships. His first taste of the music scene was when his sister was young and in a talent school where she’d spend most of her time singing and dancing. “The thought of getting on a stage and singing to strangers like she did, it really scared me! I thought it was the bravest thing someone could do. At the same time, it might have subconsciously pushed me towards the whole singer songwriter thing, because no one in my life was doing it.”

It was his Dad who played the next part, by getting his young son a guitar and teaching him some chords. He eventually shied away from it completely. That was until high school came along. “That’s when I picked up guitar on my own terms and learnt myself. I just wanted to teach myself, and I think it was better that way for me, not being overly encouraged to do it.”

Music class was where it was at for Pearson, and although he didn’t learn much, his classmates did learn from him. And his teacher was the first to see him perform. “Those days where we’d just go and play guitar with some friends in class, that was a good starting point to get some confidence playing with and for other people.”

This was about the pinnacle of his schooling experience. “I figured I wasn’t going to use Year Twelve for anything, so I left halfway through, to do the things I wanted to use.”

It was back when Pearson was sixteen that his songwriting journey began. His musical influences came from CDs his friend lent him, and although he wishes he was one of those kids who grew up listening to their parents old records, it was the CDs that introduced Pearson to Coldplay; his first big influence. They made him wish he had a song of his own, so he went ahead and got one.

He thinks back and realises how important this wish was. He’s not sure if the people who heard the song wanted to stuff their ears with something fierce, but either way, “if their encouragement hadn’t have been there, I wouldn’t be where I am today doing what I’m doing.”

Two EPs later and Pearson’s focus is still held by none other than his music. “Music, that’s about it. And basketball was my first passion. It used to be my outlet before music. So there’s music and basketball. And my relationships. Without those there’s not much life. I draw a lot of inspiration from relationships, so without that, there wouldn’t be much life in my music either.”

Music is his only job, but it’s never been a job, and he never wants to think of it as such. Everything that he makes with his music – selling CDs, playing gigs – it goes straight back into it. “I’m starting to learn that it’s pretty dangerous when you don’t have a back-up plan. But I guess if I minded then I would’ve tried to make one by now.”

His mind instantly goes into back-up plan mode. “I guess if I wasn’t doing music, whatever I did would have to be something to do with being creative. If I didn’t have that then I’d go insane. More insane. Maybe I could be an iPhone photographer. I need that emotional and creative outlet. Everyone needs that.”

Pearson is also creative with his songwriting style. When he first started writing he found it a lot easier to come up with something, because everything was new back then. But innate perfectionism aside, he now finds himself grabbing bits and pieces from all over the place. “It’s messy, but when something clicks, it really clicks, and the mess comes together. A composed mess.”

He believes the first EP from 2011, Crumbs of the Rendezvous, was more of a demo release, where the recording took place in a random guy’s (now his bass player) soundproof room (built by his Dad). “Those songs were all about girls. The usual dribble.”

His latest EP on the other hand, Places We Know, released back in 2012, was more of a debut EP. With Pearson mentioning “maturity” as the primary difference between his releases, he doesn’t hesitate to reflect on how much he’s grown. “A lot. Is the simple answer.”

The title track ‘Places We Know’ wasn’t originally meant to be on the EP, but Pearson’s guitarist said to “go with it”, so he trusted, and soon realised its significance. “It’s (‘Places We Know’) about different things that sort of sum up everything to do with me. But it’s a weird song too, because it’s happy.”

When writing songs, rather than using energy to get in the mood to produce a positive lyric and melody, Jacob finds himself focusing exclusively on raw emotion. But this song got amongst the positive, and helped his second EP to place Pearson in the know. After being named the iTunes Single of the Week in August 2013, his song ‘Honey’ was a little helper too. “I don’t even know how it happened. They just rang me asking if I’d like it to happen. And I said yes! Because, YES!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt1533XoFy4

There were a lot of screenshots of the Single of the Week, led by a lot of young girls. “I just hope they weren’t One Direction fans or anything. They probably were, but what can you do?” Because it was one of the first songs he ever wrote, ‘Honey’ has become his nerve breaking song, it’s that soothing number that’s “always kind of stuck to me.”

Rather than flying solo all the time in his live shows, Pearson now more regularly takes off in his four-piece band. One of his favourite live memories was at the Places We Know EP launch in Sydney. The band was about to play ‘Footprints’, and the keyboard player got stuck on a synth sound when they needed a soft organ. So these three minutes of ukulele-styled soul turned into a synth spectacular. “On stage I don’t talk a lot. The crowd might think I’m awkward, but I’m not sure if they like that or not. I am an awkward person, and I say some stupid stuff, but when I start to sing I think I’m ok. Singing and strumming a guitar is pretty addictive.”

“When Jacob was younger he was very shy in social situations”, says his sister Jessica. “But since he has taken his songs to the stage, it’s made him more able to really express who he is.”

Drawing his influence from the folk, alternative and singer songwriter kind of vibe, his melodies travel back and forth between this lolly bag and a very alternative soft rock sound; some people have compared him to Jeff Buckley. But he shrugs it off. “It might just be because people need to compare you to someone. It’s what people seem to want to do. Compare people to everyone. I’d like to know what you think.”

Pearson’s shared the stage with the likes of Ian Moss, Richard Clapton and Diesel, and it means a lot to him when respected musicians support the up-and-comers. He has taken to the stage for a one-off show in London (“which was freezing”), Melbourne during a recent string of shows, and his favourite place to play, Lizotte’s on the Coast. However, he’s realised that his favourite venue is any place where people are listening. “It’s really awesome when you’ve got an audience that’s listening and you feel like you’re connecting. That’s the addictive part of playing gigs. Connecting. That’s the most important thing for me.”

He hopes that his songwriting is relatable so that he is able to truly connect, and although he’s been on a bit of a plateau with his songwriting production rate, he much prefers quality to quantity. “I think I need to go somewhere else for a while and just do it. I think I have to. I used to be so alone all the time when I started out, but now it’s different, so I have to find that alone time. I think it’s who I am naturally.”

This solitude will be vital to the possibility of a third EP, whenever that may be. And it’s Patrick Watson who is Pearson’s latest inspirer. “He’s my man crush. I don’t want to sound like him, I mean, I don’t really want to sound like anyone. I just think that what he does, it just blows my mind, and I sort of feed off the people, places and things that blow my mind.”

But Jacob doesn’t want to bring out too much music too soon, without it getting anywhere. He treats his songs with respect, and doesn’t want to see them flung around to a few people, but rather save them for a bigger release. “I don’t want to waste anything, so I’m taking it slow. Maybe a single is the next thing on the cards.”

For now he’s going to take a break until Christmas, because he believes that “busy-ness blocks a lot of the thought processes I need to get to.” According to their newest band member, guitarist Danny Moses, Pearson’s “constantly impressing the whole band with his new song ideas and beautiful melodies”, so it’s safe to say that his fans will be in for a treat when it’s time.

Pearson’s learnt a lot about respect in the music industry, and a lot about himself. The most important thing he’s learnt is that “all I want is to be respected as a musician. I think the industry has changed me a bit. I used to be a fairly complacent guy, but now when I’m told what to do, I tend to think about it more, and usually do the opposite.”

He knows how important it is to play to the right people, and to simply keep playing; his feet will follow. “All in good time.”