INTERVIEW: Jars of Clay
- Lang Whitaker
You could say that Jars of Clay has the Midas touch. Shortly after releasing a self-produced demo CD that sold out its entire run, JOC recorded their first album for Silvertone Records. Now, two years and two million copies later, Jars of Clay find themselves starting over again with the release of Much Afraid , their second album for Silvertone. Keyboardist Charlie Lowell took time to check in with Consumable from the road in Oklahoma City.
On the heels of their platinum debut album, the release of Much Afraid has sparked a range of emotions from the band. "There was a little fear, not knowing how people would respond. We knew that we were real excited about the new songs, and we worked hard on it and were pretty proud of it, but there's still an element of it may just not connect with people."
Not surprisingly, it has connected, debuting at #7 on the Billboard Top 100. For Jars, this time around they feel much more connected with the album. and, according to Lowell, Jars couldn't be happier. "I think we just feel like it's bit more mature. It's a bit more of where we are now personally and musically."
When Jars first approached the making of the new record, they sought a producer, a change from their first two self-produced releases. "That was actually pretty difficult for us to do, because the four would all have produced the record in a slightly different way, so it's hard for the four of us the make decisions. We felt like we needed someone in a mediator role." That someone became British producer Stephen Lipson (Annie Lennox's Diva and Medusa ), but only after he passed a few tests.
"(Stephen Lipson) flew over to Nashville to meet with us and see if we'd get along and work well together. We'd met with a few other producers, and we would ask them 'Given this demo, how would you approach it? What would you do differently based on what you've heard?' The cool thing about Lipson was that he just said 'I don't know.' He said 'I don't know how I'd do it. We'll just get in the studio and panic together"' and I think that was probably the best thing we could hear, and I don't think we knew it at the time. That attitude of not planning it out and saying 'This is how we're going to tackle each song,'; just trying to go in there and be creative and see what happens."
As a test run, Jars went in with Lipson and recorded the song "5 Candles (You Were There)" for the "Liar Liar" Soundtrack. "About a week or two before the movie came out," Lowell recalled, "we heard that they wanted to change the ending, they wanted more of a humorous ending, and so they ended up cutting the song. We were really disappointed, because we thought that it would kind of go along really well with the movie. We ended up using for our record and felt like it fit in with the rest of the songs we did anyway."
It does. The bubbling guitars and airy harmonies of "Five Candles" fit easily within the framework of Much Afraid , a logical and progressive follow-up to Jars Of Clay . While the self-titled album relied largely on studio overdubs and percussion loops, Afraid is a much more straight-forward, rock-style album; much more band oriented. The first single, "Crazy Times", has already started garnering radio airplay.
One aspect of JOC's music that hasn't changed is their willingness to openly confront their hearts, both in their music and in their day-to-day lives. Devout Christians, JOC attribute all of their success to their personal relationships with Jesus Christ. However, even as they continue to find success and acceptance beyond their wildest dreams, they find themselves struggling with the question "Why us?"
"I probably ask myself that question every day. We definitely don't feel like we've earned this position or this responsibility, and at times it definitely feels like 'Why us? Why not this other band that has a lot more talent, or a lot better attitude, or has done this a lot longer?'. Maybe that's part of these reason why God's used us to do this, because it's hard for us to take credit; it's hard for us not to give Him the glory."
