Paul Jacobs: ‘I remember gatekeepers of the skate scene not liking me’

Hey man, I’ve just been finishing up my 4th music video and doing some rehearsals with the band, getting ready for some live session stuff… enjoying the end of the winter. 

Dang, I don’t think so; we go back now. Thank you for all the support! 

I almost feel like I went back to my roots a bit more, more about the song than the energy. 

I think garage rock is a pretty broad genre. If it’s the 2010’s era, it hasn’t been long enough for me to miss it yet, haha. I still listen to 60’s stuff and a lot of bands that I was listening to back then, though. I think change is good in music.

I don’t think it’s too far off, there are hints of the direction I was going in the others. 

I wouldn’t know how to describe it. I went about it like I do with all my albums. Well… I guess with this album I took a long break from the last, so it allowed my music to develop in an interesting way. I’d describe it as who I was during the time of writing/recording, haha! 

There are not too many literal stories behind the songs; everything is pieced together from feelings and emotions. I wrote and recorded this album in between the 2019 Pottery tours, so that was OK; I was checking mixes all over the world. 

I was writing a bunch at the beginning; then I just lost motivation because the world was so weird. That’s why I started working on all those animations and videos. I figure with all this time I should learn something new. I feel like covid changed everything; nothing will be the same.

Me and Meag have been living together since 2015 so she knows my stuff better than anyone else, she’s always down with the music so she’s been in the band for maybe 5 years now… Lately, we just worked on a video together, she did all the filming.

I think it’s always been difficult. I’ve been playing in bands since high school, so it’s really the only life I know. I think life is difficult in general, haha. But to say rock is dying is something people have asked for decades, and it never died; I just watched a video of an interviewer asking this question to Elliot Smith. 

I have never been part of a scene, I have many friends who play music around town, and I hang out with a few. I was always turned off from clicks since high school; also, I never liked the politics of being included in a scene with skateboarding. I enjoy the freedom of being myself and running into people, and catching up.

I’m not even sure that’s the right word to describe it, but it seems there are rules to follow. I remember “gatekeepers” of the skate scene not liking me because I didn’t give ‘props’, but in reality, I was just extremely shy. I just like doing my own thing; I don’t want to belong to anything. Maybe it was from having to go to church as a kid; I just don’t like the judging and gossip.

It’s hard to tell since there hasn’t been a show in over a year due to covid. I think Montreal is great though; the rent is cheap enough where you can spend more time focusing on music and having fun. I always enjoy shows here though, good times. 

That’s just because I’ve been doing the DIY thing, just going album by album. I’m with a Canadian label for the first time, which has really been helpful, though. 

The album I’ve listened to the most the past few months is “Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring For My Halo“. It just had its 10th anniversary, and I remember thinking he “sold out” when it came out. Looking back, I was just an idiot, it’s a great album like all of his albums.

The food at the French festivals for sure, also meeting really nice people all over. 

The Fugitive. It was my favorite movie when I was a kid. 

I hope it’s good and there’s nothing I regret putting out. I hope to write songs people will want to cover in time. 

No, it’s not! All my friends play rock n roll, so… at least… in my world, it’s the most popular thing!