Artist Spotlight: Catching Up With Jack Symes
Editor’s Note: This interview with Jack Symes was conducted just before the world turned on its ear. But since Jack will be with us for a BMF Discover Concert on Sunday, August 9, 2020 at 6pm PT | 9pm ET - we wanted to share the interview with you. Please enjoy! And if you haven’t already grabbed the link for the show, you can do so at: https://www.bmfdiscover.com/jacksymes
What inspired your move to the East Coast, and how have you been settling in?
Jack: “Last January, I came out to New York to visit a buddy and play some shows out here. There was an afterparty one night where I met a friend of a friend named Katie, and we hit it off. We kept talking once I got back to LA, and then we met up for a weekend in Chicago, which was like... the second time we’d ever hung out. And from there I was like—cool, I think I’m just gonna move to New York. Let’s go for it. I moved here in June, and it’s been great. Before this, I was living at home with my parents while dedicating my full time to the music stuff. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to move to LA, or go back to the Bay Area. And then this whole thing happened and I was like, Wow. OK. Yeah. I definitely didn’t think I would move to New York, but let’s give it a whirl. It’s been about eight months, and it’s been hard, but it’s been good.”
It’s not always an easy place. So what is New York giving you that’s keeping you going?
Jack: “I landed in New York after doing a big house show tour driving across the country. 35 dates in six weeks, just me and the car. Then I got here, crashed on my buddy’s couch for the summer, and just kinda floated. I read a bunch, and wrote a lot, and drank a lot of coffee, and went to the parks, and had a lot of anxiety because I didn’t know what I was doing every day. Since then, I got a part time job and some daily regularity, which has been really nice. But I really enjoy walking around here. You don’t get as much of that in LA. The people watching is top class. I’ve met more Europeans and Australians in the last eight months than I have my entire life and made friends from different countries. And I’ve also had the opportunity to go and play shows in Philly, and DC, and Boston, and Providence a few times. Being in New York, you’re way more central to some major markets. So you can cover more ground.”
And you have some big shows coming up back in the Bay Area, right?
Jack: “I’ve got my biggest headlining show to date next Friday at the Great American Music Hall. I’m playing there Friday and on Thursday in LA at the Moroccan Lounge. Those are gonna be with the full eight-piece band, and both shows are prom-themed because I’m releasing a new song on Wednesday called “Prom Song”. So we’ll be in tuxedos, and have some backup singers that’ll be looking gorgeous and sounding awesome, and hopefully everyone will get dressed up. We’ll have a prom photo booth, a balloon archway, streamers, all that stuff.”
That’s a very different vibe than when people saw you at BMF, just chilling in the woods during your acoustic set with Nat Lefkoff.
Jack: “Yeah, completely. But hopefully we’ll get back up to BMF some year and get the whole band together and throw a little party up there.”
For people who did see you first at BMF and are re-encountering you after a couple of years, how would you say your music has developed since then?
Jack: “I played BMF back in 2017. And that show with Nat was very conversational, very relaxed. Since then, I’ve done the solo thing a lot. And I still love playing solo, but the band that I’ve been working with for the last couple of years now is just so fun. Our drummer Keenan hits the drums harder than anyone I know. Like, sound checks are just brutal. The kick drum is flying all over the stage. And he’s been playing with my bassist Greg since eighth grade. So they’re just totally locked in for the rhythm section. And the horn section I’ve got are these brothers Mark and Teo from this band called More Shatter. They just have the most infectious energy possible. They’re just the sweetest guys and such freakin’ pros. And then Tommy, who’s on guitar, he’s in More Shatter too. So it’s just this awesome little interweaving of people who have been playing together for a super long time and kind of taking those chemistries and melding them into one. And it’s just really, really fun to be a part of. I toured for the first time with the band a month and a half ago, and it was just amazing. We sold out in DC and New York, and had a great turnout in Boston and Providence, which was very unexpected. But going on the road with those guys was so much fun. And every single night afterwards it was just like, adrenaline through the roof. People would come up to me and be like, ‘That was so much fun!’ And my first reaction was, ‘Yeah, that was so much fun. Like, oh my god. I wanna do that again.’ So yeah, it’s a new energy. It’s a new feel. It definitely leans more toward indie rock than it does folk, I’d say for the shows with the full band.”
So you’ve got these big shows on the West Coast, and your new single dropping on Wednesday. What’s next for you from there?
Jack: “Pretty much I’m just gearing up for a big year of touring and hitting the road wherever and however much is possible. So yeah, I’ll be out and about this year.”
And do you think you’ll be sticking around New York for a while?
Jack: “Yeah. I do like it here, and winter is gonna start to fade away pretty soon. We’ll get some real, organic heat, which I could really use. I miss the ocean, definitely. I miss a lot of things about California, but I‘ve been pretty bi-coastal since I’ve moved out here, so I think I’m just being whiney.”
I mean, it’s easy to get whiney in New York in the winter, for sure.
Jack: “It is so easy. The amount of conversations I’ve had over the last month that have just been like, ‘Damn. Wouldn’t it be sick to be in Mexico right now? Or just somewhere you can shower outside? Doesn’t that sound amazing?’”
Ugh, now that’s all I’m gonna think about all day…
Jack: “It’s so brutal.”
Well, we’ll make it through winter. It’s gonna be great, and we’ll just keep on rolling.
Jack: “Yes we will.”