Getting to Know . . . JOHN ELLIOTT
 by Kathy S-B  ·  5 May 2008

This is a story of a venue promoter (me) who got a CD in the mail from a musician from Los Angeles (John Elliott) and how I’ve come to absolutely love and cherish his music over the course of this past year. It took me nearly a year but I can finally say that I’ve seen John Elliott perform a few times (at the infamous Burren in Somerville and again at the NERFA Conference that I persuaded John to attend earlier this month) and his energy, enthusiasm, and earnestness shine through with each song. He’s someone to watch if you like rock-influenced acoustic music. He defies categories actually.

Take a listen to “Feet to the Fire” or “Down in Mexico” on John’s MySpace page. Then scroll down and check out the new videos from his forthcoming acoustic CD. John’s lyrics are always full of surprises and not for the faint of heart or those who prefer traditional content. Watch for John’s debut at the me&thee as one of our Fresh Voices in May 2008.

Why the name The Hereafter? Do more people recognize your music as John Elliott music or The Hereafter music? Is there any difference?

It was not easy coming up with a name for the project. Andy, who was playing percussion with me at the time, eventually started going through the dictionary every night and would mention words that seemed to fit the music. He just sort of stopped when he got to “Hereafter” and it felt very right. Coincidentally, when I was 16 I saw a play in Chicago called “The Hereafter” that I loved and was a big part of what inspired me to write initially. At one point pages from the phone book snowed from the sky and covered the stage 4 feet deep and the actors were wading through it for the rest of the performance. I thought that was amazing. It’s definitely a singer/songwriter project in that I write the songs and configure the recordings with different musicians so I don’t know if there’s really a difference. There’s a two disc album that will be out early next year that will be under the name John Elliott that’s mostly acoustic and has a bunch of Austin musicians on it. It feels more like singer/songwriter acoustic music so it seems to make sense to call it a John Elliott album. Then there’s another Hereafter album that’s 70% done that will have Bryan playing bass and Mike playing drums and and a bunch of field recordings and sound effects and strange stuff. I guess maybe that’s the difference? Time will tell, I suppose. A manager friend of mine told me not to worry about it so I don’t even though it seems to confuse people and my dad thinks it’s bad marketing.

Your MySpace page describes your music as “post-seinfeld, post-9/11 eyebrow rock.” Can you expand upon that?

That’s my friend Ryan’s quote and I really love it because it means something and nothing at the same time. I mean, it IS Post-Seinfeld and Post-9/11 chronologically so that makes sense. And I like “eyebrow rock” because it sounds like the ridiculous stuff music critics come up with to describe music, which to me is impossible to do. Music should be listened to. So I think it’s both funny and right on and way off at the same time, which feels right.

What’s it like traveling from unknown town to unknown town and going to venue after venue—-not knowing who’ll be there and what kind of reception you’ll get?

I love it. The last couple nights in Minnesota have been crazy because I haven’t been home to play in a long time and I’ve seen so many people I haven’t seen in years — family and friends and friends of family and friends who have come out to listen. It’s been really great. So it’ll be interesting now to go to Boise, Idaho (for instance) where I don’t know anyone. It’s a great challenge to walk into a room of strangers and play your heart out for them. It’s about getting to that one person for me. If I feel I make a connection with at least one person in the room I see the show as a success. In my estimation, there has yet to be a show where that hasn’t happened. And usually (hopefully) it’s more than one. But getting to go from place to place and meet so many different, amazing people is really beautiful. It’s wonderful to drop into these communities and share something with them and be a part of what they’ve got going on and then go on to the next one. I am eternally grateful that I get to do this for a living — it’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was 8 and I feel very fortunate every day I get to do it.

I really enjoy the tone and textures of “The Hereafter” and “Before We Fall” — there’s a nice variety of songs that carry throughout these CDs — ranging from ballads to pop to ambient to straight-on rock and roll. Never dull, that’s for sure. Do you enjoy writing any particular genre of songs any more than others? Are some easier than others?

Most songs start on the acoustic guitar or piano so I guess the folk, acoustic type stuff is easiest. Then it’s a matter of production — what the songs seem to be asking for or what seems to make sense for them. A lot of it is collaboration with other musicians. There’s an amazing cello player (DeeMo) on the next album and we just sat down at his place with the laptop and I went through the album and it was like “yeah, cello could be great for this” and we’d try something. Then, “no not this one, but what about this one?” And it goes like that. I like going crazy in the tracking phase and then cutting back and editing during the mixing phase and I think I’m getting better at it with each album. It’s tricky because you don’t want to clutter things, but you want to keep them interesting. My friend Jim says to “serve the song” and he’s right, but sometimes it’s hard to know how to do that. Some songs it’s easy and others it’s not. Some songs seem to call for Tom Brokaw speaking at Gerald Ford’s funeral and some seem like they should just be a guitar and voice.

It’s quite clever that you include both guitar and piano treatments of “Before We Fall” on your latest CD. It’s amazing how different each of those songs comes across. If you’re not paying close enough attention, you might not even recognize that the words are the same. Which version came first?

The piano one came first. That was the first song recorded for the album, I think. Then Bryan came to a solo show I did in LA and the next day he said there was a song I played on the piano that sounded like a full on rock song to him. I went through every song I played and he kept saying “not that one, not that one.” The last one I thought of was “Before We Fall” and I was pretty sure it wasn’t that one, but he said “yeah, that’s it!” So we tried it and he was right. I didn’t have anything like that recorded so it was cool to have it. And it felt right for them to bookend the album.

How important has it been to your career to have your songs included on the hit TV show, “Gray’s Anatomy?” Do fans actively seek out your music after hearing your music on those shows?

Definitely. It has been huge for exposure. I get myspace requests from people in Malaysia and Germany and Kenya — pretty much everywhere you can think of — saying they love the music and asking if I’ll be touring there anytime soon. That’s the power of television! They don’t know the budget, though — it’s going to be awhile before we get to Africa! Of course, I’m always interested in meeting venture capitalists who want to bring eyebrow rock to the good people of Japan. So yeah, I’m very grateful for the opportunities that show has created — it has been essential in bringing this music to a wider audience.