JACK MANESS INTERVIEW
As part of the original Long Beach Sublime crew, Jack Maness has been in the thick of it from the very beginning... from Sublime to the Long Beach Dub Allstars to Dubcat to his new solo career - with the release of his debut album, Simple Man. Simple man maybe... but with such a long career in music he has plenty of stories to share and unfortunately The Pier only has limited time to obtain and pass on what we can. So enjoy...
The Pier: So tell us how did you get into music to begin with?
Jack Maness: Well my Grandfather was a player in the 40s and when I was kid I lived with my Grandparents. He was semi-retired and he would play guitar and music all of the time. It was a great experience living with my Grandparents and I’m grateful they enjoyed music and arts and shared it with me.
The Pier: What was the first instrument you learned to play?
Jack Maness: I had a guitar so I first learnt some chords C, G, F and would play boogie-woogie stuff. My Grandfather also had a big "Phantom of the Opera" style organ, it had the foxtrot and polka beats built right into it. I wasn’t allowed to touch that, but when they would leave that was the first thing I would do. My Dad, my Uncle, and my Aunt all sang. So it was always encouraged.
The Pier: So were they all your biggest early musical influences then?
Jack Maness: Oh for sure, my Grandpa was a professional musician. So there is different level of commitment. His name was also Jack Maness and he had his own radio program (Jack bursts into an old-time radio announce voice), “Johnny’s used car lot, here we got hot dogs and popcorn for all the kids. Come on down and for the next hour on the airwaves you are going to be listening to Jack Maness.” He would do a lot of old standards and a couple of originals.
The Pier: Who are your main inspirations as a solo performer today?
Jack Maness: I am inspired by song-writers that have something to say. I love Stevie Wonder for soul and his ability.
Brad Nowell is also another big influence as we were friends and classmates. We lived together, built a studio – still Sublime was a big carnival. We all knew there was something special there for sure. It was kind of like when you put a kid on a team of elite baseball players his level of playing has to rise and it does. In respect to Brad, he was able to help us bring out the best in whatever it was we were doing – Opie’s artwork, Eric’s bass playing, Marshall’s rhythms and writing, Bud’s drums,and me with singing. The list goes on and on. If I sang sour he would look at me ‘dude you are singing sour.’ Even if we would jam together on acoustics the theory was same,"be your best!"
The Pier: That is kind of interesting, because all the Sublime documentaries and stories you see on Brad and Sublime, they kind of portray him as a pretty easy going kind of guy. Not someone who has these high playing standards.
Jack Maness: YES definitely... very easy going, very kind, a true friend. The documentaries I’ve seen seem pretty vague as to who he was as a man. Outsiders can be a little bias, uninformed and in some cases self-serving. Unfortunately the stories I’ve seen focus more on his “death and struggles” and less on his "life and triumphs.”
The Pier: I personally just want to really hear more about where Sublime songs came from and the stories behind them, you know?
Jack Maness: Well a good example for that then is April 29, 1992. That song is pretty much verbatim to what unfolded. We were sitting at our house in Long Beach and we heard crazy stuff going on in L.A. Someone we knew pulled up in a truck with all these flannels and jeans. So we asked where did he get all those clothes from? He says, “LA Dude!!! It’s a zoo man, it's crazy there.” Well we wanna go, so a couple of friends jumped into Brad’s Volkswagen van and hit the streets. We were witnessing this mayhem go down first-hand and it was just nuts.
I was out the front of this liquor store watching this guy trying to climb out a broken window with these overstuffed bags. Right on the top was a bottle of gin and it was one of those things where it was balancing on the top and it was about to fall out and smash. So I grab it and ask, "can I have this?” Stunned he says, “yeah man enjoy it.“ There were people running all through the stores, carrying anything they could get there hands on and YES... there was some “furniture”… and YES there were “diapers” and YES... there was “national guard smoke all around” and YES... there were "structure fires" but NO... we didn’t start any!
The Pier: I was told to ask you about the recording of Rivers of Babylon?
Jack Maness: It was around 92 and I had heard it a couple times and thought it was a cool song, so I learned it as I really liked the harmony in it. I showed it to Brad and we jammed it a few times. Miguel just decided to hit record unbeknownst to us. We were just goofing around, there were even these hippy chicks there and as they walked in I just shouted out the call-letters for this hippy/heavy metal radio show that was around at the time “K-N-A-C.”
Eric Wilson played the marimbas on the first part, he had never played them on that song before and he is just such a good musician that he just did it. In the middle he grabbed the congas and started jamming. We finished the song and were just laughing having a good time when Miguel hit the playback and told us that IT was going on the record. We wanted to fix it up but he said, “no it is going on the record just like that.” That is one thing about Miquel I highly respect, he doesn’t have a fear to pull the trigger when it comes to recording. Some people make it into this big production when they are going to record. Miguel though is a genius, he has already got his levels in his head and just turns it on and captures the moment. The music or the feelings of the tune don’t go through many filters.
The Pier: Do you have any favorite memories or stories from being in the Long Beach Dub Allstars for seven years?
Jack Maness: Oh tons, we had a blast. That was a whole other time. You got to take into accountability the age and what torch we carrying back then. We didn’t want to be known as Sublime and you know we weren’t Sublime. We didn’t want to be like AC/DC where the singer dies and get in a guy that kinda looks like the old one and he screams like the other one... so you are rocking. We had love for Brad; we weren’t hired by the record company... we were friends.
Bud and Eric were faced with situation where they were part of a three person link and now one of those links was gone. So when that Enough Already Benefit came around and they had No Doubt, Pennywise and the Beatles... Bud and Eric were like, “well we just can’t stand there and watch everybody. Opie, Jack you guys jammed together and we know you do because you use our shit when we are not around. So let’s do it...” I really didn’t want to do it as it hurt too much, but we all banded together and went forward.
The Pier: Were you disappointed when the Dub Allstars ultimately broke up?
Jack Maness: No not at all. I was a member and part of the decision on that as well. I had enough and was over it. I like the guys and we are good friends, but we don’t really hang out on Sundays anymore. During the time the lifestyle differences caused conflicts. We had each halves going different ways and no one really wanting to meet in the middle, so we went separate directions.
The Pier: Obviously that resulted in the split into Shortbus and Dubcat. Is Dubcat still active at all?
Jack Maness: Dubcat is pretty much done. Dave Fuentes, the bass player for Dubcat and Hepcat passed away last year. When Dub Allstars finished I kept on writing and writing for Dubcat because I still wanted to work with the crew. It was great when we met up with Dave and Aaron Owens, we were busting out some sick stuff.
I continued writing, some of it fit that vein and some of it didn’t. I kind of felt for my own personal sake I had better keep writing. Originally I was splitting stuff up for Dubcat and for myself, but I felt it all belonged together cause they were all songs that had been written during the same period. Plus there is a little self-preservation for me to do a solo record and put my name on it.
The Pier: You worked with some pretty special guests (Slightly Stoopid & Carol Kaye) on that debut album. How did that all come about?
Jack Maness: Initially I had New Day as a song where between myself and the producer we kinda "Frankensteined" a bass line. I thought if I could get some Motown Carol Kaye type bass on it then it would be even cooler, even though Carol must be in her 70s now. My producer (Lew Richards) got a hold of her and sent her the track. She liked it and showed up. We got through that track and she asked, “what else have you got for me?” She would listen to the song, take some notes and then nail it. She would then do it a couple of different ways and then say, “well that’s done.” She is truly awesome, at 73 years old she has played on more number one hits then anyone during that time period.
Working with those Slightly Stoopid guys, well I have known them forever and I like the way the drummer (Ryan Moran) and bassist (Kyle MacDonald) work together and I think they have a cool vibe. I thought I would throw them a curve ball and see how they could handle it. I know they can play reggae, they play reggae all day long. I wanted to see how they would do with a different feel… the country. It works and even though it has a country sound its not like modern country. To me it’s more like let’s have some fun and jam these tunes out. Songs like Music is Gonna Save Me is something like my Grandpa would be jamming, that’s why I wrote that one.
The Pier: Are you working on any new material?
Jack Maness: Yeah I am. I got some new stuff in the works. The past couple of nights I have been in the studio with Opie. It’s cool to get the juices flowing and play a little keyboard and guitar and Opie has been on the drums. We have been recording it and working out some ideas. We will see what happens, maybe we will come out with a Jack and Opie record. You’ll have to keep visiting The Pier to find out more... and we’ll try to get ya an MP3 link soon.
The Pier: Oh sweet. Even though it was a while ago what was it like working with Half Pint on the track Unity?
Jack Maness: Yeah that was cool man. We were working in the same God Help Me Studios. Half Pint was staying at Jon Phillip’s (Sublime/Silverback manager) house and he was working on a track that he had written with Jon (Never Let Go). We were doing some late work on that track and he ended up staying over at my house. The next morning I showed him the song Unity I had written the music and chorus for. He marinated on it then wanted to work on it. Well the song sat unfinished for a while, but as his next album started taking shape we decided to finish the track and polish it up some.
Somehow it got in the hands of a radio person in Jamaica and with that boomerang theory it went around the island and everyone caught it. People started really digging and sparked additional interest Half Pint’s way. It’s not a typical Half Pint tune; it’s kind of acoustic over an up-tempo beat. The message is pretty universal though “we are all in UNITY together for what we possess inside...– UNITY.”
The Pier: You got to go to Jamaica recently to perform the song with him. What was that like?
Jack Maness: Yeah we went down there last July. I performed at the 2007 Sunfest and that was really cool. VIP the whole way. To get up there and play the song at the end of the festival, with Half Pint was an honor the festival runs from Wednesday thru Sunday and has all of the top entertainers.
The Pier: Do you ever plan to tour again and play shows outside of California?
Jack Maness: For sure. For me though I want to do it at a certain level and I have to have a bit of momentum behind me. I want good musicians to back me, so that is in the works right now. I also want to add more material to what I do; I don’t want to rely on a bunch of cover songs. I want to say what I want to have to say. Plus I am a full-time dad with a couple of daughters, so it’s got to work around that.
The Pier: Yeah, that ties into the last question I got here. What's it like for you to balance being a dad and making music?
Jack Maness: The balance is integration. Its part of my kid’s lives as it was for me. I think everyone should have opportunity to excel at art or music. If they are encouraged and they enjoy it then the possibilities are endless. Kids want to be the apple in their parent’s eye... they strive for that, but when they find their own love in it, what they do is they look at their parents and thank them. I feel it is super important, as it comes into play with all the other aspects of your life.
TO ALL OF THE READERS… Thanks for taking the time to read this, hope ya’ll enjoy the music and the message PEACE… MANESS
Thanks to Jack for taking the time to chat with us here at The Pier. That was an interesting read for sure. Make sure to check out: