Holy smokes

Musical genres now are so diverse, it’s hard to keep up. Imagine the old good ol’ standards: pop, country, jazz, soul, R&B, opera, folk  black and white as the racial segregation in Django Unchained and so distinct. These categories are so clear, you could tick off their corresponding toggles in Napster or Limewire to yield a relatively specific result. Search: Country? Result: Dolly Parton.

As music and its specificities evolved, so did the corresponding spaces in between. The black and white of music turned to gray, with subgenres and permutations springing forth and grabbing their own share of the audio-syncratic musical pile. Something like tri-hop, neo-soul, or even country dubstep (hello I Knew You were Trouble and Taylor Swift) comes along and the offshoot finds itself an audience that is arms (and ears) wide open. Today’s music lover, after all, has become more eclectic, more experimental, and is always looking for the “next best thing!”

On category and genre alone, an OG in this department is Christian rock band Jars of Clay, who recently flew to Manila for an Easter Sunday concert organized by Church Simplified as part of its culminating activities during Holy Week. With a powerful mishmash of praise music and rock n’ roll, the guys from band know a thing or two about creating their own distinct sound. In fact, they’ve got over a dozen albums and three Grammy awards to back them up. No biggie!

Twenty years into the industry, the band-member talks about their time in Manila, collaboration, ScarJo, Kanye, and occupying those spaces in between.  

YOUNG STAR: Talk about your stay in Manila so far.

JARS OF CLAY: It’s been amazing! We’ve eaten so much mango. I think we’ve had enough actually. Ha ha! No, it’s been lovely. First and foremost, the hospitality of the people has been remarkable. And we were able to do a little bit of shopping. We bought the cartoon Pacquiao shirt. It looks like a Wii Pacquiao. And bags made from recycled material. And Matchbox cars!

Talk about your concert last Easter Sunday. What were the highlights?

The encore was the highlight. There are songs that friends and fans have connected with here that weren’t the same elsewhere. There were songs like Tea and Sympathy and Five Candles that were big here that we don’t get to play very often. It’s sweet to see thousands of people singing them back to us.

How does it feel to have your songs transcend cultural boundaries, for people halfway across the world to connect with them?

It was very humbling to know that our music has made it this far. Even just walking through the Stations of the Cross awhile ago, there was a quote that was from one of our songs. That was really emotional.

You guys are a Christian rock band. Christian and rock are two genres that don’t necessarily go together from the get-go.

I think that the sound of us is just “us.” Over the years, that’s what we’ve sort of learned to appreciate about it. It definitely has its limitations. But everybody in this band are accomplished musicians in their own right. And there’s been plenty of chances for people to pursue music in a different way. But there’s just a general sense that the combination of “us” is different from what we are able to go at and do on our own. It’s a very gratifying adventure to be on.

Was there a tipping point in your lives when you guys decided that you were going to build a career in Christian rock music?

Maybe because we’ve approached it so differently than a lot of other Christian bands. There’s a way to look at it where you’re doing rock and roll in order to connect with a certain kind of person. We’ve not really operated that way as a band. We’re all lovers of music and art. And because faith is a big part of our lives, it is what we end up singing about. It’s woven into the songs. We do write a lot about relationships that content-wise, isn’t really specific to the Christian community.

The name “Jars of Clay” was inspired by a Biblical reference. How’d you arrive at that Corinthians passage?

I had some notes around that verse (2 Corinthians 4:7) during high school. That’s a creative poetic image for mankind to notice this frail vessel that has something really important inside it.

You’ve been around for 20 years. And there’s so much new music coming out on the radio and Billboard. How does that affect you guys when you write your music?

It’s inspiring. We love pop music. It’s its own art. People are always like, anyone can write pop music. But that’s not the case. Pop music is really difficult to write. We’re inspired by what we hear. Every artist’s creation can be very challenging. It gives them permission to move further into their craft. That’s why we love listening to music as much as we love creating it. And seeing the collaborative nature that pop music is taking now is pretty great as opposed to the solitary, isolated nature of certain artists. It creates hopeful momentum in the art world.

Anyone you want to collaborate with?

Rihanna. Ha ha! Katy Perry. Scarlett Johansson. We’re just naming beautiful women. Adele! We love her. She’s got a classic, classic voice. We did some collaboration with Alison Krauss. That was really fun. Paul Simon is a guy who’d be really fun to collaborate with. Even a hip-hop artist — we wonder what it would be like to collaborate with Kanye just because we’re so different.

Of all the records, what’s been the most meaningful?

There’s so many. Good Monsters (their eighth album) is a personal favorite because of the shift it represented relationally and personally. The Long Fall for similar reasons, musically. Also, the four years between Good Monsters and The Long Fall were really eye-opening. Lots of growth and creativity in there.

You’ve produced over a dozen albums, won three Grammys. What else is there for you to accomplish?

We still haven’t won a Tony Award. We’re thinking about a music on the French Revolution. Working on it! Ha ha! No, we ask ourselves that every time we write a new album. We enter a room with nothing but our instruments and we leave with a song.