Intervista Jared James Nichols

Hi Jared, how are you?

Good man! Tired as hell but good

As Hellfest is a mainly Metal festival the music you play is a bit different from what you usually hear around here, what were you expecting from this morning’s gig?

To be honest, I was expecting a high-energy show.
It’s cool because, I don’t want to say we bridge the gap with Metal, but we definitely hit it a bit more, right?
We play aggressively and I think the Metal community really dig into that, some good old-fashioned shit.

Yeah, I saw a very enthusiastic reaction this morning.

Which is funny ‘cause it was 10.30 A.M., on the second day!

And I’ve never even seen the first band in the morning being asked for “one more song!” by the crowd!

I was a little nervous about that, ‘cause they started saying “one more song” and I looked around and they were like “you have ONE more minute” and I said “fuck it, we’re gonna play”.

So, it wasn’t a planned encore?

No, not at all!
I just went up ‘cause I said, I’m not gonna waste a whole minute, so we went up and jammed a little bit.
It ain’t a situation you want to take full advantage of.

Yeah, I remember last year a band [Municipal Waste] was trying to play more and was cut short.

Whoa, that’s the thing too, I didn’t want to try and play more because I didn’t want…Hellfest to hate us [laughs]

Listening to your music some of your influences are quite clear, but I’d like to hear it from you, what bands and musicians inspired you?

Yeah, I grow up listening a lot of Blues, right?
So for years I didn’t even play Rock N’ Roll, I just played Blues, so I love guys like Albert King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and then, when I moved to L.A. I started going to something a little more aggressive just because, basically, I was living on the main streets and I got into Rock guys like Zakk Wylde, Eric Clapton, Leslie West…these guys got a ton of influence.
Then Erik [Sandin] and Dennis [Holm], they bring a lot of Hard Rock stuff to the table that I would never bring to the table so it is refreshing because I can play something and then bounce it off these guys.

So, in terms of songwriting, is it a team effort?

Unfortunately not really, I’m kind of…I’m kind of a jerk [laughs].
What happens a lot is, I bring an idea to this guys, I play a riff and within 30 seconds they come out with something.
The music we play is all about the interpretation, so the way he plays the drums is gonna be completely different than anyone else and the way that he feels a song is very unique.

In the last few years you played with many amazing bands, Zakk Wylde, ZZ Top and many more, how did you get the chance to do it?

Honestly, I think I won the lottery [laughs].
It was the perfect combination of hard work and young guys trying to be a Rock band, and I think that a lot of people see that, see that we’re actually trying, that we’re out there in a van touring, busting our ass trying to do it.
And I think it really helps too on a guitar level, I hope and I think a lot of these guys see how many hours and how much time I put into learning and it reminds them of what they had to do to get where they are and I think that really helps us out.
Guys like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Zakk Wylde, you know, they have been so cool.

What is your favourite memory from these experiences with these other bands?

Childhood…I think I can speak for everyone here about how the childhood circle…is complete.
‘cause when I was a child, I remember listening to “Sweet Home Alabama” when I was like 5 years old and then, flash forward, there I am and they are looking at me on stage playing.
And I’m just like, “Is this even real? Is this real life?”, or watching guys like Zakk and becoming friends with him, it’s a crazy experience I never thought it would really happen.

Is there any band in particular you’d like to play with in the future?

You know, I really want to play with Britney Spears…nah, just kidding [laughs].
I would love to play with so many bands, Blackberry Smoke, Gov’t Mule, Rival Sons, Black Keys, the thing is that once you start looking you feel there’s more and more, even bands that aren’t exactly what we do or what we’re trying to do it would be cool to collaborate and do something with them, you know?

I saw you play fingerpicking instead of with a pick, it’s a kind of a particular choice…

Yeah, and you know what? I used to play with a pick, I used to follow the rule, when I was like 19 I was trying to figure out how to make my own sound, trying to do something a bit different that connected with me more as a player and when I stopped playing with a pick I started to really dig in.
And I got really excited about playing, because I think, like anything, when you get something new you get excited about it, when you try something new it inspires you in different ways: when I started doing that it really took off and I got pretty obsessed with that.
It’s funny playing so heavy with my hand because a lot of people don’t think I would be able to play in 10 years, they think I’m gonna wear my hand out, but I don’t think that’s the case.

Talking about equipment I saw you use an Epiphone, without the neck pickup…?

Yeah, I only use the bridge pickups, because of the way I play and the way I use the volume and tone knobs and the way it reacts with the boosters and fuzz pedals, I’m able to use that with my fingers to get different tones.
I really like P90s because they are so personal, they are really thick and chunky, and I also think that sometimes when you limit yourself you start to get…more creative.
Honestly I don’t even think about it anymore, I could sit down with any guitar player and I wouldn’t say to myself “Oh, I play different” or “Hey, I do this different”.

I read you have a project with [Aerosmith’s guitarist] Joe Perry’s son, how did this came to be?

I met him through his dad!
We were rehearsing in a studio in Hollywood called Swing House where Aerosmith were making their last album; we were jamming one day and who walks into our room? Steven Tyler! And he digs what we were doing and says “Hey, we’re making a record in the back, you should come and hang out”.
Next thing I know, we’re hanging out rubbing elbows with the guys in Aerosmith; Joe’s son came along, Tony, he ended up moving into Los Angeles and we started working our music together and, honestly, he was a really good help because he brought a lot of things to the table, just like Erik and Dennis do.
You know, when you write a riff or write a song with someone you tend to think in a different way, so when we are together and jam it’s different than me trying to sit on my couch trying to write a riff.
So when I write a song together with Tony it’s super inspiring to hear a different input.

I’ve seen you’ve played mostly in the States with some gigs in Europe in the last couple of years, what are your touring plans for the future?

I’d like to play all over the world, I’d like to go everywhere to play!
I think that’s my life goal, playing all over the world, I think we would love doing more headlining tours as well because we’ve done so many support act tours, so we’re gonna try and finish our record, see where that goes and then release that and try and do a headlining tour.
But now it’s fun because playing Hellfest it makes us excited about festivals, we wanna do it all man! [laughs]

That was it, thank you very much for your time!

Our pleasure, cheers brother!

Davide Sciaky