personal/professional history (continued)

Once he was back in L.A., he and Tobi began working on putting a group together. With the addition of Barrie Maguire on bass and Peter Yanowitz on drums, "The Apples" began meeting regularly for rehersals. With the final addition of Rami Jaffee on keyboards several months later, the band renamed themselves to The Wallflowers. By this point Jakob had plenty of songs to work with, including what would become the band's eventual breakthrough hit: '6th Avenue Heartache.'

Live gigs were few and far between. The band didn't have the advance ticket money that club owners insisted on during the height of the "pay to play" era in Hollywood. And asking his parents for assistance was not an option for Jakob. "I wasn't making any money, but I didn't need any, because all you're doing is playing in your mother's garage and collecting egg-crates as soundproofing. I had the guys I'd started the band with and there was food in the house. I didn't want to get a job—no 18-year-old wants to get a job. But at the same time I'd just dropped out of college and it would have been rude to ask for any kind of assistance to be a slacker." (Telegraph 10.00). The fact that Jakob refused to use his family name to get the band gigs or audiences may have also limited the band's choices. Band member Rami Jaffee didn't even find out who Jakob's father was for several months after he'd joined the band.

Earlier in the year Andy Slater met the band at a party. He would eventually become the band's manager and a close friend to Jakob. Andy was not only impressed with the music, but by Jakob's independence and work ethic. "It was always obvious to me that Jake was someone who wasn't interested in making it on his family name," says Slater. "When I first met him, he was playing in this dingy, rented rehearsal studio with this crummy equipment." (L.A. Times 9.17.00) What was also clear to Andy was Jakob's motivation: "The novelty of celebrity is not something that he was gonna be swayed by, having grown up the way he grew up. There wasn't that diversionary aspect to it for him. I think his course is set and not affected by the success or failure of the records." (Entertainment Weekly 9.8.00)

For three years, the band wrote songs, rehearsed and played wherever they could. During this time the band recorded a demo that manager Andy Slater passed on to his contacts at Virgin records. Virgin executives Jeff Ayeroff and Jordan Harris were impressed and put their support behind the band. Shortly thereafter, The Wallflowers were signed to the Virgin label.

In the spring of 1992 they headed into the studio to start work on their debut record. It wasrecorded exactly the way the band wanted it: live in the studio with little or no overdubs and no special effects. Although this method is very unforgiving, the band felt more comfortable playing all together in one room like they were used to. Producer Paul Fox was one of the only producers willing to take on the challenge. Jakob remains proud of the album knowing that it was done the way the band had envisioned it with very little interference or compromises involving the label.

By May of 1992 the band was on the road promoting the upcoming release of the album. Jakob steadfastly refused to allow the record company or club owners to use his name for promtions. In fact his name didn't even appear on the album except for in the liner notes. However, there were many nights that the audiences were primarlily made up of people who came out just to see "Bob's son"- calling out requests for his music and waiting after the show to hand Jakob notes and drawings to pass on to his father.

By all accounts it could be said that a lot of Jakob's energy was spent on avoiding any kind of connection to his famous father. It might even be said that at the time, Jakob felt much more comfortable in the shadows than in the spotlight. To make matters worse his familial connections attracted far more requests for interviews than most unknown bands with a debut record ever got. Besides the obvious questions about family, it was too early in his career to have a story to tell. And he wasn't interested in revealing things that his father had spent years keeping silent about. "I never had any plans to do that. Firstly, it was a matter of dignity; and secondly, it's not the kind of attention you want. You want to be noticed for your abilities. You don't want to be noticed for who you just happen to be, and which you're not responsible for."(Telegraph)

However, avoiding the press is almost instinctive to Jakob: "When I had grown up," he said, "there was a lot about: `We're not a celebrity family, we're not available. People want to know those things, you walk away.' So when I started doing this myself, somehow I convinced myself that I could still maintain the anonymity. Only recently I've thought, Maybe that's why I look so detached, because I thought like actually I wasn't there." (NYTimes).This attitude coupled with his reserved nature lead to his being labelled by the press as "grumpy" or "difficult".

The band toured for most 1992 and into the Spring of 1993. Although sales were slow, the record was receiving critical praise. Trouble began brewing when the band returned home to find out that their two original supporters at Virgin had been let go in a reshuffling of the company. The band began getting the sense that not much interest for the group remained at Virgin. With sales of the record not going well, the label was also growing increasingly frustrated with Jakob's refusal to use the Dylan name in an effort to sell more records. "To the record company, an opportunity to push units is an opportunity, even if a lot of those opportunities just literally made my skin crawl." (Entertainment Weekly 9.8.00) Eventually, the band asked to be let out of their contract, a request that Virgin willingly granted.

Unexpectedly, things got even more difficult after they were released from their contract. Word began to spread through the music industry grapevine that the band had been dropped and that Jakob was "difficult". Although album sales reached the 40,000 mark, it was considered a commercial failure. Suddenly record company interest disappeared. As months passed with no progress in signing to a label, band members began to leave. It was a dark period in the young bands' history, but Jakob saw a glimmer of light through it all.

"This band was defeated for so long," Dylan says. "Everybody told me my songs were no good and the band was no good. We were playing two nights a week and nobody was coming to see us. But it was interesting because it finally got to the point where nobody had expectations of me. So even though we were beaten down, it was kind of refreshing—all I could do was go up. I revelled in that. Maybe it took a fall to get everybody to stop watching so that I could figure out how to do this job."

After nearly a year without a contract, the band signed with Interscope Records in the fall of 1994 and headed into the studio to record their follow-up release. By this time bass player Barrie Maguire had been replaced by Greg Richling— a school friend of Jakob's— and drummer Matt Chamberlin was taken on as studio drummer while a replacement for Peter Yanowitz was sought. Michael Ward and Mario Calire would join the band shortly after the recording was completed. This time around the band had the expertise of legendary musician and producer T-Bone Burnett in the role of producer. As musicians and producer fell into place, Jakob began to seriously consider how important this release could be for the future of the band and his career. "I felt that that album was my shot," he says. "I made [that] record when I was 26 years old, and I took it seriously. There are a lot of excuses you can give somebody when you're 21—if you're not great then, you're just not a prodigy. But when you're in your mid-20s you're not a kid anymore. Just think of all the people who were dead by the age of 27-think of Hendrix. I also thought of Bruce Springsteen-Born to Run, 26 years old. It was time to do it or not do it." (Unlimited)

Although the band had been performing new songs the entire time they were without a contract, he wasn't happy with most of the new material when it came time to record. The pressure he put on himself for this new record inspired a collection of brand new songs. By the time the recording was finished, over half of the songs on the album ended up being new material written in the studio. "I needed the threat," he says. "To write songs that matter, you have to turn yourself inside out, and it's really overwhelming. I hadn't done that yet. They're ready to make the album, and I'm like, 'Oh shit—I haven't written it yet.' In the last two weeks I wrote what I consider to be some of the strongest stuff." (Unlimited)

There would be some more more disappointments to deal with before the record was released, however. Before the album was finished, Jakob's long time friend and bandmate, Tobi Miller, quit the band, deciding to go in a different musical direction. In addition, veteran pedal steel player Leo LeBlanc, who had been joining the band in their live shows and who had contributed to the recording, died of cancer shortly after the album was finished. Leo's devout passion for music regardless of financial rewards had inspired Jakob and the other band members. Jakob recalls a realization he had while writing the last track on the album 'I wish I felt nothing': "I started to write it in the studio, and I was kind of on autopilot," he says. "It occurred to me later that the song seemed to be about Leo. I was learning lessons from him for the last couple years of his life. He was in his 60s, and there's obviously a lot you can learn from a guy who played so long with so many great people. He loved music. He was willing to play with us, people half his age, just because he liked the music we were making." (USA Today 2.23.97) The band dedicated the finished album to Leo LeBlanc.

In the Spring of 1996 the band's second album, "Bringing Down the Horse" was officially released. The exhaustive tour and promotion that followed kept them busy for nearly 2 solid years which often included six shows per week. The hard work paid off. Between 1996 and 1997, The Wallflowers were featured in numerous music and entertainment magazines including a Rolling Stone cover story, their singles were receiving abundant radio and video play, they appeared frequently on television, and earned several award nominations leading to two grammy awards. 'Bringing Down the Horse' eventually sold four million copies in the U.S., ultimately winding up as the third highest-selling album of 1997.

A rock n' roll dream had been achieved. The band had the Rolling Stone cover, the grammy, the gold and platinum records…and the exhaustion that went along with it. By the time the tour ended, fans were looking for a new recording. But the last thing Jakob felt like doing was writing another album. "I was sick of music," he says. "I was sick of talking about it, listening to it, doing it. I wasn't inspired. The one-dimensional life of the road didn't provide me with any material. I needed to get home so my imagination could start working."

He took about 5-months off to relax and enjoy life at home with his wife and children-and then he got back to work. He decided on a disciplined approach this time, keeping "business hours" at a rented house he set up as a home studio. Still wondering what it was he wanted to write about, he credits a song he wrote early on in the process as the one that opened the doors to the rest of the album's material. Entitled "I've Been Delivered" it was a song of rebirth. "I just wrote that song about not knowing what the hell I wanted to do," he says. "That's kind of what the song is about: a journey of trying to figure out what your point is and why you started doing this to begin with. Getting through the song somehow made things more clear." (Wall of Sound).

The other songs soon followed and in the Spring of 1999, the band assembled in the studio to record their third album. This time the band had the benefit of two producers at the helm, manager Andy Slater (who also produced a couple of the tracks on their debut album) and artist/producer Michael Penn. Jakob hoped to benefit from Penn's songwriting experience to help him fine tune the songs. Both Penn and Slater noticed a difference in the songs this time around—the lyrics were a little more direct and less layered in metaphor. Slater also noticed Jakob's willingness to allow his vocals to progress naturally—even if it meant that phrasing or inflections might lead to more comparisons to his father. "I did not want to deny whatever DNA was in there—in the songs or in his voice," Slater says, "If he sounded like somebody whose records we all worship, then so be it. I think, if you listen to the vocals on this record, you'll find him facing the mike, for who he is and where he comes from." (Details 10.00)

Jakob was conscious of the change in his writing and welcomed the encouragement from Slater and Penn. "I was just interested in exploring different ways of writing songs. Keeping things very dense wasn't interesting to me anymore. It's easier to dress your songs up in metaphors. It's harder to be direct and simple." (USA Today 10.9.00) . The simple and direct route also meant that he had to stop censoring himself. "I got exhausted from avoiding certain words or phrases on songs," he says. "And I got tired and bored with pretending that I hadn't been born until I was 20. On this record, I didn't care. It was liberating. How I grew up and whatever it is that makes me who I am are relevant to my songwriting, more relevant than I made it out to be before. Now it's a matter of keeping some things private while allowing some things to become clear." (USA Today 10.9.00)

And what he'd like to become clear is a sense of himself. He explains: When you're in the middle of writing a song, you can come up with this whole web of stuff only you know how to get through," he said. "That's very entertaining for me to do that. But two years later I have to sing the song, and I've forgotten how to get through the web, and it becomes frustrating. Like, how come I didn't know that the last verse is really the same as the second verse? If I have a point, maybe it should be simpler. Because if I no longer really understand what I'm talking about, I don't know how anybody else could." (NYTimes)

Being able to connect to some of his own musical heroes through their music was important to Jakob when he was growing up. He wanted to be sure that his audience could do the same with his own songs. "If you keep writing these records that appear impersonal, the people who are listening don't have any sense of you. They're just being entertained. For me, that's not enough. When I was a kid buying records, if I couldn't vest myself in these people and try to relate, I moved on to the next thing. But yeah, that's how I was raised, and how I've been till recently. That definitely is a constant struggle. I can't explain the insanity of me actually picking this as a job. That doesn't make any sense - to do this and then plan on being a private person." (Entertainment Weekly 9.8.00)

On October 10, 2000, 'Breach', The Wallflowers' third recording, was released. The band set out on the road to promote the album in late August. In addition to sold out venues and enthusiastic concert reviews, the band had the chance to open for such legendary acts as The Rolling Stones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. During the beginning of the tour there was an initial burst of visibility for the band, who appeared on popular US TV stations MTV and VH1 and who were the subject of numerous magazine and newspaper articles including another Rolling Stone cover story. The album received critical acclaim and the first single 'Sleepwalker' began seeing regular rotation on radio and music video channels. However, publicity began to sharply decline by the summer of 2001 and album sales followed closely behind. With that came the disappearance of 'Sleepwalker', and the second single 'Letters from the Wasteland' from the radio playlists. The current musical climate and what seemed to be a lack of support for the band from their label may have been contributing factors to the lack of publicity, despite the praise it was receiving from critics. However, the album still managed to reach gold status in the U.S in October of 2001.

Touring in support of Breach lasted through most of 2001 which included a mixture of opening and headline dates. Although the last tour had been an exhaustive and draining process for Jakob, it seemed like things were happening differently this time. By late summer of 2001 Jakob and other band members began to talk excitedly about new material—even reporting that recording was happening on the road. Soon pictures of recording equipment set up in loading docks, dressing rooms and even bathrooms began to appear on the band's official website. By the time the tour officially ended in the Fall of 2001, the band reported that work would begin on a new album almost immediately.

As fans and critics speculate on the new album's direction, it's clear that all previous albums have shown the growth in Jakob's songwriting. What also shows through is a consistency that demonstrates his truthfulness to the natural progression of his talents, rather than being influenced by the current trends in music. Steeped in metaphor or simple and direct, the lyrics on all three recordings are all deeply personal. Although this approach isn't rare, something that stands out in Jakob's writing is his ability to take a deeply personal and unique issue such as the burdon he faces with a famous father, and make it universal. As Jakob says "Very few people come from nowhere with no expectations on them." (LA Times) In keeping with that theme, he recently summed it up by saying: "Everybody has something to overcome. I want to be a great writer. Maybe the thing I have to overcome is this notion of myself, I just have to believe that there are people who don't care where I grew up or how I grew up or what my parents were like." (Rolling Stone 10.00)

In the end, Jakob realizes that who he is or where he comes from won't be the measure of his success in the music industry. "People aren't going to buy records for any reason other than the records are good. Regardless of what the situation is, it does come down to the material. And in that regard, I'm solely responsible for it being good or bad, and it doesn't really matter where you come from at that point." (Cincinnati Enquirer 12.10.00)

In November, 2002, The Wallflowers released their fourth album "Red Letter Days". The band toured extensively in 2002/2003 with some appearances following in 2004, including a historic concert aboard the U.S.S. Stennis, an aircraft carrier out at sea.

With a new drummer on board, the band is set to release Rebel, Sweetheart, their fifth offering, on May 24, 2005. Tours of the US and Europe will follow.

“I've always felt Jakob's had his own voice as a songwriter.You see things, people saying, `He's not his dad.' My reaction is, `You're not either, man. Who the hell are you to say that? You're holding him to a standard that you can't hold anybody up to.'" (Greg Richling, Rolling Stone 10.00)

People think I'm reserved, but I don't like to think out loud. A little bit of detachment is not so bad. When you find yourself out there doing well, suddenly a whole different job gets thrust on you that you didn't practice in your bedroom when you were younger." (Jakob Dylan, Vanity Fair 9.00)

"I think people make a huge mistake by denying tradition. Everything lasting around you is based on tradition, whether it’s architecture, pottery or whatever. The idea of inventing something original is pointless, and it’s often unattainable. Being original either happens or it doesn’t. That’s why groups who spend a lot of time when they are young playing cover songs (by other artists) are so powerful. You have to learn what you’re doing first, before you can invent something of your own." (Contax guide 12.28.00)

"The point is to be inspired. Early on, people asked me a lot about my inspirations, and I mentioned the Clash. But my point was never to imitate them; I was not a middle-class guy from England. The same could be said of (singer-banjo great) Ralph Stanley, (because) bluegrass doesn’t have relevance to my music. But it’s thrilling for me to hear (him), and part of what’s thrilling is that it (his music) is totally unattainable." (Contax guide 12.28.00)

Q. Well, your songs do have a haunting quality.
A. I'm trying to scare people out of rock 'n' roll so we'll be the last ones standing. I see some pretty terrified people at our shows. I guess the record is a little more dark than me. When you write music you write with a certain personality each time. It's up to everybody how honest and clear they want to be. And as far as the material being somber and dark, I don't think "Wooly Bully" is going to work for me. (Chicago Sun Times 11.10.96)

“Sometimes I joke about it: 'The blue eyes – that's what the girls want' Jakob's eyes are worth more than all my fun keyboards.” (Rami Jaffee, Rolling Stone 10.00)

I think people may want to start noting that it's not the eyes, it's just that my hair's really dark. I wish they'd talk about my ears more, to tell you the truth."
(Jakob Dylan, Star Tribune 11.24.00)