Launch Interview: Summer '96

LAUNCH : You've had remarkable success with your debut album. Looking back
on the process, can you think of anything that led you to the place where
you are today?
JEWEL : It took a lot of touring. In the beginning, a lot of radio stations
said [my music] was unplayable, and video shows and TV stations said it was
unlistenable. Which was fine, because I never expected to sell a lot of
albums with this one; it was just supposed to be a time capsule of where I
was. I was just 19 and learning how to write songs and play guitar. And I
know that hard wood grows slowly, and if I wanted to have a long-term
career like Neil Young, it would just take touring. I grew up doing live
tours and playing in bars, so it was what I love to do. I was just glad to
not to be living in my car anymore, so I just toured. I would do 40 cities
every 30 days, four shows a day; I worked a lot. I had a really good time,
and got enough of a groundswell following just to keep playing. And my
label kept me out long enough that people just couldn't ignore me anymore.
Radio had to start playing the songs.

LAUNCH : Have you always wanted to be a singer, a songwriter?
JEWEL : When I was 18, I went through a pre-nature mid-life crisis. So many
of us are asked to compromise out pride and health in order to have these
roofs over our heads. And I didn't know how to face consciousness everyday
just passing time. I didn't feel like I had any purpose in my life. My
hands and my creativity were going to waste. But I never even thought I
could sing and make a living because that was a hobby. A lot of use just
aren't taught that something you love can make you money. It wasn't until I
got fired from my last job that I decided; That's it. I don't care. I'd
rather die and drop out of the world rather than wake up everyday and be so
unhappy. I never thought I'd get a recorded deal; I just wanted to eat and
do something I liked. It turned into this. And it's been a real blessing.

LAUNCH : I've never been to Alaska. What is it like there? Did you enjoy
growing up there?
JEWEL : I loved being raised there. There was a lot of silence and open
space. In some ways we're sculptured by our environments. Our flesh is
sculptured by what is around us, as well as our psyches; By silence. In
silence you hear who you are going to become. You create yourself in
silence. When you're surrounded by beauty and open space, it inspires you
and it makes you feel there is some sort of divine presence out there.
Unlabeled. Having that as a youth-going through hard times-it kept me sane.
As well as the discipline of being raised on a large homestead. That taught
me about doing what I am doing now.

LAUNCH : Did living on a homestead impact your life? The way you look at
things?
JEWEL : Probably only in a good way. I like people a lot, I wasn't raised
to mistrust them. I was raised to be awake-to not kid yourself about
people. I believe people are basically good; we all come from the same
place, we all have fear. We want to be loved. We all want passion in our
lives. It doesn't matter if you're rich or homeless, it's all the same.

LAUNCH : You mentioned going through hard times. Is your life better now
than it was before? Do you feel you've had tougher times than the average
person?
JEWEL : It's hard to compare lives because everybody's bottom is their own
bottom. Everybody experiences abuse in their own ways. It was a hard time,
but I never felt I was given something I didn't have the tools to get over.
Ultimately, my life forced me to figure out what I wanted to do. Which I
think happens when you don't recognize the signs early enough. You get hints:
"Hint, hint, hint, Jewel." Until I hit a wall. But that's nothing compared
to what people spend their whole lives doing.

LAUNCH : Coffee shops have really taken off as a big social thing in the
past few years, and it seems  the coffee shop looms large in your legend.
In fact, you recorded much, if not all, of Piece of you in the coffee shop
that became your home base, right?
JEWEL : It's the only place I really played. I was raised as a professional
singer: Since I was eight, my dad and I made a living doing barroom tours.
I lived in my car, a lot of business there wanted you to play for $25 and
food. But I couldn't afford that, this was my living, not just a hobby. So
I found this coffee shop that just opened, was looking for business. They
said I could keep the door money, and they would keep the coffee sales. And
so I stuck with them and we both struggled together to get more people to
come in.

LAUNCH : And were you discovered there? Is that how you got your record deal?
JEWEL : I just got a good word of mouth going. It was nerve a goal to make
demos for record labels. Word spread somehow to A&R in L.A. and then one
night someone from virgin came down, and this was before I knew the beauty
of expense accounts. I bought him a burrito; he told me I could make a
record. Then another label came and another label came. It happened like
that.

LAUNCH : You obviously are no stranger to live gigs. You must travel a lot.
Do you like being on that road?
JEWEL : I'm learning to like it. It's very discombobulating for me. I'm
definitely not a Willie Nelson who loves being on the road.  There's not
enough quiet; I can't be alone ever. I'm talking about myself all the time,
and that becomes absurd. But I am learning ways to keep myself quiet in my
head, and remind myself of beauty. To keep inspired. But my spirit isn't
really happy. I'd rather not be doing this, I don't care enough anymore. I
would rather be in Alaska. I am not doing this for fame or money. I am
doing it because it serves my spirit and it reminds people to live their
dreams. That's needed in the world now. I love it for that reason. I am
made for it. I can sing four shows a day and not ruin my voice, I am
learning how to be good at it.

LAUNCH : It must have been a real eye-opener for you to go out on tour.
You've played now with Neil Young and Bob Dylan. That must have been
amazing! Tell me about it.
JEWEL : It didn't start out that way! At first nobody would take me out on
the road, so I had to do my own coffee shop tour. The only band the label
could get to go out with me was another Atlantic band. They pawned me off
on a goth band, Peter Murphy. So I toured acoustically-for a goth band. It
was hilarious. I'm now sensitive to people who've had their fangs filed.
But they bought the album, so that's good. If anything, I got to appreciate
such diverse people. Going on between punk band in front of 20,000 people,
between the Ramones and Everclear. It taught me to be diverse and never to
judge people, and to know that my crowd is anyone with a heart and has
ears. It taught me to be very diverse. And it really paid off. Touring with
Bob Dylan is a huge dream. Neil is incredible.

LAUNCH : Who inspires you?
JEWEL : There's certain people who've never lost their creative integrity
of what they're doing. Neil is like that. It's very rare. The world has
become very immediate. It's hard to stay with one's creative drive. Neil
Young, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon. I found people like that very inspiring.

LAUNCH : What's the coolest thing to ever happen to you in your career?
JEWEL : The coolest thing ever? Singing with Bob Dylan. He invited me up on
stage. I was blown away. I got to share a mic with him. I sang "I Shall Be
Released." and just talking to him is hilarious, you know?

LAUNCH : Yodeling is another factor that looms large in your legend. What's
the story there? Are people always asking you to yodel for them?
JEWEL : I've been doing it since I was six and it's been really a very  big
deal to people. I enjoy doing it but when I become I slave to it, it's
frustrating and it shows. Like if I am doing a love song and someone yells,
"YODEL!!!" I find that annoying. But generally, I like to entertain a crowd
and give them what they want.

LAUNCH : Both of your parents are artists and performers in their own
right. You mentioned touring barroom with you dad as a child. Do you ever
feel pressured by your folks to live out their dreams? Is it hard for you
that you've become so successful and yet they haven't?
JEWEL : I think that happens often in people's lives^a^ma child living some
dream you put on them vicariously. Fathers do it to their sons. Mothers are
jealous of beautiful daughters. It's the same fans living out their dreams
though hero. As a kid, these women with Marlboros and voices straight from
the bowling alley would come up to me and say: " I could have been an opera
singer, but I married old Hank here and now I have to cook him hashed
browns. So you have to do it for us." And as a little girl, I was really
burdened by that because I realized how tragic people's lives were for not
following their dreams. You see that a lot in my parents' generation and my
grandfather's generation. Then it was a much more sacrificial time. My
generation gets to benefit for the first time figuring out, okay, we know
money isn't the answer. So what am I here to do? I feel blessed. My parents
aren't particularly like that. My mother was always very encouraging. My
dad, was like "Don't live in your car, go to school." My dad always wanted
to be a songwriter, he still does. I think he's proud. But they're human.
There are jealousies; it's all human.

LAUNCH : You just finished your second album. But you didn't do this one
live, did you? Why not?
JEWEL : The reason I did the first one live was that I didn't know how to
sing in a studio. I sing better in front of people. I get a better vocal
performance. Being a studio artist is a different beast, a different
animal. I've gotten more comfortable with it over the years; it's the same
with my guitar playing. I just want an album to show where I am creatively.
I've grown. My hands have gotten better at articulating how I would like
them to present me and my thoughts. So I feel like it's a more accurate
reading of what I am. I am better able to express myself both lyrically and
musically. It's a fun process instead of a scary one this time.

LAUNCH : I've heard you like to surf. Can you describe for me one of your
greatest surf memories?
JEWEL : I like very wave, they're all really exciting to me. There's always
your first wave^a^mI was kind of stupid actually, I didn't know enough to be
afraid. I went down with some guys after one of my shows. They looked like
surfers. We went down to Mexico. I'd never caught a wave before. It was a
pretty big day (wave?), five-foot overhead, rocky place, beautiful point. A
big wave came, I caught it, made it, got inside, and looked at how big the
waves were, got horrified, and I thought what am I doing? But it was a good
rush.

LAUNCH : How computer-literate are you?
JEWEL : I'm not computer literate, I never have been. I was reading Charles
Bukowski last night and he has a poem called "My First Computer Poem." And
how old was he when he wrote that? 60? I feel like that's how I'll be.
Maybe when I am 60^a^mI love the Internet because it takes out the middleman;
the record label, radio station, record store. It's the fans who allow me
to live my dreams, they buy my albums. I find that very humbling. It keeps
me growing even when I think the business is suffocating everything
beautiful and pure.
I have a large Internet fan club, and I was recording in Woodstock, NY.
Someone wrote in and asked: Would Jewel do this free concert for us if we
all went out to Woodstock? So I put on this free show and some 500 kids
migrated out from everywhere, camped out. It was so great, they made
T-shirts for themselves. All these kids who knew each other from the
Internet got to meet for the first time. It was really great.

LAUNCH : Do you have a favorite album, or an artist?
JEWEL : I think the Replacements' Let it be is one of the coolest records.
K.d.lang, Ella Fitzgerald-they're very cool.

LAUNCH :  It must be weird for you; so many people have bought your record
and probably think they know who Jewel is. How do you people perceive of you?
JEWEL : I don't know. I'm always portrayed in the media as a na?ve
22-year-old trying to impress adults. What can I say?


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