Just off tour with Springsteen and the E Street Band, and on the heels of his father’s passing, Jake Clemons could be on a much-deserved break. Instead, he’s launched a brief, busy tour to support his solo EP, Embracing Light. Clemons and his band will hit 13 cities before resuming the High Hopes tour.
I think Pete rightly pegged the album as one that “owes less to Springsteen and his classic rock brethren than it does certain rock-reared descendants like the Counting Crows or the Wallflowers.” That said, the Springsteen influence and energy comes across loud and clear on the stage.
While Clemons jokes about his attention deficit, always moving from one idea or instrument to the next, it’s clear that he’s a man who pays careful attention – to people and to his craft. I learned this first during a sound-check at Chicago’s Schubas Tavern March 28, when he and the band tweaked up until they had to make way for the (excellent) openers Bassel & the Supernaturals, and again in an interview before the show, where when I finished hurling questions at him, he had a few of his own. But Clemons’ attention and study of Springsteen’s strengths became obvious during his performance, less in music than in actions: From the stage banter to the preacher’s cadence, the rhythm of personal stories with which he introduced songs to the repetition of phrases, his movements on stage to his departure into the audience.
Following a solo acoustic “You’re a Friend of Mine,” dedicated to his uncle and father, the band even gathered around him for “Carry Me Through,” each member singing a verse, reminiscent of “If I Should Fall Behind.” The music, however, is all his own, and he brings his personal brand of charisma to the stage as well. If you’re in Denver, Norfolk, Va., or Atlanta, you can still check out his show this month. It’s well worth it.
One week into the tour, here’s what Clemons had to say.
Embracing Light is, as the title suggests, a really positive record, and it also sounds a bit defiant. Tell me a about the process of writing it and what it’s about?
I started putting a record together, writing songs and stuff, in 2011, I guess. The idea of that record took different shapes, and it wasn’t really until I got together with Bruce a lot more and talked about his process, and what things he thought were important for an album that it was meaningful – the idea of a theme – knowing that it had always been part of his stuff. I didn’t really hold onto the importance of it innately. It kind of changed the direction of what I wanted to do. The theme became a very important thing. A lot of the songs that had been set aside for the record were then pushed aside again. We recorded like 15 songs for Embracing Light and the five that we put on there were the ones that seemed to tell the story – I guess the complete story. We wanted to do an EP first. Embracing Light is basically about hope right now. Immediate hope. Hope for today. Hope for tonight. About keeping your head on moving forward and not looking back. Being very aware that hope right now is going to move you into the next moment.
Is there a story behind that message of hope?
I had basically done a studio demo a few years ago called It’s On, and we released that. But that was just a collection of songs, it was a declaration. I was deciding I wanted to make some changes in my life and start a music career as a guitar player and singer for the first time. It was from a personal perspective, but not necessarily a message for other people; just a message to myself. So the record I was compiling after that was the same kind of thing. It was an internal message; not me speaking to other people or trying to convey something greater, but a collection of songs that I thought would be powerful and that were written out of a period of my life where I needed a new direction.
When do you write? Do you set aside time to do that or work whenever the ideas start flowing?
I write a lot. Always. Thanks to modern technology I can pick up my phone and sing something in there really quickly. A few days ago I was on a plane and I just started jotting down some lyrics, digitally, on my iPad, and then I got the melody in my head and whispered it into the phone trying not to let on, so the person next to me couldn’t hear me, kind of shy. And it turned into a song by the time I landed.
Do the songs come to you as a whole, or do you begin with music and then write lyrics?
I can generally hear the direction as soon as I write it. I generally get the full scope, and then when I bring it to the band, they have their own interpretations, and then I try to guide them back to where my vision is from thee. But it’s cool because it allows my vision to be consistent but also not exempt of their color and accents and their own voices.
You’ve experienced a lot of loss recently. First your Uncle Clarence passed away in 2011. Then, I was very sorry to hear about your dad’s passing a few weeks ago. Through it all, you’ve continued touring. Does the music help you heal?
Without question. It’s a part of the way that I process in general. It’s been really hard and strange. When I lost Clarence, I didn’t come out of my bedroom for two weeks. It was catastrophic. And out of that, I got a phone call from Glen Hansard and Eddie Vedder, asking if I wanted to do a show with them in Philadelphia. It got me out of my bedroom, and it was the first time I’d picked up my saxophone since Clarence had passed. But getting out on that stage with them and playing my horn again – it was so healing. It was huge for me. It made me feel connected to Clarence. That loss I was experiencing in my bedroom, I wasn’t feeling when I was playing. This time around – it’s weird just to say that – it was really quick. I lost my dad just a few weeks ago. It’s a huge outlet for me spiritually to work through those things.
When you first joined the E Street Band, there was a lot of attention and pressure thrust upon you. Was joining a difficult decision to make?
It was a weird thing. Clarence and I had talked about it for years. Or Clarence talked about it for years, I should say. I wasn’t really interested in that conversation ever. For me, he was infinite. Whenever he brought it up, I thought it was ridiculous. After he did pass away, it was earth-shattering. I wasn’t really even fond of having the conversation initially. I didn’t know how the band should proceed. That was something that was extremely fragile, but it basically came down to the healing that I was experiencing personally was something that I couldn’t be selfish with, something that needed to be shared with everybody who experienced the loss of him. There were millions of people who loved him, and to be the conduit of that healing became a really big blessing for me, and I believe, a blessing for a lot of other people. It was a difficult thing without question. Especially because before that I was concentrating on my own musical career. Clarence was always very supportive of my songwriting, those efforts. I actually covered a Ryan Adams song that deals with it for me personally. A song he does called “Two.” [Laughing] I believe he wrote it under very different circumstances, but for me it became a thing of realizing that it takes two people now when it used to take one. I have this need to carry Clarence’s voice along and carry my own voice with it. It’s just been beautiful.
A lot of Springsteen fans may only know you as a saxophone player, but you really focus on guitar and voice in your solo career.
I have ADHD, so I tend to just tend to run around and try to figure it out. My first inspiration to play music was the saxophone. My father, being a Marine Corp band director, insisted I play piano first. That became a really significant foundation for me. I did that for a few years, picked up saxophone after that. A few years later I ventured out into the guitar, and then that became a really primary voice. Saxophone has always been there for me, but over the last several years, guitar’s been my primary handle, if you will. They all serve a different purpose for me. They all speak with a different voice and communicate something different. I enjoy them all.
Has touring with the E Street Band changed how you view those instruments and your relationship with them?
Yeah, absolutely, without question. Man, you know, I don’t think I understood in the full capacity – I may have thought I did – but I didn’t understand the full capacity of those notes on the saxophone and what they meant, and what they still mean, what the weight of those are. Those orchestrated notes often have spoken just as clearly as the lyrical value of the songs. Clarence’s sax lines, those signature solos, I mean, they’re part of the story, a huge part of the story, and I’ve heard from so many people, in some cases, how that conveyed a message that was in some ways even bigger than the lyrics. That’s something that I didn’t fully understand before. So, yeah, I mean, like, now it’s taken on a whole different thing for me. Beyond that, just that connection I feel, the closeness of having Clarence with me is something that I hunger for. Obviously it was never that way before. There was my saxophone and there was Clarence’s saxophone.
What was it like for you to play “Jungleland” for the first time after Clarence died?
Yeah…That was one of the most fully emotive experiences of my entire life. We had been on tour for what, six months at that point? And we hadn’t played that song. It was a big question mark in the air for a lot of people, I know… I don’t know. It was a moment of celebration in some senses. In some ways, even like Clarence’s survival. And at the same time, it was a feeling of my deepest woe. Up to that point, in my mind, it was that Clarence is missing and I’m filling in. At the time we played that song it was kind of like interment, ya know. It was kind of like he’s not coming back. The depth of my woe in that sense. And then, again, just the joy of knowing how full my connection with him could be. Just the fullness – I’m sorry, I’m running out of words to describe it – but just the fullness of having his spirit with me.
I recently read about Springsteen requesting that the ladder truck he donated to the Asbury Park department be named for your uncle. What did you think of that?
Yeah, the Big Man! I did not know that was coming. I think it’s amazing! I’m overjoyed. It’s incredible. Hopefully it doesn’t get used too much and can just be classy around town.
You’ve gone between traveling with an army of musicians and staff, and playing for tens of thousands of people, to traveling with just a handful of band members and playing clubs. What’s that been like for you?
It’s incredible. I feel like I’m living a true musician’s dream. I would imagine the majority of people who play the stage I’m playing tonight dream of one day being able to play a stadium. And on the other end, I imagine that most people that are playing stadiums tonight are reminiscing about the days when they could just play a club. So it’s freaking beautiful. It’s something I’m really aware of and grateful for. Just for me, a concert, a performance, isn’t exactly a performance, it’s a communal experience. So on the one end it’s a reason to play a stadium and feel a connection with every seat and every standing space. It’s so powerful and energizing. But then to be able to come back to this setting and be so intimate – the conversation is that much more detailed.
Is it tough to transition from one to the other? Do you feel like you’re taking on different personas?
I would say it’s not hard to go back and forth. Is it a different persona? Maybe. Maybe it is, I haven’t really thought about that. It is a hugely different role. In that sense I would say, yeah, it probably is a different persona. When I’m on stage with the E Street Band, my perception is giant – this understanding of what the E Street Band means, of what Clarence always meant to me. It’s this giant force of nature, and you’re just jumping into that. In this setting, there’s so much more going on, it’s not so simple in my mind. Now, saying that, clearly that E Street stage is not easy. I don’t want anyone to confuse simple with easy. On E Street it’s a very singular focus. On this, it’s a singular focus but with a lot more… spokes? I’m thinking about the next song, I’m thinking about if everyone is playing the right parts, what my voice sounds like, am I playing the right chords, even. So much more to navigate, along with that – what’s the conversation we’re having right now? In that sense, it’s probably a little more feeble. Slightly uncertain. This is so new for me, relatively.
Have you taken any cues on live performance from your time on the road with Springsteen?
Absolutely. I take notes on everything. Whenever I see something that is great or not great, I take notes and try to understand how to do that or how to not do that. So, yeah, I have to say I’ve been in rock ‘n’ roll university with the dean for the last couple of years. There’s no greater live show than that. There’s a lot that I focus on now. How he’s weaving the set list and how he’s communicating to the crowd. It’s just such a spiritual experience that people sometimes confuse with a rock show. And I think that’s great. There’s a lot of great rock bands out there that are playing rock shows and doing something different. Everything E Street does is what I love. That’s what I love about live performance, what music does.
You’ve visited some far-away and exotic places lately. What are you most looking forward to this year on the E Street tour?
I was in New Zealand a few weeks ago, which was incredible for me. Australia the week before that. South Africa a few weeks before that. It’s been amazing. I don’t know, I guess I’m looking forward to more growth.
Will you be playing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction?
We’ll see what’s happening with that. Believe it or not, I don’t get the first scoop on everything. The cool thing is that because I don’t get the first notice on everything, it allows me to focus on where I am in the moment. It’s a very exciting thing for the E Street Band to be recognized in that way.