JACCO GARDNER

THE DREAM KID

It’s all new to me
Your music has a 60’ies, psychedelic feeling to it. How come a young guy from the Netherlands plays this kind of music?

- I was a dreamer at a young age and the music from the 60’s fits quite well with that, Jacco says.

- Today, where you can find anything on the internet, it doesn’t matter anymore how old music is or how young the people that listen to it. It’s all new to me, he states.

Twilight music
We catch Jacco while he’s on a train from Hoorn to Amsterdam. The view from his window seems quite suitable to his somewhat mysterious and psychedelic musical landscape. There are meadows and fields with sheep and such, he tells us.

It’s even twilight, getting a little dark. But the sky is nice and orange. Almost like his music and a track like the enigmatic “The One Eyed King”. Which actually is one his own favourites. That and for instance the instrumental “Cabinet of Curiousities” are songs from his album that he enjoys listening to himself.

What’s “The One Eyed King” about?

- It’s about being surrounded by friends who are depressed or sad. So you start wondering if your own emotions are that important or not, if others seem to have it much worse, he tells us.

Listen to "The One Eyed King" here.

The Zombies and Pink Floyd were good
He also enjoys – and would have liked to have written them himself – inspirational songs such as “Hung Up on a Dream” (The Zombies), “Love” (Old Man), and Pink Floyd’s “See Saw”.

In this respect, it’s natural that it’s mostly other musicians’ music that inspires him when writing new material – here among a few surprises and perhaps lesser known artists:

- I really like Curt Boettcher, Tom Rapp, Billy Nicholls, Duncan Browne, Brian Wilson (from The Beach Boys, ed.) and a lot more, Jacco Gardner tells us taking a tour through his musical favourites.

Right now, he’s on a tour himself along with his band. He’ll be touring until February. And then he’ll finally take some time off to work on new material. Going back to the US for Austin Psych Fest in May 2014, though, which he – no surprise – really is looking forward to.

I enjoy warm analogue sounds
What is your relation to “good” sound – being a part of a generation that grew up with mp3’s and wireless interpretations of electric signals?

- I really enjoy warm analogue sounds. Every sound on the album is processed by tape and alike. I mixed the album on some old 70’s hi-fi Phillips speakers called MFB’s, Jacco Gardner reveals.

He’s not worried about risks and possibilities connected with availability or drowning on the internet, streaming services, social medias, YouTube, having grown up with them as a natural condition.

Not afraid of YouTube or Spotify
- I don’t know any better than that it’s there so it’s hard for me to compare it to a time where it didn’t exist. I think it’s great that it’s so easy to discover new music nowadays using services like YouTube or Spotify, Jacco Gardner explains.

Jacco Gardner doesn’t seem to care much about trends and fashions either. He just likes the music he likes – although there is an obvious tendency:

Towards new horizons
- There are some cool things happening. But in general, I still mostly listen to music that takes me completely away to another place. And this is mostly older music, young Jacco Gardner concludes this twilight interview on his way to Amsterdam underneath an orange sky.

www.jaccogardner.com 

- Rune H. Jensen, rhj@dali.dk