Mary: Explain what it is you do for work?
Jesse: Well I consider myself an artist, and what I’m creating changes over time as I get inspired to follow ideas that move me and try to keep it fresh. I pursue ideas until I feel I have done or said what I need to and go for what is touching me next. I started out making screen printed concert posters and portraits ( in some ways similar to Andy Warhol but more psychedelic) after that I made hand painted prints based on my drawings, then I started in with Painting large scale portrait paintings on paper. I started making paintings on wood in about 2006, but didn’t start painting with bands full time until 2008. I’ve done about 1700 paintings with bands since then. I hold the piece of wood in a similar position to a guitar and make brush strokes to the beat of the drums, guitar, bass, vocal lines. The main reasons it looks different is perspective. I am above and behind the painting, and all other kinds of painting is done from facing the work. There’s a lot going on there, just watch the videos enough and you will see it, it’s harder to explain..
Mary: How many bands have you toured with? Who was the most recent?
Jesse: As far as touring I was with 2 different touring bands, Strangefeather in San Francisco for 2 years, and CJ Ramone for almost 5 years. I did 3 tours with Strange feather, and 5 with CJ. With CJ, I also got to do tours with The Damned and Shonen Knife from Japan. I did so many nights just showing up and painting with all the bands at clubs in San Francisco, In 2009-12, And Having 2 underground Rock Clubs in S.F and Brooklyn,(2012 and 2013) I estimate I’ve painted with over 2,500 bands. 18 in one day at an Italian Festival in 2015! I keep good records and have done 770 shows in all ( since 2005). The last full tour I did was a solo tour, my 3rd, all in Europe. Last July I went to Italy, Bosnia, Slovenia, Germany and Czech Republic. I live in France now so I have done a few weekends worth of shows to Italy, Slovenia this year.
Mary: What is your favorite piece of artwork that you have painted?
Jesse: That’s a real tough one. I’ve made at least 2,573 of them. I like one for a while then I do another one that replaces that one. There was a 52″ tall Howlin’ Wolf painting that I made out of a bunch of pieces of broken wood. There were a few large ones like that I made of Mick Ronson, Amy Winehouse last year and I’m looking forward to more like that this year. There are some shows where the performance and finished painting are real sharp and that’s a favorite experience for sure. I go all out at the shows so sometimes I come up short, get too tired or the paintings don’t quite come together, but it’s always fun, and pushing to the point or possibility of failure is the best way to reach your potential. I’ m very fortunate to still be improving.
Mary: Explain how music has influenced your career?
Jesse: Music is probably my first memory. Running around my dads garage dancing to ” Black Dog” by Led Zeppelin. It’s the guiding force behind my art. In my lifetime the most powerful ideas have been pushed by musicians. I feel it’s been on the wane for about 20 years, and the public is looking more to film, fashion and heavily produced artists of many types to fulfill the place that musicians used to occupy without challenge in our culture. It’s not to say that they aren’t still producing great work but it is not as recognized today. I’ve been very fortunate to count musicians older and wiser than me as friends for the last 20 years which has really informed my concept of what an artist is. There’s something about a musician as artist that is very zen. They take nothing with them but all their practice, performances and efforts only strengthen and deepen their character. Music is very in the moment but there is an intangible effect that sticks to their bones and gives to those who participate in it. In the end it makes you cool in a way that can’t be copied or bought. It’s the original definition of the word “cool”, used to define the everyday state of Miles Davis and other jazz musicians.
Mary: What was your favorite on stage experience?
Jesse: One of the last shows I did with CJ at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, a 4 hour show in Hamburg Germany ( next to the Star club where the Beatles learned their chops)with Lord Bishop where I broke some teeth, and a show with your dad and The Jabbers in Manchester in 2015 are real standouts. There have been so many great nights, 3/4 of my shows at least are the kind that the rush makes it hard to go to sleep after. The first really big show I did was in Milan in May 2015. It was the last show of my first solo tour. The first show of the tour was 60 people, and the shows just got bigger until that one. I think 1,200 people were there. I just showed up and talked the stagehands into making a separate stage for me in front and to the side of the stage. It was a Joe Strummer Tribute, all Clash songs, where all the money from the benefit went to Joe’s charity D.I.Y. Or dig it yourself, that buys shovels to hand dig wells in Africa. We made enough to dig 1,000 wells and bring water to 100,000 people. 18 bands, the biggest in Italy from the 1990s played. Each did a few songs so it lasted about 3 hours. Midway through I got the sense that I was sharper and faster than I’d ever been. We got it all on film and it’s to this day one of my best shows. It was at the same place where the biggest acts like Skrillex play in Milan, sponsored by MTV Italy, and I had the sense I was doing as good a performance as anyone who had been or would play there. I think the sense of pride I had was in matching anything That was happening in popular at the time. The things that make the best shows are always internal for me.
Mary: Does the change of energy on stage affect your style of painting?
Jesse: For sure. In a band situation anyone on stage can set it off. It could be a killer drum fill, a guitar solo, or one of many things the singer can do. I have gone off to any number of those things but a great guitar solo always gets me going. With a great band We are all sensitive to the energy we are creating and when I go off it can make the band take off too. Painting the way I do is really loose I’m trying to hold on to the image of the painting while exercising very little restraint. It’s an out of body experience at times and a lot of the time I’m making mistakes and covering them up. It’s all good as I can finish up any painting in 20 Minutes max after the show, and at a distance the painting looks good enough. The more layers the more depth and character the painting will have. When I started out, the paintings took longer with less layers and I stayed still a lot more. The hardest part was letting go of control and trusting my instincts to make quality work while going wild. Never be afraid to fail live, the things I do just after a mistake are often the most memorable, and difficult parts of the performance. Interestingly enough I learned this from watching videos of Jerry Garcia who worked the same way on stage.
Mary: What happens on stage when you get into a song?
Jesse: It’s pretty hard to explain. It’s kinda like an out of body experience. I feel a strong presence at the top of my back. It’s like pure white light flowing through me and in a way I’m watching myself go. Also I can almost see the music and the shapes made by the air and sound around me. Kinda like blurry action photos, the energy left behind movements. I used to close my eyes at big concerts and see colors and shapes years ago. Derek Trucks made some of the most sublime colors and shapes. When I’m locked in and following a particular musician playing it’s like we have a channel going between us. You see a side of their spirit that is very pure and personal. I cherish the moments like that I’ve had with your dad and Al especially. Sometime it’s a look into the soul of someone too intense to communicate with and you just flow with it. There have been a few of those that I won’t name. I’ve had that experience a lot when I was training with my laptop and 500 watt PA up all the way. I used to run hours and hours of Stooges, Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Jabbers, Link Wray, Velvet Underground , Patti Smith, etc, painting in a small room with all windows overlooking the subway station in S.F. When the people came out at rush hour I would paint at real high volume for them to watch. The feeling of getting inside of the music, heads of Iggy, Dee Dee, and Guitar Wolf especially are real barely holding on experiences to paint to.
Mary: What does music mean to you?
Jesse: Music means everything to me. It’s the cry of life from the soul of humanity, and at its best encompasses the entirety of the human experience. It is artistic honesty at its highest level. The geniuses of music come completely out of left field and there is NO WAY of predicting from who and where the next great voice will come from. More than other genres it’s greatest voices often come from the wrong side of the tracks and a huge number of its greats are poor kids, the disabled, societal misfits and stubborn individualists. I’ve always felt at home with musicians many consider extreme. Music is probably our greatest achievement as humans.