SplatterTribe.TV Music:Interviews Jason Hook II

TP: Clearly with lyrics you pick something from your lyric and it becomes the title of your song, but how do you come up with titles for an instrumental piece?

JH: That's a good question Tina, because they obviously don't have to fit, so on that one it was whatever sort of came to mind, when we listened to the music we were just sort of thinking, "What does this make you think of?", or "What does this remind you of?" or "How does this make you feel? Or "What could this be called?" I mean, there really was no set formula for coming up with titles, although with the song "Number Three", it was literally the third song we recorded together. So song one was called "Number One" and number three was "Number Three" and we didn't have a name for that and I was like, "You know what? I'm just going to call it 'Number Three'," and well fuck it, there ya go, "Number Three" it is. [I laugh] But to make it even more confusing, that song ended up being number two on the play list of the record. [laughs] [Jason starts making kissing sounds] I'm kissing my cat, I love him.

TP: Aww, your cat?

JH: My cat Mr. Farnsworth, he's a good boy. Yeah, so "Number Three" actually ended up being number two on the record and that's really confusing for people and I probably should've made it number three, but it's more fun this way.

TP: You've been writing and recording for your second CD, how close are you to finishing it?

JH: Very close. I'm really excited about it. It took fucking forever to finish it. I'm really picky about every little detail, every little performance. I mean, I try be thorough with making it up to my standards, so it takes a long time and I don't settle. I try to make sure that everything...everything happens for a reason. I don't like anything that just seems to be a dead section. If it's a dead section, if it doesn't transmit any sort of energy or emotion or something, I just cut it out. So we're pretty much done. There's a cover song that we might take off, so I have to replace it with something, so there are some more delays, but I think for the most part it's done and I'm really excited about it and it's much darker and much heavier. Alice Cooper just recorded a spoken intro for me, so I'm jazzed about having him on there. It's not as silly or humor based as Safety Dunce.

TP: Well, a few years have passed and you've grown as an artist, matured music-wise and you probably wanted to put out a more serious guitar instrumental I'd imagine?

JH: Yeah, for sure, for sure. I can't wait to get this one out there.

TP: When do you think it will be released?

JH: Well the touring thing is hard, I end up having to wait until I get back and now that I am, I plan on working on the album again. It's hard to focus on it on tour and I just want to do it when I'm not distracted. It's hard to get done when you're touring. Early 2009?

TP: Are you going to make another video to go with it?

JH: There'll be something.

TP: Are you releasing them together, or separate? On the last one you re-released it with a DVD.

JH: Not sure. I have a bunch of bonus feature ideas that I think could be included. It's expensive Tina, you know, to make a double disk like that. It's expensive. For example, everyone's putting out these digipacks now, which is essentially a cardboard front and back with a tray [disk] and to manufacture a digipack maybe costs seventy five cents, but to do what I did, it was like three dollars and something to do it, so to make a thousand Safety Dunce's cost me three thousand five hundred dollars and some shit. Just to do a CD at seventy-five cents would be a lot more economical because you could make a thousand for seven hundred and fifty dollars. So I don't know if I'm going to package it like I did before, but I was proud of it and I wanted to do it right so I spent the money. Whaddya gonna do?

TP: When you write music for a guitar instrumental, how is that process different than writing music with lyrics?

JH: Doing what I do I find it really hard, it's a challenge because you have to try and hold the listener's attention with no vocal, so you lean heavy on performance and um, it's hard to explain. The music has to be evolving constantly, because you're not listening to any vocal chords and there's no chorus and there are no lyrics, so things can get boring real fast and I'm not the type of guy who just wants to play melodic lead guitar and call it an instrumental because I think that just sucks. So I lean heavy on the exciting little moments like explosive intros and start stop moments, long builds, drum solos, little samples that perk up...anything that's interesting and makes the thing flow. It's hard to explain how I do it but when you hear the second record you'll get a good idea. I went heavy on the narration on the second record, not my narration, but I did a whole song called "American Justice" and it's got George Bush speaking through the whole song. I paid a hundred dollars to get four DVD's of archived Bush speeches and I put together the whole song with him speaking, but he's saying shit that's all rearranged and makes him sound like an idiot. I'll send you the song so you'll have an idea.

TP: Okay, I'd like that.

JH: It's completely fucked. I put it all together so he sounds like he's completely out of his mind. To me that's interesting. I did another song called "Serial Kill Her" and I took tapes of interviews of real serial killers and I cut it all together and I put it against the sound track, one of my tracks. And basically this guy's talking about how sex and violence were fused together and they can't explain why they do what they do and it's really dark and really nasty, but it's unique and extremely creative, if I must say so myself.

TP: Well that sounds like quite a departure from your last CD, that's for sure.

JH: Yeah, it's freaky, I mean I'm really proud of it, I don't think anyone's done that kind of thing, I'm capitalizing on it, it's kind of my thing now.

TP: Do you ever write lyrics?

JH: Yeah. I don't really enjoy it. Most of the songwriting I've done has been for other artists, so there are real defined guidelines as to what the lyrical content should be.

TP: For example?

JH: When you're writing songs for other artists it's not as free form and as colorful as I might do on my own.

TP: Do you ever write your own lyrics, just for yourself?

JH: Yeah, but it's not a skill that I'm well developed in, so it's hard to just be free with it because I find myself always censoring this and that, it's pretty difficult, I mean it's fine to write poetry or what you call lyrics, it's all fine to get it out on paper, that's step one. But try to squash it into a piece of music and into a recording and make it all fit and make it be decent, that's very difficult and of course it's doable, but to try and make it sound professional is tricky. It's hard for someone like me who has spent so much time developing one area of my craft, to be so behind in the other area. It's hard for me to try and match the two, or to be satisfied with both, ya know?

TP: Have you ever considered singing on your own record?

JH: I have tons of songs that I've written and have played and sang on my own.

TP: Really?

JH: Oh yeah.

TP: Do you think you have a good voice?

JH: It's okay. I mean, there might be some room for that later.

TP: I was going to ask you that next, are you still considering recording an album with other artists at some point?

JH: Um, I don't know.

TP: Initially that was your thing, right? You wanted to record with some artist friends and put out an album. I wondered if now that you've put out the instrumental CD, would you still be interested in doing that or are you kind of veering away from that now?

JH: I think I'm going to veer away from it because...I originally thought that would be a great idea and that may be something I want to do but it would be hard to find. You know when you listen to a new band and it's almost like whether you like them or not is contingent on whether you like the singer's voice or not?

TP: Very true.

JH: The track could be great, but if you just don't dig the singer, it's discarded. I think I would be foolish to think that I could get ten vocalists on a record where it's going to appeal to everyone. I think what's going to happen if you do something like that, there's probably going to be a couple of stand out tracks, "That's a really great track, but I don't like the rest of the record" or, "I really like this song from this guy and I really like the song from that guy, but I don't like the rest of the record." And when I thought about it, I thought, "You know what, that's the way that would turn out". I can't bring every song up to a ten because not every vocalist and every lyricist and every song writer is going to be able to deliver. Some of it's just chance and I know there's going to be some weakness there and I'd rather get into something that's more controllable. Find a great singer and do one whole record together, ya know?

TP: Well you've always been highly regarded as one of rocks most prolific guitarists and a consummate professional, which is why you're so sought after as a hired gun for other artists, but I wondered if you've ever given any thought to starting your own band at some point, as you said, with one singer?

JH: [laughs] It's funny, it's so flattering to hear you say that.

TP: Really? You don't agree? I think you're an amazing guitarist.

JH: Well thank you, but you know, I think of myself as, I don't know, it's really weird. I don't think of myself as good, or when somebody shows me something and I can't play it I think, "I fucking suck!" Or when I have to learn a song and I can't learn it as quickly as somebody else, I think...honestly? I think that I have a nice style, but I don't think I'm really that good. I know guys that can play fucking circles around me, but I guess that's the same with everything.

TP: Well there's always going to be people who do things better, but that's always the case, that doesn't mean that you're not great.

JH: I suppose. I think that's why I like to make my own music because no one can take it away from me. That's me being 100 percent me, I don't have to fit any format or guideline or any criteria and once it's recorded and put out there, no one can say, "I don't know, how good is that guy?" or, "What is he into?" or, "What does he sound like?" I mean, it's documented forever and I love the idea of that. But ah, what was the question? [we laugh]

TP: Do you ever think you would want to start your own band and do your own thing?

JH: Yeah sure. That's probably something I'm more interested in these days is finding a team, finding a creative team of everyone who's on an equal playing field and all want to achieve a common goal. This playing for millionaires is confusing because you've got a couple of guys who are just making enough to pay their bills and then you've got one multi-millionaire, or one celebrity. Yeah, I would definitely see that in my near future if I don't start something on my own from scratch I would probably try and team up with something that is brand new that is just breaking open you know? As long as I believed in it, that's all that matters. Just having something that you're excited about gets you up in the morning man. It's a different feeling and I don't think a lot of people have had that feeling.

TP: No, I'd agree with that. I think you're right. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?

JH: Well I mean there are ridiculous fantasies.

TP: Well you can collaborate with anyone, fantasies included.

JH: I would love to do something with Dave Grohl or Eddie Van Halen.

TP: The Foo Fighters, I love Dave.

JH: Yeah, I would say Dave Grohl for sure and Eddie Van Halen. I met Eddie Van Halen once at a meet and greet thing. He had his sunglasses on. It was really just stand beside him and they click the photo and then you're moved on. And I don't listen to a lot of Van Halen these days, but when I was a teenager, that was like fucking everything. And even to sit and watch him play at close range or jam with him or record with him I think would be awesome. If I had something and could just say, "Eddie, I've got something, could you just play it?" If I had access to him like that, where he would be hanging at a party and I'd be like, "Dude, record on this!" and he'd be like, "Fuck dude, yes!" I mean, that would be awesome. Even though he's in rough shape these days, he's still a pioneer and he's one of a kind. And Dave Grohl is one of my heroes, too, because he does what he does because it comes easily and it comes naturally and he's doing it not to get laid, not to be on red carpets, he's doing it because he feels something. He's in pursuit of a feeling and he doesn't get freaked out about making records. He just records what he feels like doing, whether it flies or not. And sometimes you just have to do what comes naturally. That's enough and people pick up on it, people feel the same way because it came from an honest source.

TP: So if you could pick any artists of your choosing, who would be in your "dream" band?

JH: Well, I would have Jeremy on drums, I would have Dave Grohl on rhythm guitar and lead vocal and on bass, hmm, I'm thinking of who...I would put Eddie Van Halen on bass. [we laugh]

TP: What's been your craziest tour experience?

JH: Well you know, weird things happen on the road. Everything is amplified, pun not intended. People just step a little outside the box as far as what they're prepared to do or what they want to do. It's like a once in a lifetime opportunity to go crazy, and you're meeting these people that are having these feelings every night and so the bar gets raised pretty high as far as the kind of things you'll see and do and experience and...I'll just leave it at that. [laughs]

TP: Most crazy fan experience you can share?

JH: The truth is, I meet people that are not my fans all the time. They may become a fan of me, but it's usually just fans of Alice Cooper or Vince Neil or whoever. You're kind of a rare exception, where it seems you've taken an interest in me outside of Alice Cooper, which feels really nice. I like that a lot, because obviously I can talk about things with you outside of Alice Cooper which is nice. But for the most part I'm meeting Alice Cooper fans so I don't really consider any of them "my" fans, I don't consider myself to have fans, I have people who write me and say they love Safety Dunce and stuff like that, and that's nice, but I don't really meet any of those people so much on the road. From time to time you do, but you know, I'm meeting Alice Cooper fans, so it's hard for me to say what the craziest fan experience is, because all they want to do is ask me about Alice Cooper and it takes up a lot of time, and you can't be rude and you can't be impatient because you don't want to ruin their experience, but they're trying to penetrate, they're trying to get to Alice Cooper, so I end up having to hang around with people who want to talk about Alice Cooper and I really don't feel like I've had a fan experience or a crazy fan experience.

TP: Really. So even when you were out with Vince Neil, there were no fans of you, personally, it was all about Vince?

JH: Mmm, well there were girls that decided that they liked me and would go from town to town occasionally, but when you're in a band, it's different.

TP: Well, you're in a band and that band has fans.

JH: Which band?

TP: Whether it was with Vince Neil or now with Alice or even with the Bulletboys.

JH: The way I look at it is how many people in the band can play the show and then walk down the street and go to a bar and not be harassed? I mean, Alice Cooper cannot, I can. I've literally played in an arena with Alice and then an hour after the show I go across the street and have a hamburger in a restaurant and nobody knows or cares. And that's fine, I'm not saying this, but there may even be people from the concert in there eating and they're like, [whispers] "I think that's the guitar player." [I'm laughing] So the Alice Cooper Tour has nothing to do with me or has anything to do about me. It's like being part of Blue Man Group.

TP: Most surreal moment?

JH: Most surreal moment? That's a good question Tina because there have been a few and only a few. I remember playing for the President.

TP: Which President?

JH: Bush.

TP: In what capacity?

JH: I want to say, but I can't remember for sure, but I wanna say the Ford Theatre where Lincoln was shot, in Washington, and it was his Inauguration. And I was there with a former band and they were big Bush supporters and they were invited to play for the President. He was in the front row, so I played for the President. And I remember playing, the largest crowd I ever played to was at the Houston...I wanna say the Astrodome, and it was the Houston Rodeo Week. We were the finale of the week, the last band to play, and there were 72,000 people there. I've played arenas and it's pretty thrilling and stuff, but you don't understand what it means to be surrounded 360 degrees on a rotating stage by that many people.

TP: That must be an incredible feeling.

JH: Yeah, and it's this big event in Houston anyway, like that annual event is usually a huge deal for Texans and it draws a lot of people, and so every night of the week-long event they have a different performer, like they might have Kenny Chesney one night and the Dixie Chicks another night, you know what I mean? They'd have a different performer every night and we were the last performer on the final night and they broke some attendance records. And you've gotta understand, Hilary (Duff, who's band Jason was playing for at the time) is from Houston and at the time she was so popular and it was sold out. Anyway, this tractor pulled this huge stage out in like the middle of this dirt field, it was an indoor stadium, but it was all dirt and the band was brought out on golf carts. It was 72,000 people with flashes going off and that was a sensation, where it was like, "This will probably never happen again." It was just so big, it was like playing half time at the Super Bowl. It was huge, crazy. I have it all on video, I made somebody tape it because I remember thinking, "This is so big, it's nuts!" That was pretty thrilling. I just wish it had been with something rock'n'roll, in a rock and roll...actually, Alice Cooper was invited to play the half time at the Super Bowl, but it didn't pan out, but that would've also been pretty cool.

TP: That would've been, no doubt. Favorite guitar to play and why?

The "Ugly Duckling" (back view)

JH: Honestly? Because I have assembled quite a collection already.

TP: How many guitars do you own?

JH: Well it's all relative because there are people that have hundreds of guitars, but I think the last time I counted, maybe forty-five or fifty, something like that.

TP: That's still quite a collection Jason.

JH: It is, but the truth is most of them were given to me, so I'm not trying to come off like I bought all of them and a lot of them just sit in storage, so it's more of a monthly bill to have them all sitting there, but every once in a while you have to go do something and you go, "Well you know what? I should bring my so and so guitar for this," They're tools, I look at them as tools. And there's a guitar I call the "Ugly Duckling".

TP: Oh is this the one that you hand made?

JH: Yeah.

TP: Is that your favorite guitar?

JH: Yeah, I think so.

TP: That's the one you recorded with, right?

JH: That was used on most of Safety Dunce, yeah. I'm lookin at it right now, it's ugly. [I'm laughing]

The "Ugly Duckling" (front view)

TP: I was on your website and read the story, with pictures included, of how Achim Schloffel from ARS Guitars built you a custom Flying V and the entire process was surprisingly interesting to me. I couldn't believe the work that went into it! How did you meet Achim and what did you think of the Flying V when it was done, have you played it yet?

JH: This is a good question Tina. His name is Achim, he's German and he simply contacted me through the Internet and said, "Hey, I just read up on you somewhere else. I'm a small custom guitar maker out of Germany and I'm looking to find someyounger players to endorse, or to play something of mine, would you be interested?

I would build you something, whatever you wanted, wood, hardware, it doesn't matter, it would be custom, free of charge of course. All I would ask is that you say I built it for you and you play it." Just standard stuff, and I was like, "Yeah, that sounds awesome!" And he goes, "Maybe we could talk over the phone or correspond via email what you're looking for, what you could use." And I said, "Well you know what? I'm coming to Cologne in a few weeks to do a television thing with Alice, can you get to Cologne?" And he was like, "Yeah that's easy for me, blah blah blah." So I actually met him two weeks after he contacted me, in Germany. So we spent some time talking about different woods and all that stuff and we decided on a V and we decided on all the specs and I left and he started collecting all the woods and all the stuff and like you said, the cool thing about that is he had the ability to put up a web diary.

TP: Well I'd never seen a guitar built from scratch. I've seen pictures of a guitar being built of course, but never from start to finish on the same one.

JH: I know, it was cool as hell! So every morning I'd wake up and turn the Internet on and be like, "Ohhh, new pictures, new pictures!!" It was really trippy to watch it come to life, you know?

TP: Have you played it yet?

JH: Well it's kind of a long story because what happened was, I don't know what happened, but he sent it to me and I kept going to my locker to see if it had showed up and I kept saying, "It's not here yet, are you sure you sent it to the right place?" Well, it bounced somewhere and went back to Germany.

TP: So are you telling me you still don't have the guitar? You've been back to Germany recently, were you able to meet with him again?

JH: Oh yeah, I had told him, "Just hang onto it and I'll get it from you when I get there." And so on the 26th of last month, Achim came to our show in Munich and I spent the day with him running around doing things, like we went to a museum and he actually did some work on the "Ugly Duckling" for me. [laughs] But by the time we were done with our day, I had to get ready to perform, so it was too late to have the guitar prepped for that live show, because Kyler wanted to restring it and get it ready.

TP: Did you play it at all while you were there?

JH: Oh yeah, definitely, I started using it at the next show in Berlin and it's an awesome guitar. I'm really impressed with the woodwork on it.

TP: Well that's pretty cool, I'm glad I asked you that now.

JH: [laughs] Yeah.

TP: Is there a guitar that you want but don't have yet, a dream guitar on your wish list?

JH: I think it would be, let's see, definitely would be a 1978 Paul Stanley signature Ibanez Iceman.

TP: And why that one?

JH: Well they're rare, very expensive and highly collectible. You see, that really wasn't a very in-vogue thing back then, is to have a signature guitar, we're talking 1977.

TP: It's a lot more common now of course.

JH: Yeah, every swingin' dick has a fricken signature guitar now, but back then it wasn't common at all to have a signature guitar, so that was one of the first ones available. I'm not going to say he was the originator of that whole thing, but I know that 1977 was the Love Gun Tour and Paul Stanley had always played Gibson Flying V's and it was the first signature guitar that I was aware of. And it was this funky looking…I think they made them for two or three years, from 1977 to 1979 maybe. And I've had the opportunity to buy them from time to time, but they're very expensive and I have three Ibanez Iceman's, one of them is 1978, it's on my website, too, actually. So that's one of them, the other one I would've liked to have had is the original Eddie Van Halen Ernie Ball guitar.

TP: Why?

JH: Well that was again, just interesting to play, it's one of the only ways you can feel what one of your favorite players likes in an instrument, because he spent months and months and months refining this guitar for his liking and then they stamp out a million of them and release them to the public. So that's the only way you could go down to the store and pick up something that suits him. And I've played them, they're funky! Tiny little guitars, fat neck, everything about them is just a little bit weird, but maybe that's why Eddie Van Halen is an individual you know? Because he has a vision for things that no one else has. They were extremely expensive and they were back ordered like a fucking year in advance.

TP: Really.

JH: Oh you couldn't get anywhere near them! The list price was like thirty two hundred dollars or some bullshit and then you had to get on a waiting list and they were sold out months in advance. They couldn't make them fast enough. So that would be something that I wish I'd had, one of those. I think you could probably find just about anything on Ebay, but you'll pay through the nose. And the last thing I need is to have three grand wrapped up in a guitar, there are other things, like I'm a ProTools junkie, I'd rather buy gear to record with.

TP: Do you have any advice or tips for aspiring guitarists?

JH: Of course I want to say something funny like, "Quit now while you're ahead." [laughs] But I would say, practice to a click and practice your rhythm, because I think so many people are in a hurry to show off their fireworks that they skip the fundamentals, you know?

TP: Right. The meat of it.

JH: The meat of it. And the best guitar players are the ones who have an ear for melody and certainly have a developed sense of rhythm.

TP: Is producing something you think you'd like to do more of, not just on your own records, but working with other artists and producing them as well?

JH: Yes and no. I think I like the idea of working with bands or artists, but they have to be able to trust me and I'm extremely picky, and I'll probably drive them fuckin nuts! They would probably hate me and I'm not good with being hated. So I just sort of avoid the whole thing and I'm the kind of guy, if I'm going to produce something I would have to give it my full attention. It wouldn't matter how long it took, I would have to make it the best that I could make it, because when you're at zero, it's the only thing you can do, you're not going to get paid, you're not going to get fucking gold records, all you can do is what you can control and that's the quality of it. So I would probably burn them out, burn myself out, it would be difficult for me.

TP: What's been your biggest challenge to date?

JH: [laughs] Staying focused, I dunno. Biggest challenge to date, [pauses] probably, I guess I would say sobriety.

TP: So you don't drink, you don't do drugs, you're straight?

JH: Well I got sober after the Vince Neil thing in 2004, and not that I want to necessarily share this with everyone, but I've been sort of off and on with it and nothing major's happened with it, I just find…well it's fun to go out and get wrecked, but I don't want any problems, I don't want to lose my wallet, I don't want to crash my car or any crap like that so I'm just trying to stay on the right track.

TP: I'm surprised at your answer, because I wasn't thinking in that direction.

JH: I know.

TP: I think it's cool that you're talking about it, because lots of people struggle with sobriety and I think it helps when people can see that the musicians they admire and look up to have to deal with these things too, they're not alone.

JH: Sometimes it's really easy, but that's the thing when you're in the business, is that you're environment is always changing and it's pretty simple to control your environment at home. I've got my routines, the gym, the grocery store, my girlfriend, the cat, my studio. I don't have to pick up the phone or see people that I don't like, I don't have to go to bars, and so you're in control. But as soon as you're out on the road there's just different people around you all the time. There's a mini bar at the end of your bed every night, there's a fricken hotel bar with fans waiting downstairs all the time, there are opening bands that are friends going across the street to have a beer, there's booze in the dressing room, there's fuckin lunatics all over the place, there's people you haven't seen forever coming to the show, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's just shifting all the time so it tests you, you know? It can be difficult. But I love my cat [Jason makes kissing sounds again] I'm kissing him, I put my mouth right up against his and kiss him so I get gums and everything.

TP: Aww, that's cute.

JH: Yeah, I love him.

TP: Where do you see yourself in 10 years, what things would you like to accomplish?

JH: It's really simple for me, I want to make records for a living.

TP: Are we talking about continuing with instrumental work or are we talking about, as you mentioned earlier, starting up your own band, your own group of people that you trust?

JH: All of it, all of it! I wanna make records for a living and it feels ridiculous to have people put me up on a pedestal because I stand next to a celebrity on stage.

TP: Do you find that people actually do that?

JH: Yeah, I mean, people treat me like I'm special, but to me it's not for the right reasons. I don't want to sound negative or bitter, but I want to be acknowledged for contributing music and I think everybody wants that really, but I think a lot of people give up on that and I don't care so much about money, I've been able to find money over and over again. I'm not a rich guy, but I've been able to make that part work, it's not a big deal. You could be in jail and have someone pass you money through the bars, but you're still in fucking jail. In ten years? The most important thing to me is to be happy and healthy, because as I get a little bit older, things start to hurt a little bit more, things start to ache a little bit more, all of a sudden your gray hairs are showing up, my fucking knees are aching, stuff like that and it scares me because you realize that it's not a myth, things do change and you do get older and you can't be jumping around like an idiot anymore. And then you read about people, like, anything can happen to anybody, crazy cancers and bullshit like that. I just want to' be happy and healthy and the rest will take care of itself.

TP: Those are great things to wish for, believe me, I totally understand what you're saying. When we're young, older people would always tell us, like my parents would tell me, "Money isn't everything, if you have your health, that's what's important" and it sounded so corny back then, but as you said, we get older and things start cropping up and you realize how true that is, but at the time you're thinking, "Yeah, yeah, give me a million dollars any day."

JH: Yeah, so you understand what I'm saying.

TP: More than you know, and I agree with that, I think it's a great outlook to have. So what's in your iPod these days, what are you listening to?

JH: I'm working on so much music of my own, that I really haven't allowed myself to jam too much stuff, but I do have a new rule for the iPod.

TP: What's the new rule?

JH: Well this year I cleaned out the iTunes and the new rule is that I'm just loading up new music only. When people say to me, "Check out my band", or you pick up a box of CDs that somebody's dropped off from a radio station or label or distributor that Alice is dealing with or whatever and people say, "You can dig through this if you want," I'll look through it and grab three or four CDs and load 'em up and I'm checking out just new stuff. I used to keep all of my favorite records in my iTunes and old stuff, and I think it's important to stay on top of what's happening and be aware of what's happening, to stay current all the time and to check out new things and to hear new things, because every once in a while I've been surprised by checking out somebody's demo, or somebody's CD. And I'm thinking, "This is fucking amazing!! Who is this?? I can't believe that I would've thrown this in the garbage!" And I'm looking for inspiration, too, every once in a while, like the whole CD might stink, but you might go, "Dude check this song out". I like that. So my new rule is new music only.

TP: Cool. The old stuff is always going to be there anyway. So is there anything you'd like to add that I haven't asked you, or any words for all the Hook-aholics out there?

JH: Hook-aholics [laughs]. Well I do have a mailing list, so if people check out my MySpace or website, you can find it on there. I try and keep it up to date as much as possible.

TP: Okay cool. Well thanks again for taking so much time to chat with me today Jason.

JH: Yeah thanks Tina, you're welcome! Let me know how you make out with the interview.

TP: Will do, take care.

JH: You too, bye.

www.jasonhook.net

www.myspace.com/jasonhookmusic