Thanks for your letter and your admiration for the amazing Rachel. Yes, I am a family member. I'm Jason's dad and Rachel's granddad.
You are lucky to have kids that you can have fun performing with. When Rachel joined the band, the whole thing was an attempt to get her involved in Jason's performing life. She had been attending shows since she was born. Jason and Tina never believed in babysitters taking care of her and so she grew up crawling on stages or under them. Her first "appearance with a major band" was when she was 2. Jason's closest friend in Seattle where they lived for 11 years was Chris Ballew of PUSA. When the group was performing at the largest auditorium in the city, Chris invited Rachel to come up on stage. She was a natural. All she did was rock to the music but the audience went wild for this 2 year old cherub.
When Jason discovered slideshows as a ticket to improve his career, he wanted Rachel, then 6, to feel part of the proceedings, so he stuck a harmonica in her hand and said "blow into it." She did more than that. She blew notes matching the songs into it. Fans were amazed and she was having the time of her life in the little clubs in Seattle. Six months later, Jason suggested that she try drums because she had such a sense of rhythm. Rachel jumped at the opportuntiy.
Jason deconstructed the songs so that she could pound out simple rhythms to go along with a basically 3:4 or 2:4 time -- even though the original songs were complex with rhythm and harmony shifts. The audience went crazy for her. She basicallly kept the beat as well as an adult could have and the fact that the music was reduced to its lowest common denominators was not an issue with the campy performances thay were giving.
After two years of high praise from the local press and acclaim from the fans, Jason wasn't earning enough to pay for Rachel's drum lessons let alone support himself with his music. Seattle is funny that way. They think that local artists should perform for nothing. When you are big time national, they will pay to see you!
Jason packed up the family, got a 4 show residency at Fez Under Time Cafe and headed to NYC. Rachel, then eight, was a trouper and also was the back-up singer by then. But the show was still kept simple to allow her to function in an adult role.
In the 14 months since the family hit NYC several amazing things happened. The press went over the top to give the band the highest praise and opened doors for increased performances at larger venues. Comedy Central, Conan and MTV have made them the darlings of the indie pop scene. Big secret: the writers and producers of all three of those major marketers of talent are in bed together. Get one/get all.
The most important factor was that Rachel grew from a kid who played drums to a musician whose skills increase with every performance. She improvises now. She can shift beats to make a complex song a rave. Her singing has gone from pleasant accompaniment to a recognizable voice who can harmonize and I wouldn't be surprised to hear her improvise soon. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised to hear her do scat!
It is amazing how Rachel has become an international celebrity and the band has become the biggest buzz of the year. Rachel is electric and people get excited when she walks in a room now. Her stage persona is child-cool. There is an innocence about her despite the fact that she might join a vulgar band on stage to play rhythm bells while they sing about Lou Reed's c---. She did just that last week. The Liquid Tape Deck opened for the TFSP.
More often, when she guests, she will take the stage with Schwervon or King Missile III and play rhythm on bass guitar with the accumen of an adult. She taught herself to play and within 90 days of first picking it up she was on stage. She even sat in with King Missile at the SXSW Festival last spring in Austin. It made the papers and the reviewers were astoundeed that a kid hardly larger than the guitar was that proficient and uber cool.
Jason, of course is the key. His ability to subvert his ego to his pint-sized wunderkind is remarkable. He writes amazing music that stands alone. His future probaly is in songwriting for other artists and purposes. The slideshow was his ticket to public recognition but his total portfolio of songs made him a "musician's musician" for the last 15 years. He is now being recognized for his ability to write music that is unique and listenable. His stage persona has grown into that of a showman. He is vaudeville in the tradition of legions of musician performers who filled the "Borsht Belt" in the Catskills for 100 years. He would now, in the tradition of that lost institution, be called a "tummler."
His ad lib comedy and interaction with the audience is as much a key to the show as his music. Rachel is now kjoining that segment of the show. What she says is always as unexpected to Jason as to the audience. This kid is funny in a serious way. She can get a crowd back that Jason has lost by taking too long to get to a punch line. A few months ago, they were hiored to perform for an MTV party for their staff. jason was having a ball interacting with the audience but the show was way over time. The last song was still waitin gin limbo. Rachel blurted out, "Dad, will you get to the last song. I have to go to the bathroom." The audience had an "Awwwwww" moment and jason obediently started ther last song.
That would ahve been a great astory if it had ended there. But there is more. After they left the stage, I asked Rachel if she needed someone to show her where the batheroom was, and she said, "I don't have to go to the bathroom. It was just the only way I could get daddy to shut up and end the show."
Thanks for your ear. Oh, I enjoy writing about my amazing family and now that I am retired for 3 weeks, and haven't yet found what I want to do next, it is my pleasure to share their antics -- especially with another musician to whom it might give encouragement. In the lower east side music scene in the late 80's there must have been 10,000 singers and bands struggling for recognition. Only four have gone on to national acclaim. Of those, two were from this area: Beck and Jason. Others perform still and some even make a living but none have made that stellar place where they are supported by the power.
As for me, I've been a practicing psychotherpist, published author, professional actor and very early on a conservatory trained pianist. Maybe now that i have time, I will go back to acting. There are a lot of good little theaters around here and that is the level to which I aspire now. I've had 20 of my 15 minutes of fame and just want to have fun after a lifetime of dealing with other people's problems.
Let me kniow when you are performing. If I'm not somewhere watching my kids' perform, I'd love to see your work.
Lollipops and unicorns,
Milt