Jason Myles Goss Interview
An Interpretation of Dreamland
By Kristie Langone
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“Every Sunday when I was a kid, my dad and I would go flea-market shopping in his black Lincoln town car. He would smoke Garcia Vegas and play Bob Dylan records. As we drove, my dad would tell me how no one could use words or turn a phrase like Bob Dylan. He would point to his radio, we would drive and listen, and this became our Sunday ritual. Nowadays, when I hear Dylan’s voice, I still smell the leather seats of that car and my father’s cigar smoke.”
-Jason Myles Goss
Jason Myles Goss is the artist’s singer. He suffocates his canvas with his rasping breath and he paints his music with images that may follow you into the fog of your dreams — so it’s no surprise that his 3rd CD is titled, Dreamland. The live EP, recorded at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an album that could reignite long distance relationships, maim the drifter, fuel the engine of those devoted to a mission, and tell the rebel that he does, in fact, have a cause. With 5 fresh tracks and two live versions of fan-favorites (”Chester Copperpot” and “Irish Eyes”), the sound is a raw, here-and-now experience that shows off the talent of a multifaceted musician. In the background is a thick, smoky room occupied by a crowd of hypnotized characters who are swinging their glasses to a piano man (guitar in this case). Dreamland will turn your brain into a flip book and fan through the pages of your own life.
Goss moved from Boston to New York about a year ago, and in this album we feel the intensity of home sickness coupled with a forthright confidence of embarking on a journey into self-awareness where leaving others behind is inevitable; and, as Goss sings in one of the album’s most vocally charged songs, “Chester Copperpot,” one must “try to be brave” if he wants to survive and supersede the “shipwreck” of change. In a “Plea for Dreamland,” we are belted with intoxicating images, and thrust into Dreamland, a historical amusement park in New York’s, Coney Island (which turned into a nightmare, burning down in 1911 by a fire that was ironically started on Hellgate, a boat ride through the caverns of hell.) Goss paints a happening scene, full of dancing, alcohol, women, rides and games. Emotions hide in the circular slot of a ski-ball machine, fly into the sky on a “Ferris wheel swinging out to sea,” and drink from a bottle of blackberry brandy. In “Mother to the Moon,” there’s hope and defeat for a love that could pick up where it left off, or get lost, forever, in the constellations. January travels through a year, moving forward and reminiscing.
As an independent artist, Goss has been active and dedicated to his music as both a passion and career. He acts as his booking manager, producer, promoter — close your ears English majors — and accountant. He reasserts what our parents taught us growing up: Hard work pays off. Last year, I reviewed Goss’ second album, Another Ghost, for Dissolver Magazine. I titled it “Not Just ‘Another Ghost‘” because Goss and his spirit had something that separated him from the ocean of what I then described as your “average heart-breaking acoustic engineer.” Dreamland reaffirms that Goss isn’t wearing a life jacket in a sea of wannabe musicians, lassoing a great voice and chasing a life that rock-star-hopeful’s stuff into the bag of their to-do’s. He is swimming against the current of an age where every other person you meet is in a band — and he figured out a long time ago that moving underwater is faster than floating on the surface, waiting for something to move you.
We contacted Goss to catch up on his career and see what he’s diving into next.
Your new cd, Dreamland, was recorded live at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts. What made you want to get out of the studio and step in front of the crowd?
The idea for a live EP came about due to delays in getting back into the studio to record a third full-length album. I had been writing a lot of new material within a short period of time. I had songs that I was very excited about, and I had been incorporating them into my live sets. It had been a couple years since I had released anything new, so Dreamland is basically a stepping-stone between records. It came together almost as an afterthought; the recording is by no means polished, as you can hear crowd noise, the bartender clearing pint glasses, stage banter, etc. That is really how I like records to sound. The songs are not perfect but they feel warm. You can feel the room on the tracks and you can tell that everyone’s breathing the same air. Dreamland features Austin Nevins on guitar and Zack Hickman on upright bass, great friends of mine and amazing musicians.
One of your new songs, “A Plea for Dreamland” shares the album’s name. How did that connect for you, and why was “A Plea for” left out?
Dreamland captured a feeling that ran through most of the songs I was planning to use for the EP. There were a bunch of other songs we played that night but I tried to choose the best ones. I think this new batch of songs are more fantastical, the images are more vivid and they evoke a feeling of ‘somewhere else,’ and I thought Dreamland best summed that up. When I was writing, I wasn’t as concerned as much with how these songs related to me directly, and I was having more fun piecing everything together. Writing about Chester Copperpot from “The Goonies,” or a girl from Mississippi who gets caught up in her pursuit of Hollywood big time, or drinking blackberry brandy on the Coney Island Wonder Wheel. It was a very new thing for me writing songs that had more of a landscape to them. As for the Plea, well… I am still saving that for the new record. The Plea is still in the making.
It’s been said, scientifically, that those in creative fields sometimes dream more often, and in more detail than those who aren’t. Do you have vivid dreams?
I don’t think I dream at night more than most. I am not one of those people who keep a notebook by the bed, waking up to feverishly scrawl down the details of a dream. I do keep the internal antenna active during the day. I jot things down, words or phrases, anything that you come upon that sticks with you. I read a lot, and I draw a lot of inspiration from other writers. I think you can be working inwardly, taking things in, keeping an active eye and ear open, and letting them mull about in your head for a while — kind of like when you boil hot cider in the Fall: you have to let the flavors mix together over high heat — that’s the key — and then you begin to work outwardly and filter a lot of what you have been experiencing back out through yourself. The writer is like a piece of cheese cloth, with a keener fashion sense maybe.
Your songs evoke colorful images, ones that trigger us to visualize and relate. You mix real experiences with the imagined. For example, in “A Plea for Dreamland,” you’re in Coney Island and you see a “…ferris wheel swinging out to sea.” How significant of a role do your experiences play in your process?
I think my experiences play a big role in my writing. All kinds of things stay with you, you know, and it is always surprising to see how they will work their way back into your writing, at least for me. That line about the ferris wheel swinging out to sea is something that happened to me. I had never been big on carnival rides, and am a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to roller coasters, fast flipping rides that you put your digestive process in fast-track mode on, but I rode the Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. When you are at a certain point on the ride, high above the park, the park disappears from view and all you can see is the ocean — and it does feel like you are swinging out to sea on this magical vehicle. I think I was still scared…maybe next time I will stick to the bumper cars.
Some reoccurring themes in the album are “light,” “distance” “water” and “movement.” In “Mother to the Moon,” you sing the following: “I am waiting to see you again from across the sea. You were the Mother to the Moon but I am the light a million miles away.” What would Freud say? We might have to look those up in the Dream Dictionary.
Oh wow, I am not quite sure what Freud would say about that. 
“Mother To The Moon” is the only song on the EP that was recorded on a previous album, Another Ghost (2005). It was done during a live radio interview at WERS. I guess I am still talking about swinging out to sea here too. For me, that song is about the irony of how distance can be the very thing that brings people together. Two people, thousands of miles away, staring up at the same moon, or the same constellations in the sky. It can be a way to feel connected. When it’s night in one place and daytime in another, things like the moon and stars can feel like they are watching over us. Its like astrological pen pals or a more esoteric form of email.
In Fever Town, we are all about collaboration. Dreamland also features other musicians. Can you talk about their roles, and the overall experience of being part of a team, musically? How did “Handlebar Moustache” get his name? Don’t tell me it’s because he has a handlebar mustache!? Haha!
Dreamland features Austin Nevins and Zack Hickman, both great friends of mine, and I am so incredibly privileged to play with them. They are two of the best musicians I have ever seen. Their roles are huge and I have learned a lot from both of them. They will also be playing on the upcoming new record, which I am thrilled about. Zack and Austin’s contributions are just as important as the writing of the songs because they, too, are also writers of the song in their own way. As a writer, I provide the foundation but they really give it the rooms and windows, which they do well — it requires such a keen sense of intuition and musical knowledge. Those guys are on the road a lot, so whenever I have a chance to share the stage with them it is always a big highlight for me. And yes, Zack has a handlebar mustache that is a force of nature. It really lights up a room and he has also started making and selling his own Dr. Zachariah’s Mustache Wax and Gravity Suppressant made from his own mix of botanicals and other ingredients.
[singlepic=69,320,240,web20,left]When was the first time you performed in front of a live audience? Describe “the moment” – when it hit you?
When I first performed for an audience, I was real young. I used to have this soprano choir-voice, and I sang this song for my school concert called, “Through The Eyes of a Child.” Strangely, I still remember most of the song. I used to sing in chorus and was involved in the school plays and ensembles. I don’t know if I had a moment exactly, but I have always loved the way music made me feel when I heard it, and when I played it. I do remember the first time I went over my friends house and he had just bought an electric guitar, and showed me how to play “Wipe Out” — I know from their I was hooked.
What’s the most crucial lesson you’ve learned in life, and in the industry, since debuting your first record, Long Way Down, in 2002-03?
I am learning more and more each day. I am still at a level where I do things myself. I do all my own booking, promotion, bookkeeping, etc. It can get overwhelming at times because there is a always a long never-ending list of things that need to be done. But I have really tried hard to change my thinking in terms of doing this as a career. I think, right now, focusing on all the things you can control — and none that you can’t — is the best way to stay focused on your goals, which, for me, is becoming a better writer and performer. It is so easy to get lost thinking about what you should be doing. Things in the record industry seem very chaotic. It’s a crazy time where no one seems quite sure of the future, but it is also a great time as well, where independent artists like me can really get their music out there without having to rely so heavily on a label.
Things like Myspace.com, Itunes, Pandora.com are amazing ways to find new music and promote music, especially in light of how insipid and vacuous Top 40-radio has become. Music lovers are seeking new ways to reach the music. There are a ton of great bands and artists out there, hustling and doing what they need to in order to keep making music. One of my favorite songwriters, Josh Ritter, once said this in an interview, “…all you can do is keep doing what you love and hope that it loves you back.” I really like that. I also feel really blessed that, on whatever scale, I am able to travel from place to place and play my songs. I heard John Prine on NPR once and he said, “Everybody is hell bent on trying to climb to the top of the mountain, I just want to keep on going around the mountain.” As he often does, that’s putting it well in a nutshell.
“January” is one my favorite tracks on Dreamland. It’s the type of song that takes you somewhere.. You travel through the pages on the calendar like a flipbook. What month did you write it? What month were you born?
“January” actually began as a writing exercise for a songwriter series that my friend Ryan Fitzsimmons (great singer/songwriter) runs at AS220 in Providence, RI. Each month they give you a theme and everyone in the round has to write a song based on that theme. Our night was given the theme “big clocks.” I first tried writing a ballad for Flavor Flav but I didn’t get very far with that. So this idea came to me that since there are 12 numbers on a clock and twelve months in the year, what bigger clock can there be than that, right? It came pretty quick after that, usually it takes me a while to churn out a full song. There is a lot of loose imagery in there and I was really proud of it when I was done. I think it was October when the song was written. I was born at the end of July, it was actually my birthday recently.
[singlepic=68,520,440,web20,]You’re a talented musician but also a great writer. Did you ever write anything besides songs?
Mostly songs, but I love to read and I am big fan of the short story. I think that is probably the most difficult medium to write in, except maybe for the Petrachan Sonnet, but that is not as popular these days. I would love to take a stab at writing stories, and I don’t really view songwriting as all that different of a process, or an art, as story writing. On of my favorite books is Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried,” an amazing book that talks a lot about the art of storytelling. Throughout is the idea that something can be factual and not be true, and vice versa. I like this, and it gets into semantics a bit but everyone knows what that means. One of the characters says you have to tell a story that will “…make the stomach believe” - I think someone like Bruce Springsteen or Johnny Cash is a master at that. Both have such an inherent narrative quality to their delivery.
Two of the songs off your last album, Another Ghost, (“Dancing Scarlet” and “Final Hour”) will be featured in a new movie, “Reticence,’ by Alpha and Omega Films. Congratulations! Can you tell us a more about that?
Thanks! I was so proud to have been asked to be a part of this film project. A year or so back I played the NY Songwriters’ Circle at the Bitter End and I met Scott and Rob, who own Alpha and Omega Films, when they got to work on their new project a short film called “Reticence,” they asked if they could use two songs in the film. The film has won some great festival placements and awards. I have never had my music used for something like that, so I was really thrilled and the songs really work well with the film. I have a link for the trailer listed on my website with a link to the Alpha an Omega Films page if folks want to see some of their other work.
One of my favorite movies about music is “Walk the Line.“ Did you see it? What did you think about the following quote?
“Bring… bring it home? Alright, let’s bring it home. If you was hit by a truck and you were lying out there in that gutter dying, and you had time to sing one song. Huh? One song that people would remember before you’re dirt. One song that would let God know how you felt about your time here on Earth. One song that would sum you up. You’re telling me that’s the song you sing. That same Jimmy Davis tune we hear on the radio, all day. About your peace within, and how it’s real, and how you’re gonna shout it? Or… would you sing something different. Something real. Something you felt. Cause I’m telling you right now, that’s the kind of song people want to hear. That’s the kind of song that truly saves people. It ain’t got nothin to do with believin’ in God, Mr. Cash. It has to do with believin’ in yourself.”
I remember when I first heard this in the movie and it gave me chills and made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. That pretty much sums it up. I think the hardest part is to find your voice, something that is totally original and that takes a lot of faith in yourself, a lot of discipline, and a travelin’ road that is usually much slower than others but the most rewarding if you can stick with it…though certainly not easy. Shows like “American Idol” often give the wrong idea that the goal is to strive to sound like someone else, to be able to glide comfortably in and our of pre-conceived formats, and I don’t think that is the right message. The first time you hear Roy Orbison or a band like the White Stripes all that goes out the window. Developing a voice is the hardest thing I think for any artist.
The Random Question: You were an 80’s child. If you had a 20-second spot on VH1’s, “I Love the 80s,” what would you reference?
It would have to either be “The Goonies,” or that show “3 2 1 Contact,” with its kick-ass theme song. I actually saw a YouTube video the other day that showed the actual recording sessions to make the theme song, it was unreal. Just awesome.
What’s in your future for 2009?
A new record and new shows, I am hoping to make it out to the Midwest maybe even the West coast and, after that, I am on God’s good grace as far as what happens. Hopefully a more regular diet, yes, that would be nice.
Purchase Dreamland
Purchase Another Ghost
Purchase Jason’s debut cd, Long Way Down
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