Miss B & Jesse self-portrait, San Francisco.

As an artist and musician I have a lot of respect for Jesse. He has most notably played in Operation Ivy & Common Rider. His latest project is Classics of Love. I’ve always enjoyed having conversations with Jesse, I’ve enjoyed listening to many of his interesting stories… this interview first appeared in one of my zines.

Okay I’ll just come right out and ask this question straight up…a lot of people expected Common Rider to be pretty much the same as your former band Operation Ivy, a few people were disappointed that it wasn’t an Op Ivy clone, how were your feelings on that? Do you feel that there are a lot of expectations on you seeing how respected Op Ivy were and still are today?

I always go out of my way to avoid thinking about this question. As soon as you start thinking about people’s responses to what you are doing, you’re doomed, artistically speaking. I mean you have to stay aware of the fact that you are doing something for others, and want it to be good, but always at the subconscious level. Consciously, my job is to write the best songs that I can and let the chips fall where they may.

What is your opinion of the way the punk scene always seems to criticise people pushing those limits of punk?

Again, I never read reviews and when I talk about music with people (which is frequently), it is rarely about punk. I guess I would say to those people, it’s a really big world out there and if you don’t like this record, there are hundreds of thousands of ones you probably would like! Why bother dwelling on something that doesn’t meet your criteria? Is it that important? Get a life! I don’t affiliate myself with punk these days. I love it in many ways, I learned a lot of my values from it, but in many ways punk is a mental and musical ghetto. I know a lot of punks that are more uptight about trifling bullshit than your average born again Christian.

How do you deal with the fact that no matter how much you put in you will always be criticized by somebody?

Well anyone who has any kind of public life eventually has to deal with this problem. The truth of the matter is, if you achieve any kind of success in the world, whether it’s being in a garage band that made it big or inventing e-bay or whatever, there will be certain insecure people who will perceive you as a target. I think the best way to deal with it is to remember that when they are giving you shit, you are only the one millionth person to have to go through this kind of thing and that it’s just part of what you sign up for when you make the decision to assert yourself as a voice in the world.

Many people are quick to yell ‘sell out’ as soon as you start to become financially successful through punk. Do you think it’s a crime to be successful from doing what you love?

I am very fond of artistic type people, whether they are musicians, painters or whatever. As far as I am concerned, any time somebody is so much as making a living from doing something creative, strike one up for the good guys. I am very pleased with the success of Green Day and some of the other bands and hope that there are many more to follow. “But it’s destroying punk!!” Yes! Good! Make something new!
Use your imagination! Goddamn it!

Most of your interviews seem to concentrate on your influence on the punk scene, how has the scene affected you?

Well in spite of the fact that I listen to a lot of other types of music these days, punk remains the music that has meant the most to me historically. Also, in spite of all the corruptions and mutations of it, this movement has a beautiful spirit of truthfulness which never changes and has influenced everything that I am and that comes up every day in my conversational style, the way I dress and how I relate to other people. Basically punk has caused me to always strive to think for myself and adopt a nonconformist stance towards everything – even towards punk!

When will we see a new album? Or will we see a new album?

The new album is done. It will be out in September on Hopeless. It’s called “This Is Unity Music”. It’s a bit more spirited than the last one – it will probably win a few disgruntled fans back but this wasn’t intentional, it just came out that way!

What’s the meaning behind last album ‘Last Wave Rockers’ title? Do you think we are in the last wave of rock, as we know it?

Well in spite of the mellowness of that record, it’s got this theme of people struggling in difficult times and trying to retain hope and inner strength while confronting outer turmoil. So that title just felt like it expressed a bit of urgency and desperation. Also I just thought it sounded cool! Ha ha that’s me laughing at myself.

You seemed to be heading towards using more brass in Op Ivy’s music before you broke up, on the ‘LWR’ a few songs feature brass. Is that a continuance of the direction you were headed with Op Ivy?

Every song tends to make its own demands. I really do like the sound of horns in rock ‘n’ roll and enjoy their presence. My ideal is always to let the song express itself with whatever instruments it wants. There were horn parts on the first record that we recorded but left out because they didn’t work…so the goal is never to write a song that takes horns but instead to have horns handy if the song you’ve written happens to need them. I love how the stones incorporate outside instruments. Always the right one, sometimes many on a single track, but never sounding overwrought or crowded. That’s my ideal.

Common Rider songs seem to be full of positivity, is that something that’s important to you when you write your songs? What influences this positive vibe? What influences your lyric/song writing?
This is true for the first record but lately I have become more interested in the dark side. Actually, a lot of the reason the songs on the first record are so positive was because I was feeling depressed and I was trying to cheer myself up! In the beginning stages of learning how to write songs, one thinks about things like positive or negative. With maturation, however, positive and negative become colours on a palette with which the songwriter paints a picture that transcends those distinctions. This is the goal of art, I feel…whether it’s Picasso or Joe Strummer – to go beyond. You know when you do it but there’s no way to explain it. Example: is the song “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” by the Clash positive or negative? Neither, both – it’s just beautiful and perfect. Poetry.

You’ve always had some very dedicated fans that hang on your every word. When you write a song do think about the way it’s going to affect your audience?

Yes…at some point I made the decision never to use music to vent anger. I think “‘But it’s destroying punk!’ Yes! Good! Make something new! Use your imagination! Goddamn it!” as long as you never use music to vent anger, you are safe from having caused harm to people either directly or indirectly. So when I am screaming my head off in some song, it is never anger, it’s just passion, and I think people pick up on this vibe. Most Common Rider or Op Ivy fans are nice people, at least the ones I’ve met, so I think that this decision has payed off. Live, I draw from dark and negative energy including anger to perform, but this is a performance and it is always in the service of a positive intention.

As a lyricist have you ever had to deal with severe writers block and how did you deal with it?

Yes, for the first time on this new album. It was hell. There’s no way to deal with it, it deals with you…especially if you have a deadline (which I think is what causes it – an inner rebellion against putting creativity on a time line). It’s just completely fucked and every day the person who has it has to make a decision whether to quit music forever or to plod through the swamp of writers block. I discovered a formula that helps though: it is a principal of artistic physics that no effort in the service of creating something goes unrewarded…so if you are banging your head against the wall trying to come up with something, eventually, in one form or another, that effort will be rewarded with an equal output of material.

What’s something important that music and punk has bought to your life?

Mainly my friends and relations. Almost all the people in my life are somehow connected to music and they are what I am most grateful for.

Jesse, you’re only 1/5 of Common Rider could you tell me about the other guys that make up the other 4/5 of Common Rider, they’ve also had a pretty colourful histories also?

Mass Giorgini and Dan Lumley were the rhythm section for Squirtgun and the last incarnation of Screeching Weasel. They are also phenomenal musicians, much better than me (modesty aside), and have each played on many records. Mass is a producer and has recorded hundreds of records in his studio in Indiana. His specialty has always been the pop punk genre but he has been branching out and doing a lot of different stuff these days, including the new Common Rider record. Dan is, technically speaking, one of the best drummers in punk music…really an amazing and natural musician. He is also a famously sweet guy and we are all hoping that some day he will find a good metal band to play in as that music is his first love. Also now we have Phillip Hill from the Teen Idols playing with us. He was also in Weasel. Another sweet guy and a good player. Phillip is also a genuine American rocker with a rebel soul. Unlike some of these cats wearing all the boutique rockabilly gear, Phillip is the real thing even when he’s not dressed up.

What are your top ten all-time favourite albums?

Well this changes a lot but I will give you ten current favourites:

Stones, “Sticky Fingers”; Stiff Little Fingers, “Inflammable Material”; X, first three albums; Toots and the Maytalls, “Time Tough” anthology (anybody with even a remote interest in ska or reggae should pick this one up…it’s comprehensive and great); The Pattern, “Real Feelness” (a new Berkeley band – great rock and roll stuff); Psychedelic Furs, I can’t remember the title…I think it’s got “Prettty in Pink”on it though – a classic; Big Star, “Radio City/Number One Record” (tie); Rites of Spring, “Self Titled”; The Saints, “Eternally Yours” (had to throw in an Oz band ya know) and Blondie, “Plastic Letters”.

What else do you do when you’re not doing the CR thing? Don’t you do art work for Lookout!? If you weren’t doing you music or art, what would you be doing with your life right now?

I am a slightly (okay, very) muddled person and have always had great difficulty accounting for what I do with my time. At the end of the day I am often just not really sure what happened. Really! I fool around a lot and just hang out. If I wasn’t doing art or music I most definitely would be doing some kind of work treating sickness or injury. Although I haven’t figured out what form it will take, this kind of work represents a second calling to me. I very much hope to be in a healing profession eventually.