Jason Manns Interviews | www.celebritycloseups.com

BY: Brenda Meyer

Local L.A. musician Jason Manns has been quietly building a steady and loyal fanbase since he first burst onto the scene four years ago. His songs have appeared on such shows as 'Supernatural', and you may have hummed along to his music on Star98.7. In 2007, he had a successful string of shows at L'Scorpion in the heart of Hollywood that featured guest musicians coming from as far away as Nashville. He counts actors Jensen Ackles, Christian Kane, and personality Ryan Seacrest among his friends, and he's embarking on a second tour of England, as well as trying his hand at producing an independent movie.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to have lunch with this very talented (and very funny) man, and to talk with him a little about his upcoming album and tour, as well as future projects.

Tell me about the trip to England in May. How'd that come about?
I'm going out to play Asylum2 (a convention for fans of the TV show, 'Supernatural'), which is one of the reasons why I got an opportunity to play in England in the first place, for (the first) Asylum. Steve (Carlson, another L.A. musician) is also invited to Asylum2. Steve is going early and playing a few shows, and then he and I are meeting up before Asylum, playing one show at The Fly in London on May 7th. And then we're both playing Asylum and then Steve, Riley (Smith, actor and frontman for The Life of Riley) and myself are all playing a show together in Birmingham and then after that, Steve goes home and Riley and I play four more cities.

And about how long are you going to be in England?
Two weeks.

Alright, good deal. Speaking of Riley and Steve, tell me about how you guys all met.
Let's see...I...pretty much, it all comes back to Star98.7 (a local L.A. radio station).

So, it's all Ryan Seacrest's fault (Ryan used to be a DJ for Star).
Yep, it's all Ryan Seacrest's fault.

Most things are.
(laughs) He's actually one of the first people I met in L.A., surprisingly enough. Great guy, though, but I don't see him much anymore. Basically, I did this contest - this radio contest. Sang 'Crazy Love'. That song will haunt my dreams forever.

Yes, it will. (laughs) Now, was this just after you got here...?
My brother and I just moved out here and we were living in Orange County, and lived there for about four months. And my buddy recorded me singing and sent it into the radio station - without my knowledge - and (it) ended up being a finalist. In the top 25 out of however many it was, then we got down to the top 5, and they flew us to Vegas and we stayed at the Palms and they were playing the song on the radio all the time -

They played 'Crazy Love' on the radio?
Oh, yeah, it was ridiculous.

How long ago was this?
Right when I moved, about four and a half years ago…It was pretty crazy, to be in your first months in L.A. and to hear your voice coming out of someone else's car while you're walking down the street. And it also gave me a skewed vision of how the industry is.

Right. 'Cause you had come out here to act, not to sing, correct?
Right. I mean, I eventually always wanted to do both. But, I kinda always looked at singing as a hobby and acting as my pursuit. Usually, those things get flipped on their head, which it obviously has.

Right.
So, anyway, you hear your voice coming out of a radio and you get a very skewed vision - you think, 'oh, well, this is easy, I can do this.'

Anybody can do this.
Yeah, and then cut to a few years later, and my voice hasn't even been close to a radio, except me singing in the car.

(laughs) Oh, man...
Yeah. But, um, anyway. How I met them... In Vegas, I met these guys named Brady and Mark. Brady worked at the radio station and Mark was his best friend and Mark was Ryan Seacrest's best friend, and I just ended up hanging with those guys and they were fun. We had a good time, and when I got back [to L.A.], they invited me to a Christmas party, which my brother and I went to, and it was at Jensen's house (Jensen Ackles, one of the actors on 'Supernatural'). And Jensen and Steve, and probably Christian (Kane, of 'Angel' fame) and Riley and everybody else was either there or I met them...wait, actually, Riley wasn't there. Riley was actually gone, filming a movie and I'd kind of met everyone in the group and Riley had been gone for, I dunno, how many months, but he was filming 'Radio' at the time. So, I had heard, 'oh, wait 'til Riley gets back, he's a really cool guy, you'll like him a lot, wait 'til you meet him'. And I was all 'who is this Riley guy'. And then he got back...and he was Riley. (laughs)

So, how long was it before you guys started playing together and all that?
Not very long. I think, when I came in was Steve was just starting to want to do his own thing. Kane was still playing, although not very frequently. But Steve had an itch, and Chris was busy doing movies and all that stuff and Steve was kind of itching to play more, I think. I could be wrong, but, to the best of my knowledge, I think my first solo performance, and the first solo performance for Steve outside of Kane was the same show. I think. I could be wrong.

When was that?
I don't remember and I don't remember where it was. It was either at King King or a place called Goldfinger, which is no longer here. It was fun in the beginning. Steve was in the process of learning his myriad of instruments, and he would always pull out a different instrument to sort of accent one of my songs and I'd sing harmony for his stuff. It was pretty fun.

Sounds like it. Okay, so now let's transition a little bit into the acting. Tell me about the movie you're currently working on.
Sure. The movie – 'Rockslyde' - is actually more of a delve into producing than acting. I have a small part, but my buddy Chris Galway - he went to high school with Jensen, he was on 'Days of our Lives' for a little while - he wrote a hilarious script, and, in my former life, I have an English degree - English Lit - so I've read. A lot. And I enjoy it a lot, so Chris always gives me his scripts to read and take notes on, and give suggestions and stuff, and I guess he likes my notes because he keeps giving them to me. He gave me this one to read and I read it and it was - it had indie written all over it - not a whole lot of characters, not a whole lot of set pieces, no helicopters dropping a flaming car over a bridge - and so, you know, I read it, and I said, I think we can make this, especially with the people we know and friends that we have, I say, let's do it. So I brought on a guy that I went to college with - Milan - and Chris brought on a buddy of his - Josh Young, who owns a post-production house and then I brought on another producer I've worked with before named Will Wallace, who produced a bunch of movies and acted in a bunch of movies. And then, Will is good friends with Patrick Warburton, who read the script and loved it and he's on board to come play our lead. And I'm trying to get everybody to come in and do at least a little cameo in it. I don't want to let all the secrets out of the bag, but hopefully people will see some familiar faces in it, I will say that. And I'm growing the beard because I'm going to play a bum [in the film].

Back to music, a lot of songs from your first album deal with being in love, and how happy you are in that environment. Do you see yourself continuing that same theme, or delving into other things, or do you see yourself as our generation's James Taylor?
It's something to aim for, perhaps, but do I see myself as that? Absolutely not. I love - how do I say this - it would be easier for me to continue in that particular vein. When I sit down to write a song, usually that kind of stuff is the first thing that hits the paper.

Well, you have that sort of rock-solid well-spring to draw from, so that makes sense.
And I want to, I guess, grow as an artist, as a musician, so I'm trying to challenge myself. The first album was mostly love songs. I would love the second album to obviously have some of that, but to show a little more progression. I'd love to tell stories. One thing I do love about country music is the song is almost always a movie, if you know what I mean.

You did a country cover at the last gig I saw you at, and it went over well. You think you might start going in that vein?
I think lyrically I would like to. Musically, I dunno. I have a lot of respect for people that can do the whole cross-genre career. People like Kid Rock, or Beck, or even Madonna, people that don't lose any of their originality or credibility, but can jump from rock to country to singer-songwriters to electronica to whatever else. I would love to able to do that. I don't think musically that I'm at that place yet, but I'm working on it.

Okay, so building on that, you do have this sort of mellow vibe, and more mellow fans, but has there been any weird things that your fans have done or stories you've heard?
Oh, man, I've told this [one] story so many times that it's gotta be old by now, but the craziest thing so far people getting my lyrics tattooed onto their body. It's awesome and flattering and I love it, but it's scary, because what if I love producing this movie and I turn into this movie producer, and [these people] have got a tattoo of some movie producer's song lyrics on their body. But, seriously, I really do think it's awesome and it's definitely an honor.

Okay, one last question. If you had to make a choice - sellout tour or have a starring role on a TV show?
You know, I know it's a sellout answer, but it wouldn't matter, because either one affords the other. I play music because I love it, and thank God some other people enjoy it too, so it's fun to play for those people. And I would love to make movies...and then go play a tour for free in Europe or whatever and not charge any money, so I think they're not mutually exclusive, thankfully. I don't think I'll ever have to choose.

Alright, sounds great. Thanks for the time.

You can check out a full list of Jason's upcoming shows in England, and preview his music, over at his myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/mannsmusic.