The good stuff.

You guys are into a lot of real bluesy rock and roll type of stuff.

It's definitely more of a rock and roll band but with a real blues southern countrified side to it. That's how I would describe us. We're almost not today's rock and roll but we're not really today's country either. I think we fall somewhere right around the middle of both those markets.

Today's country has that whiny twang shit to it and you don't have that.,p> No, that's good to hear. Not that part of the country. Just the good stuff of the country. Just the content and the feel. A little bit more slide guitar that's going to happen on our next record and whatnot. Like I said, I hope we go towards the more southern side of the road as far as rock and roll goes.

Someone in your band is related to a judge.

The guitar player in the band is named Lee and he's from Dallas, TX. We've got ties with Dallas which is where you are. His father is Judge Jackson. He was based out of Dallas, TX and that's where his family resides today. When we were coming up with the name of the band back in 1995, we were sitting around our coffee table and talking about what we should name this band that we were going to start. We were talking about different names or different sides of names that we wanted to approach and Lynyrd Skynyrd was a name we talked about. Just a good time feel rock and roll kind of a name. We were chuckling at how they came up with their name. They named it after a gym teacher they had in high school and around the same time the mail came in and a letter from Lee's parents came on the table. Up in the left hand they had the little sticker and the insignia was Judge Jackson and the address was Dallas, TX. Somebody pointed that out and said that we should name the band Judge Jackson after Lee's dad whom never had heard the band or we never met but we just thought it was a southern feel kind of a name to it. That's how the name Judge Jackson came to be and Lee's father is actually Judge Jackson. David Jackson out of Dallas. There's the whole story there as far as how Judge Jackson came to be as far as that goes.

Dallas will become famous for this one day.

I don't know what part of town it is but it's over by S&M University. There's a gun shop and it's called Jackson Armory. The judge actually owns that gun shop. He can be found in that shop on any almost given day since he's retired as a bench judge now.

He's over by SMU then.

He's over by S&M and every time we stay there, they live just around the corner from there, and I'm always walking around both parts of Dallas as far as that's what I know of Dallas. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I came down on vacation and that's how Lee and I met and then we just started the band from there.

So you decided to become a Los Angeles resident.

Yeah, more or less. Like I was just telling my immigration lawyer, I’m still on vacation. I go back to Canada here and there. I was back five months ago as a matter of fact for a month but that’s definitely home to me. On the same hand Los Angeles is home too as well.

Absolutely. You believe in the four P’s. Product, passion, perseverance, and patience.

It seems when I'm asked by other people or whatnot to do any preaching as far as my take on the industry, that’s where I usually start. You have to have the four P’s. One without the other is not going to cut it because on any given day, you’re going to have to implement one of those P’s. In this business you have to have perseverance. Nothing really happens overnight. Sometimes it might but nothing happens overnight. When it does happen, it’ll be overnight but nothing happens overnight. You have to keep at it. You have to take your good gigs with your bad gigs. It’s not always going to be roses. Perseverance and of course passion. You’ve got to love this shit, man. This is not for the weak of heart to be in the music industry to begin with. At every given avenue, even at your avenue, you’ve got to love this. You’ve got to be committed to doing it because you just love it. I always feel that especially as a writer in our band, you’ve got to believe in this shit first off. Nobody else will if you don’t and you can’t fake that. You’ve got to really, honestly, passionately love this shit. Patience, of course we all need to preach more patience because again, nothing happens overnight. You’ve got to take things sometimes slowly. We all want to get things done yesterday so to speak but sometimes that’s not the case. When you’re dealing with a rock and roll band with four or five different individuals with different schedules, sometimes you’ve got to be patient and just make it work though but everyone of course has got to be committed. And then of course you have to have product. You can have all those three ingredients but if you don’t have the songs, you don’t have the glitz so to speak. You got nothing. You can have product but none of those other three P’s and it’ll be a waste of time. I know lots of friends who have got it but end up not having the perseverance to stick it out and give up so to speak or whatnot. It’s sad to see so it’s one of those things but that’s where I preach the four P’s from.

That makes sense. At least somebody in this business has some common sense.

You have to. This business isn’t what it was back before the 2000 year so to speak. Even in the ’90s it was changing and it’s not like it was. Especially from our angle being a rock and roll band. If you expect you’re going to play a few shows out on the Sunset Strip and get picked up and signed, that’s like winning the lottery. That’s like being the next American idol. Of the tens of thousands of people that show up, one is only going to win it. If you’re depending on that, you might be in for a little bit of a shock one day. You’ve got to make it happen. These days you have to make your own records yourself. Don’t count on anybody else to make it. You’ve got to make it. You’ve got to sell that record yourself. You have to book your shows and get out on the road. No one else is going to take your hand and do it. You have to do that. You put enough numbers on the board and the industry will come to you. Don’t worry about trying to go to them. I feel that we’ve been knocking on that door of the record industry trying to get signed for 10 years and finally in this last year, it’s like fuck it. We give up. The next time we talk or try and talk, you’ll be knocking on our fucking door. That’s the attitude or the way we look at it now. As far as it’s not what they can do for us, it’s what we can do for ourselves. Start selling out some clubs and moving some products and they’ll get interested. Everybody likes sniffing around when there’s money involved.

You’ve got to get a fucking attitude because it’s all about corporate agendas and profit before people. That’s the name of the game today.

Totally. You’ve got to make sure your head’s on straight. Being half wasted and this and that won’t cut it anymore. You’ve got to have your shit together. You’ve got to deliver the goods and it’s got to be good.

You guys are on your third record now.

One Diamond is our third record.

There’s a couple of songs. One is called “Matt’s Song” which is about a fan of yours that passed away. I think that’s really sweet to write a song like that about someone.

He passed away I think it’s been three or four years on July 17. He was a 27 year old buddy. He died in a motorcycle accident and he was not only a really good friend but I always called him our biggest fan. He always traveled with us sometimes. He’d show up when nobody else showed up at those shows. So when he died, at his party because we had this little party for him, we wrote “Matt’s song” and what “Matt’s Song” is, is 27 song titles that were his favorite Judge Jackson songs put together to make one song that I just refer to as let’s do “Matt’s Song”. That’s how the title came about. If you look at One Diamond on the lyrics inside, there are certain words that are highlighted like in capitals. Those are actually song titles. Some of them are on some of our records, some of them aren’t. They were his favorite tunes that we would do all put in, 27 being the age he was when he passed and that’s where that song came from.

That is awesome.

Yeah, that’s our little tribute to our buddy. That’s all we can come up with as far as to say “we miss you.” It’s great for us here and there to play it live because he’s with us in a weird kind of a way always.

Of course he’s with you. Once people go away physically, they’re always with you spiritually.

Absolutely. We feel his energy. He was a good brother of ours.

I don’t believe in religion or a heaven and a hell. I think that when people that you love pass on, they always stay with you in spirit.

I think it’s an energy and I think it’s truly this energy within each other and what happens after that, who knows? Who cares? Live hard and be good while you’re here. It’s not what you get, it’s what you give kind of an attitude and you’ll be all right.

That’s the way I see things.

I hear that. I agree.

Tell me a little bit about One Diamond.

One Diamond is our third record. First off, the title. I came up with the title. It is basically from the last words my grandfather said. One diamond. He died of cancer a few years ago and he was a huge bridge player. The card game bridge. He went to tournaments. He was what one would consider a mathematical genius quite honestly. He was of that nature. A very intelligent man. On his deathbed in the hospital, my mother was playing hands with him of bridge. She would play his hand because he was pretty much unconscious but yet he was still able to bid and play hands of bridge right up until the end. The last hand he played that he played, she said “I’m going to come out with four of clubs, what’s your bid?” He said “one diamond.” She looked at his hand and said “you don’t have any diamonds.” He said “one diamond.” “He must be slipping into his unconscious state. We’ll play one more ten,” dealt it. “I’ll come out with a five of spades.” “One diamond.” “You don’t have any diamonds pops.” He died very shortly after that. On her way home after doing all the stuff at the hospital that you gotta do when somebody dies, she was thinking about that. The last thing he said was one diamond. Then she realized that he had written a book to do with bridge and there was a way to bid. One diamond was actually a code to his partner which indicated if they led with one diamond that means “I don’t have anything left. I got a dud hand. This is it. It’s all up to you now. I’ve got nothing left. Just so you know where I stand, I’ll leave with one diamond.” She thought that was clever that even at the very end he was still thinking bridge. I took one diamond when we started doing this record and it was my way of labeling the batch of songs that are on One Diamond and my attitude for the place where we were at, it was my way of saying this is the best we’ve got. This is our last hand. If this isn’t good enough to get to the next record one way or the other, we’re not worthy. So this is it. One diamond. That’s why there’s a black diamond on there. Significant of the cards but which would be a red ace of diamonds but the black represents a different kind of energy of what’s going on as far as that goes. That’s where One Diamond comes from as far as labeling the whole batch of songs as one diamond. This is our last hand. This is the best we’ve got. If we can’t get to the next stage, then we truly are not worthy. Ironically though in saying that, three days ago we met with our producer that we did One Diamond with, Mike Lesniak, and we’re going over songs for the next record which is going to be called Brothers. That’s exciting so we made it to the next record. We haven’t counted One Diamond out yet but we’re definitely moving on as far as adding to the catalog. We’ve got another great batch that we consider is worthy of documenting on a record and let’s do it. That’s where One Diamond comes from.

That is just really cool.

We’re into it. We love what we’re doing. We just feel like this is what we do. It’s a great focus when you think like that. It’s like with success or without success, this is what we do. We tell stories, we write songs, and we get up there. We like to think we do a real good presentation of that on stage as well. Which, I’m hoping we’re coming to Dallas in the next couple of months which you can then observe for yourself as far as seeing that side of us live. I truly feel we’re a really good live rock band. I feel like we hold our own with the big boys.

I think in order to be a really good rock band, you really have to be great when you’re live because that’s where you get the full effect.,p> That’s where it comes down to them seeing you and saying they like this or not. If you don’t come off good or great, they ain’t going to buy your record. Again, I hate to say it. It’s all about the songs but to certain people in the industry, it’s all about the numbers. Those numbers consist of moving records and if people aren’t buying your records, there isn’t much they’re going to do for you so it goes hand in hand.

Exactly. Do you do all of the lyrical writing in the band?

I write all the lyrics, yeah.

When you’re writing songs, what kind of things go through your mind?

Certain songs have gone in with preconceived ideas as far as what we want to write it about. A subject matter. Other songs, the best way I describe it at this point, because I’m always amazed when I finish a song. It’s like “wow, another one? I thought the well was dry but another one comes out” so to speak. I let the music do the talking for me. Lee is primarily the riff meister. He comes up with the riffs. We get together as writing partners a lot and write most of the stuff and then present it to the band and get it put together that way. I let the riffs talk to me so I let the song write itself. Very rarely lately have I sat down and said “I’m going to write about this.” I get the riff and let it write itself. When I’m finished writing it, I’m almost the first amazed going “okay, so this is what this is about” because it didn’t really come clear to me until the very last line what the heck I was writing about. Sometimes I just clear the mind and just let it talk. Sometimes the words that come out are the words that come out. That’s the gift of it. I really truly believe that. Tap into that and just let the music speak for itself. That’s what I think about when I’m sitting down with a new riff. I clear my mind and not think of anything. Just think what the actual song is telling me that it‘s about. But again, songs can get written any kind of a way but that definitely seems to be the good formula for us as far as how stuff gets done at that level.

When you guys came out with your second album 8068, you entered two national talent showcases and you met Ed McMahon.

We did. 8068 is Laurel Canyon Boulevard in North Hollywood. That is where we all lived. 8068 Laurel Canyon. That’s where that came from. We had the privilege and pleasure of being flown out to Las Vegas where we performed at the MGM Theater in the hotel. A sold out audience which was great. We won our first performance with “Love Keeps Bringing Me Down” which is actually, I don’t know if I should say this but that take on the record is that take that we won that with. When we saw it on TV I actually videotaped it and then we took that videotape and dropped it down and that’s what you hear on One Diamond. That audience and all that, that’s the real gig that we did at MGM at least for that song. We got a little plaque for it and all this and that and then we played again in the next round. We lost in the follow-up round to a band, I don’t even remember what they were called. The experience was just great. We got to do two performances there. Got to hang out with Ed. Of course they put us up at the hotel and flew us out so we just had a blast and we also did 30 Seconds To Fame which is Fox TV here in L.A. Then that was pretty cool too. It was what it was but it was a last minute gig. Nevertheless, it was television and any press or publicity or shows on TV reaches just so many more people so it’s hard to turn down any gig you get in that department even if it is somewhat of a freak show. Except I saw 30 Seconds To Fame and I was like okay. We’re a straight out band. We’re not doing any tricks or circus act kind of deals. Nevertheless it looks good on the resume and it was another gig. I find those gigs always pay the best. Those TV shows. You do minimal work. They treat you like kings and then they pay you for it. You can’t go wrong with that. That’s what happened with those two shows there.

What kind of gigs have you guys been doing?

The last three shows we’ve played over the last week and a half, we’ve played the House OF Blues in Hollywood on Sunset and we opened up for the band UFO. That I think was the best gig we’ve ever done and that was last Friday. That was huge. When the curtains opened up, it was actually a packed house for us and they gave us an hour set before them which is unheard of. We rocked. Good response. I don’t think the band screwed up once. I was really proud of the guys and they paid us. It was an incredible experience that whole night. Great show. Then the next day on Saturday, we went up to Big Bear, CA and played the Big Bear Chopper Mountain Run which basically the gig was opening up for a couple of members of the Boston band. We opened up for them the next day and that was in front of 10,000 people at the Big Bear airport out on the tarmac. That was really special. We had to play for 40 minutes so I think that day we did nine songs. Then the next day back in Pasadena, CA, we came back and we did a gig that just dropped in our laps. It was for a retired forest firefighter guy. We thought that would be cool and we played for an hour. We did 15 songs and we had to stick around before we could tear down. Well, all of these bigwigs presented this guy with awards and I had no idea who we really were playing for. By the time we were done, that was one of the warmest, more special gigs I think we’ve ever done. I had tears in my eyes two different times during the speeches just hearing about this guy and some of his stories. It was unbelievable. I was absolutely moved and honored that we were the band that got to play this gig. That’s what we’ve been up to the last week and a half.

That is great. It’s amazing how much another human being can move you. Even though you don’t know this person.

I hear you. That’s the best thing about waking up tomorrow or the next day. You never know who you’re going to meet or who you’re going to talk to. It’s exciting. In the near future like I said, we’re talking with our producer. We’re beginning the next record. Obviously it’s all about One Diamond right now but that next record we’re hoping to have released the Spring of ‘06 so that’s our target right now. We’re hoping to go on the road and two weeks of House Of Blues shows opening up for Dokken and Keel. They’re just getting together doing this unplugged show this tour. Our producer just finished doing Dokken’s record so we’re all affiliated. It seems to be working out really in a positive way and that’ll be in September and again that’s about 90 percent confirmed but not 100 percent. That’s definitely one of the things that is in the pipeline so to speak. We’re also going to go out on the road in October on our own tour and that’s when we’re going to be coming through Dallas. I don’t know exactly when or where. I hope I’ve enlightened you with a little bit more information on the Judge Jackson camp as far as what’s going on over here.

You absolutely have. That’s just fucking incredible.

Right on. I’m happy to hear that.

Any other thoughts or comments?