JakeMai

The bio is pretty much dead. So lets just drop the bullshit, third person thing. I'm a quarantined, singer/songwriter/producer from Dallas, TX. I like to work with my hands, I love to be outside in the sun. I play piano, guitar, I sing, I write, and I drag digital bars on a computer. I think with my heart, I once trusted implicitly. That got me into some trouble. But let's start on a positive note... I was signed to a major label in my early twenties. So let's talk about that.

I wrote, and recorded a handful of songs that I put on the internet when I was 21. I got some attention, made some friends, and moved to New York to join a band called Young and Divine. My good friends JP Clark, and Joe Bortscheller threw down the fiery hoops after a couple weeks of appropriate shit tests, and we nailed it together. Ya see, I believed in the record that Johnny wrote… and it moved a lot of people. He still moves a lot of people. I learned a lot from that experience.

So… backtrack. I lived in JP's basement, creating new instruments, writing, and programming lights, practicing and planning for upcoming tours. We were discovered by an early supporter, and thanks to our ride or die Doug "Freshie" Ford, we signed a record deal with RCA a couple years later.

We had a single hit the top 40, and it changed our lives. After a year or so of fast paced radio promotion, international touring, we went through a lot of highs, and a few lows. Music, like everything… is always evolving, and nothing is guaranteed. We all decided to focus on our own endeavors, and dissolved as a group. I licked my wounds in Texas, and reconnected with my lifelong friend, Casey Hollyfield. We’ve been playing together since we were teenagers. Circumstances drove me to move to LA, but we continued to collaborate.

I met the lead singer of Goldfinger (John Feldmann) through mutual friends, and got the opportunity to work with him. Casey and I flew out with Mark Mccreight, and knocked out “Drift” and “Without You”. I learned a lot from Feldy, and Brandon Paddock. Their production methods, their brazen confidence as a producers/engineers, with a humble and sincere approach to directing the sessions. All while Brandon is jumping off the desk to keep our energy up at 3 AM.

We recorded a few more tracks to wrap the Olivine LP with a dear friend of mine at Valve Studios, Casey DiIorio. Casey is responsible for the perfectionist in me, and the drive behind the idea that the difficulty of making music, makes it much better... and makes you better as a musician and songwriter. We recorded much of the album to tape with the CLASP system... which dumps the saturated take into Pro Tools. Who would have thought.

Kenneth Mount, and Zack Odom taught me another set of skills. They're the guys that produced/co-wrote a solid full length album for Young and Divine, and got me a gold record. Their patience, and cooperative brilliance, was the force behind additional tracking and mixing of the Olivine LP, and "Like The Ocean"

I decided to focus my attention on songwriting, and production last year. I have a new album, that's not so new anymore. We’re prepped to play shows in the future... but nobody knows what the future holds. I'm adapting to the industry that used to measure a bands worth by record sales... now it's totally different. I'm excited. I want to work with the best.

I have a group of amazing musicians supporting me, that are always evolving, pushing, challenging each other to take this, or any other project to the next level. Casey Hollyfield, and Jordan Pipka are that strong gust of wind, sometimes to propel you forward... or to blow back so you can smell your own bullshit. WE are a full production team, and I'm humbled to be the leader of this outfit. I've got the best people next to me fighting the good fight, and we'll be releasing a lot of new material.

JakeMai’s tracks

• Venomous by JakeMai