festnoise | Music & Festivals

Nov 28

Nov 28 A conversation with Jackie Cohen

Many many years after seeing for the first time Adam Green in Madrid, I was excited to see him again, this time in Berlin. If the lyrics of one the most popular songs of the multifaceted NY artist goes “Let me introduce you to some Friends of mine” , he clearly did it so by bringing the talented songstress Jackie Cohen to support his shows of the German gig, and I could meet Jackie and talk for a few minutes after the rehearsal.

With two-part EP epic “Tacoma Night Terror” and an the LP “Zagg”, it certainly took time for Jackie to start making music, but once she did, she's being very prolific, like the creative mind she is! For those who doesn't know Jackie, or her music, she's a storyteller capable to alternate deep emotions with fun and casual melodies. It has been a pleasure to discover this artist of many talents, that I hope she's come to music to stay!

In Berlin, Jackie would take the stage together with guitarist and friend Kevin Basko, doing a very special set that works perfectly for a night with Adam Green, someone that as she would tell me -and we can clearly see-, has been a great inspiration for her. This is the conversation we had!

How are you Jackie, how is the tour going?

Jackie: “It's great! A lot of the shows have been sold out and Adam Green's got like a really crazy crowd, so it's been really exciting!”

Previously to Adam Green you have been on tour with Alex Cameron, Molly Burch and more recently Mac Demarco. You definitely know how to choose a good company!

Jackie: “Yes, this year I've been opening for people on their tours and now I have been touring with Adam for about three weeks. It's actually a three part bill, Ryder The Eagle plays first, then Kevin and I play and then Adam plays.”

Is there coexistence or family life on this tour with Adam Green?

Jackie: “Yes, pretty much we ́re in the van together. So it's a pretty all day situation. It's awesome!”

Which are the main differences of your recent gig supporting Mac Demarco and this one with Adam Green?

Jackie: “On Mac's tour we had our own band, so I was a four piece. Kevin played drums in that lineup and we had another guitar player and a bass player so it was more of a rock band. We were in a sprinter following them around and they were in a bus, so we're spending a lot more time with Adam's band on this tour.”

Despite being surrounded by musicians and artists for a long time, and being herself a creative person, Jackie used to have a 9-to-5 job as a Marketing Assistant and at some point she almost become a teacher too. It seems to have been a long journey for Jackie to be where she is now. Do you consider yourself a musician now?

Jackie: “That's what I write on my tax forms!”

But do you feel you have finally put yourself in a place where you feel comfortable? It is very interesting to me this search of identity and the fact that it took you some time to start making your own music.

Jackie: “I think that I'm doing a lot of things that I always wanted to do that I didn't think I was necessarily capable of doing. And so it's really pretty amazing to be standing on the other side of it having accomplished a lot. But I don't know, I think that I'm one of those people who's never really super...I mean I've never known exactly what I wanted to do and I think I'll have a lot of other careers in my life. I'll always write songs and probably always play shows and things like that. It's a major part of me but right now I really want to go to culinary school!”

So you're still kinda putting the pieces together.

Jackie: “Yeah, a lot of life left to live!”

It must be certainly inspiring to have people like Jonathan (Jonathan Rado is the guitarist, producer, and half of Foxygen, but also Jackie ́s husband) by your side but how much credit you should give to all the people around you in terms of influence for you to be making music?

Jackie: “Yeah, I mean I got involved in music because all of my friends were in bands and in music and I sort of got involved that way. And at this point in my life, most of my friends are people I know through music and it's a very supportive group, a lot of my friends bands all tour together and they play on each other's records and produce each other. Kevin just produced a record of mine that's going to come out soon and he played in Foxygen too. It's just that we have this big network of people who are all feeding into each other's careers and creativity and art and music. It's like a music community family!”

On the other hand, being part of that creative and talent environment, besides inspire you, does it supposed an extra pressure too?

Jackie: “Yeah, I always felt like my friends were way more talented than me! So, I'm always I'm always trying to impress my friends first and foremost because I value their opinion so highly!”

And what about the rest of the people, do you feel like you constantly have to prove them wrong when they give some credit to other people for your success?

Jackie: “I have had moments where I felt like there is some resistance to the idea that I write my own songs or that I have a project that belongs to me and isn't just an offshoot of someone else search or accessory to someone else. I think that people do sometimes want to look at a girlfriend figure and think that she doesn't contribute to even to her own project. But yes, it has been important for me to sort of strike out on my own a little bit and have my project really be known as mine. I write my songs, sing my songs, I'm involved in all the recording and everything. But I think it's a little bit better now that I've been around for a little while as an independent entity.”

Going for a moment back to the beginning, I heard that it all started one night at the famous Los Angeles club “Whisky a Go Go” where you met Foxygen band members Jonathan Rado and Sam France. What exactly happened back then?

Jackie: “That was sort of an accident. So the story is that (Jonathan) Rado and Sam (France) were playing a show at the Whisky and they asked my sister, who is a couple of years older than me, if she wanted to sing with them. Their friends already but I hadn't really met them yet. And Sam reached out to my sister and said: “hey you should come sing and you can ask your sister too!” And at the last minute my sister bailed out, so I ended up just being myself! But again, I didn't really do much with them until I was in college already. So that was sort of a little blip, sort of funny thing to look back on.”

What plans do you have for the upcoming months?

Jackie: “Well we're gonna finish up this tour and then we're gonna take a little break from touring for a while because we've been going at it pretty hard for a while and then I want to put out this new record.”

How is the new album gonna be as compared to “Zagg”, what can we expect?

926 Jackie: “Yeah, I mean there's a communatiry piece for the first songs I ever recorded, and they were at home Rado and The Lemon Twigs. “Zagg”, the LP that I put out this year was like a full production that I did, and this E.P. that I haven't announced yet but I'd like to announce soon is all Kevin Basko production and he plays on the instruments and helped me with all the arrangements for the songs so it's really sort of our project and it's you know. The credits list is a lot shorter than “Zagg”!"

What a talented musician Kevin is! You seem to get along very well with him.

Jackie: “Yeah! And it's nice because we've been touring together as a duo since the spring, so this record really sounds a lot like our live show in a way because it's just the two of us. I think this E.P. that we're gonna put out I think of it as the first record from our band. It's kind of a cool way to think about it, right? We have we don't have a name yet. The record has a name but our band doesn't have a name!”

Is there already any released date for the new album?

Jackie: “I'm in negotiations now”

Being quite a newcomer in music, it can be a big step going from playing your songs at home, for friends or in the studio, to play for audiences worldwide. How was taking this step for you?

Jackie: “We probably played likes what 70 shows this year, so we've gotten really good at it. It's an easy setup it's just two guitars and two singers.”

Which has been the reaction of the audience to your music, especially considering that most of the people attend concerts to see Adam and they haven't heard before anything of the support band?

Jackie: “I've had every reaction from every type of audience. It's always sort of a surprise which cities react to me the most strongly or most positively and we've never had an audience boo us! I don't think anyone ever hated us, but sometimes it's hard to engage people with an acoustic set. But I think that when people are paying attention and they listen to the songs themselves and the lyrics, I think that usually people like us!”

In my opinion German audience can be difficult sometimes. They ́re passionate about music, attending lots of shows but at the same time they can show themselves a bit cold and inexpressive. How's your experience have been so far?

Jackie: “Well, it's funny because I've played in Germany with a couple different groups at this point, but as a duo on this tour our show last night in Hamburg was probably the best reaction we've had so far! It's always a surprise. I was excited to play these shows in Germany because I know that Germany really loves Adam Green, and I thought that that indicates a pretty cool taste.”

I think your music fits perfectly to support his shows!

Jackie: “I think so and that's great! Adam Green is probably my biggest overall influence. I'm a big fan!”

Just to finish this conversation I have to say that I pretty much like the artwork of the “Zagg” album, and I was surprised when I found out it was by Adam Green. What's the story behind the cover?

Jackie: “I reached out to Adam when we were finishing up the record. He's been a hero of mine for so long and I just sent him an email and asked him if he'd be willing to draw a portrait for me for the album art. He was going to be on vacation in Morocco so he brought some luxury crayons and drew the portrait! It was really amazing for me to see my self-portrait and his style because I'm just such a big fan, so it's perfect!”