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daggerzine · 6 years

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Coming in first.....Jeremy Jensen opens up about The Very Most.

I definitely haven’t heard enough of Jeremy Jensen’s music, but what I have heard (under the name The Very Most) I really like. I went over to his Bandcamp page and noticed a plethora of releases so yeah, the dude is prolific. If you’ve listened then you’ll know that Jensen likes melody and I’m assuming he’s got a few Beach Boys and Beatles’ records in his collection. His songs have plenty of hooks but have this dreamy background and for as many songs as the guy’s written over the years he manages to make each one unique. Some are quite grand while others are quite low-key and simple. We’ve been Facebook friends for quite some time and I enjoy his posts, but wanted to find out more so I shot him some questions and he was more than happy to answer.

Were you born and raised in Boise? I was born in Roosevelt, Utah, raised in Nampa, Idaho (a suburb of Boise that had about 30,000 people in it when I lived there and now has around 100,000) and have been living in Boise for over 20 years now.

What are some of the best things about Boise? It’s a city I’ve always heard good things about and been very curious about, but have never been there. Boise is a high-desert town on the edge of the largest stretch of forest in the lower 48. My favorite things about Boise are the Boise River and the surrounding foothills. I’m not a huge outdoor enthusiast, but the river is so nice to walk along. We’ve got miles and miles of trails called the Greenbelt that run right along the river. I also love that Boise has plenty to do as far as an arts and music scene goes, but it’s not such a huge city that commute times are out of hand. It’s also affordable compared to Seattle, Portland, and California, but it is becoming less affordable as we grow, and we’re growing really fast. There’s plenty of good food here too. The schools are good here. It’s a really good place to raise kids. David Lynch loved living here when he was a kid in the late 50s - early 60s. We put an exclamation mark after the word “Library” on the signs for all our libraries. I’m not making that last one up. Also, it’s pronounced “Boy-see”, not “Boy-zee,” and anyone who tells you otherwise is wrong.

What was the first song you remember hearing that really knocked your socks off? Dog and the Butterfly by Heart. This was probably in 1981 when I was five. It was just so pretty and Ann Wilson has a really great voice. I also loved the LP artwork, which was vaguely Chinese-themed.

Jeremy and the gang

How old were to when you first picked up an instrument? Was it parental pressure ro did you want to do it? I did 5th grade orchestra in school. I played violin for those first couple years and then switched to string bass, which led to electric bass, which led to guitar. I wanted to do it. My dad claims he had a rule in the house that every kid was required to play a musical instrument, but I was unaware of the existence of that rule. Maybe I didn’t need to be.

What was your introduction to the punk/new wave/indie music scene? When was the transition and how did it happen? Well, my mom bought U2’s The Joshua Tree, which I really loved, and which helped me learn of bands like R.E.M. She also enrolled me in the Columbia House CD club, where my first purchases included their album Green. I guess this would have been about 1990. Around ‘91, my friends introduced me to The Violent Femmes and The Smiths, and, like so many others, The Smiths were my platonic ideal of what a band should be. In 1993, I heard Built to Spill on a local college radio show. Their song “Three Years Ago Today” sounded like pop from another planet to me, and it blew me away that a band from Boise was making those sounds. Not only did that experience lead me to K records, which led me to indiepop, which changed my listening habits forever, it also made me believe that I could make good music, even though I was from a podunk town in Idaho. A lot of us Idahoans have inferiority complexes. Built to Spill will always be heroes to me.

Had you been in any bands before The Very Most? Yeah. I led a band called The Yukon and You with my wife and a friend of ours. I was also in a surf-rock band called D.O.L.L. The very first high school band I was in was called Thrush. Later, all three of my kids would get thrush when they were nursing. I’ve also played a lot in my brother Elijah’s bands over the years: Pajama Party in a Haunted Hive (named after the Beat Happening song) and his current project With Child. I’ve played in a few other local bands over the years too. Never a cover band though.

How/when did you form The Very Most? What was the initial inspiration? I started accumulating recording gear around 2000. I guess I wrote a bunch of songs. I don’t remember ever writing them though. I started recording them and when I finally finished an album in ‘03, I needed a band to play them so that I could sell CDs at shows. I actually started playing as The Very Most in ‘02 before the album came out, but the intention was to have a band ready for a record release show. The band started as a duo with my sister Rachael who was living with my wife and I at the time. Over the years, the band has gone through a lot of mutations both in number of members and instruments. We got a drummer, a female singer, a keyboardist. For a while we had a full-time vibraphonist. I think something like 12-15 people have been in the band for at least one show or more. As recently as a year ago I was playing a solo synth-pop set as The Very Most, but now I don’t play live as The Very Most at all.

What are some faraway places that the band has taken you to? What are some favorite foreign cities? Well, we haven’t gone on any really long tours, but we played the UK (including Indietracks) and I’ve played in Glasgow and Dublin three times. Glasgow and Dublin are my favorite cities in the world that I’ve been to. I’m not as fond of huge megalopolises that are basically 50 different cities glommed together (kinda how New York and London are). Glasgow, Dublin, Portland, and, also, Bristol in England kind of have a unified feel to them. (Boise does too.) It’s like the difference between a concept album and a epic White-album-style album.

How does your songwriting process go? Does it start with a riff from you or something else? It almost always starts with a guitar or keyboard riff. I come up with these little main ideas for songs and record them really quickly in my software. Then I revisit them and decide which ones to flesh out into real songs. The order usually goes like this: riffs, basic tracks, a few ornamental type parts like keyboard leads, writing the lyrics, recording the vocals, and then usually adding a few more ornamental parts and backing vocals.

How active is The Very Most these day? Any upcoming plans? The Very Most is inactive live, but very active in the studio. I’m working on a new album, but haven’t played live for about a year. I think once my album is done and ready to release, I’ll probably get a two or three piece version of The Very Most ready to play a few shows.

Is your label, Coming in Second, still active these days? Not really. Two or so years ago I had some grand plans to get it going again, but we haven’t released much. Just a couple download-only things. There aren’t any plans to release anything else at the moment through that label.

Tell us about your involvement with the band The Hermit Crabs. Well, I think it was 2010. The web label EardrumsPop had this compilation called “Between Two Waves” where the idea was that people from two different bands combine forces to create a new song, hopefully with a new band name. I decided to get in touch with The Hermit Crabs, from Glasgow, Scotland, so we could do that song together. The name of the project was Baffin Island and, in addition to the song for EardrumsPop, we ended up making an EP and a few other songs for compilations. We did it by emailing files to one another. Anyway, that’s how I got to know Mel, the leader of The Hermit Crabs. She came from Glasgow to Boise to record a Hermit Crabs album in 2012. That album, In My Flat, didn’t get released until 2015 though. Since then we’ve done a couple Hermit Crabs tracks together internet-style for the Rose Melberg tribute compilation and also a Matinee Records compilation that hasn’t been released yet.

Any current Boise bands that we need to know about? With Child, Canal Canal, Bruce Robert, Sleepy Seahorse, Central City Music Company, Bonefish Sam and His Orchestra, Idle Chatter.

What are some new bands/records you’ve fallen in love with? THE GOON SAX!! Best new band in quite some time. Unfortunate band name, though. I don’t think we left enough good band names for the next generation. Starry-Eyed Cadet and Space Daze are two really great new-ish bands too. My daughter’s favorite band Boy Pablo is really nice. Kinda like a cross between Prefab Sprout and Mac DeMarco.

What are your top 10 desert island discs? In no particular order: Jonathan Richman - Rockin’ and Romance Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds Some sort of Debussy box set Built to Spill - There’s Nothing Wrong With Love Belle and Sebastian - Push Barman to Open Old Wounds Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career R.E.M. - Reckoning The Softies - Holiday in Rhode Island The Aislers Set – The Last Match

Any closing comment? Final thoughts? Anything you wanted to mention that I didn’t ask? I just want everyone to wish me luck in making the new The Very Most album. I think it’ll be as good as the other ones. Different, but as good or better. At least I think.

https://theverymost.bandcamp.com/

https://cominginsecond.bandcamp.com/]

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