Photos by: Jaren Lorenz
It’s been about two months since Son of Stan’s “Divorce Pop” popped into the music scene and already Jordan Richardson is taking over our world of local music as we know it.
With a set at The Double Wide alongside other mega-popular locals We’rewolves and Cutter, filling in for Foxtrot Uniform, Richardson sat down with GoodBAMMSho to talk his album, future plans, Beyoncé and why cabin fever can be good for you.
GBS:
Tell us a little about touring as Son of Stan.
Richardson:
I think I’ve become so used to traveling that it freaks me out to be in one place for a while, so it’s kind of good that I’ve been all over the place lately. I’m here through the holidays, I’m from Crowley, so my sister and I flew up here for this particular trip. I was in DFW a week and a half ago, and I flew back to L.A. and then came back. It’s been like that, though – I’m just here for the holidays though. I
play Dada for New Years Eve.
GBS:
Congrats on your Grammy nomination! You’re in extremely good company with all the other musicians nominated for Best Blues Album this year. How did you first get word on it?
Richardson:
The guitar player in Ben Harper texted me. I heard something about them being announced that day earlier that week, so it came to my mind but I didn’t really pay attention to it. It was weird, it was at night, they announced it 8 or 9 L.A. time so it was like midnight Texas time. I was here at the time.
GBS:
How is the covers project with Jenny O and JAN coming? Has a drop date been set for this album-slash-project?
Richardson:
I released one already with Jenny O – they just take forever because everyone I’m trying to work with is really busy – but I’m working on one right now with JAN who is from Brooklyn, she’s incredible. We did “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover,” do you remember that song? I just have a runnning list right now of people I want to cover with. It’s not necessarily just covers with female artists, but I like the
idea of doing duets that aren’t traditionally duets, so it just kind of makes sense to work with female artists. I want to do some love songs with male artists too, give that some love too (laughs.
But I have some other stuff in the works right now with that. Sarah N from a band called the Happy Hollows, a band I toured with from L.A., she plays bass in Silversun Pickups, we’re trying to narrow down some songs to do. And Ronnie Hart, I’ll be doing some stuff with him, maybe even George Quartz who is a guy from Dallas, so there’s ample people there. I really wanna do something, there’s a couple bigger artists, something with Haim, those sisters, you know it’ll have to get to that though, I have to know them first. We all live in the same city, so, it’s a small world out there just like it is in Dallas. In the music scene someone always knows someone. It just happens to be in a spotlight so sometimes things just emerge in the spotlight easier than in other cities. But it’s still kids and people sitting around in clubs waiting to play and stuff like that.
GBS:
So you see some similarities between the scene there and here in Dallas?
Richardson:
I definitely do, I mean there’s tight scenes in L.A., there’s definitely a tightness there but I’ve come home to DFW and people are family. The argue and they hurt like family members, everyone’s dating each other, it’s very much like this traditional scene in DFW. I tour a lot and don’t get to spend a lot of time in one place, but I definitely feel like North Texas is one of the tighter communities. In Brooklyn and L.A., per capita there’s more musicians, but it’s kind of more scattered and people doing their own thing, not all in each other’s business.
GBS:
Divorce Pop is barely two months old and already being featured on MTV-U, Ghettoblaster Magazine and Pigeons and Planes. Did you expect a lot of media attention with your new album?
Richardson:
No, I definitely didn’t. I didn’t know I was making the record until it was halfway done. I just made it with my friend in his pool house from like 10 at night to 5 in the morning, just like drinking and hanging out, then it just sort of turned into a record. So I started while touring in my previous gig with Ben [Harper] and then I stepped away from that and have been kind of sticking with it, but I wanted to go tour, that’s all I wanna do know. So I treat it like that now. I didn’t expected it but I thankfully, fortunately know how it works, there’s a handful of things you need to do, so I hired some PR, a distributor and some radio people and through that, those sorts of things have happened. That, and I’m just sort of willing to play all the time. I didn’t expect it to have that sort of buzz.
GBS:
What’s been the most exciting thing coming from that development?
Richardson:
I think re-emerging, obviously I love the touring world, planes, buses and hotels and massive crowds of people, but my favorite part is being in a van and loading into shows, kind of the do-it-yourself aspect of making music. Having total control over something I made. Kind of a different approach to making a record, and it’s all on me. I have a band, I have people I play with that are nice enough to
give their time to help which I guess is something that’s sort of my vision, so it’s fun to adopt the idea of feeling alienated from people and turning that into a creative project. I’d be pretty bummed out if I was alone, trying to make something and didn’t book a show or something.
GBS:
Has Ben heard any tracks off of Divorce Pop?
Richardson:
I don’t know, actually, we haven’t had the conversation about it. They’ve been super busy touring with a record I was a part of, and he has so many ventures we haven’t actually had a chance to talk about my work but that’s OK, I’m sure we will at some point.
GBS:
So what’s one thing on your mind right now, music related or not?
Richardson:
Hmm. Beyonce... just kidding. I figured you’d appreciate that because everybody... actually, that’s a lie. I don’t know too much about Beyonce but I know everyone loves her. I’m happy for her (laughs).
No, actually we got iced in, I was with my parents and it was like “Fuck.” An ice skating rink 20 miles in every direction. But I pretty much wrote my next album over that period of time so I’m mostly excited about that. I have like 12 or 13 new songs ready to start performing. Ready to go back into the pool house and get drunk and start recording overnight (laughs). I want to do it the same way. Maybe bring some more people in, people who have turned into what Son of Stan is, like Brian Garcia who’s playing drums with me tonight, Ian Marcelis who’s a drummer in L.A., different people I collaborate with I want to bring them in for the record, versus before where it was just me.
GBS:
When does that process start?
Richardson:
After the new year. As soon as I go back to California, I’m going back into the studio.
GBS:
So that just came out of cabin fever?
Richardson:
Cabin fever, and having an idea. I had one single, cliche like muse for the record, which is just like feeling separate and isolated, but also emotionally too like friend break-ups. Things just kind of changing a little bit. I had this concept for this song called “Love Fighter,” so I was like, OK I’m just gonna write about this. Like pushing everything away in my life a little bit. It’s just cool to riff on an idea and write about. It’ll be kind of pissed off sounding but more so at myself. Angsty, self-angst (laughs). Maybe I’ll look into Beyonce and everything will be good.
GBS:
Are we going to see any collaborations with Beyonce?
Richardson:
Yeah, without a doubt. That’s confirmed. For the record, that’s confirmed. We’ll probably do a lunch thing with Jay Z, me, you and Bey.
And while Richardson was prepping for his set, he and the other good fellows of The Double Wide got ready for some kick ass rock ‘n’ roll, courtesy of DOMA Best Rock Act winners We’rewolves.
I’ve caught We’rewolves in action several times this year and the energy never changes. If anything, it grows more and more with each show, and at this one it’s safe to say that’s a good assumption.
calendar if you’re anything like me.
I’ll just say it’s really nice to have some good old fashioned rock from people my age still pouring out of their veins and into the ears of local music lovers.
Filling in for Foxtrot Uniform, Cutter stepped in and brought the electro-rock with them. Even as I type this I still have the blips from their set running through my mind, so I’m glad they got to fill in at such short notice.
This set though, things got real. Microphones went into mouths and drumsticks flew and lights flickered and The Double Wide lost its mind and we all jammed for what seemed like not long enough to some solid, simple rock over dance beats anyone could obsess over.
That energy spilled over into Son of Stan’s set as we all got to catch Divorce Pop live in front of us and lost our minds all over again.
GoodBAMMSho first fell in love with Son of Stan at Dallas Observer Music Awards as Richardson filled up Club Dada and made more noise than any set we had seen that night, and we saw some loud punk bands, y’all.
Richardson’s got it all – he can go out there and knock out some fresh keyboard or he can riff away on the axe or take a go at the drums and honestly probably do all three and more at the same time.
Makes us all the more excited for his new stuff to come out.
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