Interview: Jason Mraz

Athletes should set aside any superstitions or good-luck charms. Instead, they should hire singer-songwriter Jason Mraz to sing the national anthem.

"I'm three for three with the national games that I've performed for; the home team has always won--especially the Lakers. It was the only game they won in the last playoffs. I have to give myself credit for that one," Mraz remarked with a laugh.

The effervescent, San Diego-based performer has had his own run of luck. His debut album, "Waiting for My Rocket to Come," spawned the addictive hit "The Remedy." Now he's pushing a live album--"Tonight, Not Again: Jason Mraz Live at the Eagles Ballroom," released Aug. 24 on Elektra/Atlantic--with a series of concert dates.

Mraz talked to SoundSpike about his tour, his album, his songwriting process and his longtime love of singing.

What will you do when this tour ends?

I'm making a new record.

Have you started writing it yet?

Yeah. I'd be in bad shape if I hadn't.

Some people like to write in the studio. I wasn't sure if you preferred it that way.

Well, yeah. You're right. I just don't like to spend a lot of time in the studio. I'd rather go in there knowing what the record looks like and just record the thing.

How is the upcoming album going to sound in comparison to "Waiting for My Rocket to Come"?

It's comparable, I'd say. There's a world of variety--loads of fun, humor, you know, love songs--but I definitely would say this one is going to be a little more musical than the last.

Why is that?

I think the last time I was a coffee-shop guy who took some of his coffee-shop songs into the studio and we produced there. Whereas this time, this is an album coming from two years on the road, coming from having put my own band together, based on all my friends from around these parts where I live. There's definitely a more human energy on this new record, I would say.

I'm not dissing the first one at all. To me, there's only a few colors in the first one because of the way it was painted so quickly. Already, just the demos for the new album really are quite interesting. You know what it probably is? It's probably nothing more than a collection of new songs that I'm just excited about. It's been two years, over two years, since we recorded the first one. I'm just giddy.

That's good to be giddy. Are you performing any of the new songs live on this tour?

Yeah, we do we sneak them out, especially because we're going to record them in the end of September. We're going to sneak one or two out per show, I think, in September. So much happens to them live, you know, that, musically, once you play them live, something changes about the song, or you learn something about the song, that you later will translate in the studio. It's pretty fun.

Was there one song from "Waiting for My Rocket to Come" that changed dramatically since you played it live?

Well, "Sleep All Day" eventually became a big, fat, disco song. "Absolutely Zero" became an upbeat Go-Go's song. "The Remedy" even took shape and just kind of got funky. They all kind of did their own thing, but, then again, it was because I put my own band on those songs, different from the band that recorded the album. That probably had a lot to do with it. I let my guys do whatever they want. [in mock British accent, laughing] So, that's what makes them want to be creative.

How did you make the decision to record a live album?

Yeah, I figured it would be a nice segue between the two, a nice way to bridge from one album to the next. It was a way to introduce the band, I think, because the guys on the live album are the guys who are going to be on the next studio album. It was also a way to let people who only knew us by the first album--or even more people who only knew us from "The Remedy"--a chance to show there's even more variety in the group. It started because the label wanted us to do a second record. We were on tour all last year. There was just no way we could afford to get off of the road and write a new record. So we convinced them to let us do it in a form of a gig, a live gig, which I felt we had enough songs, old songs that I wanted to get out that were too old to take to a studio. We always let people record our shows and take shows home as a souvenir. So I thought, "Why not record one for them and at least put together a live show and professionally record it?"

You've been successful with "Tonight, Not Again" in that it really showcases your astute showmanship. Live records are difficult to make, and, generally, album-buyers are finicky about them. Was that a challenge?

Yeah, we figured we'd throw in a couple of special guests and make it a little different than your average show, and also knowing you only get one chance to record the darn thing ... I think we played 2-and-a-half hours, maybe 3. In addition to everything that's on the live CD, I think we may have played five or six more songs. That way, when the whole thing was done, we had more songs to choose from when putting the set list together for this live album. Everything does go in order as it did that night. But we just kind of said, "OK, we're not going to put this one on, we won't put this one on, we won't put this one on." That way, we could kind of shape it.

It was scary. Every one of us thought it was going to be a disaster at the end of the night because the room had such an echo. We couldn't really hear what we sounded like. Even when we got the first mixes back of what the show sounded like, just from the soundboard, or the guys in the truck who were recording it, it was interesting. They had the horns really loud in the mix. Then they had no bass and they'd have all drums, or "Where are the keys?" or my vocals were gone. We didn't really know what to think about the whole process. But you later find out, that's because you mix the thing afterward.

We were really excited to hear the final mix, and thankful we didn't have to go back and rerecord anything. A lot of people will do that. Sure, there's a bunch of spots I can think of that I would love to go back and re-sing or replay on the live album, but it is what it is. It's one night of music. It comes with its little flaws and with its little magic moments.

When I first listened to "Waiting for My Rocket to Come," the first thing that crossed my mind is that you must be very influenced by rap, hip-hop and/or scat. Would you say that's accurate?

Absolutely. I'm influenced by a rhythmic vocal line. Before I played guitar, before I wrote my own music, I wanted to be a singer. I loved singing. I paid attention to singing. I knew I wanted to be a singer since I was just a wee lad. It was always the rhythmic vocals that stood out to me because they weren't just singing the notes as you were told or as you read them. It seemed to me like there was a progressive style of singing, they were making an instrument out of their voice, making a drum or a fast piano out of their voice. Before the day of rap, there were guys like Louis Prima and Mel Torme scattin' it all. I just dig that stuff. I especially dig the hip-hop because they turned that scat into a language where they're fitting as many syllables as possible into every phrase in such a way that really gets you going. I just admire what they do.