BY LESLEY HASTINGS

I think it’s fair to say that the audience at C2C in London last Friday gave Jackson Dean a deservedly fantastic reception when he took to the stage to duet with Carly Pearce on “I Hope You’re Happy Now” . An appropriate song too, this surprise guest slot no doubt putting a smile on the faces of his ever growing UK fan base many of whom had been hoping to see his name on the London lineup in addition to his C2C appearances in Berlin and Rotterdam this year. He certainly gave very little away in relation to the appearance when we spoke in the lead up to the festival, my fourth interview with this exciting artist which in my mind means we’re practically married! Not sure Jackson would agree, but I hope you enjoy our catch up. 

LH Welcome back to London, your third visit here in 10 months which I’d say makes you an honorary Brit! 
JD Yessss! 
LH So now you’re more familiar with the city is there anything you get particularly exciting about when you know you’re coming here? Obviously there’s the fans, but as a tourist. 
JD Me being the son of a stonemason (my parents got to come last time we were here for two weeks) anywhere me and my Dad walk in your eyes are constantly looking around and thinking “wow it’s beautiful“. But the streets of London are really, really beautiful! There’s a lot of stone and the architecture is really cool here. I love all the alleyways and always think “ooh, I want to go down there!”. But when we landed I was just really happy to be back in an English speaking country! Not that Berlin and Amsterdam weren’t fun ….. but walking the streets here is just a change of scenery. Went on a big walk last night. 

LH Like you just mentioned, you’ve arrived here via C2C in Netherlands and Germany but you’re not scheduled to play in London? 
JD You never know where I’m going to pop out of the shadows! I think that’s all I can say ….. it’s not a lot but I’ll just leave it there …. we just had a few of days in between the Netherlands and Australia, so we figured we’d kill some birds with some stones over here. 

LH Obviously your previous shows here have demonstrated what a huge fan base you’re building in UK, so how was it playing to newer audiences in Europe who had probably never seen you before ? 
JD It was a good time it really was! We had some difficulties getting over here on our end of things, it was a long trip straight out of CRS (country radio seminar) and coming across the pond but it was awesome. I remember I was inhuman in Berlin, just up there like a machine going at it, both of those shows we got them going and singing with us. When we hit Rotterdam (like Berlin it was a beautiful room, just floor, middle tier and top tier) the audience were quiet, very respectful and in between songs they’d applaud, and the whole time up on stage I was thinking “how can I pull you in further? How can I get more out of you?”. There’s a ceiling you hit cos you’re up there with your guitar but the whole time I had on my mind what we’d just done. By the time we hit half way through the set they were rocking! 

LH I think here in UK we used to be a bit more reserved like that but apart from writers rounds where we’re still very respectful we are now much livelier and energised at gigs!
JD Yeah, those rounds are a whole different thing, you can hear a pin drop, but shows we played on this island like at The Garage and Oran Mor were so awesome! I love the crowds over here. I’ve seen so many die hard fans over here and it just warms my heart, you’re literally making me and my band’s dreams come true. 

LH And of course you’re taking time out from your “Head Full Of Noise” tour back home to be here. Have you any highlights of that tour so far, or maybe amusing anecdotes? 
JD So we left January 11th, and (laughs) I was out for three weeks straight just on the bus, it was all out West (Denver, Deadwood, Great Falls, Boseman). In January ….
LH Ha who comes up with these schedules…
JD Ultimately it’s me who approves them! I think “what will nobody else do ….!!” So there was me and my dog for three weeks on the bus, the boys flying in and out like they do, and in the middle of it we shot three days of content in Livingstone, Montana, along the Yellowstone River …… in negative 30! 
(LH aside …. if that’s -30F then it converts to -34C!). We shot five music videos for this next record and it’s the coldest I’d ever been! I’d been to negative 10 on the East Coast, that’s cold, but we were exposed to just ridiculous elements . 
LH We’ll bear that in mind when we see them, I guess you couldn’t wrap up in a duvet when shooting!
JD So I was standing there in a wife-beater (LH aside: that’s a vest top!) and a long leather jacket, jeans and boots and everyone else looks like they’re going on an Arctic expedition! That was crazy, so the first 30 weeks I was just drained. 

LH Aside: Jackson then went on to tell how, at the end of that three weeks and along with another member of his team whose name I can’t decipher , they gave a shout out at a couple of places for anyone who wanted at tattoo ….“ and we tatted 40-45 people …. venue staff, people round the corner in the cafe, we’ve been having some fun” he told me! And of course as most of you know, Jackson ended up “tequila tipsy” tattooing our own Bob Harris at C2C! Maybe I’ll roll up my sleeve at our next interview!

Anyway, to continue regarding the tour itself….

JD The show itself is so elevated, I hired a lighting guy called Don and it’s such a step up. A lot of the songs are so tight and articulated and there’s so many moments we have during the songs and having that amplified like that has been so, so great. The set is banging, there’s just so much energy the whole time . We’re playing 90s, a full on headline set , and having a ball. We have two more weeks of that when we get back. 

LH It’s such a full on schedule, do you need to take extra care in particular when it comes to looking after yourself, particularly your voice?

JD Yes I do! When you sing in winter time it’s so difficult because your body doesn’t resonate like it should, everything’s cold and shuts down. Even a 30 minute set when I was on the winter radio tour I’d feel “Good God, man”. Singing in the winter is not fun! We’ve had a couple of four day runs, and four days of my headline set is a lot! But I’ve walked away from that feeling a lot better than I thought I would. Which makes me feel good. 

LH. So you mentioned that you’ve been shooting videos for your new music, does that mean the next album is nearing completion now? You told me when we last spoke how it’s a big body of work with lots of different vibes…

JD Yes. I have all the pre-masters …

LH So all the tracks are decided? 

JD There’s going to be about two or three that don’t make it, that didn’t shape out like we thought, but you look at that and go “well there’s some songs for record three”. We have so many songs that I’ve already started pushing off to the side for that. This album is a very big labour of passion. The songs are so fun, and it’s going to be really awesome to thread the needle through all these and be like “ these are all the things that live inside of me”! And not only me. A lot of “Greenbroke“ was a lot of my, ( pauses) how do I say this, a lot of what I saw growing up, and sure a lot of those things also live inside of you but these are little, particular things that make me. I’m really excited for you to hear it.

LH And so are you and the band (Sean, Brandon and Rich) still managing to write even though you’re so busy? 

JD It happens in soundcheck! We all grew up playing in my garage, we’ve talked about this I’m sure, I looked it up on a map the other day and it says “1325 Music”, that’s my house! That’s where our sound was developed by jamming with each other at great length . No words, just flow. And lately that happens in soundcheck. We cut let’s see, three songs on this record that’s the four of us. So that’s a big deal for us, it doesn’t happen usually. I’ve been talking to them about that a lot lately. We need to get back to that, we’ll have time to do that in the next year I hope. 

LH And you’ll come over here to tour the album?

JD Absolutely! I want to be coming back here for a very long time. 

LH And we want you too! 

Enjoy the rest of the year…..you’re out on the road with Lainey I see which should be a blast! 

Thanks again for your time. 

Further artist information can be found athttps://www.jacksondeanmusic.com/