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Esjay Jones

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Behind The Board: Producer/Songwriter Esjay Jones On Connecting Emotionally & Making "Imperfectly Perfect" Records

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Jones reveals how her musical interests led her behind-the-scenes, why she keeps going back to listen to certain records and what she feels is the most important job of a songwriter and producer
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Mar 9, 2020 - 1:00 pm

For those who make a life of working in music, a career can take many twists and turns toward bulding a sharp skillset and finding a deeper truth. Meet Esjay Jones, South African-born, Southern California-based producer, songwriter and engineer who has worked with a wide variety of artists including Nile Rodgers, Sean Kingston, Krewella, Brandy and, most recently, a project to re-imagine and enhance several of the original songs by Grey Daze, the band of the late GRAMMY winner Chester Bennington before he joined Linkin Park.

Behind The Board: Esjay Jones

The winding road Jones has walked in music started young. Jones recalls her ballet teacher pulling her parents aside to tell them she might want to recosider a dancing career. Grateful for the shift, she took an internship at Northwind Recording and found her way into a fairly successful music career in South Africa as an artist. 

"As time went on, I just fell more in love with what happens behind the scenes," said Jones. "Understanding the psyche behind an artist, having come from that world, it's allowed me to really have this intimate and emotional connection with people who are precious about their songs and not sure if they want to bring someone else in. And it has allowed me to be really transparent in the curation and creation of songs."

Jones also reveals why she goes back to the same records over and over, name-checking seminal albums by Deftones and Incubus as prime examples. To Jones, it's because they are "imperfectly perfect."

"I would much rather capture those imperfect moments and figure out how to work them into the production," she said, "because I feel that is what a listener is listening for. It's that emotional connection making [the listener] go, 'Oh, that person I'm such a big fan of, they're human, too!'"

Learn more about Jones journey Behind The Board in the latest installment of the series above, and stay tuned for more episodes each week here on GRAMMY.com.

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Behind The Board: Tracy Young Breaks Down How She Approaches A Remix

GRAMMYs

Shooter Jennings

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Behind The Board: Shooter Jennings On Growing Up In Music, His Dad's Best Advice & Producing Great Records

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The GRAMMY-winning producer, who has recently made albums with the likes of Brandi Carlile, Tanya Tucker and Marilyn Manson, takes on his journey Behind The Board
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 4, 2020 - 12:58 pm

GRAMMY-winning producer Shooter Jennings hit the ground running, born into a family of musical royalty with parents Jessi Colter and Waylon Jennings. And Shooter has taken what he learned from those early experiences and turned them into a spectacular career as a producer. In the latest episode of Behind The Board, we learn more about his journey and how he's never done learning from the artists he works with in the studio.

Behind The Board: Shooter Jennings

"I learn from every record that I do. I'm very fortunate because I'm getting all this knowledge from other creative people that serves me in other areas, and I love that," he said. "I'm really respectful of the fact that they take me into their band. Getting to jump in and get in the mix is addictive. It's really fun. It's kinda like going on a date, a first date where you really like the girl [laughs]."

Shooter talked about learning from his experiences growing up on the road and in the studio and how it's led him to a life of learning from the artists he works with, each one offering something different to teach him.

"All the records that I've worked on this year have had their own special experiences," he said. Shooter produced Brandi Carlile's By The Way, I Forgive You album followed by Tanya Tucker's Whille I'm Livin', both of which earned GRAMMY Awards. Most recently, Shooter has gone back to his hard rock roots, producing the latest album by 4-time GRAMMY nominee Marilyn Manson, a project that had a huge impact on his career and life.

"The Marilyn Manson record was hands down the most big journey I've ever been on," he said. "It's really this poetic journey with him, and it's like this wheel of chaos that has been spinning for a year and a half of my life that I love. My life is completely different because of that record." 

In the video above, Jennings also discusses what makes a perfect record and reveals the best advice his father ever gave him.

"My dad said to me when I was younger, 'Don't ever try to be like anyone else, because you're never gonna be,'" Shooter shared. "It took a long time for me to really get that, you know. But, that to me has always stood the test of time."

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Behind The Board: Catch Up With Afrobeats Hitmaker Kel P In Nigera To Talk Music Production

GRAMMYs

Bon Iver At All Points East 2019

Photo: Gus Stewart/Redferns/Getty Images

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All Points East Festival Launches "Ten Days Of All Points East" Content Hub

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Online programming includes new performances, archived live sets, yoga, films, educational resources and more...
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 22, 2020 - 12:34 pm

London's All Points East Festival was supposed to start today, May 22. Of course, like all other major festivals, it has been affected by the coronavirus crisis and was forced to cancel. But the festival has announced a new content hub in its place, "Ten Days Of All Points East." 

The 10-day online experience will feature new performances, archive gigs and tributes for an array of All Points East artists, including Kraftwerk, Nenneh Cherry, Johnny Marr, John Grant, IDLES and more, as well as free yoga sessions, education resources, and more. 

“Today would have marked the start of All Points East 2020 and in celebration of our talented, vibrant, diverse and extraordinary artists and collaborators we will be showcasing the hidden corners of our festival over the next ten days,” festival organizers said in a statement. “Please come together and enjoy a treasure trove of experiences. We will be sharing it all on this page so keep checking for new content. Each day starting from today. Love to all.”

To get "Ten Days Of All Points East" started, catch Jehnny Beth is playing an exclusive gig from her home in France plus Anna Calvi‘s 2018 All Points East performance. There will also be a special screening of the film WHITE RIOT, which documents the London protest movement Rock Against Racism.

For more information and to enjoy the online experience, visit the "Ten Days Of All Points East" hub here. 

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ASCAP Announces ASCAP Experience: Home Edition Virtual Conference: Shaggy, Whitney Phillips, Gian Stone, Priscilla Renea And More Confirmed

 

 

 

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Guns N' Roses

Photo: Paul Rovere/Getty Images

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Guns N' Roses Reschedule North American Tour Due To Coronavirus

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The run of dates scheduled to kick-off July 4 has now been pushed back
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 21, 2020 - 11:41 am

Guns N' Roses are the latest big-time music act to be forced to change their summer plans, announcing they have rescheduled their North American tour. The string of dates was set to begin July 4 in Milwaukee, Wis., at Summerfest.

GN'R has also cancelled their 2020 European tour, which was set to begin May 22 in Lisbon, Portugal. 

"Thank you for your understanding during this time as we look forward to coming back together very soon,” the band wrote in a post.

The Not In This Lifetime Tour, which Guns N' Roses launched in 2016, has become the No. 3 highest-grossing tour in history according to Billboard Boxscore.

Fans can pick up a special edition t-shirt from the band's merch store with 100 percent proceeds from sales going to benefit the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund.

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Why Music May Be More Important Now Than Ever Before

GRAMMYs

Misha Kachkachishvili

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Behind The Board: Esplanade Studios Owner & Lead Engineer Misha Kachkachishvili On Capturing The Magic

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The producer/engineer dishes on how he learned to be a producer, creating Esplanade, where the real magic heard on a record comes from and more
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
May 18, 2020 - 5:01 pm

Producer/engineer Misha Kachkachishvili has a pretty cool office. As studio owner and lead engineer of Esplanade Studios in New Orleans, Kachkachishvili has created one of the most inspiring locations to record found anywhere on earth. In the latest edition of Behind The Board, he talked about how it came together, his path to becoming a studio professional, and where the magic of a great record comes from. 

Behind The Board: Misha Kachkachishvili

Kachkachishvili got a jump start on a life in the studio, starting music school at just 5 years old. Later he became a defacto producer and honed his ears and his chops by helping friends make music in any genre you can throw at him.

"I ended up producing Irish records that I didn't know much about, so it was kind of a learning curve." he rememberd. "What I learned is how to make any record regardless of genre."

As his career progressed, he was often working with Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and found himself looking for a place to record them. After hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, he found the abandoned building that now houses Esplanade. Kachkachishvili was blown away by the vibe and the acoustics of the big room, and Esplanade Studios was born. The world-class studio is known for it's spacious control room and glorious live room.

"The control room that used to be a choir loft. this is a 1,700 square-foot control room." he told us. "Originally I was going to partition a little differently, but because of the stained glass, I decided to keep it big and open. So that makes the space [and] the control room unique to me."

With such an awe-inspiring space to create in, you might think Kachkachishvili relies on Esplanade's hallowed walls to provide the creative energy for the records he makes. Not so...

"Everybody thinks the studio is the solution for everything. No, the magic doesn't hapen here," he said. "The magic happens on the writing side of it. Just writing the great song and delivering the song, delivering the emotion, the message. That is the most important thing. Our job is to amplify that and just make sure whatever the artist brings to us, we do justice to it."

Find out more about Kachkachishvili's path and Esplanade's history in the latest edition of Behind The Board above.

Behind The Board: Manny Marroquin On Mixing, Balancing Confidence With Humility, 'The College Dropout' & More