“It was a happy accident the way it all happened… it was unbelievable,” says Jackyl vocalist Jesse James Dupree, talking about his new solo album, Breathing Fire, due out November 10th. Breathing Fire will be preceded by the lead-off single “Never Gets Old”, a song co-written with AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, set for release on September 15th. A brief snippet of “Never Gets Old” can be heard below.
This isn’t the first time Jesse James Dupree and Brian Johnson have worked together. The pair collaborated on “Locked & Loaded” from Jackyl’s 1997 album, Cut The Crap, as well as “Kill The Sunshine” from Jackyl’s 2002 album, Relentless. Speaking exclusively to BraveWords scribe Aaron Small, Jesse James Dupree reveals the surprising origin of his new solo material.
“I’m humbled to have written it with Brian Johnson of AC/DC,” begins Jesse. “As a matter of fact, I’ve got a few things on this new record that he and I wrote together. It’s a great story! My wife had a birthday, so I took her down to Destin, Florida. She was having a spa treatment, and while she was in the spa, I damn listened to some old AC/DC records – Highway To Hell and High Voltage, Back In Black. I’m just sitting there listening to those damn records, killing time. To be honest with you, when was the last time I ever listened to the whole album? I get so caught up in all the other business and stuff. I actually listened to High Voltage twice. So, the next day I woke up and I had this damn song in my head. I’m going, damn, what album’s that off of? I spent the whole day going back to them records trying to find that damn song; cause I could hear it, but I couldn’t remember the words. I got back home from that little vacation, picked up my guitar; got a little mini-Marshall at the end of the couch. I’ve got that cranked up. I’ve got my cell phone on video beside me recording a bunch of these different ideas that were coming to me. I go, ‘Hell, I guess I’m just inspired. Cause it ain’t none of these songs on those records. I can’t find ‘em.’”
“Anyway, I’m sitting there messing with them, and I swear, like clockwork, the door opens up and my son, Nigel, who’s a bad-ass drummer; he’s been out with Tuk Smith And The Restless Hearts. He’s on that record that Marti Frederiksen did on Virgin. He comes walking in the door and I said, ‘What are you doing home?’ Cause he lives in Nashville. He said, ‘I’m going down to see my Mom for a few days. I thought I’d stop here and see you for a bit. I said, ‘Well hell, go lace them drums up.’ So, he went up in the studio and laced the drums up. I called Roman (Glick, bassist for Jackyl) and said, ‘Roman, get over here!’ So, Roman came over, and I got up in the studio. Jeff Tomei, who’s my engineer, and my partner in the studio. He did Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream record, Matchbox 20’s first two albums, Jerry Cantrell. So, I went upstairs, and Jeff was in there. I started moving microphones around and Jeff’s going, ‘Woah, woah, what are you doing?’ Cause he had all the shit mic-ed up. I said, ‘No, we ain’t going to do it that way. We’re going to do it like they used to do it in the ‘70s.’ And I god-damn put these old microphones on the outside of the kick drum. I moved all this shit around, and he was going, ‘Oh shit!’ I didn’t mess with EQs on the board, I just moved the microphones around until it sounded good. Then I just started playing!”
“Nigel’s sitting there with his sticks in his hand, Roman had his bass on; they didn’t have a god-damn clue,” laughs Jesse. “Next thing I know, they just god-damn kicked in! We recorded, and next thing I know, we had an album. I mean, we just laid this shit down. I’m thinking, this stuff sounds so good! Two days later, Stirling Bacon walked in when we were tracking it, and he said, ‘That sounds like vinyl.’ I said, ‘Yeah, this sounds so much like AC/DC, I don’t know if I can get away with it.’ I get compared to Brian Johnson a lot anyway. I hadn’t talked to Brian in about seven months. Brian’s got that book (The Lives Of Brian) that came out about his life. He was doing a book tour, and then AC/DC’s doing that festival (Power Trip) in California. So, I wasn’t going to be that guy and call him. He had called me about seven months ago wanting me to go to dinner with him. He was in Atlanta, but I was out on tour. So, I didn’t get a chance to have dinner with him, and I was bummed out about it. That Friday, after we laid that shit down – after seven months – the damn phone rang. ‘Jesse, how you doing me son?’ ‘Hey Brian, what’s up man?’ He goes, ‘I’m drinking some of your whiskey.’ Then he introduced me to a buddy of his who was there, and we talked about whiskey, caught up on stuff. I said, ‘Look, I wasn’t going to be that guy and call you. But I’ve got these damn songs, you’ve got to help me write ‘em.’ He said, ‘Send ‘em down here. I’ve got a whole notebook.’”
“So, I sent him down the songs. Next thing I know he’s calling, sending me emails; like a teenager. He could not get more excited about it. We’re going back and forth and he calls me up one day. He said, ‘Do you remember what The Marines used to say?’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He started singing me this old cadence that The Marines used to say: ‘I don’t know but I’ve been told’ – that kind of thing. So, we changed it up a bit. The drums kick in and he goes, ‘I don’t know but I’ve been told, it never gets old singing rock and roll.’ Next thing I know, we ended up with this damn song, the single. I had Ted Jensen master it, which Ted did Back In Black and Hotel California – Stirling Sound in Nashville, they’ve done every major record ever. I get the mastered copy to Brian, and he replies back, ‘Brilliant Jesse. It sounds mean and angry – the perfect recipe for rock and roll. I’m sending you the very best of luck for this new record. Let’s get some rock on the radio, bonnie lad. I’m off to L.A. to rehearse, wish me luck.’”
“The other cool thing is, I did a lyric video (for ‘Never Gets Old’). In the lyric video, I used fonts that look like all the legendary bands’ fonts that we grew up with. There’s everything from Led Zeppelin to The Rolling Stones to Priest to Def Leppard. There’s all these fonts that look similar to their logos, but it’s not their logos, it’s just their fonts. There’s 32 bands that are represented, and there’s photographs back behind that will kind of give you a clue. And I’m going to do a thing where you hit a QR code on the video, and you can enter to see if you can guess all 32 bands. Out of everybody that enters, they’ll have a chance to win, I’m going to give a trip away. And if I pick your name, and you win the trip, I’m going to look at your list of songs, and if you’ve got the songs right, I’ll give you $1,000 bonus prize.”
Pre-add / pre-save “Never Gets Old” now at this location.
Catch Jackyl live in concert at the following shows:
September
16 - Bonnie & Clyde's Gangster Park - Harshaw, WI
23 - Bikes Blues & BBQ - Rogers, AR
October
7 - The Shed Smokehouse & Juke Joint - Maryville, TN
21 - Area 142 - Cocoa Beach, FL
November
11 - Rally Point Harley-Davidson - Columbus, GA
15 - Hobart Art Theatre - Hobart, IN
17 - Aplex Event Center - Aplena, MI
18 - The Machine Shop - Flint, MI
19 - The Intersection - Grand Rapids, MI
21 - The Blue Note - Harrison, OH
22 - The Lincoln Square Theater - Decatur, IL
23 - 8 Seconds Saloon - Indianapolis, IN
24 - Arcada Theatre - St. Charles, IL
25 - Epic Event Center - Greenbay, WI
