Many Memphians who loved the now defunct Dead Soldiers did so because of their eclecticism. What band more freely mixed their Americana leanings with art rock and a cinematic sweep? And yet, hearing the Dead Soldiers’ front man, Michael Jasud, tell it, the sounds in his head during that band’s heyday were even more eclectic than what we heard.
Exhibit A in that claim was Detective No. 1, Jasud’s foray into instrumental film music in search of a film (read Jesse Davis’ 2019 write up on that album here). Now he’s scratching that eclectic itch with another group and batch of recordings, under the name The Smartest Man in the World. They’re playing The Green Room at Crosstown Arts tonight, July 15, at 7:30 p.m.
I gave Michael a ring to hear a bit more about this latest musical journey, already boasting a handful of singles and with an album due in the near future.
Memphis Flyer: You’ve shown a lot of stylistic versatility in your musical projects. Where does that come from?
Michael Jasud: I’ve always wanted to do everything that I was inspired by, you know? Years and years ago I was into metal, then I got into country and singer/songwriting. And then I got really into movie soundtracks and weird, atmospheric instrumental music. I’m working on an electronic music project right now that I’m going to put out soon under some sort of different title. I think I’ve been on this quest to create the context for me to do whatever I want to at any moment — giving myself a vehicle to create and switch gears, depending on what I’m feeling at the moment. So for The Smartest Man in the World, I’d just been in Dead Soldiers forever. I’d been doing Americana, and I wanted the opportunity to write in a way that reflects all these other influences I have that don’t have an outlet. I had to make a new project to do that with.
So is this kind of a catch-all?
No, it’s more a vehicle for my more conventional pop songwriting, as opposed to pulling more from Americana or classic American influences. This stuff pulls from anything from, let’s say, David Bowie to Nine Inch Nails to the Beach Boys. I had all these influences floating around my head, and I wanted the opportunity to write freely as a postmodern millennial dude who grew up listening to everything. I wanted to have some place, identity-wise, that allows you to go, ‘Yeah, this is the weird David Bowie/Nine Inch Nails mash-up that I’ve always wanted to do!’
I feel like, if you have a vision for something, the only way to show people what you’re trying to do is to do it. If you explain an idea to somebody, they’ll say, ‘That’s never going to work,’ but if you just do it, it might. So this is a project where I had more freedom to do that.
I made this record with Toby Vest over maybe three years, just getting together over and over again. He was super supportive in setting up this auxiliary studio in our rehearsal space at the time. And it was really one of my biggest growth periods as a musician, because I was able to get out of my comfort zone, over and over again. Toby would encourage me to do that. Like encouraging me to play lead guitar more. And except for a couple tracks that Jake Vest played on, I ended up doing all the guitars on the record.
And I got to work with Rick Steff a lot, which was intimidating, because Rick is such a wizard, but he’s also a really big-hearted guy in terms of approaching the material. There’s always insecurity in being a songwriter, so it’s hugely confidence-inspiring when really talented musicians buy into your vision. So spiritually, being surrounded by great musicians like Pete [Matthews], Toby, Rick, Shawn Zorn, and Landon Moore really gave me a place as a songwriter to feel like, ‘Okay, these guys are willing to hang with me.’
These guys are badasses. If they’re going to give me the time of day, then that’s all I need to feel like it’s worthwhile. I get to play music with these guys! What a gift.
So that recording project led to this show at the Green Room? And an album will eventually come out under the name The Smartest Man in the World?
Yeah. I have four singles that I’ve put out, from that recording period. And lately, I’ve focused on finding the right people to bring this project to life as a live group. And part of that is finding a sense of collaboration in that band. I don’t love the idea of being The Guy. It’s a little too much. I don’t want to make every choice. And it took a long time to put together a lineup of people and then for us to figure out how to play this record as a live band, with totally different arrangements.
You can do all kinds of things in the studio that are really hard to do in real life. So we got into the rehearsal space, and Krista Wroten, who played strings on the record, helped me rearrange the songs for this group of people. And when you’re collaborating, things happen the way they happen, and the gift of that is a surprise. The surprise that came from this was — initially I wanted to have a solo songwriting project so no one would tell me no. And what I found was, I miss having someone say ‘No!’ or ‘Maybe this would work.’ That feeling of camaraderie and friendship, that feeling that comes from throwing ideas back and forth. I missed that. And now I’ve found a group of people I like collaborating with. And we’ve figured out a thing that we do well together. So I’m really excited, moving forward, to write new music and just find a place to exist creatively that doesn’t give a shit about anything.
I feel so uninspired by trying to make a career as a musician that never panned out. Now it looks almost impossible for anybody to do it! I tell young people, ‘Don’t think that these people getting millions of streams on Spotify are necessarily cashing checks for their music.’ Maybe they’re on the road, but even that’s getting harder to do. So many venues have closed. People are spending less money. Unfortunately, the streaming landscape has devalued music. Where is the financial structure to give musicians a platform to invest time in becoming great? There used to be a middle ground. Someone would give you money to make a record. Personally, I had to get to a point where I didn’t care about social networking, or even performing, if it’s not going to be fun or creatively satisfying.
I’d like to re-imagine what support for live music means as a community. There’s a cultural poverty which leads to people fighting over scraps in this town. It can be super petty and embarrassing to experience. I’m more interested in how we can make art as a community. I see people in the Black arts community doing that way better than in the thirtysomething white music community.
What will the band Friday night look like?
We lucked out, because the Green Room has a budget for string players. So we have a string trio from Blueshift Ensemble, two horn players, two synth players, bass, guitar, drums, and a backup vocalist. And we’re going to do this big, eclectic thing. For me, there’s always a big Brian Wilson influence happening in my brain. In terms of that kind of eccentric, furious approach to pop music and arrangements. Luckily I have Krista for writing out the scores. But a lot of times, I think of producing and arranging more as casting. Once you’ve got an actor in a role, you have some aspects of what that character is locked in. If you have a great horn player, you can describe the vibe you’re going for, and they do something cool on their own. I believe everybody has an original voice inside of them, whether they find it or not. So I encourage people in my band to speak in their own voice.
