The American Prince Of Style And Musical Fluidity In Rock De’Wayne On New Album ‘June’
‘I genuinely felt like I won Warped Tour, you know what I mean?’
The American prince of style and musical fluidity in rock, De’Wayne, discusses a landmark moment on the recent Warped Tour and his own career trajectory.
‘They put me on some side stage. We weren’t one of the bigger acts there from whatever they think was the right thing to do. People showed up and really loved what I was doing and I was nervous, bro, to be honest with you. I knew before I’m going to freak these people out, not only because of my outfit, but just because of the type of rock music that I make. It turned out so beautiful, I could feel that they were holding on to all that I was doing, which is a special place for an artist to reach when you’re on stage. I love the fact that they posted the clip and people were talking good and people were talking bad. I wanted to get into this space to push it forward and I feel like I’m one of the up and coming artists that are doing that, and that’s such a blessing. It feels incredible!’
De’Wayne Jackson, recently dropped a contender for rock album of the year with his ode to ‘June’ and all that she symbolises. Yet, when I say rock, it could be funk. There’s some disco too mixed it. An album inspired by other genre benders such as Kravitz, Prince, Bowie, Sly & The Family Stone is all mixed with his own upbringing in southern gospel church, and the soul that brings. It’s an album of celebration and it’s glorious,
‘Shout out to my mom and my dad. I was born in Houston, Texas and I grew up with eight brothers and sisters, and we all just loved music. Mostly coming from being inspired by the church, loving God and all those things. My mom had us dancing and singing and I think I led my first song in the choir at eight and I got the bug immediately after that. Being in Texas, I was like, okay, I’m going to go to LA and make my dreams happen. So around nineteen I came here and that’s when I found rock music and I have been on the journey to become a great musician and a great artist, I really want to be one of the greatest of all time in this space.’
Which brings us to his LA chapter. The undeniable belief is his own ability did create a buzz, and music was released, however it’s with June a left field hit of styles, that has De’Wayne in his musical pocket.
‘It felt like the first time where I had direction, I had vision and I knew exactly what I wanted to say. I knew the sonic landscape that I wanted to live in and I felt that it was something missing in the space. People are kind of looking for that nostalgia mixed with that modern thing and I feel really proud of it, man. It’s like I’m super blessed to be able to have my hero as a friend now, in Lenny Kravitz, and he said, ‘bro, right when I heard the album this is something that I was looking fo,r someone who can mix that modern thing mixed with the old school thing.’ I think Yungblood is doing a really great job of it at this time. Me using my voice and that being a black voice too, is another kind of perspective on it. I’m just proud bro of what we’re doing and I’m proud of this album.’
For a young black man breaking into the cut-throat musical world in the US, and in the predominantly white world of rock, having someone such as Lenny Kravitz, whose own brand of musical fluidity burst onto worldwide stardom in the early nineties and never let go, on your side is a powerful boost.
‘I put out my first single ‘Highway Robbery’ and I had a friend post it, then Lenny followed me and I immediately hit him in the dms and was like, ‘yo, br!’ I know closed mouth don’t get fed! Literally such a hero of mine. We got on the phone maybe a month later and he was like, this is what I’ve been looking for, this modern and vintage thing. You’re going to be a fucking star. Let’s make music. I want to help you out and mentor you, and the past three months I’ve got to go to The Bahamas and work with him.’
‘He just saw me, you know what I mean? I think there are a lot of white artists who get big help, we see all these tours get announced and they’re just like, let me take the young homies up! I love it and it’s beautiful, but to be seen by someone that looks like you, who is one of the greatest rock and roll artists of all time when there’s a million of us young homies like ‘Lenny, Lenny, Lenny!’ He called me about the Warped Tour. It was like, ‘this is the fucking badass thing I’ve seen since Prince ‘Dirty Mind.’ I’m doing exactly what I need to be doing, I feel extremely seen by him and it definitely helps the battery in my back for it to be like, if my hero digs what I’m doing, the world will eventually get behind this and see that. I want to be the chocolate Lenny Kravitz of this generation as a little joke, but also to be very serious.’
Seems Lenny Kravitz and I share the same opinion that this album and artist is filling a void of epic, fun music fit for any scenario. The fact that De’Wayne doesn’t hide his influences is also refreshing in a world of hiding behind masks. De’Wayne is entirely the opposite.
‘I’ve got big dreams and aspirations. I know it takes a lot of work too to make something so good and to have it be a melting pot of all the inspirations over the past sixty, fifty years. But why not me? Why can’t I do it? I think Bowie did it exceptionally well. I think Earth, Wind and Fire did it really well. Of course Lenny and Prince did it really well and I wanted to throw my hat into the vibe man. I’m really thankful for my producers and for my life experience up to this point that I was self-aware enough to understand what I was doing and we got some great songs out of it.’
‘We need a new sound though. I was so done with playing what I was playing, the old music that I had made. This is my first kind of mature step into the industry and I feel like this is De’Wayne exactly. This is the way that I speak to my friends, my team and the close people in my life about love, spirituality and God, sex, all those things wrapped into one and the surrendering of how to be a good person and how to be a good partner, all those things. It feels like De’Wayne and I really love that.’
The album is a fluid combination of styles and the man’s own dress sense is equally fluid, almost theatrical, which matches and merges beautifully together to create this cacophony of noise and colour.
‘It’s so liberating. I feel especially in the rock space, people are a bit rigid and one thing works for them and I get why it works for them. Somebody can appear that doesn’t look like me in whatever they say and dress and sing about. People are just like, yeah, totally. I’m like, if I’m going to be here, I want to do it exactly my way. I like to live in both worlds and I think the people closest to me know that’s my true self. I like to get on stage and dance. I like to freak people out. I like to freak myself out. I freak myself out by making a record this good because I hadn’t done it before. I’m glad that you said you see it as fluid and theatrical. Yeah, that’s the truest version of myself.’
The truest version of himself is a collection of eleven tracks under the banner of June. While one song is about De’Wayne’s childhood relationship with his Father, Sundays, the rest are firmly in the world of June.
‘The character is called June. She’s someone that I do a lot of medicine work with and she’s someone that I was dreaming about the past two years. What I really see in ‘June’ is a combination of all the beautiful, extraordinary women that I’ve had in my life. I always grew up with a lot of women, aunties, my mother, my grandmothers and cousins and all that. I’ve always praised them and appreciated their impact on me a little bit more than men. Growing up, I was always just a bit more emotional, a bit more vulnerable, a bit more in touch with my feelings. So, I gravitated towards women a little bit more outside of wanting to get married and all those things which I want to do and have a baby and all that. The June character to me is just like God. So, the whole album, I’m just at her feet praising and worshipping her and surrendering to her. It’s my vibe putting out the album, if any women like this, I can be a really good partner! It is kind of like a love note that I’m sending out into the universe, but more specifically, it’s me just kind of bowing and praising the women in my life and seeing a woman as God.’
Interview By Iain McCallum
JUNE (ALBUM) – OUT NOW
https://found.ee/dewayne-june
