Mike Rimmer met up with JAKE SMITH, a singer who fuses R&B, pop and rock

Jake Smith

Anyone who has heard the 'Real' album by Jake Smith (released in the UK by Fierce! Distribution) will know that this talented singer has more than a few musical strings to his bow. When reviewing his powerful debut for Cross Rhythms Lins Honeyman wrote, ". . .there is a healthy mix of styles on show here. The punchy opener "Get Up" features some gentle hip-hop whilst "Breakdown" and "Shady" are great rock songs in the same vein as the likes of Coldplay and Manic Street Preachers respectively. Elsewhere, Smith revels in the laid back funk of "What I Plan To Do" which features some fine Ray Charles-styled electric piano from Jared Morvant whilst "Real Love" is a slow burning blues number that will no doubt have been influenced by the wash of musical styles. . ."

As well as music, Jake is also passionate about his hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Jake was away at college in Baton Rouge when Hurricane Katrina struck. But that didn't mean he wasn't affected by the devastation. His sister lived by the levee break and her house was submerged by 13 feet of water. Still, after the event he's reflective about the situation. "I think it helps to put depth and a realness to our talk or our relationship with God. I think it's so easy for us to be like, 'God's in control! And I trust that because everything's good!' You know? But this was one of those things that really shook me. I remember it happened and it was like, 'This is crazy!' Floods, way of life changed, people not having food; it was really a devastating thing. I didn't know what was going on and I was praying. Leading up to Katrina I had some other bad things happen in my life and so I was just, 'God, please! I can't go anywhere else but you!' I mean, who can you trust? You can't find trust in the news or the weatherman, you can't find it in the government or the police or anything like that, but you can find it in a God who created all these things. And to me it just showed that a hurricane did not just jump on God's map and catch him off guard. As much as it did for us, he knew, and he could see the lives of people changing even because of it."

Smith isn't alone in facing difficult things in life, it happens to a lot of us and sometimes we can pray and God changes the situation. Then there are other things, where you pray and God doesn't change the situation, he changes us. So when it comes to the aftermath of Katrina, Smith is clear where he stands. "He definitely changed me," he says simply. "And you don't want something like Katrina to happen, you'd rather him change you without that happening but God knows my heart. After it happened, I discovered fears that I didn't even know were there. I had fears of the uncertain, fears of the future and they were there and he pulled them out and said, 'Hey, I got you.'"

As if the affects of Katrina on his family weren't enough, the Smith clan were already facing enough life challenges. Both of his parents were diagnosed with cancer within a week of each other. "It was really crazy," remembers Jake. "I came home and my father was like, 'I went to get my check-up and they think I have cancer.' And sure enough, they found out he had cancer. My mom had cancer when I was born, that's how they found the cancer; she had breast cancer. She was there with my dad and she was like, 'God's in control. We made it through this before. You're gonna be great! We're praying for you!'"

He continues, "And then all of a sudden, a week later, she went back in and found out she had cancer again! So all these things are happening, you know? And it wasn't little things, it was a hurricane and it was cancer in both my parents. So I think God was just working; he was working on the family that I might have put above him, and he was working on material possessions - houses, things we become accustomed to. He usually spreads those things out but for some reason he hit 'em all really quick! He said, 'I'm gonna go ahead and let's knock this out now!' I mean, he's never done working until it's complete. But that was just crazy, that just was shaking me up, all these punches, all these hits were just getting me. And I can't tell you that during the middle of it that I was just focussed and I knew God was gonna take care of it. I KNEW that, BUT, I was freakin' out, you know?"

I observe that there's a thing about trusting God where it's one of those "hurry up and wait" situations. Sometimes we want to trust but there isn't actually anything we can do to change circumstances so it is quite a hard concept isn't it? "It's very tough," agrees Smith, "The thing about trusting God is, it's easy to trust him in the things that you'll give to him or that you're okay with, saying 'I'll trust in him.' But I, I have a fear of flying, I'm scared to death of flying and I have a hard time trusting in him that he can keep a plane in the air. That's honest. It's the same thing with these storms, they're big things, or cancer; it's a hard concept to really live out when you're in the midst of it."

The good news is that a couple of years on, both of Smith's parents are in the clear. He smiles, "They're both great, man. That's what I'm saying; a year later, after all this stuff happened I was sitting on my couch thinking about how a year before, I was devastated and it was stormy outside and power lines were down and floods and all this stuff, and a year later I looked out at the same sky and it was beautiful, and it was clear. And I was thinking about what I wanted to do that weekend and I was thinking: God was there the whole time getting me to that point. So I can't imagine going through that without him. Yet so many people do."

Jake Smith's parents are Christians so he was raised in the faith. He remembers, "At times I didn't want to go to church but they would make me. That's the truth. They would say, 'We're going! Let's go! You're gonna come.' I think parents need to push their kids in that direction. I'm so thankful for that start, not everybody gets to do that and I understand I have great parents! I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and they were just straightforward but very dry to be honest! So I started branching out in college. I think it was opening my eyes. I think God's been doing this new thing in my life and teaching me to just focus on him, and that stems even from the hurricane and from the cancer. It's a case of, 'Right here, focus on me. Church is necessary. You need church. But focus on me, even over the preacher. Focus on me.' And that was tough being in a Southern Baptist church and what the people do and what your parents say to do, or what the staff or the deacons or the pastor do, that's what you're supposed to do growing up. So I think it was eye-opening; you have to decipher, 'Is this really right even though this is how it's always been done?' I know that's like a popular concept these days but I think it's just God moving in different people. I think the Bible and what it says is what you hold on to, I mean you don't go away from that but I think that God teaches us freedom as an individual."

So did he get into playing music at college? "I kind of frittered around at the end of high school on the acoustic guitar," he admits. "It was like G, C and D, barely. I wasn't even good at that! And when I got into college I was forced into this role because I had started this rumour about how I wanted to do music and that I was doing music so everybody kind of had this buzz but I had never done anything!" He laughs, "I'd never gotten on stage, nothing! So there was an opportunity that came; a guy was sick and they wanted me to fill in, and I was scared but a friend pushed me up and he said, 'No, you do it!' And I haven't looked back since."

So what is he carrying as an artist that he wants to communicate with his audience? Explains Jake, "It's summed up in the album's title, 'Real'. I wanted to show people I guess the ups and downs even of this journey. I'm not always smiles, I'm not. From all these bad things that have happened in my life it could have been a very sad CD, it could have been a very depressing CD. But the realness of my relationship with God - how he was in the midst of the downs just as he is in the ups - made this CD what it is. It made it enjoyable or just a fun-driving-your-car type thing. It has some deep tracks in it that mean a lot to me but I want people to see that this is something that's real, it's not a faze. It's not 'church to hang out with my friends'; this is as real a part of my life as anything has ever been."

So is Jake simply writing songs about how his faith is worked out in real life? "Right," Smith agrees. "We play in a lot of secular venues; we play in a lot of clubs and bars, and we are who we are. We don't change our message. People see a person and all I can do is show them how God has moved or has changed my life. He HAS changed my life and I can't get somebody always to believe what I believe by just what I say but I can show them; 'This is what I've been through and this is how God has brought me through it.' That's real, you know? It's really happened and you can see it. So that's what I want to be about."