Right The Stars

It’s emotional pop music. That’s the easiest way to describe Rich Jacques’ outlet known as Right The Stars. He’s spun several musical plates in his past, whether touring with Chantal Kreviazuk, opening for Jason Mraz or having his own tunes garnering placements on movies like The Break-up or television shows like Men in Trees. And after giving away several songs in endless co-writing sessions, the ones left over are the most personal — thus the feeling that pervades Jacques’ self-titled full-length.

Speaking to Rich, we found a man who wrestles with the artistic decisions in front of him and hopes to come out the other side with songs that have been through the fire and simply tell the truth. Paul Simon is a hero for all of the same reasons and Rich only hopes he’s able to have a similar legacy. Los Angeles is a funny place for authenticity at times, but Rich Jacques is fighting the good fight.

SSv: You spin a lot of plates and have dipped into a lot of musical outlets, so I’m curious what role Right the Stars takes for you?

Rich Jacques: It’s one of those things where I’m not quite sure myself. It’s one of those things where it just becomes something as I go along. I produce a lot of other artists and then over the last couple of years, I’ve been compiling some songs for my own record. You’re doing it and yet you’re not sure what it is. A lot of the songs, I wonder if they even go together. Do they sound alike? I’m sure there’s got to be some thread.

I’ve been writing a lot of new material and if you’ve heard it, it moves from one end of the spectrum to the other — where it goes from hip-hop to who knows what. But there has to be some kind of thread. The form doesn’t really matter so much, it’s just what you’re infusing into the form. If you’re coming from an emotional place that resonates with people, that’s all that really matters — if you’re injecting it with some sense of life or vitality that you’re personally able to do for whatever reason and that you can express something in your own unique way.

SSv: What type of music normally resonates with you? What has to be infused into that?

Rich: Anything with a sense of honesty. For example, I love Paul Simon. I was listening to him talk about songwriting and he said that he has to find a place where he can start with one true statement. If he can find one true statement to come from — one thing where you can look and say, ‘I know that to be true’ — then from there you take off and write the rest of the song. But each song has to have that core resonance that speaks to him, rather than just saying that you want to ramp off and talk about this random thing.

SSv: Does that resonate with you? Is that quote true?

Rich: Yes, I think it is. I write with a lot of people, but I can’t finish a song unless that’s true, unless that’s there. You have to let the words come from the emotional experience that rings true. For a song like “Know That I Would,” I really lived that, so it didn’t even feel like I was writing it. It just came out. I didn’t think too much about it; those were very honest expressions that came out.

SSv: Does that affect who you produce or in today’s world, is it just about who’s willing to pay?

Rich: To be honest, before it was a little bit of both. You definitely need to feel artistically tied, but you also have to pay the bills as well. But you do get something out of everything that you work on, no matter how challenging it can be. The point is how can I take this and make it better and that’s what you get off on more than anything. Luckily, I’ve had some success with this record, so I’ve been able to afford to spend more time on this. Then when I do produce things, I can pick and choose and wonder if it’s an artist I can get behind.

Producing is a big time investment and it’s also a big emotional investment. You really have to go there and make it happen. It’s not something that I enter into lightly.

SSv: Can you define that a little further?

Rich: Sure. To make something good, you have to love it. You have to find something about it that you love and you just have to surrender to it. The only way it works is when you just set up shop and admit, ‘I don’t know what this is going to be, but I’m gonna find what makes it tick.’ Then you just dive in.

You sit there for hours and hours just letting it do its thing and you’re not controlling it but you have to give it a lot of attention. That’s the magic of it is that you’re only giving it attention. It’s going to do what it’s going to do, but you have to be willing to give it the time and attention.

SSv: How much of your time and investment can you make in Right the Stars and how much producing can you do?

Rich: Well, this year has mostly been about writing new songs for Right the Stars. I’ve also been co-writing with a lot of people, a lot of really talented people. I’ve already got 15 new songs that I really like that I think are great, but it’s just a matter of giving it attention and figuring out for myself what Right the Stars is. It’s been great to be able to just do that. I’ve written some songs where I think, ‘Okay, that’s not really me.’ Then you get to know yourself me by what it isn’t also.

SSv: I have to admit that it sounds paradoxical — that you write a song only to say that it’s not you.

Rich: [Laughs] Well, I guess I should say that it’s co-writing. When you co-write with other people and it feels like they took the lead and it’s more them than you, but at the time you can be excited about it. It’s great because it’s something different. Later you listen back and realize that it doesn’t resonate with you personally.

SSv: So ownership becomes vital to that process?

Rich: Well, especially if they are songs that you’re going to have to perform live. You have you feel somewhat personal. You have to be able to believably sing something and not have it be just a put-on.

SSv: You have a really interesting background and that you’ve been able to dabble in a lot of the industry in some interesting ways. Has that journey been essential to get to where you are now?

Rich: I don’t know that you’re ever where you want to be. It’s always evolving into something new and right now is just where I’m at. All of those things that I’ve been through and done, they all inform where I’m at today. That’s what makes it interesting is that you never actually know where you are, but you keep discovering new things.

SSv: Over those experiences, are there some that stick out more than others in terms of what was formative?

Rich: There are a lot of really talented friends that I have out here that I’ve spent time with and watching them and spending time with them, that’s been really transformative. It opens whole new pathways in your minds where you realize that something is an option. So being in Los Angeles is a huge thing. In the ’90s, I was in a band in Pittsburgh that did really well. That taught me a lot about the artistic and business side of it. It gave me a good foothold into what it is all about.

I lived with my friend John O’Brien for a year-and-a-half when I moved out here. He’s a really great producer and programmer and just watching the way he approaches music and being around someone like that, you learn so much. I’ve co-produced a lot with Rob Gilles who is in a band called The Rescues and working together with Rob, he approaches things very differently than I do. Watching the way he works, things just rub off on the other. It was just new approaches where I was like, ‘Wow, that’s really out of the box for me. Now I can add that to my own bag of tricks as well.’

Rob’s also a great songwriter and how he approaches it is so new to me. It’s also incredibly insightful. It just deepened that well.

SSv: You’ve mentioned the co-writing a lot here, and you also said you have a lot of material for Right the Stars. How much of that is your own and how much is collaborative?

Rich: A lot of it this time around is co-writes. I think the reason is that when I write my own songs, it’s finishing a song that gets me. It’s that extra push from the other person that makes me finish and that really drives it through. The one thing I’ve learned is that the best songs are rewritten. You can have a great core idea, but how do you make a great song out of it is the key question.

I’ve seen this a lot as a producer, and in the last year, this has become a really big theme with me. You can have a lot of good elements in place, but the song is only good and not great. But when you hear a really water-tight, well-written song, there’s just nothing like it. It’s like those Paul Simon songs where he just nails it. I guess that’s where it helps to have other ears on it where they said, ‘Well, you could stop here if you want, but it could be better.’