Jake Down and The Midwest Mess: The Local Spins Artist Spotlight

Grand Rapids indie-folk singer-songwriter Jake Down and his band are “just having fun and trying to meet people and impact people.” They release their debut EP on Saturday at The Pyramid Scheme. (Podcast, video)

 

Jake Down sees himself as “a blue-collar musician.”

It’s easy to understand why: The Grand Rapids singer-songwriter taught himself how to play guitar, composes poignant and heartfelt indie-folk tunes that instantly strike a chord with listeners, and surrounds himself with down-to-earth musicians who share his musical passion.

Now, four years after embarking on his solo career and about nine months after finalizing the lineup for his band, Jake Down and The Midwest Mess, the guitarist and vocalist is ready to unveil his debut EP, “Shipwreck,” in a performance at The Pyramid Scheme on Saturday.

For Down, it’s a significant step on a musical journey that actually began as a voracious young reader and avid writer, penning songs in high school for “a garage band that never made it out of the garage.” After abandoning drums and picking up the guitar in his final year of college at Ferris State University, the St. Clair Shores native who came into the world as Jacob Pauwels began performing solo under his stage name, Jake Down.

ORGANIC FORMATION, MUSICAL FLEXIBILITY

Eventually, an acquaintance, Charles Bleisch, began performing with him on guitar and violin, followed by drummer Timothy Flanders and bassist Rusty Vining. “It kind of happened organically,” Down says of the band’s formation. They recorded their debut earlier this year at The Foxboro in Grand Rapids with producer/engineer Mike Cervantes.

On Wednesday, Down and Bleisch visited Local Spins Live on News Talk 1340 AM (WJRW) to chat about the band and play a song, “Undertow,” from the new EP. Listen to the podcast of the interview here and watch the video of the performance below. (And check out this week’s other Local Spins Artist Spotlight on Mid-Life Crisis here.)

“That’s the cool thing about the band,” Down says of the group’s music that ranges from folk to rock. “We can be flexible and play stripped down to where it’s just me, or me and Charley, or any combination of the members. So, it’s nice because we can book a variety of shows: We can play in a coffee shop or we can play a rock venue.”

Bleisch, a classically trained violinist who began playing in the fifth grade, puts it this way: “I’m just trying to accentuate what Jake is doing … and accentuate the mood as much as possible.”

Down, who cites British singer-songwriter Frank Turner, Thrice frontman Dustin Kensrue and Waxwing’s Rocky Votolato among his influences, concedes, “I’ve always wanted to have a band. It’s something that’s always appealed to me.”

At 7 p.m. Saturday, that band will be part of a lineup at The Pyramid Scheme that also includes American Opera (a project of Saginaw native John Bee), Good Day Good Sir, Andy & The Pandy’s and The Fever Haze. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 the day of the show. Get details online here. The band also will play a show Sunday in Saginaw with American Opera on Sunday.

NOT ‘PERFECT ROCK STARS’

Down says the Midwest Mess plans to follow this up with a brief Midwest tour of Illinois and Missouri in the fall.

As for the name of the band, it’s another reflection of Down’s blue-collar, Michigan roots.

“I really love this area of the country. I love Michigan, I love being here, so I wanted something that hearkened back to this area if we did go national,” he reasons, “something that said where we’re from and where we’re grounded. The ‘Mess’ part is that all four of us are fallible, finite beings. We’re just having fun and trying to meet people and impact people and share with people. We’re not some perfect rock stars.”

For more about the band, go online to jakedown.com.

Email John Sinkevics at jsinkevics@gmail.com.
Copyright 2013, Spins on Music