The Places You’ll Go

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.” – Dr. Seuss

Jeremiah Jacobs had a plan. In the early to mid-‘00s, he was convinced he knew the direction his life was going to take. His career in film and television music composition wasn’t taking off the way he had envisioned. He saw others around him succeeding in ways he was unable. As the saying goes, his best laid plans went awry, and the vision of his future was in flux. However, instead of giving up, Jacobs changed his direction.

“At some point I just walked up to the cliff and I jumped off, and it turned out I had wings,” said Jacobs during a recent interview over the phone with Submerge.

In the present, Jacobs and his now three-man operation The Heartbreak Time Machine are in the process of promoting their debut release—dubbed The5/12EP—as well as spending time in the studio putting the finishing touches on a full-length slated for release some time in 2016. The project’s current lineup features veteran Sacramento musicians Mikey “LP” Sessions (guitar) and Seth Edward (drums).

The EP features performances by a number of well-known and respected Sacramento musicians including drummer/producer Dave Jensen and guitarists Art Padilla of Hero’s Last Mission, Michael Gregory of The Michael Gregory Band and Michael Roe of The 77s.

The path that lead Jacobs to The Heartbreak Time Machine started in his career as a composer for film and television. As mentioned earlier, in the mid-‘00s, he had begun to show promise as an up-and-coming artist in that area, providing music for the award-winning independent film American Yearbook about two kids planning a Columbine-like attack on their high school, as well as documentaries Do As I Say and Not as Good as You: The Myth of the Middle Class School.

In addition, Jacobs has done work on projects he refers to as “industrials,” such as animated features NASA produces to be presented to Congress.

But at some point, Jacobs started to see a pattern in the industry in which he was working so hard to succeed: “Somewhere around 2009 I was out looking for work in the advertising world—and film because I loved and still kind of like doing that—and what I found out is that the people getting the bulk of work were all performing musicians,” said Jacobs. “They all had bands, and I sat back and thought about it for a second and I realized the reason these guys are writing compelling jingles and compelling film soundtracks … is that all of them either have a passion for performing, or they have in the past.

“I took a step back and said if I am going to continue to write better music for film and TV and I’m going to be a contender, I need some street cred, so I had better take my music out to the people and see what’s real.”

And that’s exactly what he did.

Initially, Jacobs tested the waters by contributing his talents to existing projects. The Heartbreak Time Machine is his eighth group. But of all of his former projects, this is the first he has fronted. Previous acts he has worked with include James Cavern, Autumn Sky and Clemon Charles.

“It’s a little bit of ego, a little bit of wanting to put your own thing out there,” said Jacobs of his decision to move from the background to the foreground in the performing arena. “I felt like—and I hate to use this cliché—I hadn’t been expressing myself fully in the projects I had been a part of.

“I’m mostly a producer, that’s my background. I’m an engineer and a producer by trade. I’m really brand new to being a performing artist and taking my own material into the wild, so to speak. The production side is old school to me, almost simple compared to asking people to come to shows. It’s such a different proposition.”

At the very start of the interview, Jacobs mentioned he was fighting through pre-show nerves prior to a performance scheduled for that night. When asked about how he has dealt with being the primary focus on stage, he simply responded, “I don’t know if I have dealt with it.

“Even in this interview, I can’t imagine I’m coming across as a ‘seasoned interviewee.’ My experience has been the backing guy … a hired gun,” said Jacobs. “That’s pretty much the case with everyone I’ve played with. I’ve just been in the band, helping craft the act a little bit, but I’ve never had to be fully accountable for the creative end, and ultimately the economic consequences of it, and this is the first time where my name, my songs, and everything are on [the line], and if people choose not to buy it, they are not buying me.”

As of now, this is quite literal. Copies of The5/12EP have been available since November 2015. The EP is made up of a collection of singles recorded since the inception of The Heartbreak Time Machine. Jacobs explained that the process, while quite different than the experience he is presently having recording the band’s full length debut, was special in its own right.

“We recorded it in a number of places. It’s kind of like a series of singles that were produced one-by-one as I was building my team over the last couple of years,” Jacobs explained. “The first one we actually recorded was ‘The Great Big Book,’ and we recorded that at Pinnacle College with Dave Jensen, and then we mixed that at Weston House … The rest of the songs, I think they were recorded and mixed at Weston House as well. The only exception would have been ‘Make it Through’, which was recorded in my bedroom. So was ‘My Heart Belongs to You,’ and ‘This Song is For You’ I think I recorded at Studio Z.

“One of the things I liked about doing singles one at a time is you really get to craft them all, and you put all your focus on putting it together and really getting the production right,” he continued. “I think the singles really sound different and they really do reflect a really different period of time and perspective and artistic approach, and they really sound different. There is part of that that I really like. Like an iTunes on shuffle kind of sound. But, having done five songs in the studio one right after the other, they definitely all sound like they came from the same place. I struggle with that occasionally. Sometimes people want the thing to be complete, like they want it to all come together … at the same time wanting to create something a little more compelling; like a different sound in the same record. It’s a weird balance to strike.”

Another thing that is significant for both The5/12EP as well as for The Heartbreak Time Machine itself, is that it stands as a record of the project’s development. Until recently, the singles consisted of Jacobs and a variety of guest musicians. The band’s lineup now solidified as a three piece, The/512EP can serve as a placeholder for a time when Jacobs was trying to find his footing, and ultimately, found it.

And of course, if he ever wants to revisit those days down the road, the EP can also serve as a personal Time Machine—hopefully sans the heartbreak. Only time will tell.

“I’m obsessed about what the future holds,” said Jacobs, “It’s probably the thing that occupies the most of my brain space every day.”

The Hearbreak Time Machine’s EP release show is on Jan. 20, 2016 at Powerhouse Pub in Folsom. You can also catch them again on Jan. 31, 2016 at Old Ironsides in Sacramento, and on Feb. 13, 2016 at Bar 101 in Roseville. Visit Facebook.com/heartbreaktimemachine for more information on how to order their new EP.

Local rock band The Bell Boys are made up of three brothers: Erik (guitar/drums/vocals), Elijah (drums/vocals/keys) and Jacob (bass/vocals) Bell. Get it? “It’s a functional, no gimmicks name,” their bio says, and indeed it is. The Bell Boys’ new release, The Jean Hagen EP, is set to drop on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011 at Luigi’s Fundgarden (1050 20th Street). These dudes are obviously all about family; not only are they three talented brothers in a band together, they even named their new EP after their mom. “Jean is my mom’s middle name and Hagen is her maiden name,” Elijah recently told Submerge. Their mother, Donna Bell, even gets credit for the EP’s album art. Elijah mentioned that it was a piece she created a long time ago, back in 1978, he thought, but that she just recently found in an attic. “It was a trip. She created that a long time ago, and it just worked,” he said. For the recording process of The Jean Hagen EP, the brothers enlisted the help of Lucas Thompson as well as Art Padilla (of local band Hero’s Last Mission), who engineered, mixed and produced the record. The song “Black Shoes White Cars” can be streamed at Facebook.com/bellboysmusic. The EP release show will also feature openers James Cavern and Hero’s Last Mission. All ages are welcome, doors open at 8 p.m. and the show is just $5

Hero’s Last Mission’s Debut LP Not as Metal as You’d Think

“People will look at us like, ‘You are the most metal-looking, pop rock band I’ve ever seen,” drummer Julian Mendoza from Hero’s Last Mission told Submerge over coffee recently. With their black T-shirt, long hair and goatees, the local five-piece certainly looks like a metal band. However, their metal look is a running joke, Mendoza said.

“I mean, I wear shirts like this all the time,” he said, looking down at his black Electric Zombie T-shirt. “And our bass player is always wearing Converge shirts and Protest the Hero shirts.”

So when they begin to play at an open mic night at, say, Pangea, Fox and Goose, Townhouse or Old Ironsides, sometimes the audience is surprised.

“We’re so happy when we’re playing,” guitarist Art Padilla laughed.

The band’s first full-length album, Stay on Course, available online for free download throughout May, is a far cry from metal. Rather, the album strikes a solid balance between rock and pop. Songs like “Gamblin’” feature fast tempos and guitar shredding, while other songs, like “Right Here,” are unmistakably pop, brimming with harmonies, melodic guitar solos and pop-y choruses.

Lyrically, several of the songs speak of dealing with hard times, reflecting some of the experiences the band faced while recording. In “Killing Me,” for instance, vocalist Lee Hurtado laments trying to keep his composure during heartbreak.

“Any time there’s a situation that may be negative, it’s something that inspires us,” Mendoza said.

Despite break-ups and break-ins during the recording process, HLM has managed to stay positive and focused, which is why they chose to title the album Stay on Course.

“It’s hard to promote yourself and be an independent band and keep on going,” Padilla said. “Other bands stop because they get frustrated, but we love playing. We’re not going to settle.”

Hardships, along with three major tours, including last summer’s Let’s Get Dangerous tour, have allowed the current band members plenty of time to bond since they came together in 2009. They can laugh about the time they spent the night in a police station while on tour. It wasn’t because they were in trouble; it was because a cop let them stay there after finding them pulled over in a “nice neighborhood” to sleep for the night.

Sharing van space has also allowed them plenty of opportunities to influence one another’s music taste. Rolling down long stretches of highway in the tour van, anything from Slayer to Journey, Rascal Flatts to Coheed and Cambria, is fair game.

“And we’ll sing to all of them,” Padilla said.

“I used to be into harder music,” Mendoza said. “But there’s just so much. We listen to everything.”

Even when they’re not on tour, the band mates spend a lot of time around each other. Lee and twin brother/guitarist Luis Hurtado, both from Amador County, now live with Padilla in Sacramento.

“I’ve adopted twins!” Padilla laughed.

Though the band spent part of its time recording the album at Pus Cavern recording studio in Sacramento, the rest of the album was recorded at the Padilla-Hurtado house.

“People just come in,” Padilla said. “It’s like a sitcom with Kramer where he opens the door and says, ‘I’m here guys.’ So there’s no knocking anymore. If you want something from the fridge, go get it yourself.”

Recording pieces of the album within the comforts of home helped to spark the band’s creativity, Mendoza said. Without having to work under time constraints, the five had the ability to work freely and try different things, like adding more guitars to a track.

As a result, the songs on this album are more diverse than those on the last two EPs released by the band in 2006 and 2008, Mendoza and Padilla agree.

Most importantly, the musicians agree that what has really brought them together is their pure love for playing music.
“We’ll play anywhere,” Mendoza said.

If someone were to say, “You guys wouldn’t play there.” Padilla said, “Yeah we will.”

“And we’ll just get in a little corner probably about this big,” he said while motioning a small space. “And we’ll just play a show.”

Sometimes the band will play an acoustic set, and Mendoza will bring a cajón, kick, snare or high hat.

“Or whatever, it doesn’t matter, because I think people will see that we love to play,” he said.

On more than one occasion the band has been caught off guard and unequipped for a request to hear some of their stuff.

“And we’re like, ‘We don’t have our instruments.’ And then one of the five of us will be like, ‘Well we can do a cappella,’” Padilla said.

Even when they’re not dropping songs a cappella style on the spot, rarely does the band spend time doing things unrelated to music.

“It’s kind of like non-band time doesn’t exist because we’re always on band time. Even when I’m at work,” Padilla said. “I’m getting a text right now from a band I manage; they need help and they’re always asking for my advice.”

HLM has also received overwhelming support for their dedication. Their album was partly made possible through donations made by supporters on Kickstarter.com, a site that allows artists to collect donations in order to fund their creative projects.

The band offered anything from hugs, hard copies of the album, invitations to album screenings or concert tickets based on the size of the donation made. In the end, they received an amount greater than what they had asked for to fund the making of the album.

A $1,000 donation came from a café owner in Amador County who really wanted to see the band’s success.

“So now she gets a show, it’s the least we could do,” Padilla said.

With a growing fan base and the release of their latest album, HLM has no intention of slowing down.

“We know we need to get out and we just want everyone to see us, whether that’s going to be a more organized tour or just a bunch of shows every day, even if it’s open mics,” Padilla said.

So should you see five guys dressed in black at an open mic night around town, hold off on the head-thrashing. They might not be the metal band you were expecting.

Hero’s Last Mission will celebrate the release of Stay on Course at Shenanigans in Sacramento on May 21, 2011. Tickets are $7 in advance, $10 the day of the show, which gets underway at 7 p.m. To download Stay on Course for free or to purchase a ticket to the show at Shenanigans, go to Heroslastmission.com.