E Street Band member and multi-instrumentalist Jake Clemons joined host Kenneth Womack to discuss going from being reluctant to accept Beatles music to becoming a full-fledged fan on “Everything Fab Four,” a podcast co-produced by me and Womack (a music scholar who also writes about pop music for Salon) and distributed by Salon.
Clemons will also be joining us for a performance with his band (“I’m thrilled – it’s going to be an awesome night”) at the inaugural “Everything Fab Four” Fest this Saturday, November 8th, in Asbury Park, NJ. The event will celebrate the 60th anniversary of The Beatles’ seminal “Rubber Soul” album.
As the nephew of the late, great Clarence “The Big Man” Clemons, Jake says he grew up around “an incredible amount of phenomenal musicians.” As he told Womack with a laugh, “I’m not necessarily considered super talented in my family.” His father was a band director for the Marine Corps who was strict about “only listening to marching band or gospel music,” and who used to quiz Clemons about which instruments were used on various songs. “We had Clarence and Bruce [Springsteen]’s records on the shelf, but we weren’t allowed to listen to them. But that actually gave me a completely clean slate when I became a musician.”
For his part, the younger Clemons started playing saxophone the summer before he entered sixth grade and was playing professionally on the local circuit by age 14. “Clarence’s role in that was pretty interesting. He was my uncle, and everybody played music on that side of the family, so it didn’t seem weird to me that he was on the radio. I took it as commonplace. But when I saw him play live with the E Street Band for the first time, it shook my world. The sax was the best instrument on the stage. I’d had it in my mind to be a biologist until then, and it completely changed my trajectory.”
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In addition to that eye-opening experience, Jake was introduced to other rock music through his older brothers and friends. “My peers’ parents had introduced them to The Beatles, and I had none of that. I knew they were a cool, popular band, but my initial response was to reject it. Eventually, I came around . . . we all have to surrender to the truth at some point.”
Though he says he doesn’t have a favorite album, Clemons admits “I have this idea in my head of doing instrumental covers of Beatles songs from “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” and calling it “Rubber Revolver,’” a nod to two of the band’s most influential and experimental efforts (and one of which will be celebrated at Everything Fab Four Fest this month). “It’s an epic odyssey. It’s just amazing what they were able to do.”
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“Everything Fab Four” host Kenneth Womack is the author of a two-volume biography on Beatles producer George Martin and the bestselling books “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” and “John Lennon, 1980: The Last Days in the Life.” His latest book is the authorized biography of Beatles road manager Mal Evans, “Living the Beatles Legend,” out now.
Tickets for Everything Fab Four Fest are now available to purchase on Eventbrite. For more information, please visit the festival’s website.
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