There is perhaps no bigger music fan than Peter Jesperson. His passion for music translated to jumping feet first and not eschewing situations but embracing them, constantly creating, supporting, and believing in himself and others. Peter's ebullient personality was a touchstone for many who experienced the contact musical highs that emanated enthusiasm. With a down-to-earth personality combined with a comprehensive knowledge of music history, he is always exploring pathways on his musical journey. I recently had the opportunity to speak to Peter about his excellent book, Euphoric Recall and his life experiences. This is what transpired.
Peter Jesperson: Do you like Chris or Christopher?
Scene Point Blank: I usually go by Chris. I was born with the name Christopher. Whenever my parents were angry at me they would use the longer form. [Laughs.]
Peter Jesperson: I always like to ask. My parents almost named me Christopher and I love the name.
Scene Point Blank: I think the name Christopher was very much of the time. I have met a lot of people my age who have the name: 1967, the summer of love. I should point out that I am not a saint, however. [Laughs.]
"I have been a diehard music lover since I was a little kid. I knew in the back of my head that I was going to work in the music business."
Peter Jesperson: Where are you calling from?
Scene Point Blank: I am Canadian. Although I lived there for 30+ years, I now live a couple of hours outside of Toronto. Like you, I am a big music fan and still get back to the city to check out concerts. There is not much happening in that regard up here. Living in a small city has its merits and drawbacks. Regardless, I love being surrounded by nature, and it became apparent that it is a great environment to raise kids.
Peter Jesperson: I can understand and relate to that.
Scene Point Blank: I believe you are in the California area?
Peter Jesperson: Yes, the San Fernando Valley. I technically live in North Hollywood. We're right adjacent to Burbank. You know, in the thick of all the movie companies: Disney, Warner Studios, and all that stuff. However, I spent much time at a family cabin in Northern Michigan near the Canadian border outside of Sault Ste. Marie. So, like you, I spend a good part of the summer in a small town environment. I have lived in Los Angeles for 30 years. I know it gets a bad rap from a lot of people but, as my wife likes to say, "Our dreams came true out here." We love it out here and we are both healthy and both have good jobs so knock on wood!
I managed a Canadian band from Toronto for a couple of years in the late ‘80s called 13 Engines.
Scene Point Blank: Yes, I read that. I have seen them at least a few times and own at least a few of their CDs as well. We have a lot of touring bands coming through Toronto, especially more from the eastern seaboard. We would get the New York punk bands and Vancouver would get the California punk bands.
You have another Toronto connection with your father through a publishing company.
Peter Jesperson: . Yes, there is a company called Gordon and Gotch based in Toronto, and he was what they call the Midwestern Rep. He covered what the five-state area, which was Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Iowa. But he would go to Toronto periodically for meetings, and it was rather pivotal for me in those early years because he went to Toronto for a meeting and they said, “Hey, we're thinking about importing a British music magazine for distribution in the United States and Canada.” My dad spoke up and said, “Well, I don't know a lot about this rock music, but I have a son who's crazy about this stuff and spends all of his time listening to it.” He would bring some issues home and ask my opinion. He brought home the first issues I've ever seen of the New Musical Express --those were spring 1972 issues.
Oddly enough, I remember the very first one I looked at had The Beach Boys on the cover, an American band. New Musical Express, as you may be aware, and Melody Maker were two of the most important music papers in England in those days. To me, they had the best music writing in the world. I thought all the British writers were better than the American writers. I preferred them to the style of writing in, say, Creem magazine. I mean, I loved Creem for what it was, and it was a fun read. I like more what you'd say is the serious writing, more fanatical writing. Being 150% over the top about a band and writing about it rather than, you know, the style of Lester Bangs. Mind you, I found that immensely amusing but that is not what I wanted to read about in music or was frankly interested in. Anyway, I told my father I love the magazine so when he went back to work he reported back to his higher-ups. They were talking about test marketing it in Vancouver, Toronto and then major cities in the USA like New York, Chicago and LA. So they asked my father if your son would like to distribute it in Minneapolis. I was in high school at the time. Anyway, my answer to the question was, “God, are you kidding me? I would love to distribute the magazine!” So, it was essentially my first job in the music business.
Scene Point Blank: I am sure you are highly skilled at what you do. However, do you think some of the situations in your career have been due to being in the right place at the right time or a little bit of luck, as they say?
Peter Jesperson: I think that is life in general: a combination of determining what we want to do and sheer random luck. I have been a diehard music lover since I was a little kid. I knew in the back of my head that I was going to work in the music business. I wasn't sure exactly what that was going to be. I loved to play records for people and I got a sense early on that the order I play these songs in can be very important. To draw them in and hope they are enjoying what I am playing. A light bulb went off in my head that I should be a disc jockey. Back in those days, the bulk of new music you heard was on the radio. I don't want to sound like the old man on the mountain, but you would flip on the radio and listen to a new song by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, The Supremes, James Brown, The Byrds, The Who etc. It was a heyday in popular music. This doesn't happen every year or every decade. Anyways, this random situation comes around and here I am distributing a magazine and shopping it around the different music stores in town. So by doing this, it got me in with management and essentially behind the counter. I got to know these people in the music stores as peers and not some kid looking up at these record store clerks. One particular record store I thought was the best in town and the place I frequented the most and shopped at offered me a job. I worked there for a decade, which was like my college.
Scene Point Blank: Was that Oar Folkjokeopus?
Peter Jesperson: Yes, that is where I cut my teeth. Oar is a record by Skip Spence and Folkjokeopus, an album by Roy Harper. Harper just made up that term. He wrote folky music and long-winded pieces so I suppose they were like opuses. He put "joke" in there because he had a sense of humour. I think that is a healthy way to work - in general and the music business -- embracing humour.
Scene Point Blank: It is funny they talk about the resurgence of vinyl but, for many, it never went away. Mind you I am happy that record stores are still in existence. I walk into a store with my kids and they beg me to leave as I am in a deep discussion about a rare record unknown only to us. [Laughs.] Mind you I am not overly fond of the price of modern-day vinyl.
Peter Jesperson: Well, that's not the record store's fault. That's the manufacturer's fault and the record label’s. It is egregious what they are doing. Records are now starting at $40 retail. Mind you the major labels would like to see the physical product go away altogether as it is more complicated to manufacture. You have to be very careful around the numbers you manufacture. If you make too many you have to destroy the product that doesn't sell. It essentially costs money, whereas with digital it doesn't and you don't have that issue. Remember the record industry went out of its way to produce CDs and essentially market them to the masses. People dumped their vinyl collections and now people are dumping their CD collections. Then streaming came in and now some are even buying back the vinyl they got rid of in the first place. So, when streaming came in the majors went out of their way to kill physical products because it saved them millions upon millions of dollars. I read something recently where it was stated that vinyl is the best-sounding medium. It is just not true. However, it is my favourite medium.
Scene Point Blank: I totally agree but I will pick up cassettes/ 8 tracks/ and even 78s. I like having a tangible product in my hot, sweaty hands. I still buy vinyl, mostly from Discogs. I will pick up a collection, weed out what I don't want, and sell it to buy some pricey rarity. These days it can be very easy to spend $100 on an LP.
Peter Jesperson:I buy a lot of records that aren't necessarily popular, so I get good deals on records all the time. I mean, you're right, there are certain desirable records and collectible records that are pricey, especially on Discogs. I'm on Discogs every day. I sometimes find a record I want to buy and it's so cheap; however, the shipping is more than the actual product that I'm buying. So it's kind of funny. To each their own.
And I listen to music in whatever format I need to. I don't have any respect for Spotify and the way they pay artists. However, we do have a subscription for my wife and son. I almost hate to support them as they're making billions and artists are making next to nothing in a lot of cases. I think that's got to be fixed and will be fixed someday. I don't have any problem listening to mp3s, wav files, vinyl, or 45s. I've got it all, essentially!
Scene Point Blank: Spotify can be good for easy access and to exposing yourself to artists you might generally not explore. I was recently speaking to someone you probably know fairly well -- Greg Norton of Hüsker Dü/Ultrabomb. We spoke about Folkjokeopus and the fact that today the ballgame has changed. You have to get someone's attention in the first 30 seconds or they are swiping and onto the next artist. Social media plays a big part in keeping it relevant and fresh and you have to keep on top of that. I am sure a lot has changed since you were running Twin/Tone and managing The Replacements. Spotify and similar likes are almost a necessary evil in some regards. On that note, I wanted to ask if you still DJ at all. I know you were quite passionate about that at one point.
Peter Jesperson: I haven't in quite awhile. I did DJ a lot, in different circumstances. I worked for a commercial radio station, I deejayed in a nightclub for four years, and then I did another commercial radio station and I did guest slots from time to time. I do them when I go back to Minneapolis, primarily where people know me as a DJ from the past. I don't do it out here in LA. I was doing a radio show in Minneapolis when I moved, and I said, I guess we're gonna have to shut this down. The guy said, Well, I'd like you to keep the show going if you could record the shows in Los Angeles and send them back to us to air, we would like to offer you that opportunity. So I did that from when I moved here in ‘95 and I worked for that station until ‘97. I think between the time the station started and the time they shut it down, I had done 150 shows for them.
Scene Point Blank: In that sense, do you pick what you want to play or are there some predetermined playlists?
Peter Jesperson: No, I only play what I want to play. I've never worked in a straight radio job. Straight out of high school I worked for 15 months for a commercial FM station. It was an automated station, so everything was on pre-programmed reels, but I had to break in for news and weather and things like that. I had to make sure that the tapes were rolling, but it was all music that was pre-picked. I did that for 15 months and I thought, well, this isn't radio, is it? I was being told what to play by people who didn't know as much about music as I did and that just felt wrong. I wasn't snotty about it or arrogant about it. It wasn't like I know more than you do so, fuck you. It was more like, well, this is the way that this business works. There's somebody in the role of selecting the music that is only looking for "the metrics" as they say. They are playing music that is already popular rather than being a curator and spinning new records that have come out that I think are important for the public to hear.
Scene Point Blank: That was pretty wild when you were DJing a set between a concert when a gentleman requested that you play a Shadows Of Knight record and it turned out to be Jim Sohns (singer for Shadows Of Knight)!
Peter Jesperson: It was a funny experience. “Gloria” was so ubiquitous when I was a kid, It was like if you were in a high school band or whatever, it was almost required that you did “Gloria,” it was almost like a rule that you had to. Everybody did “Gloria,” everybody did “Midnight Hour” by Wilson Pickett, everybody, did “Louie, Louie,” as all these songs were just standards. So yeah, I thought here I am standing next to this guy and I probably sang along to the song “Gloria” hundreds of times and also the Shadows of Knight were one of the first live bands I saw when I was a kid too. So I had seen him on stage before I met him at The Longhorn. He was very cool and very humble and it was a pleasure to have met him.
