Kiwi artist Jason McIver is well known within the heavy music scene in Aotearoa, having been part of bands such as Primacy and Heathen Eyes. Now, recording and performing under the moniker ‘The Jason McIver Collective’, Jason’s music has taken a lighter turn, as he explores what happens when he takes the volume down.
Jason likens it somewhat to metal band Behemoth, renowned as one of the heaviest acts around. “Nergal’s like, you know, the lead singer of Behemoth, which is, I mean can you get any heavier than that? But then he goes and does a side project, Me and That Man, which is him playing acoustic guitar on songs. Where do you go from Behemoth? There’s no headroom there, that’s as heavy as you’re going to get for them. All you can do is get quieter, rather than being full throttle all the time. And if Nergal, Polish black metal musician can do it, then I was like, well there’s no rules.”
If a band like Behemoth has already reached that ceiling of heaviness, the only direction which remains is to go quieter. The contrast of the lighter sound makes the heavy moments hit harder, and seeing one of the heaviest artists in the world balancing the soft with the heavy, it reinforces Jason’s decision to enforce a broader musical palette. The Collective isn’t an abandonment of heavy music, but rather an expansion of what it can do.
Having always been a songwriter, Jason would write acoustic songs before translating them over to a full band setting. After various bands and several years however, “it felt kind of like pushing shit uphill, trying to write heavy music all the time. I was trying to come up with cool riffs that I think are heavy enough, or technical enough, and so I kind of started listening to things like Tom Petty and what not, and thinking, well, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t have to write all these crazy riffs to get people’s attention, like Tom Petty’s writing these 4-chord songs that are speaking to millions of people, you know? I didn’t want to limit it, because I was doing Primacy and JMC at the same time. I kind of wanted to explore different audiences, and different opportunities within music as well.” The Collective is less about reinvention, as it is rediscovery, and allowing the songwriter buried within the expectations of playing in a heavy band the freedom to explore other avenues.
But if creative freedom is something which Jason wanted, why a Collective as opposed to a solo project? The answer lies in the collaborative aspects of the project. “I know what vibe I want in the song, but I don’t necessarily know what that vibe is going to sound like. It’s just nice, because if it’s just me, then that’s just one influence, I guess, and I like having other people’s input. It’s like, I write, I make it a black and white colouring book kind of thing. I’ll draw the outline, and write the comic book words, you know. I’ll do all that and then it’s kind of nice to have other people colour it in.”
Working with other musicians brings abilities and ideas which Jason doesn’t possess himself, as he actively seeks out collaborators who can take his ideas, and help to take them somewhere which he couldn’t take them on his own. At times though, there can still be elements of friction, as ultimately he knows what he wants, and isn’t afraid to speak up when the song starts heading in a direction which isn’t in line with his original vision. “I’ll say ‘nah, that’s not really what I want’, or ‘I’ll take that and we can add to it a little bit, or could you try doing this. I’m not a virtuoso on any instruments, so I like to find people that are really good and can take my ideas and make them into something better. Then people feel more invested in things as well, because the last thing you want is to be, you know, bossed around to say exactly what you have to play, exactly how it’s going to be played, becuase then you’re like ‘why am I even here’? I guess it just colours things in a way that I wouldn’t probably colour them myself.”
When Jason first had the idea for the Collective, the original motivation was to see people dance and have fun. Along the way however, life happened, and Jason found himself faced with the breakdown of his relationship. “I wanted a way to express how I was feeling, but I was too nervous to get sombre and slow.” It was through working with Alistair that Jason felt encouraged to use his music to write those slower, emotional songs, and “who cares how it comes across”.
One of the scariest things about putting these tracks out there however was potentially hurting people’s feelings. “The songs, now all of it was based around the divorce and stuff like that, but you know, I hate seeing people whinging online and crying about how crappy their life is. I didn’t want to fall into that box. But I also didn’t want to be disingenuous, writing happy pop songs when I’m feeling like I failed. You know, when you’re failed at something, or when you don’t want your kids to listen to ‘is that about mum and dad’ kind of thing, you know?” Perhaps one of the most important realisations for Jason was that it’s not necessarily about anticipating everyone else’s reaction, as much as it is writing for yourself, and being true to that.
His most recent release, Aurelia Blue, perhaps best showcases the journey through this transition period, and what Jason has learned as a result. After being pestered by his fiance “in the nicest way possible”, the song naturally began to form one day, as Jason was just sitting around. After sending her a sample of the hook, the rest of the song kind of “fell out” over about 20 minutes, simply opening himself up and following an idea. “You can sit there pushing and forcing, and then you listen to it and you go, oh, that kind of sounds like it’s not genuine or that I’ve forced it. I try to avoid that now, writing with intent rather than just writing.”
Now working on a new track, Jason didn’t intially think it was anything significant. “That was just playing around with some chords that I’ve never used in any songs before, and trying to find some musical feels that I haven’t used in any of my past releases. I honestly didn’t think much of it. Then I went to the music shop yesterday, and played it for one of the dudes there. He also runs a music studio, and he was like ‘oh my god, we’ve got to get you in to record this’. There’s something about that little track that really resonates with him, that he loves,” even if Jason didn’t know himself quite what he had, until someone else heard it.
The shift in his songwriting approach shows how much Jason has changed, having gone from being someone who would previously have the entire arrangement in his head, to loosening the reins and understanding that collaboration requires flexibility. After a long time in the scene, it’s not that Jason is becoming less opinionated, but more that he’s learning when his opinion may need to take a back seat to make room for someone else’s.
Despite now exploring his lighter side, Jason’s passion for heavy music has never been far away. He still indulges his heavier side, though its more through listening than it is writing these days. “I love that stuff, that’s what I listen to most of the time, but I just can’t be bothered working it up in a band setting these days. It take so much rehearsals and compromise, and rehearsals and compromise take time, I guess. With my stuff now, it’s on my time, on my terms, and on my finances.”
Jason looks back on his time in his earlier, heavier bands with a warm fondness. After 25 years of making music, he’s no longer trying to recreate the person he was at 15, 20, or at 30. The old bands, the heavy music, mistakes, relationships and creative elements will alway remain part of the story. But now, Jason chooses to make music on his own terms, while also learning that “his own terms” can include letting other people contribute to the process.
Photo Credit: Talitha Walterfang
