If you’ve seen the opening credits of HBO’s monster hit “True Blood” then you’ve heard the gritty southern voice of Jace Everett. Paired with some intense visuals, Jace’s song “Bad Things” has caught the attention of viewers and critics alike.

MusicSupervisionCentral had the chance to talk with Jace about how his work was paired with “True Blood”, as well as his new album Red Revelations. 

Q: What inspired your song “Bad Things”?
A: I had just moved to Nashville. It was about a year after September 11th. This guy I was playing bass for when I first moved up here wouldn’t give me my money. He wasn’t paying me right, and it started getting on my nerves. I was listening to a Steve Earle record, sitting there with my guitar and the first verse came to me. And that’s where it started.

Initially it was “I wanna do bad things to you”, which is still how half the people hear it. But I wound up changing it and making it about a boy and a girl,  ‘cause that’s what you do in Nashville. The menace of the initial idea kinda stuck with it, which is why the song didn’t do well at all in the Nashville country world. It was just a little bit too creepy.

Q: The True Blood opening credits then gave it a new life.
A: Yeah that’s some pretty amazing footage they put together that’s for sure.

Q: How did the song end up getting picked for True Blood? Who discovered the song?
A: Amazingly enough, it’s one of the neatest stories in the music business in my opinion. Alan Ball is the creative force behind “True Blood” and he’s got an iTunes addiction -- according to him -- and when he’s writing a screenplay or a treatment he’ll take a break every couple hours and just go on iTunes and drop $100. Apparently he was working on “True Blood” and I was one of the lucky winners that he bought, and he just kinda fell in love with the tune.

He told them to go ahead and make the title sequence. He said “Use this song, give me about a minute and a half of this song and we’ll find something else later,” and they just never did. Gary Calamar, the Music Supervisor, just told Alan “Look, you love this song and nobody’s ever heard of the guy so it’s not gonna be a big deal. I think we should just stick with this song.” And they did!

Q: What did you learn during the whole process of licensing?
A: Sony’s been pretty cool with me about it, but that was on my 2005 Sony album. There were a few songs on that album that I liked and so, they own the master recordings. I’m not allowed to re-record it for a certain set amount of time. EMI and I share the publishing on it so there’s a lot of people making a lot of money off it that aren’t me and that didn’t do anything. So it’s tough, but I guess what I take away from it is to own your stuff. Own your publishing. Own your masters. And that’s the beauty of Red Revelations is I do own it.

Q: I’ve heard another song on your album, ‘Burn For You’, was inspired by “True Blood”?
A: I actually wrote that with Stephanie Delray after we watched the episode. Stephanie’s my wife. We watched that episode where Bill comes out into the sun to try and save Sookie and he catches on fire. That’s a fairly romantic gesture and that’s kinda where the lyrical idea came from.

Q: Are you in the process of licensing any other songs on Red Revelations?
A: We’ve had a couple of bites on a few things. There might be a couple of things in Europe. Film and TV is really where music can break anymore, which is really cool. Radio is just so screwed up that you can’t break a new artist on radio. Thank God for the “One Tree Hill’s” and “Grey’s Anatomy’s”. You know, they’ve brought a lot of people success and there’s been some great music that otherwise wouldn’t be heard.

Q: Do you feel that licensing is an important thing for an artist to be on top of?
A: If they want to make a living I think that’s definitely important! The songs that are on Red Revelations, they don’t really have a radio format. Not one that’s healthy anyway other than college radio and some NPR stations. But that’s not really a great way to disseminate your music.

Q: Has Gary Calamar from True Blood shown interest in licensing more of your music?
A: Gary does “Dexter” and “True Blood”. He also did “Six Feet Under”. He’s kinda a giant in that field. He puts a couple up there that goes before a committee. He gives them three or four options so no matter what they pick, it’s his idea.

Q: Is this album more ‘You’ than your first album?
A: Absolutely, 100%. The first album was made by a committee of record execs who had nothing but the best of intentions. They were trying to get me on country radio and they took songs they thought would do that. This record though was made for the music.

Q: It definitely spans genres of music. Country, Rock, Blues.
A: It’s probably less country than anything in my opinion. It’s got some of the country storytelling. A lot of new music is so vague lyrically, and I like that to a degree but I also like something to sink my teeth into from a literary standpoint. So yeah, it’s pretty much a rock n roll, blues thing to me.

Q: Who would you choose to collaborate with in the music business today?
A: KT Tunstall is somebody that I just love and adore. I could just watch her write a letter to somebody and be quite entertained. I really like her. I’m a big fan of the rhythm section of U2 as well. I’d like to work with them.

by Lauren Neenan