Jayleen Stonehouse

SBS Covid Relief

Interview with Jayleen Stonehouse

SBS:  Let’s make sure we’ve got everyone on the same page – who are ya?  How long have you been doin’ this music thang and what’s the story behind it all?  What separates you apart from the rest?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  I have been performing professionally for 43 years, got my first paid gig at 16, but it started loooong before then.  I started in church choir at age 4, won a Kiwanis Music Festival for my age group at 6, then realizing this was not only what I want but who I was, I started training myself.  I would lay in front of my mother’s console stereo with a push button cassette recorder and record myself until I got the melody pitch perfect, then move on to all harmonies available, THEN add my own harmonies, if there was a 3rd & 5th, I would add a 7th, work in a 4th or possibly a 6th, major and minor can coexist!

SBS:  How has this time in lockdown/quarantine affected you and the music you make?  Positives?  Negatives?  It’s obviously a crazy time for everyone, but certainly musicians throughout the independent scene as well…what have you been doing to make sure the music is still flowing somehow at this time?

Jayleen Stonehouse: 
#1)  I have finally reconfigured my beautiful analog home studio to work with my new Mac Pro book, yes I am a Mac girl, I bought my first one in 1994, when not many had one and the memory was 584 megabytes, not even 1 gig LOL, but I recorded a full album on it ALL BY MYSELF, well except some phenomenal  solos from my bandmates.  I recorded every track, not samples as they were not available then, actual tracks.  Drum tracks from my Boss BR8 (which I still Have) bass, rhythm guitar, keys, strings, horns and all from my keyboard.  Let me tell ya, from a girl that has never had a lesson, not vocally or musically in any way, that was an accomplishment!  And I still love the results!  I digress, during the quarantine, I have my studio up and running again and have taken some wonderful songs that my bandmates and I recorded the tracks to a few years ago.  These tracks have been sitting on an external drive, not finished.  So I have begun mixing them and adding vocal tracks, just finished the first one May 7th and added it to my YouTube channel!  This is the positive!

#2)  Negative, I miss my bandmates, I miss the everything of playing together.  I miss the full circle of the audience, what I give them and what they give me back, it feeds my soul!

SBS:  Is there a lesson to be learned in all this Covid-craziness?  If so, what do you think it is?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  Human contact is one of the biggest parts of our existence, we need it, we feed on it as much as air, water, sustenance – I am lacking!

SBS:  What is the most key thing that people can do out there to support musicians during this time?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  Visit their known sites, download songs, albums, leave messages, ask for contact.  Ask for and support a live concert, feed or new projects be it a song, or whatever they have.

SBS:  There are some that say there’s ‘no going back to normal’ and others that still think that’s a possibility after all is said & done and we’re allowed outside again…what do you think?  Let’s ballpark it…let’s say it’s…September 2020, that’s not too far away…what does the world look like at that point?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  Normal is only a setting on the dryer.  I have never been normal and what was……well it is different now isn’t it, I know I am, aren’t you?  I hope we think of and fight for something we have learnt and gathered from this difference.  A strength, a support to others AND all, and a resilience within ourselves.

SBS:  What do you miss most during this whole lockdown?  What’s the first thing you plan on doing if/when things find their way back to normal, and why is that the most important thing to ya?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  Human connection!  I have my daughter and her family that have been with me on and off during the lockdown as we were together when it came about.  But life takes a village, and I miss the rest of my village.  And fortunately a musician’s village is very LARGE, unfortunately during this whole process my large village is out of reach!  I want to visit my son & his family, my parents (thankfully I still have both!), and I NEED to perform.

SBS:  Open floor!  Anything else you want to say to the people out there?

Jayleen Stonehouse:  Kindness, respect and thoughtfulness are free, a smile resonates, a kind gesture causes a ripple in the fabric of life that should ring like a free held tuning fork!

Find out more about Jayleen Stonehouse from the official pages below!

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Jayleensings

ReverbNation:  https://www.reverbnation.com/jayleenstonehouse

YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaKjOZ3knxfaFR6SO_1hXAw

Apple Music:  https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jayleen-stonehouse/id371244059

We’ve extended the deadline & we’ll be accepting submissions to the SBS Covid Relief interviews in written, audio, and video forms until the end of May – find out more about how you can get involved right here.

Find out more about what sleepingbagstudios does to help assist the independent music scene and view a list of our services by clicking this!