MM: I'm glad that to some extent there's a good amount of musicians that are capable of playing music that they feel is true without having to compromise the integrity of the music to make a living. I guess in a way that's probably why I'm doing this‚ you know‚ because it's like somebody's got to talk about this (laughter)…
JH: Exactly...
MM: Well‚ something I always like to ask musicians about is the spiritual side of making music. I find listening to music and even trying to play music can be very spiritual. What's your feeling on the spiritual side of playing music?
JH: I'm so about that because music for me is one of the most emotional experiences that I have. An example of that is just on this last Trey tour there were a few instances that really freaked me out in an incredible way. Sometimes the music gets so deep that you have no choice but to break down and cry. That happened to me in Denver 6/2/03 and I don't really know why...we were playing "Pebbles and Marbles" and we were just in the middle of this huge epic piece of music and I just started to ball. It was a very emotional and spiritual thing for me to be playing this music in Trey's band. Then‚ in terms of spirituality in music‚ we played with Santana in San Francisco‚ and just to hear him speak...I don't think there's anyone on the face to the Earth that's more spiritual then that man (laughs). He walks into the room and he makes the room glow - no joke. It's absolutely visible‚ he carries around like this light with him and then it carries with him on to the stage. You can't help but to be giddy with excitement‚ not because he's Santana‚ but because of his energy is so unbelievable. I've had so many spiritual moments playing music more so than any other thing in my life. It's a huge thing for me.
MM: That's the thing I've always heard about Santana is that he has this unbelievable energy.
JH: It's unlike anything I've ever seen. His guitar playing is legendary‚ so that was incredible to be on stage with him - I mean just amazing. On top of that just being next to him or being down the hall from him‚ it's like you can feel him. It's like his feet don't touch the ground when he walks (laughs) - it's like "you're not human buddy!"
MM: (Laughing) Santana...the floating guru‚ right? That was really inspirational‚ huh?
JH: It was huge. It was this great inspirational weekend‚ because we did that show with Santana and then went to Denver and we hung out with Aaron Ralston‚ the hiker who cut off his own arm to survive‚ and he's from Denver so his friends and him came to sound check and then we had dinner with him and got to hear him tell the story from his perspective. It was just so interesting. We went from the inspiration of Santana to the inspiration of this amazing feat this guy performed and succeeded to stay alive. Then‚ we had this amazing show in Denver and everything just came out and I started to ball during the show. It was like three unbelievably inspirational days that I will never forget.
MM: Well‚ were you a fan of Santana growing up or is that more of a recent discovery?
JH: I listened to Santana when I was younger but that was because my dad was into it. I really never checked him out as much as I should have until recently. He's one of those musicians I just half missed and now it's like give me‚ give me‚ give me (laughs).
MM: A friend of mine turned me on to his album Caravanserai‚ it's really good stuff. It's really weird with him because he was popular in the late sixties and people are like‚ "he didn't put out a good album in so long‚" you know? That's like the mainstream talking‚ but meantime he continuously pumped these interesting albums. Caravanserai is almost like jazz music in a way with a lot of being instrumentals and he uses really interesting rhythmic ideas...
JH: Yeah‚ he's really interesting that way. He was telling us a story about how he just recently did a tour with Michelle Branch because they had that hit together "Just Barely‚" that horrible‚ horrible song (laughs)...
MM: Yeah‚ that's right; he tried doing another popular thing again.
JH: Well‚ so she was opening for him and she lip-synched the entire night. That really upset him and he was like‚ "Kids should not be listening to this." So when she was playing he went backstage with his entire band and learned this ridiculous avant-garde free jazz piece‚ not quite Ornette Coleman‚ but very out there stuff. He opened that show with this 15-minute freak out (laughs). They were just like‚ "Screw this‚ they need to hear something‚" because that's what they thought the audience should hear (laughs). It's all like 13 year old girls in the audience (laughs)...
MM: (Laughing) Right and they're playing like John Coltrane's "Meditations" or something…
JH: He's always trying to do something else; whether it's the mainstream popular thing or something like playing free jazz. He's constantly trying to push it up a level which is what I love about him and that's what he loves about Trey. That's what he was saying about Trey is that he's making new music all the time and its happy joyous music for people who want to be happy. He was saying there's too much negativity in the world and people need joyous music‚ and that's what he loves about Trey. He's a heavy guy (laughs)...
MM: Well‚ I think in a lot ways Trey is the same way‚ well‚ you would know better than me‚ but from my perspective he's willing to take music and play it in the moment and he's willing to not be safe for the sake of music.
JH: Yeah‚ absolutely. I don't know music any other way. Growing up playing nothing but jazz‚ that's what you do - it's never safe. The only thing that is safe is the head note‚ and there is really no safe zone. That's one of the things that I love about this band‚ Trey's unwilling to have anything be safe. We talked about it too - like how did this tour compare to last tour and I was like I really liked this tour and he would agree and say something like‚ "Yeah‚ but this tour was a little safer‚ and last tour we took more risks. Yeah‚ we fucked up a little more last tour‚ but I loved taking the risks." We talked about that several times.
MM: That's one of the interesting things about improvisational music‚ from my perspective; I'm willing to accept a musician who's willing to play crap for 20 minutes to find beautiful music that's never been heard before on the planet.
JH: Yeah‚ exactly. I don't think there are a whole lot of people who see that and who don't complain about the crap (laughs).