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Jake Thistle- Singer, songwriter, contestant on American Idol · Caught on the Mike...

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this program are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities they represent.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Listener discretion is advised.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: On today's episode of the show, I am sitting down with Jake Fistel, a new Jersey songwriter who just introduced himself to millions on the February 16th episode of American Idol.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: But this isn't an overnight story.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: From grinding out gigs along the Jersey circuit to crafting songs with Butch Walker and dropping his new single, Sleep on Me, Jake's been building a sound that feels classic, honest, and built to last.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: We get to the reality of stepping onto a stage that big, the contrast that fuels his songwriting, and what happens when preparation finally meets opportunity.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, this is Caught on the Mic.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to another exciting episode of Caught on the Mic, and I'm super stoked.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Today I am joined by New Jersey singer-songwriter Jake Thistle, fresh off his February 16th episode, Wait for It, of American Idol.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: With the sound rooted in 70s and 1980s soft rock, a brand new single called Sleep on Me and a first ever European tour on the horizon.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: Jake is stepping into a massive moment, and we're gonna get the full story.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I just asked him, Are you tired yet, sir?
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: I am not yet, but I'm gonna try to use the energy while I can.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: Good, good man.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, welcome to the show.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I'm so excited to have you on.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: It really means the world.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having me.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how I I gotta ask, how old are you?
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm 21 now.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So you know what?
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: You have the songwriting chops of somebody that's been doing it for 21 years.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: So kind of you.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, honestly, honestly.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So I don't know where we want to start.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Do we want to start in Nashville when you did the audition, or do we want to start at Monday?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm sure life has been a whirlwind once that episode dropped on Monday, February 16th.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was really honored, you know, A to just go down to Nashville and and do that experience.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, those three judges are incredible.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And just getting to, you know, share a room with them for a couple minutes was really I learned a lot just from that.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: And more than that, getting to hang with, you know, other idol hopefuls, you know, for that long.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, seeing the sort of shared passion we have and you know being around, you know, peers and now, you know, people that I I've become really good friends with.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: And so that meant a lot.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, it's such a whirlwind when you're down there, you know, you're in there quickly, you know, you're going to you film an interview here, you film an interview there, and it was a lot of running around.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So getting to sit down Monday and actually see like a sort of a succinct a succinct version of how I spent those couple days, that was also an honor.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: And it was just so cool uh to experience that and to sort of relive those moments.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, so when did it actually sink in for you, or has it sunk in yet, that you are a contestant on American Idol?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it was funny for me, you know, I would say it was the first time I walked into that audition room.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the first second you walk in, you know, you see the desk, you see the little American Idol logo on the floor where you're supposed to stand and the boom mic above you, and that's when you look around and go, Oh wow, I've seen this before, but never from this vantage point.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that was so that was really the moment that I said, Oh, okay, like I'm doing this.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: This is gonna be a lot of fun.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And it and it has been a lot of fun.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do you perform in that pressure cooker?
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because I'm gonna throw something out at you.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know this for sure, but this was the biggest season premiere in four years with 8.7 million total viewers on the premiere.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_01: Does that give you pressure or does that motivate you?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's definitely motivating.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I went in there and I knew that the most important thing for me was to be authentic.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think, especially on, you know, a show.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Idle in particular does a great job at allowing personalities of these artists to come through as we want them to be seen.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, I really wanted to go in there and just be as authentically myself as possible.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: So, in the preparation for all this, I really tried to treat it just like a normal gig to the to the extent that I could, you know, but not I knew it wasn't a normal gig.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, so it it definitely was a little bit of a different experience, but I was more excited than I was nervous just because I knew that this opportunity is is once in a lifetime, it doesn't come to everybody, and so I just really wanted to enjoy it the best I could while I was down there.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Man, you not only write songs like you've had 21 years worth of experience, you speak like it too, man.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_01: My highest compliments to you.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_01: There there is a point that if you blinked, you missed it that you made there about authenticity.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: We live in the social media era where stars aren't necessarily made just by their songs alone, it is based on their personalities and how they present themselves and other platforms like TikTok and Instagram and all of that.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: So that authenticity is extra important more so now than it may have been in the past.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Is that something else that has kind of resonated with you?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we're in a really such a saturated market, especially in music now, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I think the more people that have the opportunity to, you know, get their songs and their voices and their you know lyrics heard is great.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: However, because of that, you do have to find ways to sort of break through, and I think it's really easy to lose yourself in that.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been a a big, you know, sort of push and pull for me in general, is is sort of like what what that presence looks like, especially on social media and like the game of you know racing to post a reel or something like that.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's something I'm still definitely learning, and it's another thing I another reason I wanted to do idle in the first place was you know, I was just saying before I I I think I learned the best being in the deep end and just getting thrown in and having to figure it out.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And idle has definitely been an experience where if you're not used to making content or something, you you better get used to it because it's a moment you really need to capitalize on.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I wanted to make sure my socials look good.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: So when the audition did air on Monday, people didn't just log on and saw two videos from 2021 and go, okay, what's there to follow?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I really wanted to make sure, you know, I had uh at least a little bit of a presence there and at least a little bit of that personality and authenticity I tried to show in the audition online as well.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so now that it's aired, uh, you know, last week, that's something I'm still really trying to work on and trying to stay consistent with.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that you bring up a good point because it is early in the game right now, still.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: What do you want new viewers to understand about you beyond the TV edit and beyond this first episode?
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: How do you want the world to embrace Jake Thistle?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, you know, I started when I was really young.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: I played my first gig when I was nine years old, and I'm I'm incredibly grateful for those experiences, and I've stayed really consistent in gigging since then.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so, you know, despite, you know, I I've been honestly I've been gigging longer than I haven't now, you know, because I'm 21.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing it, you know, for I guess 12 years or something.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, the biggest thing, in addition to being as genuine as I could, was just I really wanted to go out there and seem poised and seem calm and kind of cool.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's how I am in real life.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Not cool in the sense of like rad, because I'm definitely not that, but like calm, cool, collected, you know.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that was important to me uh just because that that's how I am in real life, and that's how I try to be in my daily life.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I didn't want to come across as like a different person on TV.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm really grateful I I think I accomplished that goal.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was some of the judges' feedback uh from that episode, and so that really meant a lot.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, I'm really grateful for the opportunity to have more chances to show that to them.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping I can do that in future rounds as well.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: So is there anything that you're doing to prep yourself mentally so you stay grounded while millions are watching?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Because this thing goes live on Disney Plus on March 30th, and that's gonna be huge.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, for me, it's taking it round by round, and also there's definitely an element of playing to the cameras.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's definitely something you have to do, especially you know, if I'm lucky enough to make it to the stage where America's voting, that'll definitely be a consideration.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, because I play so many gigs here and it becomes one of my favorite things to do, I just try my best to play the room to the best of my ability and um hope that you know translates onto the cameras.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I I think idle, especially you know, having been on, this is you know season 24, and uh they do a great job at sort of creating an environment where playing to the room, the the the cameras and America's living room becomes sort of the extension of that room.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh that's really my goal and what I'm hoping to do.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: What I try to do in my audition and what I'm hoping to do in future rounds is just to take everything I've learned from you know all the years of local gigs in Jersey or touring or whatever, and just try to translate that the best I can to the screen.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's kind of set the table for people that are either watching this or listening to this on the streaming platforms.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: We are recording this on February 18th.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: Your idol episode or your idol debut dropped on February 16th, and then on February 20th, you have a brand new song dropping as well.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I keep asking you over and over, are you tired yet, man?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Because I gotta tell you, I got to hear Sleep on Me, your new single that's dropping this Friday, February 20th, and it is fantastic.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_01: So some deeply rooted questions about some of the themes of that song.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_01: How excited are you about that?
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so excited.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, I'm not tired yet, but being busy keeps me out of trouble, so I try to stack my schedule.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I am so excited about Sleep on Me.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a song that's different than most other songs I've put out.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's the first time in a very long time that we recorded with a live band in the room together.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Typically, I'm sitting in a room like this somewhere, and uh there's a producer next to me, and we're saying, All right, now let's add bass, let's add drums.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I I got really into that sort of process because it sort of fosters an environment with total control.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: I know exactly what the bass line is because I just played it, and I know what the guitar line is, and I'm watching the producer, I can't play drums, I'm watching the producer play drums, and I know exactly what everything is, so everything is completely intentional and like through my eyes.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's how I've gotten used to recording.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: But we wanted to take a different approach for this one, and I was honored to uh I recorded this with some guys from the rhythm section in Tom Odell's band, who I'm a huge Tom Odell fan, and we they were on tour in the States, and I went up to Boston and we recorded it up there with uh Toby Cooling producing, who's Tom's drummer, and uh Max Goff and Max Clover on bass and guitar, respectively.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the song really lives and breathes because we did, we recorded it live in the room, and what you hear is is what we played.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there it there's no there's no fancy uh fixing anything.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's I think it's a it's a much more raw track than other things I'm used to putting out.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And um, if I remember correctly, I think we we did four takes from having them never heard the song to you know the end of the session.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't a rehearsal or anything.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Toby might call and correct me, but I think we we ended up putting out take two.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the second time we ever played it, and it was like just we thought the energy was there, the moment was there, and so that's not an experience I'm used to, you know, in terms of uh turning it around like that.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think it fits the track really well, and I can't wait for everyone to hear it.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, gonna be repeating rabbit here, but talking about your emotional maturity.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: One of the things that I hear thematically in the lyrics, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, is maybe a relationship with nostalgia a little bit.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Am I off base with that?
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: So let's get into the lyrical content and kind of talk about where your mindset was whenever you wrote this song.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, the sort of inception of the song, like the the melody, which I I like telling the story, but I'm a huge John Hyatt fan.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's he's one of my all-time favorites.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, I was lucky enough.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I actually I played with him when I was like 12.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: It was my first time ever playing in a theater, and it like kind of changed my perspective on wanting to be a songwriter.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh many years later, around two years ago, I had the opportunity to open for him, and that meant the world.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: That was sort of like a white whale type of gig.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'd always wanted to get you know that slot.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he played this song, and it's just him acoustic, and he's just strumming sort of a really simple early chord progression, and he tells this amazing story about like standing up to his record label and this and that and blah blah and he goes into this song.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember coming home and being like, I need a song like that.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I need like a mellow song that I can just tell a story over.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so I started writing the the melody, what ended up being Sleep on Me.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I don't have a story behind it like he had, so I, you know, it didn't really work out that way, but that was the inception.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew from the the get-go that I wanted the song to be a little bit more of a whisper than some of my other songs, and I and I wanted it to be a little bit more of a conversation and a little bit more internal.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I feel like a lot of the times I write, based on my influences, I write kind of big, you know, and that doesn't mean I think it's good, it just means I think it's kind of sweeping in terms of like this is how I think the world is, and this is how I'm feeling about that, and it just becomes kind of like that.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: So for this song, I wanted to really try something different and really write something a little bit more internal, a little bit more of a conversation, something that might take place over five minutes instead of like some big my opinion on relationships as a whole.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is about one conversation one night, so to speak, you know.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: I know you said that you initially conceptualized the song a few years ago with that opportunity opening for John Hyatt, but the lyrical content of the song, was it written quickly or did it just evolve over time?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: This song actually was written relatively quickly, which is rare for me.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's like the majority of my songs are about a month and a half, you know, of like, let me take out this, I don't like this syllable, blah, blah, blah.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's really only been a few songs we've put out up to this point that I can legitimately say came in almost as almost as long as the song is.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I just started, I had that melody, and you know, it came relatively quickly, and then you know, you come swap out little things here and there, but the the real the bones of it are really came quickly.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you can kind of hear that in the song too.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of flows like a little bit stream of consciousness than some of my other songs.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, even though it was recorded live, there are layers that I hear in there that are very southeastern Jason Isbo, something more than free, Jason Isbo, like texturally that really evoke a sense of emotion.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, as described, it's about late-night conversations, mistakes, and a request for a second chance.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: So having something so calm and quiet during a time come out during a time of your life that is about to just explode, does that contrast kind of mess with your head a little bit?
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely is something to consider, you know, especially on on idle and thinking about now that I, you know, I was lucky enough to make it to Hollywood week, I'm I'm thinking about, you know, if I have the opportunity to move past that and do other rounds and you know, trying to be big and trying to be engaging and things like that.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so it is a little bit of a gear shift to you know promote this single and be talking about something a little bit more intimate, a little more acoustic.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's like on on one hand, I feel like I want to be doing anthems as much as I can, you know, I'm on it's like TV, you know, whatever that means, you know.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like I want to have be high energy, and on the other hand, I want to put out the single and do my little single release show and like be really kind of internal and like you know, songwriter-y, you know.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: And you've had the opportunity to work with somebody like Butch Walker, who has worked with Green Day, Taylor Swift, Pink, Fallout Boy.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: He's uh he's written one of my most favorite songs.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: I remember Marvelous Three.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Did he challenge you creatively?
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: I can't even express how much I learned from working with Butch.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was such an amazing time.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I went down, he he's got an amazing studio south of Nashville.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: It was just his energy and his passion was so evident when I was down there, and it was inspiring for all different kinds of reasons.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it would just was like everything about it was was sort of like how I hoped it would be.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he was a classic example of you know, sitting across from him and we would kind of take these songs apart and we'd load up my demo usually, which for this project, this is the first time I've really been doing this, but like I'm finally trying to like learn producing, learn engineering, and I bought logic and I've been making these really sort of elaborate demos.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them are getting up to like 60 tracks.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's ridiculous and unnecessary.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so the first thing I do with Butch is we go in and I just watch him mute, mute, mute, mute.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the big one of the biggest things I learned from him is just like wow, so turns out you don't need to like throw everything at the wall to try and make the energy.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and Butch is so good at, I mean, pull up at you know, anyone less YouTube and interview of him.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like he has the best energy in the world.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so he's able to really harness that into his tracks just by giving the song exactly what it needs.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it doesn't need to have this big squeezed like organ in the middle, like showing that there's energy.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: He's telling that there's energy, he shows that there's energy.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it really was such a blast to work with him.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: We did two tracks in two different sessions, we didn't do them back to back, so we had about a month and a half, or maybe even longer, uh, you know, where and then I went back down, and uh, it was exactly like that the second time too.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like his passion, and also he's Butch Walker.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Jake Thissle.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like he didn't have to A work with me, or B, if he did, take as much time as he did and be as nice.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: So getting to see that passion, even on sort of like a smaller indie artist level, was really inspiring to me.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so did he leave an imprint on you that you feel will change your songwriting forever?
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think everything about the way I work is is sort of a a cross-section and layered of of everything I've done with a lot of different producers, and uh Butch is absolutely no exception.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Seeing the way he worked, it was actually really reassuring to me because it was similar to how I like to work.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so seeing someone have so much success doing that in terms of you know, he only needed me there for what we needed there.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: There wasn't a lot of extras, you know what I mean?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Record all the tracks or whatever, and he'd be like, All right, I think it sounds great.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I'd be like, Are we done?
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: No, and then I'd come in the next day and it would be like perfect.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like he hit the Butch Walker button at some point and it just started sounding amazing.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've really taken that away, you know, when I'm making all these new demos, you know, for the new project.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And that goes for the whole, you know, we're sort of gearing up for a record at some point soon.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we did, you know, two songs down in Nashville, two songs in Boston, two songs in London, two songs in LA, a bunch of songs here in Jersey, and we're gonna kind of narrow down and make the track list as we go.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, that's one thing I've learned with this record, is just really it's a it's a sweeping look at a bunch of different processes.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: So who are some of your earlier influences if like somebody were to listen to the Jake Thistle catalog?
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Who's in your DNA?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, definitely John Hyatt.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mentioned him before, but but he's certainly you know up there in the in probably the top two with Tom Petty.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they're always kind of they're beating each other out depending on you know who I've listened to most recently for sure.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: But that's really how I got into music.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: When I was three years old, my parents let me stay up to watch the Super Bowl, thinking I'd get into sports or something like that, which wasn't particularly the case.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: But Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers played the halftime show, and for one reason or another, I was just completely mesmerized, and I sort of never look back.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So those are definitely my two of my biggest influences growing up.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I live in New Jersey, so it's kind of a lot of like Springsteen, and I'm a huge Springsteen fan.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: But really it's it's it's storytellers, you know, whatever that means, you know.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some of my influences from sort of the 70s and the 80s and things like that.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm also a huge fan of, you know, the 1975 and you know, Matty Healy, Sam Fender, The War on Drugs, Japanese House, you know, anybody who I think their lyrics just are they paint their characters so well.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I really strive to look for writers like that.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the sound that comes out as a result of that is very nostalgic feeling.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is that just naturally what comes out of you then?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: I think so.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: That's one of my biggest things is sort of trying to in the studio find the push and pull between, you know, some I'm very influenced maybe by a record that came out six months ago, and you know, The Wild and the Innocent E Street Shuffle.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, how can we make you know this song sound like it's from the early 70s and also from 2026?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that we find a different piece of that gradient depending on, you know, I think what the song needs.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I'm really inspired by that sort of modern retro thing, the sort of Jack Antonov sound that that he's cultivated and like he makes these amazing, I mean nobody can deny his influence on pop music, and a lot of it's like, you know, Juno's and like, you know, things that, you know, I don't know, Tears for Fears would have used or something.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you know, it's kind of interesting to see that dichotomy, and and that's something I'm kind of searching for, my own little blip on that gradient.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a good call out with Jack Antinoff.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, because another person I'll point out, and it's kind of an obvious low-hanging fruit comparison, is John Mayer's really done that.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like his last record intentionally sounded like something that would have been released in 1987 by Eric Clapton, you know?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you go right down to the cover, you know?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah, yes, with the nice price sticker on it.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, dude.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: I've got that on vinyl.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_01: So absolutely, absolutely.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_01: So, how do you strive to keep it sounding timeless without sounding too retro?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, honestly, uh it's probably not a good answer, but the way I try to strive for it is to not think about it at all.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think the second I sort of become conscious and say, okay, wait, this sounds like a 2026 song, time to add a drum plate, so it sounds like it could be off, you know, born in the USA.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's when we start getting into the weeds of things, and it's like, you know, or vice versa, you know, for sleep on me, like I I feel like if I got in there and I I said, okay, it doesn't sound uh 2026 enough, you know, let's add like some big vocal harmony that, you know, is like melodyned and stuff like that.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think we we might have lost some of that emotion too.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I really I do my best not to think about it.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of impossible because I I love to think about things I shouldn't, I guess.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, you know, when we're in the studio, that's one of my biggest uh things is to just sort of allow the song to tell us how we want to, you know, use it.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but I think a lot of the time it really helps because the song can kind of inform that, or the lyrics, or the demo I give, or whatever it might be, that will kind of inform the instrumentation we end up using.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: You know, circling back to that whole authenticity bit that we talked about earlier, you've been recognized by Indy Boulevard and named Rising Music Star by the Boston Herald.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: What does that validation mean to you at this stage?
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it r it really means everything because writing and especially producing, touring, any aspect of this is like my favorite thing to do.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would legitimately be sitting in this chair doing it even if nobody was listening.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really grateful to sort of have that feedback coming back that you know, there is someone out there that that sort of appreciates the sound or appreciates the lyrics or something because it's just more encouragement to keep doing it and keep growing.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, I think there's also a level of, you know, every good piece of press I get, as much as I'm excited for it, there's also something in the back of my head that goes, All right, well, keep working because you don't want to not get that next time you release a song.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's imposter syndrome.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, there was uh a quote I love.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: I I finally just finished reading uh Mike Campbell's book uh from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and he says something about the release of, I think it was the album Hard Promises.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: He goes, It's oh every it sounds great to sell a million copies of your record, but it's not great if the last record sold three million, you know?
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's kind of that that aspect of like one, it's very encouraging for me to get that type of press because it's the validation that people like what I'm doing because even if nobody did, I still would be doing it because I like what I'm doing.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so it means a lot to know that I do sort of my instincts, I guess, kind of there's other people who like those as well.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that means a lot.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: But also, every good thing I get, as much as I'm grateful for it, it makes me work harder next time to make sure I can either at least stay stagnant.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to go down.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd I'd rather go up, but you know, I try to be realistic with my goals, you know.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I find that the most compelling artists not only constantly challenge themselves, but they find other avenues to develop that sense of character.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And bouncing from that authenticity to your character, you've helped raise over$100,000 for the American Cancer Society and the Light of Day Foundation.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_01: Where does the drive to do that come from?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's kind of a similar thing uh to what I said before, which is that I would be sitting right here playing guitar and writing songs no matter what, you know, and so I figure if if I can do that and sort of help a cause or help somebody or whatever, I don't see a reason why I wouldn't, because like I said, it's my favorite thing to do, and I would do it anyway.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of people, you know, I've certainly turned my hobby into a full-time job, but there's a lot of people's, I guess, special interests that maybe wouldn't raise money for charity.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like if I am lucky enough to be someone that has a special interest that could, I want to try.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm really grateful that I've had the opportunity to work with, you know, those great organizations and a bunch of others, and uh I I hope to, you know, sort of as as long as I can.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: So is it important for you as an artist that your music and you yourself stand for something?
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: I feel really fortunate to like a lot of the classic rock artists that I do because I can look at their careers as sort of a retrospective and and sort of see the last 50 years, 55, some even 60 years of an amazing career and what's that what that meant for them.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of the people who can still go out and sell out three nights in a row at an arena for the last 50 years or something, they're people who have stood for at least something.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I think there's you know sort of varying degrees on what that might mean.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I'm sure my opinion on all that will change, you know, as I age or whatever.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: But uh for the most part, uh as long as I feel like I'm doing some sort of pop, you know, making some sort of positive impact, I'm really grateful that people allow me to.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yes, I love that.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_01: Your first European tour is coming up this fall.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: What excites you about that?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_01: And what's a 21-year-old young man from New Jersey gonna teach the European audiences about what's going on with American pop culture.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, uh, you know, my the European tour actually was uh was at the very end of last fall, so I have even more answers for that because it's happened.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Shoot! Well, I was I'm I'm a little behind.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, good.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, like I said, I try to keep busy.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's specifically to throw you curveballs, you know.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm glad.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: But it was incredible.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: I went out there with the Light of Day Foundation, actually, and you know, it was something it was an amazing opportunity for me because I I'd never been to most of the markets that we'd played, but Light of Day has, as principal, you know, they've done these, I think this was their 15th tour of Europe, where they just take a bunch of songwriters out and we go, you know, place to place, and we get to play for you know a lot of people who know the organization, some people who don't.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Light of Day uh benefits Parkinson's research.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it was started by a guy named Bob Benjamin, who's uh you know, sort of a New Jersey you know music, you know, mover and shaker icon, and he was diagnosed with Parkinson's at a really young age.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and the the festival's grown since then, and it they they do it all over the place.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, it was my first year for Light of Day Europe, and I was out there with some great songwriters.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Joe Durso, who uh you know does a lot of work with Light of Day, he's the the former president of Light of Day, and Rob Dye, who's a secretary of Light of Day, they went out and played, and then also I was there with the Adam Ezra group, who is um an incredible artist, uh, you know, based up in Boston, uh, and I'm a huge fan.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, the first ever gig I played with my band was opening for them.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: So it was fun to see them again after a long time.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: And also Guy Davis, who I became a huge fan of.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's an amazing blues artist.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's been up for the best blues album Grammy a couple times, and he just is one of those guys that's been around, and I learned a ton from him.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: I I never felt more like I was seeing like Mr.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Miyagi than when I was hanging with Guy talking about songs, you know.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was an incredible experience.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And another thing I loved about it was because they done it, they know their little corners where things are fun.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we played a lot of markets that were a little off the beaten path, you know.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't the huge capitals.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: We were playing villages and and towns and places I really wouldn't see otherwise, you know, it wouldn't be a place that you know I would vacation necessarily because it's just it's a village, you know, it's a place I wouldn't have known if I wasn't there.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so getting to meet these people and see the beautiful architecture and just just the support that Light of Day has, it was a truly an honor and I learned a ton.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that getting those reps in kind of set the stage and prepared you mentally for what you're dealing with right now?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it was really funny because you know, after the idol audition and everything, you know, doing doing this tour, it was something completely different, but also equally new.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd never toured Europe before.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: And I also had never I'd never toured, you know, for that long before.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was uh basically four weeks straight.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've done you know two weeks on, a week off before, whatever, mostly because I was in school and I couldn't be away for too long.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so you know, Idol was sort of it was a new experience and it was it was funny because it was new for me to play 90 seconds and have to give myself that amount of time to sort of make my personality come across in front of the judges to then having four weeks, you know, and and both of them were sort of the shortest and longest sets I've ever done is to get out there every night and and play.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: We we had only a few days off in the four weeks, and so it really was mostly playing, and that and that's where I'm happiest.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it was a great time.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_01: So, given all of this, everything that you've experienced and what is to come, let's kind of set the table for the future.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Beyond idle, what's the long-term vision for Jake Thistle?
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, like I said, my favorite thing to do is is just to write and play.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And so I would love to do that as long as I can, you know, and I'll sort of take whatever that means, you know.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not in it to, you know, walk a red carpet per se.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in it to just get as many people as I can to hear my songs.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: So as long as I can my goal is to write songs and play them and also eat and have a roof.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if I can make that happen, I'll be very happy.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: Heck yeah.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I don't know exactly what that means, but uh, you know, I I'm just I'm just down to play in front of as big an audience as I can and sort of try to make as big an impact as I can or a big as big a splash as I can.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I'm not exactly sure what that'll look like yet, but I'm I'm I'm excited to see what it looks like because I'm having a great time.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_01: Living in the heart of manifestation for a moment.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_01: Five years from now, what does success look like for you?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: I guess to me, success looks like touring for sure, is something that I've I've had a great time with up to this point.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we we tour on a pretty small scale at this point.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mostly tour acoustic.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easy to keep costs down that way.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I guess I'm not sure in five years the type of places I'll be playing, but I would say just in principle, getting to tour with the band and not lose money, and also you know be able to put out some songs and have people listening and singing them back to me, and you know, talking maybe about how the songs have impact at the merch table afterwards, saying I dance to this song or my husband and I love this song.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever whatever that might mean, that's what success is to me.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: If that's at the garden, hey, I'll take it, you know.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not not uh naive enough to say, Oh, I'm not in it for that.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yes, I would love to be doing that.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's at uh 300 cat venue in uh Dayton, Ohio or something, I'll take that too, you know.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_01: So as we wrap this up, I like to throw a philosophical curveball at every single guest that does my show.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: I ask the same question of everybody.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_01: I've had everybody from UFC stars to Nick Hexham from 311 to different people from all walks of life.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we we don't have to go too too deep, but it's through your eyes.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_01: What's your advice for making the world a better place tomorrow than it is today from your experience?
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, for me, I think a lot of it is I I think uh you know, especially during a time where you know there is so much division and and there's so much hate and things like that.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people, including myself, get really overwhelmed with that because how can I I can't specifically fix that?
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's nothing I can do waking up that's going to like solve this crisis or that crisis.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_00: So for me, I just try to do everything I can in my daily life to sort of allow myself to go to bed and say, okay, like I think I think I did a good job being a good person today.
• 33:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I I think not enough people do that.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes that doesn't mean anything.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it means giving up the parking space that somebody beat me to, or whatever it is.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't really know, but I think I think it any sort of change, any meaningful change has to come grassroots, whatever that means, you know, whether it's politics or not or anything.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think if you can just walk away from the day or the week or whatever and say, okay, I I did my best to be as decent a person as I could have, or whatever your version of decent is, I think that's that's a really good first step.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_01: Dude, I knew there was a reason I liked you.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody must have snuck you, my private journal, because I wrote something like that down just the other day.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_01: I kid you not.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_01: I said, the only way we get unstuck from the neck negativity in society is if we figure out ways to put joy out into the world.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_01: And like be purposeful with that.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: Spend the same energy putting joy out in the world that we do talking about the socio-political divide and the like the ugly discourse out there.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: So, man, my props to you, my friend.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_01: Tell anybody that is listening to this or watching this where they can find you online.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, sort of the center for everything is jakethistle.com.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's my name.com if it's if it's easy to find the spelling.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, jakethistle.com is links to everything, and then I'm at Jake Thistle Music on all the socials, the Instagram and TikTok and Facebook and everything like that.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: And American Idol airs on Mondays, 8 p.m.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: 7 Central on ABC.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: Streams the next day on Hulu, and beginning March 30th, streams live on Disney Plus.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: Jake Thistle, thank you so much for doing the show, my friend.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_01: The world is a much better place with you in it, and I mean that.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's so kind.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_00: I really I can't thank you enough for having me.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: It means the world.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, I'd like to thank my new friend Jake Thistle for joining me on the show today.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was a blast.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: I can't believe we got all of that in in under 35 minutes.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_01: Wow! What a well-spoken, very emotionally mature young man.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure you are watching American Idol on ABC, 8 p.m., 7 Central on Monday evenings, the following day on Hulu, and the show goes live on Disney Plus starting March 30th.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: Go vote for Jake once he makes it to the rounds.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_01: Give him a follow on Instagram at Jake Fistlemusic.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: And while you are being generous with follows, make sure you're following at Caught on the Mike on all social media platforms and give me a subscribe on YouTube.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_01: You can also visit me, www.caughtonthemic.com.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_01: You can send me an email, caught on the mic at gmail.com for all booking inquires.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_01: This has been Caught on the Mike with Michael Clark.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Michael Clark.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, thank you.