Jack Preston, Musician, Artist, Producer

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This is about being able to make art more than it is about being famous or being rich.

00:14
Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that.  Thank you for the folks who support me by buying a coffee at ChewingTheFatBR.com. I really do appreciate that. It does help support the podcast  and keep more episodes coming out.  I'm really excited about my guest that I have today. It's a friend that I met while working in retail, calling me in all the way from Los Angeles. Please welcome Jack Preston. Jack.

00:43
Hello, hello, thank you for having me, Robb. How you doing, man? Man, I'm feeling good, man. How about yourself? I'm doing good, I'm doing good. You're looking good, man. It's like, before we started, was like, it's been a few years since we talked, but I've loved keeping up with you and all the stuff that you've got going on as far as like your music career. Like I said, we've been working in retail, know, slanging this and that, but you've always had that music inside of you.

01:13
And  it's just cool to see you put out songs and put out albums and  videos and things like that. That just really, I mean, you could tell the passion that you have for that when you see you perform. So I just think that's amazing. And we're get into that  as we talk today. So thank you so much for being here, man.  I'm really excited. Thank you for having me. To see how this journey started for you.  So you're in Los Angeles, but  are you a native Los Angelian?

01:43
I am not a native Angelino. Angelino. Okay. All right. right. bad. bad. uh I was born  in Eastern North Carolina. Okay.  And uh my, my dad, my stepfather was  from Georgia. He was in the Marines. So kind of grew up between  North Carolina, Georgia and California.  So I got a little bit of Cali in me, but it's not specifically LA. Okay. Okay.  So in your, um,

02:12
formative years in North Carolina and Georgia. Music always been a big part of your life where your  parents into music and stuff. mean, these things military. Yeah, think I come from a family of like music appreciators.  There are musicians that's in my family. I would say that maybe the common thread is like people in my family  are creative and crafty. They're really good with their hands.  And so, uh you know, there's I have, you know,

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aunts that play piano really well and you know my grandmother could sing in this type of like operatic style so I think it did just kind of come through ah but I didn't remember like growing up like playing instruments with my family or anything like that yeah but yeah yeah they just love music yeah yeah and some  when did you find your you know quote-unquote  voice  was that at an early age uh

03:10
Did you start- My voice as a musician or just- Yeah, yeah, as a musician or you found your appreciation. I mean, when you grow up in it, I think it becomes the norm, but when did you  kind of say, you know what, this is kind of what I want to do too? I um think when I first started feeling like that, I was actually in college.  But I will say that, which it kind of feels like it's kind of late  compared to most people's journey.  But I will say that as I kind of reflected on my childhood,

03:40
I was always  super close with music  and it goes back as far back as Purple Rain.  When I was  like three or four years old, that was the only way that my family could get me to kind of sit still was to put on the movie Purple Rain. Oh, wow.  So like they would actually call me Purple Rain as a nickname. And so,  you know, as I got older and I kind of reflected on that, I'm like, OK, that makes sense. You know, I through my Michael Jackson phase where like I wore.

04:08
a glove and these penny loafers at school until I wore them all the way down through the soul. And I started making music or learning music, you know, I would say in middle school. So, you know, I started playing drums and marching band in high school and things like that and got into jazz band, started learning how to play the drum set. And I will say that in high school myself and the band director's son, we would

04:38
spend our lunch breaks like writing drum cadences and I would go to this house. And so there was that like,  you know, I guess that was when I first started to realize that I felt that I was falling in love with music was in marching band.  But again, I think because of the era that I grew up in,  you know, the nineties, mainly I was I was born in the early eighties, you know, so I'm a  X lineal, I guess is the is the right proper term for,  you know,  my classification. uh

05:08
You know, I grew up in the, in the gangsta rap era and it was just kind of hard for me to imagine myself being a rapper when I was growing up. So I was just more of the kid that had the headphones on all the time. You know, I just had like the crazy music collection. You know, my parents had like the Columbia house, uh, music club, all of that. So 13 cassettes.

05:35
My brother was older than my brother's older than me. uh He's like eight years older than me. So he also joined the Marines and he would travel around and put me on the things like French hip hop and oh dance hall and things like that. So I would say that's where I probably got some of my global taste from was my brother traveling around and then, you know, put me on the things. So, yeah, just always been a music lover. I think I'm a music nerd first and foremost. And then that kind of led to me becoming a musician.

06:03
Well, there's a lot. mean,  for you saying that you, you know, that you really got into the percussion side of things first, you know, drumming, there's a lot of, there's a lot of technicality that goes into being a proficient percussionist and proficient drummer. mean, that's,  there's a lot of math involved in that. People don't realize it. And when you do it right, no one knows that there's all that going on when you're talking about not, you know, beyond, you know, there's no whole notes in percussion really. You know, it's all,  it's all, you know,

06:30
eights and sixteenths and thirty seconds and sixty fours and one twenty eights and all that, you know what I mean? And being able to put all that together in a way because the percussion,  that's what starts to move the body. You know what I mean? It's like, know, lyrics  and instrumentation can really start to move the mind, move the soul, but really it's that percussion that starts to move the body first. Yeah. So that's the first instrument. Yeah. So that's awesome, man. I love that. I love that.

07:01
So before you  got into  and found the percussion thing, was there something else that really kind of piqued your interest as far as like when you're in school, know, was like,  what was that like?  I think the only other thing I can really think of is, uh you know, I also came up in the era when uh MTV, VH1, BET and all those channels were, uh they're really pushing out a lot of.

07:28
a lot of stuff content as we call it now. Yeah, we didn't call it content. But  And  if you can remember uh how people were back in the day, uh we remember how people were back in the day.  Some people are still this way. But as a kid, uh they had these these channels very section off as to who watched what channels. So as a as a white kid, you watch MTV. As a black kid, you watch BT. And I remember this being very much a thing of like

07:56
whatever the kids would come and talk about at school and what music they would be into. And I would say like right around maybe 92, I was coming home from school and I was supposed to watch cartoons, but I started watching MTV. And I think I was just kind of like the kid that didn't turn the channel from MTV. So I think that was like the first inkling that I had a

08:26
different love for music because I didn't care about the categories of it. didn't care about  music to try to fit in, you know,  and  even kind of a related funny story is when the song Kiss from a Rose came out  with Seal, right? Yeah, it was on the Batman Forever soundtrack or one of those soundtracks.  So absolutely fantastic song. But as a kid, I was really into that song and my cousin, I went to visit my

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cousin during the summer, he was like, Hey, man, like, that song is not it.  And I was like, what?  He's like, Yeah, man, the fellas are gonna pick on you if you like go around like singing a song. And I was like, screw that, man. This is a good f in song.  So I think it was like uh the early stages of me being fearless and knowing what I liked, which I think later informed how I approach the music, which

09:25
you know, very much defies categories at times. So yeah, that would probably be one of the other kind of moments for me. Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that. I love that. And as a young kid, I mean, that takes a lot of, it takes a lot of bravery, it takes a lot of courage to be able to go ahead and define yourself and not be defined by others and others' opinions. mean, that's...

09:52
You know, even as an adult, that's some, you know, that's some, that's senior level, like, you know, living. That's it's hard. I mean, we all struggle with that, right? Because I think as a species, as humans, we want to be able to, you know, fit in, you will. But I think that music and sound is pure. And when it comes down to music for me, it's either you like it or you don't.

10:21
You know, some people say it's good music and it's bad music, but like there's some, you know, artists or some songs that  majority of people will like, but there's always going to be someone who doesn't like it. Right. So I think that was just more, more of like, I knew that it sounded good  and you couldn't tell me any differently.  It's like the song sounds good. You can't fool me into thinking that it's not, I'm not cool or, you know, something like that because, because of the song. Right. Because you don't  have it.

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particularly like how it sounds, know, that's, everybody has their opinion and that's fine. That's great. That's what makes us. Man, when like Aerosmith and uh Guns N' Roses and those guys were on that MTV run in the early nineties,  that was a, that was crazy, man.  So like your loss if you missed out on that. Right. You know, like, so I just enjoyed, I just enjoyed, you know, good music. That's awesome. That's awesome. So.

11:19
So from that standpoint, once you moved into  college, you said you started to really kind of do that. What did you go to college for? What was your degree you were going to? I went to college for  graphic design. Okay. You know, in 2025, I don't think that  graphic design exists anymore.  But  I went to school for design,  know, art school. went to Georgia Southern University. Okay. I really wanted to go to SCAD.

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but my dad was like, yeah, we're not gonna be able to afford that, man. So. I'm not sure how anybody affords SCAD to you. Yeah. I feel for some of my SCAD homies that are still paying their student loans. yeah, I went to art school and I think that another thing that kind of helped inform me from an artistic standpoint and expand my horizons was being in art school and learning about art and music history.

12:16
oh Even taking like courses like mythology and things like that, just giving me more of a historical and kind of global experience. know, uh as you know, like growing up in Georgia, uh you know, in the Bible Belt, small towns,  it can be, you know, a little bit limiting in terms of the information that you get, right? So this may be the reason why some people don't want people to go to college.  Right, right.  But yeah, but I went to college and, you know, I learned about

12:47
You know, people like Picasso and Jackson Pollock and, know, these visual artists, because I'm actually a visual artist as well.  don't, I guess I don't tout it as much, but,  you know,  as much as I was  making music as a kid, I was also drawing and making art and things like that.  So just being expressive and creative is always natural to me. So learning about those guys actually inspired me.

13:17
you know, in terms of the way that I approach my music. And then I also, through art school, you know, I ran into some, some guys who would like make these one guy in particular, my friend named Scott, Scott Howard, super dope visual artists. And he would make these like post-punk, like make CDs for me with all this like, you know, band of four and you know, like these

13:46
talking head deep cuts and it was an era of music that I missed.  it was stuff that was coming out around the time that I was born and it wasn't anyone around me who was really into it. You know, so he kind of put me onto that. started exploring stuff, fell in love with uh David Bowie  and and then David Bowie was the one that really, you know, one of the ones that really made me be like, you know what I think.

14:13
I think this is the thing that I want to do. It was like David Bowie Prince, George Clinton, you know, all those guys just watched and they'll do that thing. And I was like, I relate to that. I I think I want to do something like that. yeah. I mean, there's something inspiring, especially about those three names that you mentioned, because you think about all of them and they're all kind of, they created their own thing. They created with, with, uh, as a friend of mine likes to say, we're reckless abandoned. They didn't care what.

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you know, somebody said about it or whatever. It's like, nope, this is how I want it to be. So this is what it's going to be. You know, there's, something so freeing in that thought. And I think we, as people are often caged to not think that way because we're scared of what the what ifs, the what ifs, the what ifs as a, as a negative. But if you think of a what if as a positive, it's like, what if it pops off? What if it goes better than I ever thought? What if people love this? Like I love this. You know what I mean?

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And that's just a reframing of that question in your mind. And it's a hard, it's a hard hill to climb for some folks, you know? Yeah, for sure. So what, so you in college get this degree coming out. What was that first gig for you? Cause like I said, cause we met in retail. So that's why I'm asking. It's like, so what, did you do after college? So after college, you know, my brother,

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was living in Monterey, California, working at the Defense Language Institute where they train uh Marines and different military folks to be able to go and work in embassies and things like that.  so uh he offered for me to come to Monterey.  I moved to Monterey  and worked at Kinko's for a few months. And then I started working at a, cause you know, you know how goes, right? got to  work at Kinko's and then, uh

16:11
was able to work at a  Alt Weekly, Monterey County Weekly as a designer. So  not too long, not too long out of school, was about a year or so after uh college, I was able to actually land  a job in my field. So. That's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah.  Usually it's so much longer than that. So I mean, that's, that's a blessing to have in that way. uh And  when you're doing that, when you're in a creative field,

16:39
Even if you're working at a publication or something like that, you're you're in a creative field you get Around other creative people which help you grow and help  create that network that may become valuable later on in your life and you don't even realize it and that type of stuff so I think that I think that's amazing for you, so  So skip forward how long did it take for you to start? Putting out your music and doing what you're doing now

17:08
It actually took a little while. would say that I officially kind of dove into things maybe around 2002, 2003 was when I first started, you know, like I started up a band when I was in college. I started also started learning guitar, started playing keys, started taking rapping a little more seriously and started a band. were just this cool kind of fusion of five guys that came from like

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completely different backgrounds and different styles.  And, you know, we were only around for about a year because I ended up graduating uh not too long after we started up. And I mean, I still got some recordings of like literally just put in my wasn't a MacBook. It was the little it was the white one before that.  Powerbook. Yeah, had a Powerbook.  GarageBand was introduced to GarageBand. I think that for a lot of people, you know,  before that.

18:06
You know, knew the guys that had like the eight track recorders and things like that, but it just all felt too. It wasn't accessible enough for me. Right. So once I got garage band, you know, we would have band rehearsals and I would literally just plot my computer in the middle of the room and just record, you know, us just doing our thing. But I didn't actually get anything recorded. My very first recording wasn't until 2005. So it took me a few years.

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of just like tinkering, learning, doing stuff. I played live shows,  but my actual first recording wasn't until 2005. Okay. Okay. So 20 years on, where are you at now? yeah. Yeah. Where am I at now?  It's an interesting question.  I'm in a kind of a  strange place. That's the best way that I can describe it because I believe that my

19:04
My skill set, my skill level, the way that I've worked on my craft uh over the years  is equivalent as good as  guys who are considered like the top  of,  Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole. When I look at people who have my skill set, they're like the top guys. think that maybe I missed having that person.

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that I could kind of partner with. Like I think that behind every great artist, there's like a great advocate  that really rides hard for them. And I think maybe I  missed that, having that person. So I kind of say, I'm I'm like Andre 3000 without Organize Noise or I'm Kendrick Lamar without Top Dog, you know?  And these are like artists who they are, that would love them, but had they not had the certain.

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platform to be able to kind of present themselves and grow in a certain way. They probably would have just remained as like underground or unknown artists. Right. So people have a hard time if someone speaks of themselves in that regard the way that I do. But like I just know know what my skill level is. So it's like it's kind of like being able to play in the NBA. But, know, you just street balling. You're just a really good street baller. Right. Right. it's like, oh, man, if we get that guy into the NBA, you know, he probably would be.

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be one of the, at least make a dent, right?  So I'm in that space in terms of uh sometimes my experience and like what I'm doing in my career right now isn't matching the work that the  how I built  my craft.  you know,  but at the same time,  I told myself in the beginning of my career, I told myself 20 years ago that, uh you know, this is about

20:59
being able to make art more than it is about being famous or being rich. I would love to have the rich part for sure. The fame part, yeah, whatever. I never been super big on that and maybe that's a part of the reason why I'm not bigger, right? Some people may have, especially in the music industry, you kind of come up to where you may have to make certain decisions that can help you your popularity, but maybe

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can be questionable from a, know, maybe more morality, ethic or  integrity standpoint, right?  I think because I've opted for my integrity, oh you know, maybe that  plays the role as well. But I told myself that oh it's about just having the ability to make art, you know, oh I have a gift, I have gifts,  I have this creative mind, I have this ability to execute these ideas  and oh

21:59
If  I can  impact  one person, then I've done my job, right? uh I may not be around when that person is impacted. know, someone may discover my music as, you know, a hundred years from now, if things are still around  and maybe they get the  inspiration that they need.  think  knowing that helps me to ground myself into not getting into a,  man, this didn't happen this way or this should have went this way or, know.

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I think I'm able to clearly see why things  have  landed where they are right now.  And including, you know,  maybe things that I could have done  better at times or executed better at times, right?  So I think I'm just in a place of like awareness.  And um I'm the artist that I wanted myself to be 20 years ago. And that makes me feel good. Right. Like I remember telling Scott, who  I mentioned,

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uh you know, Scott, I was like, man, you know,  I want to be  at this place with my craft and I want to be able to do, you know, do these types of things.  And  he was like, yeah, man, go for it. You know, like what else? Yeah,  he's like, yeah, man, go for it. And  I think maybe about five years ago, I feel like I arrived at that place. So so as a musician, I feel like I can make any

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type of sound or any type of music. I've played around with a bunch of different genres and  styles. And so I'm just pushing myself to  continue to make the best art that I can while I'm around. I'm at that uh post  40s mark where you start looking, it's like, okay, I may have more days behind me, right? So you start thinking about like...

23:52
What was my legacy going to be? What am I going to be leaving behind? How am I going to impact people? How can I make the most out of the amount of time that I have left? You know, I made it this far, you know. So  again, being inspired by people like David Bowie, who  up until the end of his life, he dedicated himself to his craft where, you know, he was able to release an album that was  just remarkable. Like who  kind of is able to

24:23
write a farewell letter to their fans and their family uh through the medium that they kind of dedicated their lives to.  And so I  think another person that comes to mind is J Dilla. I was just talking to somebody about  the album Donuts. I don't know if you're familiar with it,  but for those who aren't familiar with it, J Dilla died uh

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in his early thirties from complications from lupus.  And  while he was in the hospital, you know, kind of going through some of his last months, he worked on this album called, you know, Donuts.  It actually released a couple of days before he passed away. So it's one of those things where I was the guy was talking to actually one of my coworkers and I was like, hey, are you familiar with Donuts? He was like, man, I cried the Donuts before, you know, he's like,  I mean, because that was a, you know, it was 2006.

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when that happened. And so,  yeah, for him to release it uh actually on his birthday and then to die a couple days later just kind of instantly made it this mythical thing. Now, I'm not sitting here thinking about how, you know,  I want to try to like make an album on my deathbed or anything like that. But I'm just saying that uh I want to be intentional about my art, you know,  for the remainder of my life.

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I think those are a couple of examples where  hopefully their families didn't feel like something was sacrificed for them to make that art,  but they were able to make something beautiful to kind of lead for people. yeah. I love that. Long answer, but you know. No, no, that's great. Yeah. Cause I mean, it makes me think of  things that like some of my friends have told me um even about the podcast when you know, when you're talking about, know,  not knowing if people are going to connect with something or whatever.

26:19
It's like, you know, when you just create, create earnestly and you get it  out, you know, whatever that is inside you, whether it be visual art or music or poetry or, or acting or whatever that creative thing is, if you get it out earnestly, it will connect with someone. Right. You know, and,  my friend Travis again, he's always like,  your, biggest fan has not discovered you yet. Yeah. He's like, biggest fan of this podcast has not listened to a single episode yet.

26:48
Because it's just out there and it will find the people that it's supposed to find. It will touch the people it's supposed to touch. And same thing with music and art and all those things. You just put it out there earnestly and let the rest of it happen. You did your part in the creation. The rest of it is up to the world. It's up to the universe and vibes and people to find it when they need it or whatever. Again, it's such a pure thing and it's such a gift.

27:17
oh I think that, you know, this is society that we're in and, uh you know, needing to make it  this  commodifiable  thing can kind of pervert it  at times. think there's times where it can be a product and it can be art and it can be all these things. And we have a lot of examples of that. But I think that it's hard, especially as an independent artist in this day and age, not to.

27:46
be in this business mode all the time. So I just try to be smart about my business, but then try to release all that when it's time to just get into the art. In terms of what my goal was of impacting one person, I would even say that every live performance I've done, I've always had at least one person walk up to me and say, wow, had no idea who you were, just walked in, or I just was here.

28:14
to check out the other group and like that was amazing. You know, so that's always been, you know, motivational. And then, you know, the other part is, um, my daughter who was three, uh, three and a half. have this song called pressure. And so she loves that song. She loves to listen to it all the time. She calls it daddy song. She's like, I want to hear daddy song, right. And then we'll put that on. Um, and so I'm like, okay, I already, I already accomplished my goal. Everything else is, is,

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bonus from here, you know, from here on out. So yeah. Oh, I that. You know how it goes, Yeah. Yeah. No, I love that though. All right. So, so pressure, is that available on like streaming platforms? Yeah. available on all platforms. So folks search for Jack Preston pressure. can find that. Yes. If you, if you really love to support independent artists, you can go to my band camp.

29:13
J-A-C-K-P-R-E-S dot bandcamp. And that's JackPress dot bandcamp. If you don't know about streaming, the streaming era, artists don't make a lot out of streaming. But if you want to purchase it, the commodity, the product, that helps out a lot. yeah, Pressure is available. I got a music video that's on YouTube and Vivo and all of that. So yeah, definitely get into it. Cool, cool. I'm gonna definitely make sure that.

29:41
that I put all those links up on the show notes  after this.  So aside from the art, aside from the creating, what's bringing you joy, Jack?

29:52
Man, what's bringing me joy? I think  I've spent a lot of time over the years  really just trying to get to know myself, like  who I am and how I tick. And I think that  I was able to find that place where  no matter what's kind of going on around me or going on with other people,  I can reset myself to a place of joy.

30:22
uh or peace.  you know, we're in and out of it, right? We're human. So it's gonna come and go. But I'm able to reset myself to that. yeah, just having an appreciation for the experience of life. uh I know that,  you you just went through a major  loss yourself and I've lost a parent  and  going through  that.

30:49
particular grieving  experience is, you know, one of the hardest for sure.  think gratitude and the gratitude for the experience of life, you know, like helps me with that type of thing where it's like, you feel this pain, you know, you're feeling this pain.  But then if you feel gratitude,  then it's like, man, I get to have this experience.

31:16
You know,  I feel this pain because I got to feel love Yeah,  pain a part of the pain is that why I'm gonna miss that experience of that love that I felt right  so it's just  Embracing embracing the waves of life man embracing the  you know, I was in the ocean yesterday And you know, you got to move with the waves, you know  Some of them gonna crash crash against you  and some of you get the ride and you know, but don't try to resist

31:44
And don't try to resist the ocean. Don't try to resist life, right? Because it'll it'll sweep you under if you do. So I just try not to resist. uh My last album that I dropped was called The River. And it's very much about just being able to flow with things, move, you know, move like water.  And and so I just try to stick to that and help help me with joy. And then, yeah, I got to have a daughter, man. I got a beautiful family. And,  you know, I live in a some people call this place a,

32:14
asshole. I don't know what the I don't know your policy on cussing here. But some people call this place a really bad. I'm like, this is the nicest, you know, shithole I've ever been in. so I live in a nice city. And there's just a lot to appreciate. Yeah. I'm, you know, I'm living a blessed life, man, you know, struggles are there. But

32:40
I've seen people go through some life experiences that are far worse than what I'm experiencing. So that helps keep me grounded.

32:52
All right, Jack, this is the second segment of show. This is where we dive a little bit deeper into your mental health journey. I know we kind of touched on some of that  in the previous segment there, but um I definitely believe that the more we can talk about this stuff, the more  people can associate with the fact that they're not alone in these feelings that they may have, whether it be depression, anxiety, whatever it is. So for you,  how do you keep the darkness  at bay?

33:22
uh Um, I think with just,  uh, you know,  the buzzwords, the buzz, the buzz term self care, you know, really being serious about my self care routine.  And so I, I  lean on the community a lot. I lean on my community.  Um, I have a therapist, I'm a verbal processor, so I work with my therapist to, you know, kind of verbally process through  frustrating things or, you know, I can.

33:49
If I run into walls where I'm overthinking or not thinking enough, I'm in a couple of like groups, like dad's groups, men's groups, where, you know, there's a community of, you know, men who were kind of going through similar experiences, families and things like that. And we're able to create a safe space for it for ourselves. And, you know, I'm able to utilize my insurance for, you know, certain practitioners and things to.

34:18
helped me with my body, you know, training and  massages and things like that. And then uh something that a lot of people don't know, I didn't really publicize it, but I did kind of, I won't say fall short, but maybe I missed a couple of cues and I ended up having an anxiety attack  last year and ended up having to go into the hospital. And so that taught me that uh even with having those

34:47
self-care things in place  if  I'm doing those things, but I'm just trying to power through, you know, if I'm just trying to power through it, you know, you know how it goes, right?  We do that uh as fathers.  We just try to power through. We try to be Superman.  And  as you age,  you know, you become more like Clark Kent  than Superman.  know, and so I'm in that stage of being

35:15
honest with myself and true with myself, listening to my body, listening to my mind when it tells me that I need to sit down and rest and things like that. think resting may still be one of the tougher ones because it's like, you gotta get it, you gotta get up and get it. You gotta get it now, it's that hustle and grind mindset. hustle and grind, but shout out to, it's called the NAP Ministry.

35:44
And it's actually a philosophy  on, you know, rest as resistance  against capitalism.  from a friend of mine named Tricia,  she's been doing this for a few years. that's a big inspiration to me as well. You know, just like sit your behind down.  So sometimes I just sit my behind down, you know, sometimes I just do the thing that I want to do and I don't.

36:13
allow myself to feel guilty about it. You know,  I do that thing. oh That's what I've been learning  a lot where a lot of us tend to kind of fall short, especially when we're responsible for other people. You know, it's like, all right, let me be in service mode the entire time, but that is not humanly possible. Sometimes you got to sit your behind down. So yeah, I sit my behind down. Sometimes I, you know, again, do the thing that I want to do just for me.

36:41
for a moment, I don't go overboard with it, but I'll give myself 30 minutes to an hour to two hours in a day, not every day, but just a day.  Maybe a day out of the week,  but just like, I'll take that time to do that. That helps keep the darkness at bay. Yeah, because there's  other analogies of that, that you can't  pour from an empty cup.  That's what we,  as fathers, we want to do that, we want to pour out and pour out.

37:10
you know, kids and family to have and to do and to see the joy in them and that fills us up. But if the cup is empty,  you know,  it's more detrimental than it is, you know, positive as we may think. taking the time to  rest and to not feel guilty about it. But that's the hardest part, I think personally for me is to not feel guilty about, you know, watching some, you know,

37:34
animation or something like that and you're like, man, I could have done something in this hour. It's like, but you needed to rest and you sat here and you just, you you let your mind reset. You, you know, did whatever just for yourself so that you can continue to pour out. Absolutely. I just binge watched two seasons of foundation, which is on Apple TV plus, you know, I did that. was, that was something that was, was great. You know, I just.

38:03
kind of found time, you know, when I was kind of resting, laying on the couch sometimes and watching the episode at the time. And it took me maybe three weeks or so, but yeah.  So just doing things like that. Yeah, I love that.  As an artist though, do you find that sometimes  like after  those moments of  anxiety, depression, things like that, that you may have, and you've come through it.

38:31
that you can draw inspiration from it for works of art, whether it be songs, music,  physical art or anything like that?  Well, I guess that's the part maybe I left out  is uh because  music in particular,  you can channel  raw emotion into the sound and people can feel it. know what mean?  You can listen to a song  just like we were talking about. uh

39:01
you know, Dilla's music, you can listen to a song, it can make you cry, right? You can can listen to a song, can get you hype. So  I uh I try to channel it sometimes in the moment.  got my  my my friend and musical colleague uh named John Bomb. He's done production for  three of my projects. uh You  know, I say three of my projects, we've done three projects together, right?  As this producer and rapper. uh

39:30
You know, he's he's seen me like be really angry and, know, kind of my voice is takes on this different characteristics. He's like, man, I just want you to just do that on a song, please.  He's like, do that on a song. And I've tried to do that in particular, like encapsulate my anger  in moments. But it also just helps with, you know, again, channeling. You know, sometimes  you don't have you may not feel like you have the outlet  and  maybe like.

39:59
yelling and screaming isn't, you know, isn't the way to actually do it. But if you feel that emotion, I just think about like, man, if I'm feeling this, if I can get this on wax,  then this is,  it's gonna, it's gonna impact someone because someone else is feeling this, you know? So  I do that. And then I do try to just sometimes capture it. If I'm not like in a super creative mode where I can like actually sit down and like finish the song,  I'll just try to capture it. And then I can come back to it  and

40:29
you know, try to pull from it later. So yeah, yes and no, like I do it a little bit before and I do it after. Yeah, yeah. But I mean, again, having that that outlet for it, you know, in a creative way, in the right in the right vein, like you're saying, you know, maybe you're yelling and screaming in your office chair is not a great way to do that. But yeah, in a, know, in a safe, creative environment, heck, even, you know, I know, like even here where I am, they have like rage rooms where if you

40:59
Those times you like rent a room and go bust up a TV with a sledgehammer or whatever it is, you know what I mean?  Because that helps you release that. It helps you from keeping that stuff in. And I think a lot of times  it's those times that we try to  bottle it up and keep it in that  it it kind of infects  everything that we try to do, unfortunately,  and being able to get it out uh in a proper manner. uh

41:29
really helps you to cleanse, to be like, okay, all right, that stuff's gone. Let's move on. Let's try and fill that area with something positive. Yeah, exactly. And like you said, having a crew, having people that you can talk to, be in open with, things like that. I think that's such a great thing, even if it's listen to a podcast or something, so that you realize you're not alone. That there are other people that are going through this. Right.

41:58
You know? Yeah, exactly.  And that's the main thing is just  don't ever make yourself think that you're the only person going through something. I think, you know, that's  something that  my friends have reminded me of at times where I'm just like, I get into my woe is me mode and they're like, well, you're not the only one that, you know, not saying they're not like chastising me, but it's just like,  you know, you're not the only one. Like, just know that if you start to

42:28
thinking that you're the only one or telling yourself you're the only one, then you're going down the wrong path, you know. But it's okay to feel the way you feel, but you're not the only one.

42:42
Alright Jack, it's time for the third segment of show. time for the Fast Five. The Fast Five. It's time now for the Fast Five. Fast Five. Sorry, I'm still working on a theme song. There we go. That's what is. I need you to lay some guitar riffs or something down on that. Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown. If you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash poddex, it'll take you to the link where can download it on your favorite.

43:10
Play Store or iTunes Store.  And  it was made for podcasters, but they're great icebreaker questions, all kind of different categories.  I'm gonna just pick five questions at random. There's no wrong answers. You ready to go? Let's do it. Question number one.

43:31
What is your greatest fear?

43:35
My greatest fear  is  not trying my darndest. Oh wow.  I love that. I love that. That was a great answer. Question number two.

43:51
You can choose anyone in the world to become friends with.  Who would you choose?

43:58
Man, I'm not even going to front, man. I would have to go with Andre 3000. He just seems like the coolest guy ever. Like, just seems like super chill. And I've always just kind of related to him as a, a person in his approach. I feel like he'd be like a cool homie to be able to hang out with sometimes. Yeah. You didn't like take up.

44:21
Flute all of a sudden or anything like that. Did you or just not inspired? uh But yeah, he just I like his approach, you know in like interviews and yeah the way that he uh is thoughtfulness Yes, so I feel like he'd be a cool person to have like Conversations with for sure for sure. I love it question number three

44:48
What makes you lose track of time?

44:53
oh Is time real? uh No.  Maybe being in a pool, know. oh Pool days with the little one.  Time just melts away. Yeah, I love that. love it. Question number four.

45:14
Is it worth paying  more for IMAX?  It depends on the movie. I'll say yes.  just, last movie I watched was Sinners.  IMAX, think  it was worth it. Okay, okay. All right, I mean that same thing too. love IMAX. Yeah. All right, and question number five.

45:40
What was the last book you read?

45:44
The last book I read was  the  Steve Jobs uh memoir. I what it's called, but yeah, Steve Jobs memoir. Okay.  Yeah. Good book then? Yeah, it's pretty good.  Yeah. Okay. Good old Steve. can't go wrong with him.  All right. That is our Fast Five and that is the show. Man, Jack, thank you so much for being here, man.

46:09
Thank you man, thank you for having me. oh This was awesome. I felt like was rambling more than anything else. No man, not at all.  If folks want to keep up with you and your music and everything that you've got going on,  what's the best way they can do that? Yeah, you can go to my website. It's JackPres.com. That's J-A-C-K-P-R-E-S (one s) dot com.  If you want to just do a Google search for Jack Preston.  I like to say I'm the only black Jack Preston.

46:38
You'll see me pop up. There's a lot of Jack Preston's in the world,  but I'm  the only  black Jack Preston.  And then on socials, everything is at Jack Pres,  J-A-C-K-P-R-E-S. So between those two, you should be able to find me. Awesome. Awesome. I'll make sure that I those  links in the show notes. And again, thank you so much  for being here. you. Man, I appreciate you. I love you. And I wish you nothing but success in everything that you got coming,

47:05
Man, I love you as well. man, uh I just got to listen to your immaculate voice for an hour. You got the coolest accent ever.  You have that sing song quality to your voice when you talk that is like melodic and like soothing. So I understand why you do what you do, man.  Keep blessing us with that beautiful voice, Man, I appreciate you. Thank you so much.

47:31
All right.  And if you would like to  support this podcast, I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com. But until next time, I look forward to the chance we have to sit a spell and chew the fat.