Speaking The Language Of Pop: An Interview with Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.

Posted in Current Faves, Interviews, Music |

Interviewed by Less Lee Moore

Even if you have never heard of Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., you’ve probably heard him. You might know him best from Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, Malibu, Moog Cookbook, or TV Eyes. But he’s worked with dozens of other bands and musicians: from Air, to Beck, to Cheap Trick, to pretty much every other letter in the alphabet. Except Q and X (I checked).

He’s a tremendously talented musician, singer, and songwriter and an incredibly down-to-earth and intelligent guy. I feel lucky that I got to interview him; I could have easily talked to him for hours. And here’s why.

Popshifter: I saw Jellyfish back in 1990 in the Pub, which was in the basement of the UCSB University Center. That is my first memory of hearing about Jellyfish and your music. When you think of Jellyfish, is there one moment that you think of or a specific memory?

Roger Manning: Wow, well, not one in particular. The brain has a clever way of protecting the psyche. Every band has its ups and downs. And as many downs as there were, of course those that eventually led to the band’s break up, I look back and I can only remember the fun, fond memories for the most part.

It was so long ago now that all the tours have kind of melted into one. There were lots of great memories, especially if we were opening for a band like the Black Crowes who wasn’t our audience per se, and we had the task and challenge of winning over a bunch of people who hadn’t necessarily heard the record. There was a great joy in kind of banding together and really trying to put on a show for that audience. You’d put your differences aside and see if you could convert the “unpopped.” (laughs) And bring them some sing-along music that they might be too embarrassed to play in their hot rods in front of all their masculine friends.

Popshifter: (laughs)

Roger Manning: So all of that stuff and all the laughs in between, even if it was during hardships. The traveling, especially if you don’t have much tour support, was always really difficult. I always flash back on people making each other laugh. It was an incredible experience even though it almost killed me emotionally and physically—I was sick quite a lot—but I wouldn’t trade it. It was a really unique opportunity that I know only a small percentage of musicians ever get to experience. No regrets.

Popshifter: I always forget that Steve McDonald [from Redd Kross] played a lot of instruments on the first album Bellybutton.

Roger Manning: Yeah, we didn’t have an official bass player so he was one of our friends that we called in and he played bass on two tracks.

Popshifter: How did you meet him? Were you a fan of Redd Kross at that point?

Roger Manning: Yeah, we’d been fans for years. The running joke was that in finding the other musicians we wanted to round out the group, Andy [Sturmer] and I would reference Redd Kross. “We want a guitar player like Robert [Hecker].” Or “We want a bass player like Steve.” I had spent a lot of time in L.A. going to college and working in different bands even though I was from the san Francisco Bay Area, so I knew some people that actually knew them. I was actually in a band, very briefly, that was being produced by Robert. Now, we never did a record, but a lot of the same people in the South Bay music scene knew them, so it was only a matter of time before I got a message to them. This girl we knew knew Steve and she invited him out for pizza and introduced Andy to him and two weeks later, he agreed to come in and play bass. I mean, he hadn’t heard anything and he really didn’t know our sound at all. He was a real trooper and I can’t thank him enough for taking the risk. He didn’t know what he was getting into.

Popshifter: The thing is, around that time, the late 80s, they were doing the Third Eye album, so weirdly there was kind of a similarity with the bubblegum pop and 60s/70s sound of that album and you guys.

Roger Manning: I can remember being in San Francisco going to see the band The Wonder Stuff. The band that opened was a band I’d never heard of from Seattle called The Posies. This was also in 1988, 1989. I totally fell in love with them. I didn’t know a damn thing about them, and I kept my eye on them. And then of course, you get in your own world but in the fall of 1990, as you remember, [The Posies'] Dear 23 [album], Third Eye, and Bellybutton all came out within weeks of each other.

It was no mystery to me—it was weird as hell—but it was no mystery to me. It was very convenient for the press to lump us all together. Obviously we did have a lot of the same influences, but we were pretty different-sounding. You could probably say that Redd Kross and Jellyfish were more similar-sounding; the Posies definitely have their own brand. There was such joy to play those few shows where all three of us were on the same bill.

I would’ve loved to tour the country with those guys but all three of us had already booked separate tours, so it was impossible.

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Click to read more from Roger Manning on. . .

Bill Bartell and MST3K
Playing well with others: new TV Eyes EP!
Jamming with Beck and Ross Angeles
The importance of humor
Where does Jellyfish fit in?
Movie soundtracks
Favorite kind of music
The music mafia model
“Just do what you’re passionate about. . . “
A reason to get out of bed in the morning
Speak my language

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