Page 178 - JanFeb 2023_ION Indie Magazine

Music by Jackson D. Begley
Interview by Tim Board “The Universe Hates Me”
www.ionindiemagazine.com/eye-on-jamz-radio
Photo credit: Graeme Wyllie

Hearing music from The King, Elvis Presley, at a very young age and even
performing with his father as “Elvis Boy” ignited the fire -- or dare I say a
“Burning Love” for music in Jackson D. Begley? Out of Oshawa Ontario,
Canada, Jackson, has been pursuing a music career since the young age of 3
years old. Jackson released his debut album “Keep It Dark” in 2019, a video
game soundtrack in 2021, and several other releases in 2022. He has been a
very busy musician over the last couple of years. Jackson was kind enough to
answer these interview questions.

Tim Board: How did you get started in music? What inspired you to
pursue this as more than a hobby?

Jackson D. Begley: I started music at about 3 or 4 years old. My dad was an
Elvis Impersonator, so he would play Elvis and sing along with it in the car to
practice. Eventually, I started singing along, too. When my dad noticed that I
could sing on key, he started taking me along to his shows. My first few
experiences performing live were as ‘Elvis Boy’ when I was about 3 to 6 years
old. At 8, I started guitar lessons and writing songs. The first song I ever wrote
was about a girl in my class who I had a crush on at the time. In my teen years
I went a little deeper into my local music scene and started playing in bands,
going to open mics, and whatnot. I started to take the whole ‘singer-songwriter’
thing more seriously when I took notice of how much people seemed to enjoy
my performances. I thought, ‘Damn, I could really make a career out of this.’
When I was about 19 or 20, it hit me that like most industries, entertainment is
a business. It’s a rat-race and I’d better start getting to work. I started a big
songwriting spree, and some of that material would end up on my first album. I
studied music production in college and started making records.

TB: How would you describe your music to someone who has not heard
your music before?

JB: My music is Alt Rock at its core with sprinkles of symphonic rock, rhythm ‘n’
blues, hard rock, and even doowop.

TB: You released your debut album ‘Keep It Dark’ in 2019. How long had
you been working on the album?

JB: I wrote ‘Tears In My Eyes’ in 2015 when I was 18. I wrote about 5 other
songs for what I thought was going to be an EP at first and spent quite a bit of
time on those songs over the next two years and was just about to release it
that way. Then I had a pretty big creative burst in 2018-19, where I wrote a
bunch of other new songs. So, the EP ballooned into a 10-track album.