An Interview With AZ Band JARED & THE MILL Front-Man JARED KOLESAR All About Their New Album ‘This Story Is No Longer Available’ and More!

Last month on February 15th, the indie-folk outfit, Jared & The Mill released their latest full-length album, This Story Is No Longer Available.

 Comprised of five best friends, bonded together by spending (possibly too much) time on the road, there is something unabashedly and unapologetically straightforward about how the collective approaches their life in music.

 Jared Kolesar, front-man of the band that bears his name, lives a life of relentless motion. Touring endlessly to support his art, he’s wedged in a somewhat nomad lifestyle. “I’ve seen the sun rise and set on countless stretches of roads, beaches mountains, valleys, small towns, big cities and farms,” he shares. While the lack of stability created by his life makes connecting with people difficult sometimes and the constantly evolving environment of a traveler’s life can make a person feel like a stranger in their own skin, Kolesar has managed to gather an exceptional and perceptive understanding of people, despite often only a passing glance at them as individuals. “From these experiences I’ve realized that all anyone really wants in the world is to be happy.” He realized that the best thing a person can do to support one another individual in our constant search for purpose.

Kolesar flawlessly captures those feelings on This Story Is No Longer Available. The songs off the album reflect feelings we all face like knowing we deserve better than the self-sabotaged life we offer ourselves on “Soul in Mind” (“I know it’s not my fault/but my sense of worth is a wrecking ball/It swings as soon as I look back/and hits the home I love.”) or the pain of feeling your optimism slip away as we leave behind the careless invincibility of our 20s on “Hope” (“I’m like an ink on a page/lookin’ hard for some point but I’m slowed by my age/line after line I could etch like a knife/but there’s only so much I can take of this life.”). Listeners are taken through a melodic journey as the album soars from heart-tugging flashes of agony into a series of beautiful moments about confidence, love  bliss as we see Jared and his band of brothers find the good in the world in songs like “Break in the Ether” and “Kelsee’s Shelves.”

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Learn more about Jared & The Mill in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! What is on tap for the rest of your day?

• Gonna be grabbing lunch with our attorney and then playing some music over at Duling Hall in Jackson, MS!

Now that a new year has started, what musical goals does this band have for 2019? What are you most proud of about 2018? Do any of you make any New Years Resolutions?

• 2019 is the year of getting our new record “This Story Is No Longer Available” into the ears of as many people as possible! I think in 2018, the goal was to get this record completed and packaged as best we could, which we passed with flying colors in my opinion!  We’re incredible proud of it.

How do you think that you have grown as a band since forming? What has remained the same?

• Oh man, we’ve grown so so much, looking back at old photos is a trip. Our sound has turned into something very unique and “us”, which is a relief.  We also have transitioned very gracefully into more mature songwriters which has been awesome to see. Definitely still the best buddies there ever was and definitely still trying to spread a message of understanding and empathy.

Let’s talk about your brand new album, “This Story Is No Longer Available.” What was it like putting this collection together? How differently did you approach the recording of this album compared to your past ones?

• This record was a blast to put together, the past few releases have only been EPs, so to be able to plan and release a full length was a really beautiful creative journey. We started out with a huge pile of songs, some finished, some not.  We got together without producer, Ethan Allen, and really built what we wanted this record to be, sonically and spiritually.  It was over a 2-month process of composing, recomposing, recording, re-recording, etc.  It was a very powerful process.  Before this we always had the perspective of “Ok, we only have ‘this many’ dollars, which gives us ‘this much’ time, so we gotta go in, bang it out, and leave the studio asap”.  It’s was a stressful, but necessary process.  I greatly prefer the way we did it this time around obviously.

How did you celebrate the release of this album? Were you at home in Phoenix for it?

• We had an album release party in our home town of PHX! We played it and sold it to our AZ fans a week before it was available to everybody else, which was really special to us.  We love our city, we love treating them well, and we love the support we draw from them.

While it’s difficult, can you pick out a few of your favorites on this album and talk about the inspiration behind them and how they got to be on the collection?

• I’m really happy ‘Chisel’ came out the way it did, we had tried to record it in a more conventional way a couple times, when I had the thought of just recording it live in one room to see how it turned out, no promises. The outcome of that ended up being the version we used because it just sounds so magical, it’s got some X-factor that you can’t really describe.  I also really love the way tightrope walker came out, it sounds so badassly future-western it drives me nuts.

Generally, how do you all go about writing your music? Do you write together or separately?

• We write the bare bones of songs as individuals, the lyrics and the melodies and the chording. But once that’s done we come to the band and say “Yo, I want ‘this’ to feel like ‘this’”.  Then we’re off and running composing the songs.

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

• I’m personally happiest on stage, the studio is cool, and definitely where you learn a lot of valuable thing about playing and the music you make; but, I’m definitely more of a performer guy, I love getting a crowd’s attention and then making them feel something together, that’s the kinda stuff I live for. I know some of the other dudes really love being in the studio and crafting sounds though.

You guys have been touring so much over the past few years so I am curious what you find makes an ideal show for you? What has been the best show of yours to date? The worst/hardest so far?

• That’s just too hard a question to answer to be honest, there are so many types of amazing shows and so many shows in our past that completely blew our minds.

Where can fans see you perform next? Where would you still like to perform at? Any bucket list venues?

• We’re on tour now! You can find our schedule at jaredandthemill.com . Definitely would love to play at red rocks one day.

Do you find that all of social media and keeping up with your fans has gotten so overwhelming? Or do you rely heavily on others to take care of that for the band? Which platform would you say that you enjoy engaging with the most?

• We actually do all of our social media work ourselves! It’s really important to us that we keep an open dialogue with our fans and the people who support us.  Passing them off to somebody else just wouldn’t feel right as long as it’s manageable.

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now, so I am curious to know how you all think being musicians and in this band still gives you the most joy in life today? Do you find that your music is an escape to all the current events?

• I don’t like to think of our music as an escape. I do my best to make people see the moment for what it is. We focus on bringing people together despite their differences, so as to not completely ignore them, that’s not how we progress.  I’m very proud of our eclectic crowd, there’s people of all creeds and color together in the same room, different political beliefs, different values, it’s really beautiful.  Can’t make a rainbow without all the colors ya know?

What musicians would you love to work with in the future? What artists have really been inspiring this group and your music since day 1?

• I’ve been 100% in on The Head & The Heart forever, I would love to hit the road with them. As far as inspiration goes though, I think there’s just too many to speak of, we really love hip-hop and trap music, I kinda toggle between that and folky songwriter stuff.

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

• Our music is the idea that everybody has parts of them that they don’t like, and everybody has regrets, but the magic in this world is that you don’t have to let that define you. Filtering through these bad parts and finding the good in ourselves is a really dope adventure that we all get to participate in.  So reach out to strangers with kindness, don’t be a dick, and love everybody, because we’ve all got something we’re dealing with that others can’t see.