So what’s the status of Record Collection today?
Record Collection is in a good place. We put out John’s record, ‘The Empirium, and it’s sold really well. We did a soundtrack to the Columbia Pictures film, ‘21’, put out this album from Jason Faulkner called Bedtime with the Beatles 2, which is a collection of Beatles songs recorded as children’s lullabies, and we’re getting ready to release new albums from Blake Mills and The Cubical.
Awesome — and you’re currently producing a feature film, correct?
I’m in the finishing stages of writing a feature-length documentary about the life of Ozzy Osbourne called Wreckage of my Past, which is a lot of fun. Ozzy’s been like an idol of mine my whole life. Black Sabbath in particular.
How has it been making the film?
It’s been classic. Ozzy likes to fuck with Mike [Piscitelli, Director], and Mike has these mini meltdowns. He’ll ask Ozzy a question and Ozzy will tell Mike to get the hell out of his house (laughs). But they’re getting along fine, and Ozzy’s so rad. It’s bizarre.
That’s funny, the general public doesn’t really get to see him that way.
Imagine getting marriage advice from Ozzy Osbourne. Who would’ve thought? If you told me two years ago that one day I would sit down with Ozzy and he would be giving me meaningful advice about my marriage, I would tell you you’re crazy. This is my first feature, but I can’t imagine it’s common that you spend two years making a film about somebody and at the tail end wind up loving them more. I love Ozzy more today than I did when I started working with him. He’s about the coolest guy I’ve ever met.
Has making the film been refreshing for you?
Yea, it’s definitely something I want to do more, if the right project comes along. I’m passionate about music and movies and I get opportunities to satiate my palette both musically and cinematically with Wreckage of my Past. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll tell you at the end of the project if I’m ready to do another one.
How far along is it?
We’re rounding third base on the first cut. It’s all shot, for the most part.
Anything else going on?
I’m writing what I hope might become a feature film — that’s something I’ve been working on for the last couple months. Also, I’ve recently become a partner in the publishing company that owns Malibu Magazine, among others. I’ve had the opportunity to write about and meet a whole slew of individuals that I admire; people like Tom Robbins, John Podesta, Ray Kappe, Josh Brolin, John Perkins, Kelly Slater… I was pleasantly surprised when I read the articles you’d written. When did you figure out that you liked to write and that you were good at it?
I’ve loved creative writing my entire life. But being good at it, I don’t know — that’s so subjective. I know I liked it. My mom used to tell me that I would always get As in composition and spelling and all this stuff and I would always get incompletes in math. It just wasn’t where my brain was going.
Do you feel like you have a natural inclination toward storytelling and the desire to do it?
I don’t know if I have a natural inclination — I like it. It’s fun, I enjoy telling a story. I enjoy hearing a good story, or reading one.
Do you feel weird when you’re not doing something? Do you feel that idle time is wasted time?
I don’t have any idle time. I swear, I don’t. There’s never a point in which I’m sitting down, contemplating nature, or whatever. I’m always doing something. In fact, my wife laughs about it all the time. I always have to do something. If I sit down, I have a guitar, or a book, or a phone, or a computer… I’m cursed with insatiable frenetic energy!
Does that ever get tiresome for you, or is that just what you need to do?
I don’t know. I think that’s just the kind of nervous energy I have. My nervous energy tends to manifest into productivity on different levels. My mom thinks its an overreaction to missing out on a formal education. As if I’m making up for lost time or whatever…
Is all this ever work to you?
Sometimes. It’s fun, mostly fun. I enjoy what I’m doing, if I didn’t I would just stop and do something else. If it wasn’t fun to me, I swear to God I would have no problem going ‘I’m done, goodbye. Moving onto the next thing.’ But I do love it — there are moments when it’s purely work, yea. The forth draft of an article that I’ve written, or the email to a lawyer about a royalty statement that’s late, or an argument with a web programmer who says I owe him money when he hasn’t finished the job. That’s all purely work. But with every great thing there are parts that aren’t so good. That’s okay, that’s the way life is I think. Just don’t let it get you down.
You have your hands in so many different things, is that how it’s always going to be? Is there an end goal for you?
I don’t have any long-term goals, at all. I plan on having kids and being a good father and being a good husband. That’s my priority #1 at this point. As far as my career’s concerned, I’ll just figure it out as I’m going I think. I want to be good at what I’m doing, I want to love what I’m doing, I want to be uncompromising in my approach, I don’t want to selling phones, I don’t want to work at the bank… I want to do something that’s fulfilling creatively and at every level. I don’t have aspirations to run a billion dollar corporation by the time I’m 35 or make a certain amount of money or whatever. I just want to have fun and do good work and have the freedom to surf when the waves are good.
Some people can only dream about only doing stuff that they feel passionate about. How do you make that work?
I don’t know (laughs). I think I’m willing to go live in a one bedroom apartment in Reseda if I have to. I’m willing to fail. Repeatedly, if I have to. I’m willing to fail if I do the things that fulfill me creatively, spiritually, whatever. So far, I’ve been able to strike that balance because I’ve been able to surround myself with good, competent, people. Friendly people. I could’ve never done it alone, I don’t do it alone now. It might appear that I have all this stuff happening and that I’m spinning it all and moving from one thing to another, but I have great people that work with me and friends and family that support it all. Record Collection would’ve been a massive failure if it wasn’t for my sister and Mike and the rest of the team. If it was just me, forget about it. And the bands — they work harder than anybody. They’re the ones at three in the morning who are still in the van, chugging to a small town somewhere, fueled by their unbendable belief in music. If it wasn’t for The Walkmen’s three years of touring on one incredible record, what would I have? What would Record Collection be? What would Record Collection be if John Frusciante hadn’t stayed up all night, every night writing and recording seven records in seven months? None of us have a job without the hard work and talent of the artists we represent.
Jordan and his nephew, Santa Monica, CA.
Putting a point on it, what do you want for the future? An ultimate dream. Where do you see yourself in 20 years? 20 years from now I’d like to go surfing with my kids regularly. That would be the ultimate dream for me. Other than that, my intention isn’t to do many things. It’s just sometimes I am doing more than others. Maybe I’ll have one thing in five years that I’m really focused on. Maybe I’ll have none, or ten, I don’t know.
Do you ever plan on having whatever it is fully figured out?
Yea, I want to have everything figured out if I can, I just don’t ever expect that to happen. And I think most people don’t. I talk to presidents of big companies and they don’t have it all figured out; they’re still figuring it out because the world’s constantly evolving, whatever it is. Music, technology, business — it’s always moving. There’s no way to have it all down. But if you do, if you think you do, you’re generally about to be fired (laughs).
Jordan Tappis 3
So what’s the status of Record Collection today?
Record Collection is in a good place. We put out John’s record, ‘The Empirium, and it’s sold really well. We did a soundtrack to the Columbia Pictures film, ‘21’, put out this album from Jason Faulkner called Bedtime with the Beatles 2, which is a collection of Beatles songs recorded as children’s lullabies, and we’re getting ready to release new albums from Blake Mills and The Cubical.
Awesome — and you’re currently producing a feature film, correct?
I’m in the finishing stages of writing a feature-length documentary about the life of Ozzy Osbourne called Wreckage of my Past, which is a lot of fun. Ozzy’s been like an idol of mine my whole life. Black Sabbath in particular.
How has it been making the film?
It’s been classic. Ozzy likes to fuck with Mike [Piscitelli, Director], and Mike has these mini meltdowns. He’ll ask Ozzy a question and Ozzy will tell Mike to get the hell out of his house (laughs). But they’re getting along fine, and Ozzy’s so rad. It’s bizarre.
That’s funny, the general public doesn’t really get to see him that way.
Imagine getting marriage advice from Ozzy Osbourne. Who would’ve thought? If you told me two years ago that one day I would sit down with Ozzy and he would be giving me meaningful advice about my marriage, I would tell you you’re crazy. This is my first feature, but I can’t imagine it’s common that you spend two years making a film about somebody and at the tail end wind up loving them more. I love Ozzy more today than I did when I started working with him. He’s about the coolest guy I’ve ever met.
Has making the film been refreshing for you?
Yea, it’s definitely something I want to do more, if the right project comes along. I’m passionate about music and movies and I get opportunities to satiate my palette both musically and cinematically with Wreckage of my Past. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll tell you at the end of the project if I’m ready to do another one.
How far along is it?
We’re rounding third base on the first cut. It’s all shot, for the most part.
Anything else going on?
I’m writing what I hope might become a feature film — that’s something I’ve been working on for the last couple months. Also, I’ve recently become a partner in the publishing company that owns Malibu Magazine, among others. I’ve had the opportunity to write about and meet a whole slew of individuals that I admire; people like Tom Robbins, John Podesta, Ray Kappe, Josh Brolin, John Perkins, Kelly Slater…
I was pleasantly surprised when I read the articles you’d written. When did you figure out that you liked to write and that you were good at it?
I’ve loved creative writing my entire life. But being good at it, I don’t know — that’s so subjective. I know I liked it. My mom used to tell me that I would always get As in composition and spelling and all this stuff and I would always get incompletes in math. It just wasn’t where my brain was going.
Do you feel like you have a natural inclination toward storytelling and the desire to do it?
I don’t know if I have a natural inclination — I like it. It’s fun, I enjoy telling a story. I enjoy hearing a good story, or reading one.
Do you feel weird when you’re not doing something? Do you feel that idle time is wasted time?
I don’t have any idle time. I swear, I don’t. There’s never a point in which I’m sitting down, contemplating nature, or whatever. I’m always doing something. In fact, my wife laughs about it all the time. I always have to do something. If I sit down, I have a guitar, or a book, or a phone, or a computer… I’m cursed with insatiable frenetic energy!
Does that ever get tiresome for you, or is that just what you need to do?
I don’t know. I think that’s just the kind of nervous energy I have. My nervous energy tends to manifest into productivity on different levels. My mom thinks its an overreaction to missing out on a formal education. As if I’m making up for lost time or whatever…
Is all this ever work to you?
Sometimes. It’s fun, mostly fun. I enjoy what I’m doing, if I didn’t I would just stop and do something else. If it wasn’t fun to me, I swear to God I would have no problem going ‘I’m done, goodbye. Moving onto the next thing.’ But I do love it — there are moments when it’s purely work, yea. The forth draft of an article that I’ve written, or the email to a lawyer about a royalty statement that’s late, or an argument with a web programmer who says I owe him money when he hasn’t finished the job. That’s all purely work. But with every great thing there are parts that aren’t so good. That’s okay, that’s the way life is I think. Just don’t let it get you down.
You have your hands in so many different things, is that how it’s always going to be? Is there an end goal for you?
I don’t have any long-term goals, at all. I plan on having kids and being a good father and being a good husband. That’s my priority #1 at this point. As far as my career’s concerned, I’ll just figure it out as I’m going I think. I want to be good at what I’m doing, I want to love what I’m doing, I want to be uncompromising in my approach, I don’t want to selling phones, I don’t want to work at the bank… I want to do something that’s fulfilling creatively and at every level. I don’t have aspirations to run a billion dollar corporation by the time I’m 35 or make a certain amount of money or whatever. I just want to have fun and do good work and have the freedom to surf when the waves are good.
Some people can only dream about only doing stuff that they feel passionate about. How do you make that work?
I don’t know (laughs). I think I’m willing to go live in a one bedroom apartment in Reseda if I have to. I’m willing to fail. Repeatedly, if I have to. I’m willing to fail if I do the things that fulfill me creatively, spiritually, whatever. So far, I’ve been able to strike that balance because I’ve been able to surround myself with good, competent, people. Friendly people. I could’ve never done it alone, I don’t do it alone now. It might appear that I have all this stuff happening and that I’m spinning it all and moving from one thing to another, but I have great people that work with me and friends and family that support it all. Record Collection would’ve been a massive failure if it wasn’t for my sister and Mike and the rest of the team. If it was just me, forget about it. And the bands — they work harder than anybody. They’re the ones at three in the morning who are still in the van, chugging to a small town somewhere, fueled by their unbendable belief in music. If it wasn’t for The Walkmen’s three years of touring on one incredible record, what would I have? What would Record Collection be? What would Record Collection be if John Frusciante hadn’t stayed up all night, every night writing and recording seven records in seven months? None of us have a job without the hard work and talent of the artists we represent.
Jordan and his nephew, Santa Monica, CA.
Putting a point on it, what do you want for the future? An ultimate dream. Where do you see yourself in 20 years?
20 years from now I’d like to go surfing with my kids regularly. That would be the ultimate dream for me. Other than that, my intention isn’t to do many things. It’s just sometimes I am doing more than others. Maybe I’ll have one thing in five years that I’m really focused on. Maybe I’ll have none, or ten, I don’t know.
Do you ever plan on having whatever it is fully figured out?
Yea, I want to have everything figured out if I can, I just don’t ever expect that to happen. And I think most people don’t. I talk to presidents of big companies and they don’t have it all figured out; they’re still figuring it out because the world’s constantly evolving, whatever it is. Music, technology, business — it’s always moving. There’s no way to have it all down. But if you do, if you think you do, you’re generally about to be fired (laughs).
Record Collection
Wreckage of My Past
Mike Piscitelli
Keegan Gibbs
Previous Page / Home