We recently connected with Jason Robbins and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jason thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
I was always drawn to the spectacle of performing, as far back as I can remember. One of my first and core memories was seeing KISS perform live on television and as much as Gene Simmons scared me to death I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I grew up loving art of all kinds, especially drawing and painting. I wanted to be a hundred different things. I wanted to be a comic book artist, an illustrator, an actor, writer, but the one thing that put all those in a second position was music. My father was a musician so music was always important growing up, I was surrounded by it. At the age of 13 I finally got my first drumset and nothing else mattered after that. I pursued a career in music like my life depended on it. I knew I would never have a normal career or a normal life. I wasn’t great in school and I couldn’t care less about college. It literally took me 13 years to finish a college degree but I only did it to make my parents happy. During high school and college I played with a dozen different bands of all styles of music, trying to perfect my craft. Eventually in 2001 I ended up in the band Fall As Well as a “temporary” replacement for their drummer who had quit. After a few rehearsals and shows we knew we had something special. We spent the next few years playing every club along the Gulf Coast that we could get into. We scraped together every penny we had (we even held a garage sale) to raise money to record a demo album. Eventually we got some interest from Universal Records. We recorded a single called “Lazy Eye” for Universal Records and it immediately started climbing the Rock and AAC charts. We were only a few spots away from breaking into the Billboard Top 100. Unfortunately Universal decided not to give us a full contract but we signed with Imprint Records which was owned by Todd Harrell of Three Doors Down. We had another single from that record “Dead & Growing Older” which also charted pretty high. We spent all of 2004 and most of 2005 touring for the album. We opened for bands such as 3 Doors Down, Saliva, and Puddle of Mudd to name a few. We even played Voodoo Fest in New Orleans in late 2004. Unfortunately Hurricane Katrina put such a strain on the band that we eventually broke up in early 2006. Since then I have been playing drums for a band called Falls From Grace which has self released a full album and an E.P. and has been together since 2007.
Jason, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
In 2015 I fulfilled a lifelong dream of finally pushing myself to become an actor. Jeremy London (Party of Five, Mallrats) had moved to my town and began giving acting lessons. Through him I began to get small parts from small productions around the south. In 2016 I wrote a small shortfilm with my writing partner Wally Phelps called Monsters Anonymous. It was to be nothing more than a class project to have some fun and get some behind the scenes experience for some of the budding actors in the area. I sent the script to Jeremy and he absolutely loved it. It eventually ended up becoming a much bigger production than any of us had intended. Jeremy had convinced Brian O’Halloran (Clerks 1,2 &3) to play the role of Dracula. Jackie Seigel (The Queen of Versailles) came on board as an executive producer and played “The Therapist”. We launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the movie and we made a little over 15 thousand dollars. With that money we hired a film crew from New Orleans, and a makeup crew from “The Walking Dead”. With the help of Producer Darnell Sheffield, I basically got a 4 year film degree in less than two months. Everything from location scouting, insurance, SAG-AFTRA paperwork, to craft services. It was definitely a stressful but wonderful experience. The shortfilm went on to become a hit on the festival circuit winning several “Best of” Awards, including Best Short Comedy at the Cannes Short Film Festival in France. So do not be afraid to take chances and jump in the water feet first. Wonderful things happen there. 
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The art of actually creating art is sometimes frustrating and exhausting, but the eventual outcome of having created art is what makes it all worth it. To look at a finished piece whether it be music, film, a book, or even having just written a great joke, and have it out in the world for people to enjoy is the total experience. Enjoy art for art’s sake. If you get into art wanting to be rich, then you may as well become a doctor.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
What the world needs now more than ever is a deeper appreciation of art. The world is in a sad, angry place right now because art and music have been cut from our school budgets. We need more music and art being taught in our communities, and not just for kids. There should be art galleries and places in our communities that can teach people instruments, painting, sculpting, writing, etc. People become mean (especially on the internet) when the only way they can express themselves is online when they can’t express themselves artistically. People get angry at others, or sitting in traffic, or in the grocery store when they have no artistic outlets. People really should support each other when they do creative things. Support for each other is not easy to come by these days. Contact Info:
- Instagram: @jayfunktastic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jnrobbins1
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-robbins-a4865446/
- Twitter: @jayfunktastic
- Youtube: youtube.com/@jayfunktastic
- Other: The Shortfilm Monsters Anonymous can be seen on @youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@monstersanonymous Fall As Well albums can be found on all streaming platforms. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4j8leKtzZylYiRtYTks9Qa?si=jTjUVyTYQKCMxnNtIqxwnQ Falls From Grace albums can be found on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1sqdE3L4jkhfI8WHY2nJut?si=Cs5XY2H_Q-iiNQM4SfsGxA Both of my podcasts can be found on all podcasting platforms. www.openmicers.com www.nerdcaveretro.com
Image Credits Dani Haus for the Monsters Anonymous (The Devil) Behind the Scenes Picture.