By Andrew Catania
“The first time I met Jacob was when he and his mom came to my Nashville studio,” recalls German-born studio avatar, Michael Wagener, the man responsible for helping craft dozens of successful rock releases including multiplatinum efforts by Skid Row, Warrant, Metallica, and Dokken. “He played me some demos, licks on guitar and I thought instantly that he was a great young artist with tremendous potential. I suggested he write with Paul Taylor from Winger, Lzzy Hale from Halestorm and Rachel Bolan from Skid Row. In each case, there was terrific organic chemistry. Jacob and Paul wrote a ballad, Lzzy helped him flesh out a solid rock song, and he and Rachel came up with a punk style track. And yet with all the influences, he managed to make his album, a unique sounding Jacob Cade record. He’s into the whole Prince, Michael Jackson and Bruno Mars flamboyant kind of stage presence but he also really understands and is good at playing kick-ass rock n’ roll. This was Jacob’s first time in a REAL studio with a real producer. He’s a very quick study, hard worker and never afraid to learn about what he doesn’t know.”
At just 18, Jacob Cade has a long and successful career ahead of him. Don’t let his wind tunnel tested Justin Bieber hairdo (LOL) sway you. Many industry heavyweights believe this kid can rock. I spoke to him about his music and being introduced to some industry heavyweights.
Are you going to be releasing your album in whole or by individual singles?
JC: We are releasing the album in singles as of now. We’re looking to release a single within the next month or so, which I’m very excited about. it’s, it’s been a bit of a process trying to figure out how we’re going to do this, but it looks like the singles route is the way to go
The single you have released you wrote with Rachel Bolan from Skid Row?
JC: Yes! With my friend Rachel. I got to do a lot of collaborations which I’m very thankful for. The next song that’s going to be released is a collaboration between myself, Lzzy Hale and Joe Hottinger her from Halestorm is going to be the next one.
Paul Taylor from Winger collaborated with you. Are you going to release that song as a single?
JC: We’re not sure when that’s going to be released as of now. He’s actually on two songs that I’ve got. One of the songs we wrote together and the other song he played keyboards on which was very, very cool.
Michael Wagener produced for you. How did you meet him?
JC: He’s the reason that I was able to get all of these cool connections, I hooked up with him through my social media guy Johnny Dwinell who happened to run into him one night and showed him who I was. Michael said who’s this kid and what’s he doing? It turned out that I was looking to record a record at the time and Michael agreed to work with me. I was able to meet with him, we hit it off, and it turned into a fantastic rock and roll journey.
You have industry people that bands would die to work with! Lonn Friend did your bio. How did you get so connected at such a young age?
JC: Johnny Dwinell, my social media guy from Daredevil Productions. He’s been doing a great job getting me connections like Lonn and Michael Wagner who also have connected me with Lzzy Hale, Rachel Bolan, and others.
Are your parents supportive of your career?
My mom, Claudia Cade is my manager, and she takes excellent care of me. She puts me in the places that I need to be in, make the calls that are necessary to be made, and it’s incredible.
My dad plays bass with me on stage every once in awhile. He was the original bass player; anytime he can, he comes up with us. Both of my parents have full-time jobs, and this is their part-time one.
The Les Paul is your weapon of choice?
JC: I love Les Pauls! That’s always been my guitar choice, All of my heroes play Les Pauls such as Jimmy Page.
You’re single debuted in Billboards hot 100.
JC: Radio is playing my song a lot, and I’m very thankful. The song is on the Billboard charts at number 34 at the moment. It’s been incredible and mind-blowing at the same time.
What are your tour plans for 2018?
JC: I just got back from Arizona. We opened up for Dokken this past weekend. As of now, we’ve got a show here in Denver on Saturday, and then we’ll see from there. We’re in the process of scheduling a lot of shows for the remainder of the year and with one-off shows here and there. I’m very excited!
You can follow Jacob at:
Facebook: facebook.com/jacobcaderocks
Twitter: twitter.com/jacobcaderocks
Instagram: instagram.com/jacobcaderocks
Website: jacobcadeproject.com