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Dylan Jett is a self-taught pianist, singer, songwriter, rapper, producer and performer from Melbourne, Australia.
With an equal passion for music and acting, starring alongside Russell Crowe, Olga Kuylenko, Jai Courtney, Isabelle Lucas, Steve Bastoni and Ryan Corr in ‘The Water Diviner’, Dylan plans to take the music and acting worlds by storm!
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6146828/
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Transcript
00:00:00
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You
Introduction
00:00:02
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are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host Ken Volante. Editor and producer Peter Bauer.
Meet Dylan Jett
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello, everybody. This is Ken Vellante with Something Rather Than Nothing. And very pleased and excited to have Dylan Jett, singer, performer, actor. And we're chatting with Dylan from Australia. Dylan, welcome to Something Rather Than Nothing. Hey, thank you guys for having me. Absolutely. Absolutely a pleasure.
Artistic Roots
00:00:43
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Dylan, were you an artist when you were born?
00:00:48
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Ooh, yeah, pretty much. My family's really artistic. So I was kind of always, I think meant to be a musician or some form of artist. My dad was a sound engineer. My mum was a wedding singer and my brother also got into music and has a band. So since like five, because mum was always singing and stuff, I think I naturally kind of just picked it up.
00:01:16
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Yeah. Yeah. So it's just kind of kind of in the environment that you kind of always feel is something you're going to do, perform? Yeah, pretty much. I mean, being around musicians constantly, it makes it a lot easier as you grow up with that. You kind of naturally just get an ear for it, I think. And yeah, you just become a part of that environment. Great.
Music as Personal Expression
00:01:38
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Yeah.
00:01:39
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Dylan, I want to get right into, you know, a lot of listeners will be newer to you and your music and timing for this is really great. I know you have a new song that you released. I know you've done some acting and you're busy and you're doing a lot of things.
00:02:02
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Tell us about your music. Tell us what's going on, what you're creating. So I started properly creating music.
00:02:15
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I think 2014, I made my first song and produced it. But I've always kind of been a writer. I think when I was like seven or eight, I made this, I just created like this piano song and stuff, which I started getting into. And yeah, it kind of went on from there. And then I started taking it a bit more seriously. So I just, I love creating music because it's just something close to me. Like it's my way to,
00:02:44
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you know, get through stuff. And also just, it's really empowering to write how you feel and just create like a piece of art that you can share with others. And yeah, it's something I'm really proud of. And it's a lot of fun. So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm excited for you. I've heard your music and it's great. Thank you.
00:03:08
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You're definitely to be noticed and the listeners will be able to hear that track in just a tiny bit. But I wanted to chat with you a little bit more about just about art and creating and kind of your experience growing up and being around it.
The Essence of Art
00:03:29
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I asked the question, what is art? So you're an artist, you create music, you finish your song, you release it, the thing's done, it's out in the world. You create an art, you create a song, what is art? That's a deep question. I like that question though. I think, I don't know, I think art is like,
00:03:58
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anything that stimulates and like senses, it stimulates the senses and like invokes some sort of emotion. It's something that brings something like a feeling out of people. I'd also say it's just like any sort of expression of creativity, whether most people consider it art or not. When you look at something naturally and you think like, God, that's beautiful or
00:04:24
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think, you know, I really just like the aesthetics of that, even like, like subtly in your head, like people even just like looking at cars and being like, wow, that's a nice looking car. I think that's just art. Like, any sort of really anything that invokes an emotional response in the way of like your appeal to it. And which is beautiful, because that kind of means life is art.
00:04:49
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I know in these discussions, again, it's a lot of kind of like the emotional content and the feeling of the piece, you know, so it's kind of connected to life and expression.
Acting vs. Music
00:05:04
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Dylan, you do some act and I was wondering if you could chat about that or as you perform or you're looking at music, what are your experiences kind of
00:05:14
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you know, learning, doing that, learning to do that, getting into that business. You enjoy acting? Yes, I've really, I've always enjoyed acting. Even though I didn't grow up around like actors, it's always been music. Acting was just something I kind of, my mom put me in acting when I was young because
00:05:33
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I just like get up on the table and start dancing and singing. I was just very out there. Like when I was like kind of in my element. So mum got me into acting and I've kind of grown up with it since I was like five. And it's always really interesting to compare like music to acting and stuff. Cause for me personally, acting is a beautiful art because it's like I can become someone else.
00:06:03
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You know, I get a script and something and I see this character and then with the lines and I have the freedom to make this character and bring it to life in any way I interpret it, which is a very, it's a passion definitely. And then music on the other hand is I get to create art from scratch and just create a piece of, you know, audio that it can do a lot.
00:06:30
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Yeah, I wanted to, on the acting, I had recently watched a video with the actor Ethan Hawke.
00:06:39
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And he made a point that I really didn't appreciate and something you mentioned brought it to my mind. He was saying that it was almost like building empathy, right, of like going into these characters of playing, you know, a postal worker, playing a teacher, playing a renegade, playing a singer, playing a rebel. And he was talking about when you're going into that emotional content, when you're going into those characters, there's more of this human
00:07:05
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experience or understanding. And I never really thought about acting that way. And it makes total sense of going into a person to engage in that experience or that character, right? And whereas you had mentioned with your music more of a creation on your own or creating the story and the emotion and the characters rather than stepping into it.
Creating for Feedback
00:07:30
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Yeah.
00:07:32
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So you're busy, you're busy guy, you're creating all these things. Do you ever stop and say, what is it that I'm creating? Like, why are you creating? What are you trying to, how are you trying to impact the world with your creativity? Well, I mean, the bottom line is I just kind of want to, I don't really care about like success and stuff with that. It's more like,
00:07:57
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I just wanna share what I'm making because I naturally, you know, I start writing music or I like really fall into a script or something. It's just, whenever I like show some of my music or I release it to the world and I get any sort of feedback, good, positive or negative, it's just like, that's the most where I feel like that's what I'm around for. That's like what I was meant for.
00:08:27
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I don't know what impact I want to make with my art. I just know I want it to be heard and interpreted however you want to interpret it, or any sort of opinions, positive or negative, because that's what art is. Art doesn't have to be received well from everyone. When people debate whether art is good or not, or when something's beautiful or ugly, that's kind of why it's there. And that's kind of the beauty of it.
00:08:57
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I really, I really love that. I really love that answer. And, you know, I think a lot of, you know, the power of art comes from that. Dylan, I mentioned at the beginning to the listeners, you got a new song.
New Release: 'Tokyo'
00:09:12
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I don't want to keep people waiting too, too long. New track, Tokyo. I've already listened to it, enjoyed a whole lot. Here we go. Tokyo.
00:09:41
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That feeling that, that you've been chasing all my long looks and be deceiving Take it in but it takes all of you heartache I'm feeling, I'm feeling heartache
00:10:33
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We could go to AmiYoko, drive it to Nami, got the vibe that I really know, though Take it to Kanadi, I don't make you feel like your style But baby, you keep remaining on the low, low, home note I'm falling hard, it's something about your passion And the melody, your voice is so relaxing You try to hide, but you'll always stand out We'll go to Tokyo if you're down Can you feel it, feel it, yeah Until you feel it
00:11:54
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I'm feeling, I'm feeling, I'm dying
00:12:06
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Dan, that's a hell of a track, Dylan. Thank you. Nice work, nice work. Just release, tell us about it. Yeah, so we released it not too long ago, 18th of June, so last Friday. It's been a song we've been working on for a bit now.
00:12:28
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You know, I really love creating like, you know, deep stuff with like a, like a real heavy meaning to it and stuff. But I got to say it's also a lot of fun just to create some fun track. You know, it's it's kind of the sound and the scene, the vibe to it. It's it's pretty simple, but I enjoy listening to it. I think it's just a real fun, simple song. And I think that's the
00:12:55
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That's the beauty of it. Yeah. Great work. I was going to say to us, it feels like a summer track, but I believe I might be getting winter or is winter over my year. So my stateside listeners can view it as a nice summer song as well. Because it's gotten awfully hot here lately, but it's great to have you here from Melbourne, right?
00:13:22
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Yeah, Melbourne. It's not too hot right here. It's pretty much winter. Yeah, I thought why not just release a summer track anyways. Yeah, no, it's a great, great track. Thank you. Who or what made you? Hmm.
00:13:49
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Well, my parents. I mean, I was born into a really artistic family, like I said earlier. So I think what made me what I am, my brother was also a big part of it. He's two years older than me.
00:14:08
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You know, my dad would always play us Green Day when we were younger. And my mom was always, you know, singing constantly. I'd always be with her when she's practicing for her gigs and stuff. So we fell into that. And then Jesse really got into the rock side of it. And which is my brother. And then I kind of just followed him. Like I was really inspired by him because he would just he started making music at a young age as well.
00:14:35
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And then I started, you know, listening to what he was doing and I was like, yeah, I wanna do something like that. Except I just naturally fell into a bit of a, I think my first song ever was called Moving On. And it was a lot more kind of R&B and slow. Cause it was just, Jesse naturally went to the guitar and because I'm left-handed, my dad was like, yeah, you can't, you should, it'd be easy if you play piano. And I started getting into piano a lot.
00:15:03
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And that's really kind of where it all came from. And other inspirations, like all the music I listened to as a kid, what my parents would show me, what my brother would show me, what my friends would show me at school, I guess it just kind of formed into what I'm doing now. Yeah, absolutely. We talked about the definition of art, and I appreciated your comments.
00:15:30
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One of the things I ask connected to that, and it's a question I think that's come up more recently, kind of changing times, volatile times, the world
Art's Role in Healing
00:15:39
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as it is, is the question is, what do you think the role of art is? I mean, what is art supposed to do for people? I think art can, it can open up your mind a lot.
00:15:59
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and it can be very healing. There's things like music therapy nowadays and it's used to deal with trauma, mental illness, physical disabilities, and cancer treatment. Music and art in general can make such an impact. People get through hard times by listening to or creating music or looking at a piece of art
00:16:28
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leads them to think about what the meaning of it is and then they realise what they want to do in life and stuff. The role of art is a way to visualise not just like your soul but what you are. Because the way you interpret art defines who you are. And I think art is made to bring the individuality and
00:16:58
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you know, uniqueness out of ourselves. Yeah, yeah. What about, just a curiosity, it's a different country as well. A
Performing Challenges During COVID-19
00:17:11
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lot of changes here in the U.S. as far as things opening up. I'm talking to artists, they might have displays in gallery where they didn't have before. What's on the horizon for you to perform your art over the next few months?
00:17:28
Speaker
I mean, obviously in Australia, it's a bit, or in Melbourne as well particularly, it's a bit on and off with COVID restrictions. So we can't really do too much. I had a live show that was canceled. We were going to do a launch for Tokyo, but restrictions happened, some cases went up and then we had to cancel it. So when it comes to performing and stuff, I'm not sure as of now.
00:17:55
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I'm actually, I mentioned my brother earlier, I'm in his band as well. I have a keytar, so I play the keytar with him. He's a lot more punk and stuff, and it's a lot of fun. I think we still have some shows planned. I'm really excited for that. But for the future, I just think I'm just going to keep on releasing music and doing music videos because it's what I love.
00:18:21
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You know, if one day it blows up, then great. If it doesn't, then I'm still happy because I'm proud of like the work that all the music that I've created. So either way, I'm just, I'm really happy to be doing what I'm doing. Yeah. That's, that's, that's a grand thing. That's a grand thing, brother.
Existential Reflections
00:18:39
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Um, uh, big, big question. Big question. Got to throw it at you. Why is there something rather than nothing? Why is there something rather than nothing? That is, that's deep.
00:18:51
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Um, I think it's because we all, we all need something. We need something to believe in, something to inspire, you know, something to love. And, um, maybe something is like about inspiration, which.
00:19:17
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I know for a lot of us is what gets us out of the bed in the morning. I mean, why would you wake up if there's nothing? You wake up because you want to do something that day. You want to make an impact or you go into your job or something. It's something that gets you to move and live life. Sure. We could go really deep though and be like, you know, I mean, look,
00:19:44
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Like, if you're looking at the whole universe and everything, we are a speck of dust, you know? When you look at the big picture, we're on the planet, you know, with a very... I watch some space stuff sometimes, and I'm shocked by how, in the universe, how insignificant we are, but here, it's like you wake up and it feels like everything, you know? The world feels like such a big place.
00:20:12
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And I don't know what I'm saying by that, but I just think like we get up and we live our life because that's what, what else would we do? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's something, there's something to do and.
00:20:29
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You know, I think your point too is I've seen like videos where you look at the, um, you know, it's like the powers of 10, right? So I'm here and then keep going further and further. And now you see the city and now you're not her space and you're like, like, and mine is sometimes it feels like might as well not exist because it's so tiny, but there's that spark, right? So it's always a great thing. Um,
Encouragement for Artists
00:20:53
Speaker
We're talking with Dylan Jett. And Dylan, just a couple more things. I was wondering if you can lead the listeners who might not have come in contact or be familiar with work. You got the new release, Tokyo, that's how. You got video. Where do people go? Where do people look to come in contact with your art?
00:21:17
Speaker
If you search up Dylan Jett on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube or anything, you can see my songs and on YouTube you can see my music videos. Keep it a listen. If you like it, thank you. If you don't, that's okay. I think, going back to that, I think like, it's good to have, you know, negative reception along with positive reception because that's what, that's what putting something out there is. It's a little off topic, but
00:21:47
Speaker
I've met a lot of people who have music and they want to do that stuff but they're afraid of putting something out there and it being judged and feared. And they fear that. But I think that's the best part of it. Because people are listening and forming their own opinions about your piece and also negative opinions.
00:22:10
Speaker
You can either ignore them or keep on moving, but you can also use them and be like, okay, people thought this about my song. How can I, you know, change that or how can I take that, you know? And then you become a bit different. Yeah. Like what you get the feedback. So you're doing okay. You do okay for you or something. I mean, you get a pretty good outlook then, huh? Yeah. I mean, that's.
The Value of Feedback
00:22:36
Speaker
That's what makes it, that's the reason I wanna keep on making music and stuff, you know? Though I haven't had too much, not that I'm aware of, I haven't had too much negative reception, but I don't think I'm big enough yet to have too much, you know, negative reception, but I'm, yeah, when that does come around, I'm cool with it, because, you know, I listen to tons of music all the time, and I hear some songs where I'm like, yeah, I don't really like that, but that's kinda what it is.
00:23:06
Speaker
I I would be very concerned if I ever made a song where no one disliked it. Because that's like, well, we're waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yeah, I think I think. Yeah, I yeah. And it's come up as a topic, obviously, in talking with artists and and there's an artist who did it like a little just a little statement and then drawing Nicole Georges in the basic. I'm paraphrasing here, but it was basically like
00:23:36
Speaker
with other people's minds, you don't need to know, you don't have to know. You don't have to speculate what they're thinking. And also, when you do get a comment of whatever sort, if it's a considered comment, somebody's taking the time to contribute something, whether you want it or not, or whether it makes sense. But if it's a considered
00:24:01
Speaker
you know, response, then I think all artists would be like, oh, considered response to my work. And I think part of the problem is that we've seen a lot of behavior that are so responsive to just the surface of everything, you know, and I know that frustrates artists, right? Did you read the article? Did you listen to the song? Did you, you know, read the book type of thing? Yeah. Yeah.
00:24:26
Speaker
Dylan, finishing up here, it's been a great pleasure to meet you, but I just wanted to kind of open it up.
Commitment to Creation
00:24:34
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Anything else you want to let the audience know, anything that's on your mind about what you'll be doing? Anything else? I think I'm just going to continue making music and doing what I love, and we'll see what happens. But I'm just in a good place right now. I'm happy.
00:24:56
Speaker
And I'm loving what I'm doing. And I've never been more inspired to create stuff in my life. Right now, I'm kind of in a really good place, creatively. What am I saying? Creative-wise. Well, yeah. And that's wonderful. And the thing is, we're creating a podcast now. So we keep creating, right? And keep going. Yeah.
00:25:25
Speaker
Dylan, I really want to thank you for taking the time and popping on the show. I know you're busy and you're getting your work out there. But I've got to tell you, I love that track. I've enjoyed meeting you and learning about your thoughts on art.
00:25:48
Speaker
And for my listeners, just check out Dylan's stuff, some fresh music from Australia, and hope to see you on the screen as well, Dylan. You're incredible talent, and thank you for your art. And thanks for coming on the show. Yeah, 100%. And thank you so much for having me. Everybody, Dylan Jett.
00:26:10
Speaker
Have a great evening. It's been a great, great pleasure to talk to your brother. Thank you. You too. All right. This is something rather than nothing.