
The Rock and Roll Chemist is privileged to bring you the following
interview with Jake Rohrer, former go-to guy (think of him as a
quasi-manager) for legendary 1960s rock band
Creedence Clearwater Revival. As a bit of background, in the photo above Jake Rohrer is pictured at his desk in the CCR Berkeley
headquarters, the "Factory," circa 1970. The woman in the photo is
Jake's sister, Mary Goodrich, who helped him run the fan club and
hold down the office when they were on the road (photo credit:
Deiter Zill). His recently published memoir,
A Banquet of
Consequences: Sex (not too much), Drugs (plenty), Rock & Roll
(of course), and the Feds (who invited them?) is at once
unpretentious and profound, dramatic and humorous, and goes far
beyond his association with Creedence Clearwater Revival which could
even be considered secondary to the rest of his story. Today he
lives with his wife in rural upcountry Maui, where they farm the
land, maintain a recording studio, and administer their music label
featuring the traditional music of Hawaii.
I've previously reviewed his excellent memoir,
A Banquet of Consequences, and Jake was kind enough to elaborate on his life and career by answering some questions I had about his book. I hope you enjoy reading our interview as much as I enjoyed speaking with Jake.
RNRChemist: Jake, thanks so much for speaking to me regarding your excellent book and your fascinating story. Let's get right into some questions! First up, the obvious one: what motivated you to write a book
about your life?
JR: Simply the joy of writing (discovered while incarcerated) and
thinking I'm probably not very good at fiction. Recent loss of the
retail CD markets and loss of music markets in general found me with
lots of time on my hands. I turned to writing.
RNRChemist: Can you give a little background into your
upbringing? What was it like?
JR: I was raised by successful, caring, and loving parents; We had
everything we needed in the America of the late forties and
throughout the fifties. Home life was supportive and comfortable,
lacking only in progressive idealism which wouldn't come along until
later on.
RNRChemist: How did you first get involved with the guys
who ultimately became Creedence? What did you do
over the course of working for them?
JR: They showed up on my high school campus in the fall of 1960 as the
Blue Velvets, a genuine rock & roll band. I was enamored by
their music and sought them out as friends. About nine years later
I was working for them as their representative in press relations,
public relations, touring support, general factotum, diplomatic
attache, and all around front man.
RNRChemist: You had a pretty successful (by the sounds of
it) auto dealership business that your family
ran. Was it hard to leave that behind to go into
the music world when CCR hit?
JR: Not hard at all when looking at the invitation to come work for
CCR. I'd lost my father who started the business before I was born.
The joy and challenge of the auto business was eventually gone with
him. I was ready for a change and who could resist the opportunity
to work on the world stage of rock & roll with close and admired
friends?
RNRChemist: What was the relationship between the guys in
CCR like back in the early, pre-fame days? Was
there any hint of the bitterness that was to
come?
JR: None that I ever saw. These guys were like brothers (Tom and John,
of course, actually were), supportive, respectful, fun loving, music
loving and hard working. They were great friends to me and among
themselves.
RNRChemist: During the band's heyday, what was it like?
How was the relationship between the guys?
JR: It was like a dream come true, everything they did seemed to work
like magic. They were treated like royalty everywhere they went.
They were personally close and proud of their achievements. John's
leadership and musical abilities were respected and held in high
regard by the others. I wasn't aware of any internal dissension
until just before Tom left. I could feel anxiety building and it
felt to me as though what had been taken for granted, an easy-going
and humble acceptance of fame and accomplishment, had somehow turned
into something precious and breakable. Suddenly it seemed like all
that success wasn't enough. Things relaxed for a couple of years
after Tom left the band, then--to me inexplicably--the tension and
anxiety returned around the recording and release of Mardi Gras.
RNRChemist: What were your initial impressions of John?
Doug? Stu? Tom? How about since they split up in
1973?
JR: As high school friends I looked on them as fun loving, talented
guys. Stu, and especially Doug, were gregarious and outgoing. John
was quieter, seeming more serious, but still ready for a good time.
I looked on all of them as capable and smart. I didn't get to know
Tom until I came to work for them and knew him even less after he
left the band. Now he's gone, gone, gone...I still occasionally
communicate with Stu and Doug and value their friendship. A few
years back I was in Columbia, Missouri, visiting my son and his
family, and Creedence Clearwater Revisited was performing in town.
Stu and Doug took the time to come to my son's home for a dinner and
autograph session with all my son's pals and their wives, all
totally thrilled. What great sports. They did that for me and I
love them for it. John: John is John, so different from anyone
else I've ever been close to. He was a loner when I worked for him,
and I assume he still is. There was a quiet intensity about him and
yet a warm and smiling side as well. Except for some pleasantries
exchanged when I was a witness in a CCR related lawsuit, we haven't
spoken since we parted ways in 1977. Sure, I miss him. He was a
close friend and confidant who I greatly admired. I can't even
imagine how he's changed since then. I guess I have, too. He
acquired a new wife and family and I wish him only happiness. My
greatest disappointment concerning John was when he refused to
perform with Stu and Doug at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
induction. I thought it malicious, a blight on his legacy. Here was
an opportunity to mend old wounds, to revisit and celebrate their
greatness. I don't know why the HOF people let the show go on. Stu
said it best: " ... it wasn't John Fogerty they were inducting."
RNRChemist: CCR's never ending legal battles with each
other popped up again when Stu and Doug recently
sued John over use of the Creedence name in
promotions. If you had to take sides in this
mess, which side would it be and why?
JR: This is a business dispute that will be settled by lawyers. It's
not up to me to take sides on a subject that sure isn't any of my
business and I know very little about.
RNRChemist: After they split and you stopped working for
them, you worked with John for a while as he
started his solo career. What sort of things
were you doing for him?
JR: A while was about four years, the same amount of time I spent in
prison. I generally acted as his representative for matters of
business and the public, very much what I had done with the band. We
spent a lot of time in Troy, Oregon, building John a house while he
acquainted himself with the finer points of hunting and fishing and
the great outdoors. We also drank some whiskey and played country
music in the local honky tonk. We spent some limited time in L.A.
after John signed with Geffen (Asylum), but it never felt to me like
we boys from Berkeley fit with the L.A. scene. John's solo career
didn't really take off until "Centerfield" in 1985 when I was seven
or eight years gone from his employ.
RNRChemist: Why do you think he developed such writers
block around that time, which lasted the better
part of a decade?
JR: I think John lapsed into a dark, quiet place, struggling with the
reality of all that had gone down during his professional career:
from the beginning he and the others were tied to a crappy,
one-sided contract (like most musicians of the day were), the loss
of his band, the loss of their money in a sham off-shore trust, the
loss of confidence in his song writing, a bitter battle with Saul
Zaentz and Fantasy Records, equally bitter battles with band
members, and who knows what else? I believe he convinced himself
that he was a victim, that others had taken unfair advantage of him,
and he just wouldn't let go of that idea. I think that sort of
thinking only holds you back.
RNRChemist: You pull no punches about your time in the
drug trade during the 1970s...what led you into
that world?
JR: The ease of opportunity and I needed a job. All of a sudden I was
making rock-star money, and I liked the sense of freedom it
afforded. I didn't have a lot of moral hangups about drugs; I don't
have an addictive personality and thought cocaine easy to deal with.
It was rampant throughout the music business and I never thought
much of it. I was later to realize how insidious a drug it is, that
it sneaks up on a lot of people, and truly, we're better off without
having it around as a recreational habit.
RNRChemist: Did you ever worry about getting arrested or
killed by a rival dealer while you were doing
that?
JR: No. I entered into a fraternity of honorable guys who didn't
believe in violence. Rule number one: you don't lie, cheat or steal,
and you don't rat on your brothers. Like all good things, that
didn't last forever, and the huge profits attracted the kind of
people who were as willing to cut your throat as look at you. Things
got somewhat dicey down the road.
RNRChemist: You were ratted out by the guys higher in the
operation than you were and got a pretty heavy
prison sentence while they got off relatively
easy. You could have been really bitter and
angry about that but you weren't, which I thought was
quite impressive. Why were you able to keep a
different perspective on it?
JR: I was bitter at first. I wasn't caught doing anything, I was told
on. It was only one guy, the guy who was said to be at the top of
the chain and they were letting him go in exchange for being an
informant. It wasn't an "operation" per se. There wasn't a gang or
cartel involved. It was a group of non-violent, independent entrepreneurs
who knew and trusted one another. When I finally accepted
responsibility for my actions, realizing that I had created my own
karma, things got easier. I became convinced that I was far better
off serving my time than the informant who traded his prison time
for a life sentence of a different nature. I looked back on the drug
life as a facade, an ugly and dangerous waste of time.
RNRChemist: You also mention in the book that while
prison isn't anything anyone should aspire to,
you "enjoyed" your time there (relatively
speaking) and are thankful for it. Can you
elaborate on that a bit?
JR: Sure. A better man came out than went in. There was plenty of time
for reading and contemplation. I discovered the joy that can come
from writing. It's also opportunity to get your temple (body) into
shape and kill off your bad habits. I went in weighing 230 pounds
and came out under 180, lean and in great shape. I quit my tobacco
habit. I originally called my book "The Fortunate Son," because I've
always considered myself fortunate. I was fortunate to have the
parents I did, to grow up where I did in the era that I did, to do
the things I've done. And I was fortunate to go to prison when I
did, before sentence requirements got so crazy, and fortunate to be
in prison circumstances where I could play sports, play music, enjoy
a camaraderie with fellow inmates, all of these things--it was like
going back to high school again even though I was in my forties,
lacking only females. I came out feeling twenty years younger.
Imagine a second chance at youth. Even today I sometimes I walk
around feeling like I must be in that Paul Newman movie, "Somebody
Up There Likes Me," so grateful to be alive in good health, able to
extract the joy from each passing day. I don't want to paint a
picture of every single day being something great. Shit happens.
In prison and out, yesterday, today and tomorrow. But, taken as a
whole experience, I got value out of prison. I accepted being locked
up, I had earned that, and made up my mind to make the most of it.
RNRChemist: Are you still in touch with any of the
characters from your time in prison you
mentioned in the book?
JR: Sure. Foremost my brother. We've always been very close. I've
never, though, been able to find my "amigo," Chris, from my days at
the medium security prison at Terminal Island. I met Chris, who'd spent half of his life behind bars, on the day I walked in, and he became my friend, teacher and benefactor, significantly easing my transition into the prison environment.
RNRChemist: You mention at the end of the book that while
your time in prison doesn't seem too bad based
on the stories you told, there were some bad
things that happened that you didn't want to
include in the book. Is there any chance you
could share some with us, if you don't mind?
JR: No "bad" things happened to me in prison. I was never assaulted,
disciplined, or sent to the "hole." I was never caught doing any of
the bad stuff we did. The negative I was balancing consisted mostly
of a rigid control by a bureaucratic system that never let you
forget who's in charge. Boredom, missing loved ones, and
occasionally having to take shit from some nasty, mean-spirited
guard whose sorry existence revolved around keeping other people
jailed. Worse than that, having to take shit from that guy's boss, a
similarly dull-witted, mean-spirited, bureaucratic robot whose sense
of purpose in this world was predicated on extracting society's
revenge from those under his dominion. I witnessed a lot of what I
considered mean and cowardly behavior by prison administrators, most
of whom were morally and intellectually inferior to those over whom
they held their sway. On the other side of that coin were those working
in the prison environment who were fair-minded, decent, thinking and
warm human beings.
RNRChemist: What have you been up to since you were
released?
JR: That's almost like the whole second half of my life. Here's a
thumbnail: right out of the halfway house, I went to work for an old
friend in his law office in downtown Oakland. I was the
investigator, paralegal and office administrator. I stayed with
that job for ten years, until one day my wife announced, "I'm going
to Maui. You coming?" Of course I was. Most of my family lived on
Maui and we already owned a home there. I had no idea what I would
do when I got there, but I knew that first I had to build a garage
and a cottage for my aging mother. One day my brother asked if I
could write some radio commercials for his travel business. I had an
8-track cassette recorder and a couple of AKG C-1000 microphones.
Sure I can. My wife and I had been playing music together (she
ukulele, me guitar) for kicks and supporting hula halau (schools) on
the mainland and on Maui. I wrote clever commercials, doing the
music and voice over, and my wife would sing the jingle. They were
very successful and provided a good part of our income for several
years. Another day, local spiritualist and recording artist, Lei`ohu
Ryder, brought my wife home from a heiau (ancient Hawaiian temple)
work party with a broken leg. Learning that I had worked with CCR
(she was a big fan) and that I had the beginnings of a recording
studio, she ventured, "Let's make a record!" Sure I can. That
kicked off our label, Ululoa Productions, and my career as a
producer and engineer. Our first recordings, Lei'ohu's "Lady of the
Mountain" and Ata Damasco's Hawaiian gospel album "From the Valley
to the Throne" still sell in respectable numbers today, 14 years
after release. Over the next decade or so, we produced, manufactured
and released over 20 commercial CDs of mostly traditional Hawaiian
music by mostly local Maui artists, as well as many recording jobs
for other artists. Hawaii is a small market and now, without
distribution and retail stores to sell them, the death knell has all
but tolled for retail CDs. Our once busy studio has few projects
today. We still administer our label and our releases are still
available, but the market isn't what it was. With time on my hands,
I thought about writing a book
RNRChemist: Any regrets or things you'd have done
differently during your time with CCR? After?
JR: Hindsight is always 20-20 and life's been too good for regrets.
Sure, there are things I would have done differently, but I don't
dwell there.
RNRChemist: Some quick hit questions:
Favorite band?
JR: I just don't know. I hardly listen to rock music anymore. I'm more
likely to listen to real rock and roll out of the fifties than
anything else in that vein. Who's better than Chuck Berry, Fats
Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and those other great pioneers? I still like
the Stones, Allman Brothers, Creedence (of course), loved the
Blasters and the Beatles. I like Zeppelin until Plant starts
screaming at me. Most current bands sound like digital noise to me.
I like roots music, Americana music, traditional music, blues...
like good food and wine, I want to taste the earth from which it
came from. The music I love has that same earth-connection,
regardless of genre. I like those records that make me pull to the
side of the road and wait for the end so I can write down who and
what I just heard.
I've also developed an interest and fascination for the great philharmonic orchestras of our day. I love watching those superb and dedicated musicians interpret the tempos and arrangements from the conductor, working together, and the tremendous sound they create from their acoustic instruments. They sometimes remind me of the best rock & roll band you can imagine, on a great night.
RNRChemist: Favorite album?
JR: I literally have thousands of albums (yeah, 33-1/3 rpm) and CDs
collected over a lifetime. How could I have a favorite? The best
new release I've come across in recent months is Dave and Phil Alvin
singing the songs of Big Bill Broonzy. Wonderful stuff. Right now
I'm listening to Dion DiMucci, Bronx in Blue, released a few years
back. He was seventy years old when he recorded that. What a great
voice, great chops, then and now. It's hard to start naming names.
There's too much great music out there. I recently mastered about 60
hours of cassettes to CD from the late, great KFAT radio in Gilroy,
CA. I did it for Gilbert Klein, a KFAT stalwart, for love of the
music and the memories. I just don't think Pandora can compete with
KFAT. Or most of the other stuff I can pull off my shelves. Or pick
the music that means something to me.
RNRChemist: As far as CCR goes, what's your
favorite CCR album and song?
JR: Green River and "Green River." Willy and the Poor Boys, a close
second.
RNRChemist: Finally, after you wrote the book, did you
look back and think "wow! What an interesting
life I've had so far!" ?
JR: No, not really. Everyone's life is interesting, or can be. I take
more pleasure in reading what I wrote, "Wow!... I nailed that
scene!"
RNRChemist: Jake, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with me; your insight and perspective on your life and on music are really inspiring and fascinating. And for my readers, I highly recommend you pick up Jake's book...it's an incredible story and a very enjoyable read. Thanks again, Jake!