#jake braid

BOIZ & GURLZ: Jake Braid

Describe yourself by turning your name into an acronym:

J is for Jalapeño business

A is for awesome

K is for quick (kind of, quick has a k)

E is for energy

If Jake Braid was a theme park, what would be five features of it?

It would be called ‘Jakeland’. It would only be open at night, and all of the rides would glow in the dark, there would be ice cream everywhere for sure. There would be a make your own teddy bear place, and Go Karts, and a giant water slide luge which you ride on motor less jet skis.

What advice would you give your fifteen-year-old-self?

Don’t stop watching Game of Thrones.

Tell me a story from primary school.

One time at primary school when it had finished for the day, I was waiting for Mum to come pick me up, and she never did, so I walked home and found ten dollars.

Would you rather have fingers as long as your legs, or legs as long as your fingers?

Fingers as long as my legs.

If you could only listen to the music of three artists for the rest of your life, who would they be?

Arctic Monkeys, Benny Tipene, and Vampire Weekend

If you were to meet yourself at any age, what age ‘you’ would you want to meet?

I would want to meet ten-year-old Jake, and I’d order him to pick up drums earlier.

Who/what/when/where/why/how did you get into music?

There was a time in my life as a kid where I was really invested in New Zealand Idol. My brother wasn’t impressed and introduced me to The Mars Volta, and music like that, which I thought was super cool. But playing music, I’ve been mucking around with a guitar forever, and I picked up the drums at Intermediate.

What is it about music that you love? And how does your interest in music influence your perspective of the world?

For me, music in an extension of the self, it opens up how you can think. Once you can play, you can write, and you can create things that never existed before. There’s a great sense of accomplishment in finishing a song and being really happy with it.

(Asked by Elliot) Supposing you were given sufficient funds to have a sitcom starring you, what would be the outline of it?

Okay, I’d play half of the characters, and Jason Harkett would play the rest. It would be set in Palmerston North, but also everywhere… for example, ‘The Square’ would be Times Square and so on. It would be a little like Portlandia.

What question would you like to ask the next person?