by Jack Johnson
EVERYONE HAS A PASSION
J: IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS RIGHT NOW, THEN KEEP LOOKING. IT’S OUT THERE. GET OUT AND TRY STUFF. YOU’LL NEVER FIND IT AT HOME SITTING ON YOUR COUCH.
G: THAT’S THE KEY—GIVE STUFF A CHANCE. IF SOMEONE PRESENTS YOU WITH AN OPPORTUNITY, TAKE IT, EVEN IF YOU DON’T THINK IT’S “YOUR THING.” HOW DO YOU KNOW UNTIL YOU’VE GIVEN IT A SHOT?
J: And how do you know when you actually have stumbled onto something? For us, it was a gut feeling. We were getting excited and kind of obsessed over making our videos and later our music. It was all we could think about.
G: You’ll know. It may start off as a hobby, but when it becomes lucrative—like hey, this could actually be my full-time job, or, like Jack says, when you can’t think of anything else, then you’ve hit on something. And you should follow that path, because you can’t ever go wrong doing something you love. You can only go wrong doing something you don’t like. If it’s got you fired up, then it’s a sure sign.
AskJacks
WORDS THAT ARE IMPOSSIBLE TO RHYME . . . AND WE’VE TRIED!
J: Orange. Technically you could make it happen with words like porridge or snorange.
G: That’s not a word.
J: I didn’t say it was perfect.
G: Purple. I’m stumped on a word that rhymes with purple. Totally.
J: Inconspicuous. Ubiquitous. Discombobulate.
G: Basically, all of those SAT words you had to memorize. Un-rhymable.
J: Onomatopoeia.
G: Wait! I can do it! Onomatopoeia. Told a girl I don’t wanna see her!
J: It’s a stretch, but I’ll take it.
J: Then what are you going to do to put it out there? You need a game plan. What are your dreams? Your goals? A lot of people thought we were nuts to make a career out of the Vine thing, but we began to realize it was our ticket. There’s no such thing as a crazy idea if what you’re doing is making people happy—and making you happy. Who’s crazy now, right?
G: I don’t think we had a clear vision of “We’re goin’ to Hollywood.” It was more like “Let’s put this out there and see how people respond” or “Let’s throw down some tracks and see if people like them.” It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of experimenting to find our sound. At some point, you have to trust it and believe in it and believe in yourself.
J: And that’s kind of the cool part—the not knowing. And also realizing that something good can even come out of something bad. The old “one door closes, another opens” cliché. Failure can be a motivator, too. Don’t beat yourself up if you try something and fail at it. At some point, something will stick.
G: We try a lot of stuff with our music and our videos and not everything works. It’s part of the process. If you see it that way, there’s no such thing as failing. Just moving toward getting it right.
WHO WAS THE ARTIST WHO MADE YOU WANT TO PURSUE A MUSIC CAREER?
G: For me, it was Bono. I was watching a U2 concert, and I remember thinking, I wanna be him. He could command that stage. He could move the audience.
J: For me, it was probably one of the first concerts I went to in this huge arena in Omaha: Black Eyed Peas. They put on such a cool show with all the crazy lights and the background dancers, it was such a full production. They made me wanna be a performer, get on stage and entertain people. Musically, behind the scenes, I’d have to say Lil Wayne has been a big influence on me.
CHUNKY OR SMOOTH PEANUT BUTTER?
G: Smooth. I don’t even want to think about it being a peanut before.
J: Smooth. Who eats chunky? Who wants to crunch your PB and J? That’s just too much work.
MILK OR DARK CHOCOLATE?
J: Milk. All day. Although dark is better for your health.
G: Although if you’re eating chocolate, who cares? You’re not doin’ it for your health. Am I right?
FAVE PLACE IN THE WORLD YOU’VE BEEN AND WHY?
J: Colorado. I have so many memories of being there with my friends, skiing and snowboarding.
G: That’s such a hard question! I’ve loved so many places we’ve been to, but we’ve only been there for a few days, so I can’t make an educated choice. I guess I’d have to say California is high on the list for sure, and there’s nothing like a Caribbean getaway with the family. Or maybe I’d steal Jack’s and say Colorado, too.
J: Get your own, man.
FAVE CEREAL?
J: Ooh, that’s tough! I’m a huge fan of Blueberry Frosted Mini-Wheats and Strawberry Frosted Mini-Wheats.
G: Mini-Wheats? You’re kidding, right?
J: I’m a big fruit fan.
G: Cocoa Krispies. I know, so bad for you. But so worth it.
FAVE CANDY?
J: Sour Patch Kids—I’m a sucker for them. Or Haribo gummy bears. It’s like a little hard and chewy on the outside, but the center is really soft.
G: Milk Duds with Sour Patch a close second.
J: You’re stealin’ my answers again.
BOOK THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
G: The Jungle Book. Not the Disney movie. I actually read the book.
J: For me, it was A Long Way Gone, about a child soldier in Africa. He gets kidnapped by the rebels, and he does drugs and is forced to kill people when he’s literally nine years old. It’s about how he got out of all that and got to America. It’s pretty powerful.
G: Where the Red Fern Grows. That was a sad one. I think it was our required sixth-grade read-along.
J: The Giver—I loved that one, too. What would society be like with no pain, no feeling at all?
G: Hatchet. That one really spoke to me. The wilderness . . . I was in it. I could see it; I could hear it in surround sound. For me, that’s the key to a great book. You feel like you’re actually in it, living it.
MOVIE THAT CHANGED YOUR LIFE?
J: Interstellar. Totally messes with your head.
G: The Butterfly Effect with Ashton Kutcher. Wow.
J: Oh my God, bro! Yes, that one makes you think like crazy.
G: It shows how the simplest event can change your life in a split second.
J: I also have to say Shutter Island with Leo DiCaprio. You don’t know which person is nuts, and after you watch it you feel like you’re going nuts.
G: Dark. Very dark.
WHAT SCARES THE CRAP OUT OF YOU?
J: Donald Trump becoming president. Truly, it gives me nightmares. I wake up in a cold sweat.
G: He might win—and that’s scary as crap.
J: If he does, we’re gonzo. We’re Caribbean bound. So you may be reading this book years from now, and Jack & Jack are coming to you live from a desert island, sipping tropical drinks under an umbrella. Thanks to The Donald.
WHAT’S THE FUNNIEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?
J: I cannot think of one specific incident because Jack G’s one funny dude. He’s made me pee-in-pants laugh a couple of times.
G: I’m proud to have that effect on you.
J: Back in the day, before the phone, all we had were jokes and pranks. We’ve spent too many years together to just choose one “funniest” thing.
G: Our lives are a greatest hits of funny things. I just look at you and crack up, man.
J: Funny is my middle name.
G: I thought it was Edward?
IF YOU COULD PICK A DIFFERENT DECADE TO LIVE IN, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
G: I’d wanna fast-forward to 2500 and see what the future is like.
J: Wait—what if you could go back to watching Jimi Hendrix perform live at Woodstock?
G: Ooh, I would love that. Like the seventies or sixties? Or somewhere in the middle—like 1965 to 1975. I know that’s not an official decade, but it’s ten years.
J: I just wanna see how the hippie movement took over the world and chilled it out, you know? Or go backstage at a Beatles concert and hang with them. All four. I think the world was at a happier, chiller place, and I’d like to experience it.
G: Would you go hippie?
/> J: Yeah, I might. Just to check it out, you know.
G: Flowers and stuff . . . tie-dye?
J: Maybe. I could get into it.
G: I could totally see you rockin’ that look.
J: Thanks. I think.
DO YOU HAVE TATTOOS?
J: We do not. We’re still bare. But we talk about it all the time.
G: We want tattoos so bad, but it’s just gotta be right.
J: It’s the commitment. We gotta commit to something. If we knew what that something was, it would already be there.
G: Tattoos stick with you for life, so we gotta gain some more life experiences before we make a decision. It’s a big one, so we are not rushing into it. But when we do . . . it will be dope.
STRIKING A BALANCE
J: BALANCING WORK AND FUN IS EASY FOR US, REALLY. WORK IS PLAY FOR US. MAKING MUSIC IS FUN, STRAIGHT UP.
G: I FEEL LIKE EVEN IF WE TAKE A VACATION, WE’RE GONNA END UP FINDING A STUDIO WHEREVER WE ARE AND PICK UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF. THAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT OUR WORK; IT DOESN’T EVER FEEL LIKE
a chore. We’re actually excited to get up in the morning and get to work, which is a sure sign that you’re doing the right thing. If life makes you excited, you’re on track.
J: And we know how to chill when we need it. We shoot hoops and play water bottle toss—you do sick combos with your friends, toss it behind your back. Not to brag, but we are the half-filled champs.
G: Yeah, and that can recharge your batteries, you know? That can be good for the work. The key is to prioritize. We just did a tour for a month, and now we have two weeks at home. We need to be writing and producing music, but we also need a few days to decompress. So you make time for both, giving weight to the things you know need to happen. It’s really the difference between us way back in the day and now. We’re more mature; we know there are responsibilities and obligations. If we have something we need to do, we do it.
J: Do we stress out sometimes and put too much pressure on ourselves? Yeah, of course. Guilty as charged. I find myself in a constant need to create and give our fans content. We wanna see growth. We see our numbers plateauing on social media and we panic a little.
J: If we see our likes going down, we freak. We feel like we’re disappointing our followers. I’m in this panic mode, “We gotta put content out there, fast!” But you can’t rush it. You can’t just throw something up there that’s sloppy.
G: You can’t rush greatness. We need to make this the best that we can, and that’s when the fans will realize why it’s taking so long.
J: But I still feel that stress, creeping up the back of my neck. We gotta hurry it up. We’ve got fans counting on us.
G: Fans first, goofing around later.
J: But a lot of our content actually comes from goofing around.
G: Right. Like I said, our work is play and our play is work. It’s pretty linked.
J: You realize not many people can say that. What if we were firefighters or cops?
G: We’d have some pretty dope uniforms, that’s for sure. Girls love those uniforms.
WHAT IS YOUR IDEA OF THE PERFECT DAY OFF?
G: I would say the beach. Get some sun, get some rays. In the summer especially. That’s the place to be. Or Netflix, room service, chill.
J: But to be honest, I’d wanna be in the studio, too. It’s fun as hell. I love making music, and there’s no better feeling.
G: Agreed.
J: No days off, that’s my mind-set.
DO YOU HAVE A TO-DO LIST?
G: I would say no. I don’t have a physical list I check off. It’s more mental, “Let’s get work done, and we need to strategize.” I keep it all in my head.
J: I’d say there are some big things, like get an album done and win a Grammy and perform on a late-night talk show. But it’s more like a goals list. It will happen in time, no deadlines.
G: But you don’t write it down.
J: You mean like on a Post-it? Nah. I’d probably lose it anyway.
DO YOU HAVE A MAN CAVE? DESCRIBE!
J: Yes, we do, and it’s at our buddy Nash Grier’s house. It’s called “The Time Machine.” It’s a shack with these crazy posters hung everywhere, and that’s where we go to listen to music and just chill with our homies. We’ll bring our snacks in there and just have a good time.
G: It has these lights that change. It’s really cool. We’ll play our new tunes in there for our friends and hang. It’s like our escape from the world.
J: Every dude should have a man cave. Women should have a woman cave.
G: How do you know they don’t?
J: ’Cause no one invites a guy into a woman cave.
G: Speak for yourself.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU DID NOTHING?
J: I don’t know. Wait! I lie, I do. Remember when me and Nash were just playing video games for like two weeks straight?
G: I do. January 2015.
J: We were on a video game binge, and we would just order in food to be delivered. We didn’t leave my house once. It was like we were hibernating.
G: I would come back to the house every day to change and shower, and you guys would be in the same place, the same position, a little greasier, maybe more pizza boxes and Chinese takeout boxes piled up, but still in the same spot. You even had one of those Edible Arrangements of fruit—like a bouquet made out of strawberries and pineapples?
J: It kind of pissed me off later; it was the most unproductive two weeks of my life.
G: We went a few months like that when we first got out here, where we weren’t going into the studio. We look back now and it sucked.
J: Exactly. To do nothing feels awful. I hate it. I hate to be stagnant.
G: I think it has to happen when you first come out to L.A. You need to hang and party, and then you realize it’s time to get down to business. You see how productive you can be, and you don’t want to be lazy anymore.
ARE YOU WORKAHOLICS OR PLAYAHOLICS?
J: Definitely workaholics. I just want to be working every day.
G: When we’re not touring, meeting fans, playing concerts, we’re in the studio. And that’s not gonna stop for a long time. We’ve got goals we wanna hit, and hard work is the only way to make them happen.
HANDLING THE HATERS
J: WHEN WE FIRST STARTED OUT, IT WASN’T EASY. WE’D READ THE HATE COMMENTS AND IT WOULD GET TO US. PEOPLE WOULD BE LIKE, “VINE? SIX-SECOND VIDEOS? YOU GUYS PROBABLY LAST SIX SECONDS IN BED . . .”
G: OH YEAH. I REMEMBER THAT ONE. AND YA THINK YOU’RE SO CLEVER, DUDE . . .
J: LOTS OF CHEESY LITTLE JOKES AND LAME DIGS MEANT TO HURT US.
G: They ripped us apart, but that was expected. We knew clearly not everyone was gonna love us.
J: Which isn’t to say it didn’t sting. No one likes to hear negative things. No one likes to be knocked down. But you have to ask yourself, where is this coming from? Is it jealousy? Is it insecurity? Are you putting your own bad feelings about yourself on someone else to build yourself up? Is that gonna make your misery go away—to make someone else miserable?
G: Bad strategy. It actually makes you look smaller. And that’s what we remind ourselves: Consider the source when someone hates on you.
J: Pity the source.
G: Exactly. You hate yourself, so you’re gonna hate on someone else? That’s pretty transparent.
J: You can’t control the person who is putting those negative comments out there, but you can control your reaction. You can rise above it, you know? You can keep it in perspective. What does what this person have to say that really matters? Am I gonna let it bring me down, or am I gonna keep on doing what I’m doing, what makes me happy?
AskJacks
NOTES TO THE HATERS
“JACK & JACK LOL! AREN’T THEY THOSE KIDS FROM VINE? WTF ARE THEY DOING IN MUSIC? THIS IS WHACK!”
First of all, we’re not from Vine, we’re from Nebraska. And second of all, I don’t think Vine has anything to do wit
h how talented an individual is. Getting noticed on Vine takes skill—so thanks for pointing it out.
“JACK J. LOOKS LIKE HE’S TWELVE AND A PARROT JUST POOPED ON HIM . . .”
I know I look like I’m twelve, but I’m not. I was born in 1996. I’m out here living my dreams, so the fact that you’re taking time to comment on my looks is a little suspect. Maybe you should get a pet parrot to keep you company?
“ALL YOUR SONGS AND VINES SUCK.”
A hater is just a fan who’s scared to admit it. If you’re obsessing over “all” our music and Vines, then obviously we made ya look and listen. We’ll make sure to put out a bunch more for you. Wouldn’t want to disappoint.
G: I remind myself these people have nothing better to do with their lives than watch my Vines and post nasty comments. That’s pathetic, but hey, thanks for tuning in.
J: Haters are great free promo.
G: If someone’s hating on you, just put your situation next to theirs. You’ll feel a lot better.
J: It doesn’t matter what you do, chances are there will always be some lame person who finds fault in it, who judges you. Don’t let them push your buttons. Be bigger and better than that.
G: And hit delete. Or walk away. Best defense is not to get defensive. Give it the attention it deserves: none.
J: Remember that it’s easy to attract haters. All you have to do is be confident, talented, good looking, opinionated, smart . . . you get what I’m saying? If you’ve got haters, you’re doing something right.
YOUR FRIEND HAS FOOD STUCK IN HIS TEETH. DO YOU TELL HIM?
J: Oh yeah. With one of our homies, I’d just say: “Dude, there’s some spinach hangin’ out there. . . .”
G: It’s not like you’re on a date with some girl and you gotta be smooth. You just tell him, so that if a pretty girl does come along, he’s all good.