Community # 9 Jason Anderson

Where did he come from? The genuine enthusiasm and unashamed joy shown in his live shows is so inspiring. Many people, myself included, are scared to be so unrelentingly encouraging. Here are my favourite bits of this interview just to clear up any misconceptions:

What inspires the intense optimism you display at your shows?

Friends and life, mostly. Loving both those things. Wanting to make people happy, wanting to have fun. Wanting to communicate and connect and share. It’s time to remember how powerful, joyful and inspiring music can be. And even more so than music, just how powerful friendship and community can be, and getting a bunch of people into the same space and sharing something. My goal is to pump people up, to make them happy, even if it’s just for the hour of the show, for all of us to connect, to sing and dance and just feel in love with life.

Do you ever feel inspired to express the down times, the negatives, in your music?

I would never want to be blindly happy. Ignorance is not bliss. At the same time, I don’t think it’s healthy to linger in the negatives, when there is always positivity to be found. But it’s not like everything has to be full-tilt enthusiasm and hands-in-the-air frenzy to be legitimate. That would be silly. What I’m attracted to is sincerity, enthusiasm and from-the-heart passion, and that can manifest in many different ways. In fact, the overarching emotional content of most of my songs is one of yearning, melancholy, and wistfulness. The live shows are a celebration of the feeling that says, “We want this, we want to do or to have or to be this, and we are waiting. And yet, we shall rejoice, we shall be free!”

Do you believe in God, or a master plan, or that everything happens for a reason?

I definitely believe that there is an energy in the universe, that things do seem to happen for a reason and that some coincidences seem too magical to be mere chance. But this debate has plagued philosophers for ages. I’m not a psychologist or, by any means, an expert on life. My beliefs are still being formed and reformed. I try to see the good in people, in this human experience and in the life I live. Like anyone, I do my best every day and simply try to go to bed happy, with no regrets. I also think guacamole and limeade are awesome.

Now watch this video all the way through. And this one.