Jake Minch is learning from his heroes

They say never meet your heroes. Jake Minch says otherwise.

On July 11th, the 22-year old singer released his debut album George. Since his first single in 2023, “handgun”, Minch has been championed by a plethora of heavy-hitters in the Indie/Alternative scene; from Noah Kahan to Lizzy McAlpine, Gracie Abrams, Samia, and more. He’s supported Holly Humberstone, The Head and the Heart, Jeremy Zucker and more in recent years, and is gearing up for his own headline tour this Fall.

We had the chance to sit down with Jake to discuss the process of writing and recording George, his collaboration with the album’s co-producer and one of Minch’s personal heroes, Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Lorde, Taylor Swift and more), and the items on his Shelf that saw him through this chapter of his life. Check out the full interview below and be sure to listen to George on all available streaming services now.

@zjaffa: What do you feel like you've learned about yourself in the process of making George—either in the studio or the quiet moments in between?

@jakeminch: Making this album and meeting the people that helped made it have really changed everything for me.

I had a really strong idea of how my world looked and the path I was on, and then to test it or be in a room of people who I admired, trying to hear myself say what I thought out loud was really cool because it punched holes in a lot of bad stuff.

@zjaffa: What do you mean by that? Punching holes?

@jakeminch: I was super addicted to cigarettes, and to spend time with someone like Tony who kind of has it all figured out, and by that I mean the stuff he doesn't know about, he's genuinely curious about. But he is really great to be like, “yeah, I'm smoking cigarettes again”. And he'll ask why? And then you have to explain it’s because I lack self control.

It was super cool to break habits like that. I also realized that I'd never learned how to be funny. The way that I grew up, me and my friend's humor was all rooted in bad stuff that happened to us or saying the most offensive thing we could think of. So to see people who were actually funny—and it comes from brutal honesty or being aware of the room and pointing out it was pretty sweet. Also, hanging out with people that cool set a really high bar and made me spend some time cleaning out the closet. I would stay in relationships or friendships because they were there instead of things we had in common.

@zjaffa: That makes sense. I'm glad you had a positive experience with your role models, because so often people say you should never meet your heroes. I’m glad it was the opposite for you.

@jakeminch: I mean, you should have seen me when I was leaving the studio. Some days, I remember a couple times I was calling my manager, Charlotte, and being like, “Tony sucks. He's so mean.” But he's not. He's just like a brick bro.

@zjaffa: It's a process of growing.

@jakeminch: Yeah.

@zjaffa: How did it feel recording George compared to how many?

@jakeminch: Totally different ball game. I think it was really important for me to hand the steering wheel off to someone else for a second. Obviously I was still making a lot of calls, and we had arguments that are still ongoing now, but I think when I was making how many, I didn't really know what I wanted, and I didn't have the vocabulary to vocalize what I wanted. I was working with this guy who was awesome—super incredible to work with. And I am not trying to undermine any of the really special times we had, but I was just in a completely different place.

I spent a lot of time saying that I wanted something, making him do it, and then backtracking and so I had to take the time with Tony. He told me, because he works on Phoebe Bridgers’ stuff, he says that Phoebe knows exactly what she's doing with her voice every time she sings a line. And so when we started recording, I would come in and be like, “here's what I want to say. I'll just try a couple takes, and we'll pick our favorite inflections”. And he was like, that's not gonna work. So I had to go home and do my homework and then let him steer the ship for the most part.

@zjaffa: I feel like it's kind of parallel to writing. I hear all the time that the best writers are the ones who are most receptive to feedback and editing. And it sounds like the exact same in the studio. You speak a lot about Tony, but in terms of inspirations and influences, who or what would you say have been the recurring artists or albums in your life that inspired your music and your sound?

@jakeminch: I think while I was growing up and throughout high school, I spent a lot of time listening to this guy, Rusty Clanton. I almost forgot for a while, and then I rediscovered him recently, and I realized how much time I'd spent on his stuff. He has a song called “Novels” that I find myself accidentally writing once every six months.

It's a phenomenal song. Just the arc of it. He's incredible. And he hasn't put out music since COVID kind of let people back in public. So I mourn him, but, I think he was pretty formative. Obviously Lizzy McAlpine, Phoebe Bridgers. Although one time I was in a room with Harrison Whitford and Tony Berg, and we were talking about inspiration, and I was like, “I feel like Phoebe has pretty big fingerprints on my songwriting”. And they were both like, “absolutely not—you just like her as an artist.”

@zjaffa: I feel like that's kind of validating though, because it means you have your own fingerprints—your own, unique process.

@jakeminch: Absolutely. It's also fun because now to have learned how she writes through the grapevine, and to try that out has been really fun. While I was making the album, I was listening to a lot of Phoebe Bridgers, a lot of Conor Orberst and Bright Eyes. I was listening to the Mountain Goats.

@zjaffa: You're putting our readers on. I hope you know that.

@jakeminch: Oh, Phantom Planet was a big one. That's an awesome band. And then I think they're just like a couple, like more niche songs that I found myself looping.

@zjaffa: The next ones are a bit more light hearted, but I think you'll enjoy them all the same. If you could stalk any person's Shelf, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

@jakeminch: I would want to see what Phoebe's listening to. I want to see what Samia is listening to, and MJ Lenderman as well. I want to know what he's bumping and if it's anything other than—never mind. I'm not gonna finish that thought. I've been listening to a lot of playlists that are MJ Lenderman and Neil Young.

@zjaffa: What would you consider a green flag if you saw it on someone’s Shelf?

@jakeminch: I think a green flag would be The National. But honestly, I'd like to see some books that aren't self-help books or too smart. I've been really into fiction. One of the books I read this summer is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

@zjaffa: God, I love Taylor Jenkins Reid. You should know she creates an entire universe with those books. So if you liked Seven Husbands, you would love Malibu Rising and I think you would love Daisy Jones & The Six even more. I don't know if you've seen the show, but the book's better, obviously.

@jakeminch: I haven't seen the show, but actually I think Tony made that soundtrack.

@zjaffa: That tracks, because it's incredible. I'm definitely gonna be stalking your Shelf for book recommendations now.

@jakeminch: I would like to see some fiction that isn't guy who gets beat up by the world, you know?

@zjaffa: I know what you mean. The last question that I ask everyone is, what item on your Shelf is most likely to stay there forever?

@jakeminch: “After Hours” by Christian Lee Hutson, I think. I think it's the saddest song of all time. I had three—we'll say two breakup adjacent things this summer. The first time that it happened, I was getting over it, and then it'd be a really pretty day, and I'd want to listen to this song, and it just wiped me. It knocked the wind out of me so bad. It's so beautiful. And then the same thing happened with this breakup. It hit just as hard and totally re-contextualized everything.

Curious about what else Jake is into? Get real-time updates at shelf.im/jakeminch