Trevor Jackson
A visit to the studio with the twosome Trevor Jackson

By Nicole Roberge

As I drive up a mountain in Western Massachusetts, it’s apparent the band Trevor Jackson has been recording in isolation. I arrive and make my way up to the studio and sit on a couch behind producer Dave Chalfant and his soundboard.  Trevor Jackson is in the other room ready to record, and I’m immediately immersed in their antics by hearing them proclaim: “This is 50 years of rock ’n’ roll!” 
           
They start playing a song and the two guys sounds like a full band. The music soon stops and the guys in Trevor Jackson pop out to greet me. They are dressed to impress, both wearing blazers. Trevor Jackson includes singer-songwriter Kyle Riabko, who at the age of 15 was signed to Aware/Columbia and toured with such artists as John Mayer, Buddy Guy and Maroon 5. The other half of the band is the multi-talented Boots Factor who’s drummer for Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers and also has his own solo albums out.  They have come together as a duo to do this side project and dubbed themselves Trevor Jackson.

“I’m having the time of my life working with these knuckleheads,” Chalfant says. “We’re able to do every indulgent thing we might not have been able to do anywhere else — like a five-minute skit at the end of a song.”  He’s speaking in reference to “Bus Song.”
Factor elaborates on the tune.

“We have this song called ‘Bus Song’ where you’re going through all these towns and the world is yours for the taking but you’re so hungover and in a dark bunk that you don’t see anything, which is kind of true,” he says. “And kind of a funny notion.”

I ask Factor who he is, “Trevor” or “Jackson”? He says it changes.  Riabko comes over, points at him and says, “Trevor,” then points him to the board and tells him, “we should listen to the mix.”
“Bus Song,” is a perfect title for one of their songs because these two honed their talents on the tour bus together. Riabko was playing guitar with Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers, and he and Factor had been friends. 

“It was really funny because it was the first time we had a bus and Stephen [Kellogg] was like, ‘This is gonna facilitate all this songwriting, we’ll release an mp3 every week,’ and it finally got to the point where we were partying all the time and nothing ever got done,” Factor says.  “The small amounts of songwriting that did take place were between us two and they were so stupid that we would start playing them and people would leave.”

Eventually, their “stupid” songs turned into good ones. When Riabko was in New York auditioning for some Broadway shows, he stayed with Factor, and they continued writing their goofy songs. It was when Factor popped in a Jayhawks CD and they covered “Stumbling Through the Dark,” the two realized that maybe they had something more to their music.  So they started to write real songs, with a bit of quirk to them, and combined both their styles. Each writes lyrics and sings, with Riabko on guitar and Factor on drums, as well as mandolin and banjo. “Stumbling Through the Dark,” their first “serious” attempt at music, is featured on the album, just out on iTunes. “We were so excited when we started to get positive responses. We were actually good. We weren’t a joke anymore,” Factor says. 

It’s not likely that any crowd would be leaving these two when they start playing a song now. As for Riabko’s take on the collaboration, he’s excited at the way the two have connected “on a comedic level.”

  “It kind of just made sense that we’d be a good duo: like Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. I’m Jerry and Dean, and he’s like…my lighting guy,” he jokes, and it’s obvious that they haven’t left that sense of comedy behind. It’s still present on this album, which they have rightly titled: Kyle Riabko and Boots Factor are Trevor Jackson.

But despite the random name and switching off between Trevor and Jackson, how did they really come up with it?
           
“I think it was one of those random moments on the bus where I was like, ‘Well I’m Trevor,’” Factor says.
           
“And I’m Jackson!” Riabko shouts.
           
“And we’re Trevor Jackson!”
           
The two jump back in the studio and spend some time recording. From “More Like Me,” where they sing, “Why you gotta be so good?/Baby, I wish you could be more like me,” to “Not Down With That,” with lyrics ranging from “The way you treat me is so unkind/I’m not down with that,” the guys successfully combine the serious with the comic.
           
But more importantly, this is good music. These two are serious musicians who know what they’re doing, but who don’t dwell on every little note, and this is what makes their music soar. “We’re not striving for humor or anything poetic,” says Riabko. “We let the songs be whatever they are.”

“To us, they’re catchy, they’re fun to play,” adds Factor. “There’s no pressure to any of these, we’re not meeting anyone’s obligations.”

“This is the first time for us where there’s nothing on the line, nothing matters, just have fun, use your skills, use whatever,” Riabko says. “And that’s why it’s just so enjoyable. It’s like a little vacation. And no song feels like one guy has really wrote it. Which is rare, because even legitamate cowrites come out like, ‘Oh yeah, I wrote that part.’  We’re just writing lyrics, and throwing out chords, it’s very organic.”

As for where Trevor Jackson plans to take things next, Riabko has it pretty well laid out.

“To the next level, and if the next level looks too hard, we’ll go back, to the past level,” he says. “And then we might go two levels forward, and go back three. And then years later, we’ll catch up on all the levels. We want people to hear it. For people to hear this other side of us and just that we’re having fun playing music.”

Factor and Chalfant are at the soundbound listening to some mixes. After hearing a drum part, they both seem happy.
“That’s so cool,” Chalfant says.

“Yeah, let’s keep it,” agrees Factor. “All the people who were around for the past 50 years of rock ’n’roll will appreciate it.”