Wallflowers' Dylan: This time it's personal

Jakob Dylan admits that keeping it "simple and open" is one of the harder aspects of songwriting

From Serena Yang
CNN WorldBeat Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- It's been four years since the Wallflowers' hit album "Bringing Down the Horse." That release earned them two Grammys and sold 5 million copies.

For most artists, that's as good as it gets.

But for lead singer Jakob Dylan, son of Bob Dylan, the album was just the first step in establishing an identity all his own.

The band's newest release is his latest. "Breach" is an intimate collection of melodic folk rock, rooted in Dylan's most personal songwriting to date.

"I think this is the first time I really had a chance to sit down and think about what kind of writing I wanted to do," he said. "I wanted to focus more on the songs and and lyrics and make sure that I thought they'd be relevant to me, and the group, down the line.

VIDEO Worldbeat looks at the Wallflowers four years after their hit album Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     AUDIO "Letters from the Wasteland" 432K WAV sound "I've Been Delivered" 464K WAV sound "Mourning Train" 492K WAV sound     ALSO Read a review of the new Wallflowers' album

"It appears to be a little more personal and open (and) maybe darker, just because it's just maybe a little simpler in the writing part," he said.

Keeping the writing "simple and open" is one of the harder aspects of songwriting, Dylan admitted.

"It's actually a lot more precious way to write than when you're just clouding up with lots of images," Dylan said. "It was just an area that I really hadn't explored yet."

His fellow band members, guitarist Michael Ward, bassist Greg Richling and drummer Mario Calire, hope they'll maintain the success that "Bringing Down The Horse" established. The single "One Headlight" earned a Grammy, and the group was touted as 1997's best new band.

But was the group really new? The band released its first album, a self-titled disc, in 1992. Success, in other words, took time -- so did realizing it.

"We were touring for two-and-a-half years," Dylan said "It really took a while, once we got home, to kind of let it somewhat soak in."

The Wallflowers wouldn't sit on their laurels for long.

"We took five or six months and just rested -- kind of a way to have some kind of life to write about again," Dylan said.

The Wallflowers' success was a long time in the making. The band hopes to maintain it with their current album, "Breach"

Once they were rejuvenated, the creative process began in earnest.

"When you create things, you just do them from an honest place. And you hope that they're in some way somewhat universal," Dylan said. "We just try to stay with our instincts and hopefully people respond."

The Wallflowers will get to see, first hand, how the public responds as they take their record on the road. They're scheduled to appear this weekend on "Saturday Night Live."

"We spent a long time in the studio, making videos, doing interviews and a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff," Dylan said. "It is kind of the best once that's died down a little bit, and you actually go out and play the songs in front of people to see if all the all that was worth the fuss to begin with."

Jakob Dylan returns with a solid new album
October 10, 2000

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