By Aaron Small

“It is what it is – a fun record and I stand behind it wholeheartedly. I don’t think anybody out there is going to be disappointed,” proudly states JACKYL frontman Jesse James Dupree in regard to his band’s sixth studio album, Best In Show. Released July 31st via Mighty Loud / Fontana, Best In Show also marks the 20th anniversary of Jackyl, as they released their platinum selling, self-titled debut in 1992.

That milestone is celebrated on the Best In Show cover art, created by Jeff “Sexy Juice” Parson. “I saw some crazy stuff that this guy did in Kansas City, and I thought we should give him a shot,” recalls JJD. “It is our 20th anniversary, but I didn’t want it to be Jackyl 20 or whatever. We’re all about a live show, so to call it Best In Show, and instead of the ribbon saying First Place, there’s 20 Years on it. Of course the Jackyl dog – how irreverent is that to that famous Westminster Dog Show – to have that gnarly ass Jackyl dog right there in the center of everybody. All the other dogs are kind of perplexed, and here’s that one little poodle. She’s all about it, sticking that little ass up in there so he knows she’s with him. That is Jackyl. That whole thing exemplifies us to a tee.”

A deluxe edition of Best In Show is available exclusively at Best Buy, containing a bonus DVD with videos and new interviews with all four band members: Jesse, guitarist Jeff Worley, bassist Roman Glick, and drummer Chris Worley. “For the true fans of the band, the people who are interested in how things came about for us, it’s a must have. No bells and whistles, we sat down and we collectively laid it out, how it all went down, from how we got together, who we are and how we got signed. There’s really a lot of behind the scenes stuff that I think people will find interesting. Looking back at it and watching it myself, it goes straight through; if you want to know the whole dirty dirty, it’s right there. It’s a truly honest piece.”

The CD packaged in the Best Buy version features two extra tracks, not available anywhere else. “One of the tracks is a road song called ‘What I Do’. It sounds like a little love song when you listen to it – ‘I miss you, don’t want to live without you. I miss you but god damn it baby this is what I do.’ I think all the dudes out there will be able to identify with it. We’re excited about getting that song out there cause it’s something we had for a bit, we just never released it,” says Dupree. “The other one is ‘I Hate You Bin Laden’ which has never been commercially released. Now that the son of a bitch is dead, we don’t have a problem putting it out. It was never about profiting off of the 9/11 tragedy; we never did. There were certain radio stations that pressed it on CD and donated the money to The Red Cross, but we never made a nickel off it; and that wasn’t our intention.”

The song ‘Encore’, included on all versions of Best In Show, showcases Jesse’s lyrical prowess with the instantly classic line, ‘Victoria’s Secrets on the floor.’ “That song is a bad motherfucker! The whole record’s strong but there’s a few tunes that just step out and slap you, and that’s one of them. It’s kind of like ‘She’s Not A Drug’, where the Puh-Pow came from on the last record. It came from drinking alcohol on top of taking Ambien. I had that ‘Encore’ groove in my head for probably five or six years. I’ve actually sang that live at shows before ‘Dirty Little Mind’; it’s wild how things work out. I didn’t really know where I was going to go with this song forever, and I ended up messing with this strange tuning on the guitar – and it fit like a glove.”

Slightly less obvious in its meaning is ‘Golden Spookytooth’. In fact, it sounds like it could be an episode of the old Scooby Doo cartoon; but that isn’t the case. “I got to be honest with you, it just sang well. I don’t know why it popped into my head? It’s almost like I was singing a cover song, I opened my mouth and it came out; there wasn’t a lot of thought put into it. It’s weird but it worked.”

A stomp and clap version of ‘Cover Of The Rolling Stone’ by DR. HOOK is situated right smack dab in the middle of Best In Show. “It’s actually a hybrid of several things mixed together with the ‘We Will Rock You’ (by QUEEN) drum beat. It’s got a little bit of ‘The Lumberjack’ in it. I kind of emulated Brian May’s lead break. For us, I think that song fits because the likelihood of us getting on the cover of Rolling Stone is slim to none, which is totally fine; which I think is the same thing that drove Dr. Hook. For them, they actually ended up getting on there (in March 1973), but people are not as open-minded as they were then. There’s critics who won’t take the time to analyze us. If they took a minute to analyze us, they would appreciate the simple fact that we’re just a celebration of the fundamentals of rock ‘n roll. Regardless, it don’t make a damn – you could write for Rolling Stone Magazine or whoever. It doesn’t matter how prestigious you are in your works or what your resume is, you absolutely cannot deny that Jackyl is a celebration of the fundamentals of rock ‘n roll. They may not like the way we celebrate it, it may not be the way they want to celebrate it, but they can’t deny that we are hard core, true and blue, celebrating the fundamentals of rock ‘n roll. For that reason alone, who could fault us? But unfortunately there’s people that don’t get it. I generally find they’re the same people that have a hard time admitting they masturbate.”

Is Rolling Stone Magazine still significant in 2012? “I don’t know,” admits Dupree. “I’m sure they are to some degree, but really that’s a bigger question, and I’ll give you a bigger answer. Is Rolling Stone Magazine still relevant in today’s time? I guess they’re probably as relevant as anything else, whether it’s that old and established of a brand, or whether it’s something that’s a new start-up. I think they’re all as relevant as the other in this day and time for the simple fact that the playing field has been somewhat levelled by audiences being fragmented, which is the key to why the entire industry has changed. The entire entertainment industry on all fronts has changed simply because audiences are more fragmented than ever before. People can blame downloads; they can blame whatever they want. They can come up with all their analysis of why the industry has taken the turns that it’s taken, but the simple answer is the audiences are fragmented. Therefore you can’t reach the audiences in a mass scale anymore to lead the masses to one particular thing, one particular band. For the most part, people are now enabled and empowered to define their own lifestyle. When I was growing up, my lifestyle was defined by the rock station I listened to and watching Saturday Night Live. But people’s lifestyles are not all aligned anymore. Now people’s lifestyles are defined by a multitude of things. They can surf the Internet and watch 600 satellite channels, cell phones and texting, emails and working longer hours. And sports, everybody’s playing soccer and golf. All these things have really come to the front since the music business was peaking. Once again, the answer is the audiences are fragmented. What defines people’s lifestyles is not Rolling Stone Magazine or a band; I don’t think you can say they’re as powerful as they used to be.”

Best In Show also features another cover song, the unlisted 12th track, RUN DMC’s ‘It’s Tricky’ featuring a special guest appearance by Darryl DMC McDaniels; Jackyl first worked with DMC in 2010 on ‘Just Like A Negro’. “What a great guy. That was actually something he requested that we do, he wanted us to cut that track. I thought it was really cool so we took him up on it. Why wouldn’t we? He’s a rock ‘n roll hall of famer and he’s a great friend.”

‘Walk My Mile’ runs Jackyl’s true blue flag up the pole with the line, ‘You don’t own me, I raise my middle finger to the man.’ That’s the Jackyl fan base. “Once again, that song was something that… I sincerely have lived that and feel it. I’ve poured concrete for a living, I’ve drove nails for a living, and I’ll do it again if that’s what it takes for me to feed my babies.”

One of Jesse’s “babies,” his son Nigel Dupree, released his new album, Up To No Good, on the very same date that Jackyl released Best In Show – July 31st. “Yeah, how cool man! It’s the first time a father and son have released records simultaneously. I’m so proud of him and he gets it honest.”

When it comes to touring, Jackyl “doesn’t really do package tours; I’m not saying we won’t do one but we prefer our own Idaho you know. We prefer to stay in Jackyl universe. We play festivals and stuff like that, but I’m really more at home when we’re just doing Jackyl stuff. If I wanted to do a package tour, I wouldn’t even wait on somebody to call and ask me to do one, I’d just put one on. I’d call some people up and produce it. I’ve never been one to sit around and wait on somebody. I’ve got so much going on right now in comparison to what I would have ever imagined I’d be doing, I don’t feel like there’s any moss growing on my ass. I look at other people, other bands that may have sold a few more records than us, whatever. As hard as it is to sustain in this world, I am so proud of us! And so proud of the people that have supported us along the way. I say it, and it sounds somewhat jokingly, but at the same time it probably scares the hell out of a lot of people too, because there’s an element of seriousness to it when I say it. If it ever came time to overthrow the federal government – or should I say at this point when it does come time to overthrow the federal government – I know that I want to be on these peoples’ side. The people that come out and see us, they are real America. They are no BS; tried, true and blue, just good folk. Again you can categorize, analyze, and tell your lies, whatever the case may be. But you can’t deny. That’s something nobody can take away from us, the connection we have with our friends that come out to see us.”

Not only is Dupree busy promoting Best In Show, his Jesse James America’s Outlaw Bourbon Whiskey is now available in 33 US states and two Canadian provinces. “Is that not amazing? I’m blown away by how quick it’s just exploded. I’ve been doing bottle signings; it’s a celebration of the people out there that bust their knuckles for a living. There hasn’t been a bourbon whiskey put out that’s dedicated to working class America in 40 years. Jim Beam and Jack Daniel’s are obviously not to be unseeded for who they are and what they are, but god damn they’re so expensive these days. I never drank Jim Beam anyway, cause for me it was just a little nasty flavour. I would drink Jack, but Jack has that really strong wince factor after you take that shot. So a lot of times I would drink Crown Royal instead, but I felt guilty about that because I like drinking American. So when I had the opportunity to put this bourbon together, we blended a three year and a ten year old together; the ten year is what smoothes it out. My partners, the ones distilling it, wanted me to put my name on the three year. I couldn’t do it because it was just too much like Jack Daniel’s to be honest with ya. I felt it was just more of the same, and it had that after wince. So they came back to me and blended it with that ten year old, and I said ok, I’m feeling it.”