Jack of Knives' Jason Dodson lets the music do the talking

Guitarist Jason Dodson has never been one to tell a long story. But as the lead member of the local band Jack of Knives, he definitely speaks through the music.

With the formation of the band five years ago and small changes along the way, Jack of Knives now consists of Jason Dodson (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter), Nick Jenkins (drums) and Khalid Smalls (bass). Independently, Jack of Knives produces in Dodson's own Kniveland Studio.

Playing what Dodson calls "a form of hard rock," the band has released its newest album, "Pretty Little Things." Dodson told Charleston Scene about his band, his life and his music.

Q: Describe your music for first time listener.

A: That's a hard question. I'm bad at answering that one. It's a harder-rock CD, but its a combination of more than that. It's got a jazz element to it. It kind of transcends as a hard-rock CD. I find it kind of hard to find another couple of groups that play the same thing. People expect you to be able to wrap it up, but it's not that easy to describe.

Q: Tell us about your newest album, "Pretty Little Things."

A: It's really 12 little short songs. Some of them are dark, and some are happy. Being live, I guess it revolves around the relativeness of our lives. The songs all go in different directions, but it all was a natural process. This CD has a lot of different kind of songs on it. One song to another, it jumps as far genre wise. It covers a lot of ground. It goes from hard rock to jazz.

Q: Speaking of going from jazz to hard rock, you studied jazz at the College of Charleston. How did you transition from that to hard rock?

A: Um, yeah. I don't really know. Having the jazz background, we wanted to try to do something more natural.

Q: Favorite song on the album?

A: 17+11. I guess because it's one of the new songs. I didn't expect it when it came out. It comes across natural. I didn't have expectations, and it turned out pretty good. Sometimes putting pressure on yourself is a good thing, but sometimes it's not. That one just came out good.

Q: Jack of Knives is ...

A: Three guys. I am not a big fan of big bands. Everyone has a lot to do with everything in the band. We all work hard to get it done. As long as you have three guys in a room playing their part, everything is captured and everything falls into place.

Q: What is your song-writing process?

A: More or less, it's just songs that come as they come. I guess more of escape kind of music. I don't have a set songwriting process. If they are good, you remember them for later. I don't know the formula for writing. As a musician, you accept things as they come. We show it to the guys and put it together.

Q: Music speaks louder than words, right?

A: I play songs. I would rather play them than talk about them. I don't really have much to say. I don't shake hands, I don't do Facebook, twitter or whatever. The hardest part for me when playing live is that gap between songs. I am not a good entertainer. And I guess that's kind of a bad thing when you are trying to promote a band. I am kind of private person. But for me, it's more about keeping up with what I am doing.