Local songwriter Rebecca Jones plays "singer-songwriter-y, almost poppy love songs" both with her band, Middle Child, and under her birth name. Flagpole recently caught up with her for a quick chat.

Flagpole: Who is Middle Child?

Rebecca Jones: Middle Child is just an independent project: the idea of playing my songs, but with other people involved.  Right now it’s me and Wyatt Pless, and Chris Miller, and Jimmy McAlpin.

FP:  What kind of music do you play?

RJ: Oh God, it’s so hard to describe.  It’s like, singer-songwriter-y, almost poppy love songs—actually, no, I don’t want to say that at all. It’s just like singer-songwriter-y, but [with] the stuff that other people bring to the table. So, like, Jimmy has a pretty trained style of guitar playing, and Wyatt has a really fucked up way of playing bass, and then Chris has this… I don’t even know what kind of drums he does.

FP: What are you looking to do with this band?

RJ: This is going to sound kind of far-fetched, but I want to change the idea of what a song is, like the idea of a song-singer. Like, different, unexpected parts of a song, like, changing the idea that a song just has to be about one concept, that a song doesn’t have to be so concrete as having a verse and chorus and a verse and chorus and verse and chorus and bridge and verse and chorus… changing song forms and what can be played.

FP: Do you want to get famous?

RJ: Eh… whatever.

FP: What are your lyrics about?

RJ: Being crazy, and wanting something to make sense. And communication, sometimes. And boys, of course. Not just boys, but relationships in general. A lot of them are based on my relationships, how I’ll have an idea of a person that I’ll maybe try to convey.

FP: I have heard that middle children have a reputation for being pushovers. Can you corroborate this?

RJ: Well, that’s actually the funny thing about the name Middle Child. I guess it is sort of a pushover group, because there’s no set idea for what it’s gonna be—it’s still being developed. I’m not actually a middle child. I’m the baby. The name is kind of the idea of being up in the air… being in the middle, sorta.

FP: Do you have any pets?

RJ: At home, yeah. We used to have a lot of dogs. My dad has a few dogs.

FP: Do you believe in other worlds—UFOs and the like?

RJ: Oh, totally. How could I not? How could anyone not? I mean, think about it! There’s so much out there! I actually have been listening to the Flaming Lips a lot in the past couple of days, and Wayne Coyne talks a lot about space, so I’ve been thinking a lot about space. So much. There’s SO MUCH.

Rebecca Jones plays Farm 255 on Saturday, May 11 with The Hernies, Freak in the Fire and murk daddy flex.