You worked with Lou Pearlman, who became quite the controversial figure. What were your initial thoughts when you heard he’d died?

We were 30 minutes from going on stage when we got the news. This is usually our 30 minutes to pray, stretch, get hydrated, get ready, get your mind in the game, and instead we were sitting in silence.

There was the sadness of knowing that he’s gone. The guy that put us together, the reason why we know each other, the reason why we’re in this band and can do this today. He had a big role in that. He also taught us so much of what not to do in business, but he was a great middle man — he knew how to make deals, he definitely played a huge role in our lives.

It was this mixture of sadness, and just that, well, we knew this was coming feeling of apathy, really. It was definitely a weird mix of emotions.

Moving to a much lighter topic, something else that has passed away are your dreadlocks.

Oh yeah. [laughs]

When you look back on that hair, what do you think?

I actually miss the dreadlocks, they just got too long.

I was living in Nashville, and I was at the bar with my buddies, and I’m like, “I’ll be right back.” I went down the street to my home, shaved my head, came back, and sat back down.

Did they recognize you?

No. I sat down, my buddy says, “Hey, that’s Jake’s,” to tell me whose beer that was, and I look at him, and he’s like, “OH MY GOD!”

I had a monkey for 11 years, Abby, and she was freaking out. She didn’t know it was me. She was running around the room screaming because she thought I was some stranger.