I think it’s a fascinating piece of anthropological footage! It’s a document of how life is these days; Henri playing an organic instrument with his hands, making something out of nothing, and no one can there can hear him as they’re listening to their iPods! We live such disconnected lives now that they’re too embarrassed to react to it, yet when it’s online everyone loved it! When you’re getting music through your laptop or your iPod or mp3 player you are in control of it, but when the music is right there, being played live, it seems to confuse people. It’s fascinating and bewildering. Tat clip had been on YouTube for about 18 months and had a couple thousand views, but then we played in San Francisco, and someone at the show put the clip up on Reddit and overnight it exploded and now it’s got 7 million views. If you’re seeing the Jim Jones Revue live, you’ll be actively involved in the music and it will hit you right between the eyes; you have to get into it or get out the room!
Norwich will be your penultimate gig; how does that feel? Will there be a lot of your friends and family down there? It’s a mixture of happiness and sadness really; it’s been my life for the last eight years and fulfilled so many of my expectations and dreams; it’s been quite magical. For me, it’s going to be quite apt to play our penultimate show in Norwich; as a musician it was where I played my first shows, at Norwich Arts Centre, the Jacquard Club, the Gala on St Stephen’s; plus I still have a lot of friends in Norwich. When the band first broke, we played at NAC and it sold out, and what was ironic was that when I was playing there when I was young, there were never more than 20-30 people at my gigs, and when I came to play with JJR it was rammed out, and I knew almost everyone in the audience! It’ll be good to see people I know well in Norwich and it hopefully will turn into a party; an opportunity to raise a toast and celebrate what the Jim Jones Revue has meant to us all.
show you feel like you’ve been zapped by a Rock ‘n’ Roll lightning bolt.”
“Coming off stage after a
I hear your gigs can get pretty wild. What makes a good gig for you? Everyone’s welcome as long as they want to get into it, we’re not elitists, we don’t mind what you wear or anything. Te intense energy we give out when we are performing, when the audience gives it back to you, it becomes a two-way thing that builds and builds. Coming off stage after a show you feel like you’ve been zapped by a rock ‘n’ roll lightning bolt. Some people have likened it to a quasi- religious experience; I don’t know if I’d say that, but there’s a common bond of spirituality between everyone there; you get to a higher state of excitement at the end of it. If you remember the best acid house clubs in the 80’s, where everyone lost all their inhibitions and danced on tables, it’s a bit like that, but with rock ‘n’ roll.
What’s the craziest live experience you’ve had as part of JJR? We were on tour in France, and were asked by Jack White to support him for a date in London, so we had to drive from France to London and back to do just one date; we didn’t sleep for three nights. When we got to Le Havre, we nearly got into trouble as France has very tight volume levels, much tighter than in the UK, and we were struggling to stay under the limit during our set. Our sound engineer warned us the police were on their way to arrest us for so we had to pick up our instruments and run! We drove right into an extremely foggy night, so that was a few days to remember there. It felt like a more sinister episode of Te Monkees!
Do you think rock n’ roll is becoming more popular as people yearn more for a live and real experience rather than the rather cold, impersonal digital world we live in now?
Malcolm McLaren once said culture is split into two streams at the moment; the majority is ‘karaoke’ which is the stuff that isn’t real, and then the real stuff. We’re human beings made of flesh and blood, not microchips, and we need something we can connect with. I think that authenticity is something people strive after in music, something that hasn’t been pre conceived on a production line.
What are your plans for after October when the JJR are no more? I’m going to start another music project; I’m not sure in what form yet. Immediately after the band splits I’m going to take off to Mississippi on my own, kick back for a couple weeks with some friends and recover from the whole Jim Jones Revue experience!
Is rock n roll getting bigger at the moment? Who else in the genre is worth checking out? I’d recommend Te Princetons, Te Amazing Snakeheads and John J Presley, who are supporting us on this final tour. Also, Jonny Halifax and the Howling Truth, Te Fat White Family, and American bands like Daddy Longlegs, who I am trying to bring up to Norwich next year; instead of a pianist they have a completely insane harp player. Left Lane Cruiser from Indiana are great too, like punk blues. So there is a lot out there, you just have to dig deep for it.
Lizz Page MORE INFORMATION
Jim Jones Revue play their last ever Norwich gig at Open on 3rd October. Tickets from
www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk.
outlineonline.co.uk /September 2014/ 19
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