We caught up with South London based four piece Jack Joseph Band. Made up of Jack Joseph (vocals & guitar), James Baldwin (drums), Alex Edwards (guitar) and Pete Wand-Tetley (bass guitar) the band recorded their new EP ‘A Few More’ with long time producer and good friend Joe Reeves in his home studio. In familiar surroundings the band felt comfortable enough to record live, capturing the intimacy and charm of their sound. “I love going to see a band where it sounds like four people playing and it could go wrong at any minute.” Jack explains, “you’re willing it not to, but it’s a real thing. It could fall to pieces”.
The band have shared stages with Daughter, Kathryn Williams, The Sand Band and Colorama among others and have built a reputation as a captivating live act.
Hi there, how are you and what are you up to today?
I’m good thank you. I’ve been at work today. None of us do this full time unfortunately!
To those not familiar with you, how would you describe your sound?
Someone once told us we sound like the third Velvet Underground album. This is the nicest and most specific complement we’ve had. I also listen to a lot of Neil Young so I think you can hear some of that in there too
What are the 5 most influential albums that have influenced you the most?
For this band:
The Sand Band – All Through The Night
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
Wilco – Ghost is Born or Sky Blue Sky
Cass McCombs – Big Wheel and Other Songs
Bonnie Prince Billy & Matt Sweeney – Superwolf
..among others!
Which other artists are you into at the moment and why?
Our friends Mahoney and The Moment who just made an excellent third album called Confession Note. We’ve played with them a lot, they are excellent people as well as an excellent band.
Are there any key pieces of equipment that you are using to define your sound?
Nothing specific, we do tend to favor older, more classic or just simple gear. We do like Fender guitars and amps though.
What would you say some of the challenges artists face today in the music industry?
Making any money! I like that Josh Homme quote about how if you expect anything from music, you expect too much. We’d all like to play guitar for a living but for most of us that’s a pipe dream.
Where do you gather songwriting inspiration?
Listening to records mostly, or I may get fixated on a certain guitar sound or the way chords sound next to each other.
Take us through your songwriting process. Are there any particular steps you take when put music together?
I wish I could.. sometimes i can write songs, sometimes it feels like the most impossible task. Its unlikely to happen if I don’t have a guitar in my hand though, so there’s a start.
What’s the best gig you have ever done and why?
We played a gig on a nature reserve near Honor Oak, it was just full of the best people.. I would take old hippies over hipsters any day. We also got to see Miller Anderson play after us who is a bit of a hero of ours. He was at the original Woodstock festival and has got one of the best voices I’ve ever heard. Equally any gig at The Gladstone in Borough is hard not to enjoy.
And the worst?
Too many, I’ve blocked them all out of my memory so I can sleep at night.
If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
I quite fancy being a barber.
Do you have any particular gigs or festivals that you dream about playing?
Union Chapel or Festival Hall would be dream gigs.
If you could perform alongside any other band or artist, who would it be?
Wilco or Neil Young. Although I think it would be too much of a big deal for me to meet any of those guys.
Do you have any information regarding upcoming releases, projects or gigs in the pipeline that you would like to tell us about?
We put out an EP in January called A Few More, there was a limited run of physical copies and there’s still some left via our bandcamp page. It’s on iTunes and Spotify too
We’ve done some more recording since then and I think there may be a standalone single out in the next couple of months.
There are a couple of shows coming up but mostly we’re trying to get together and work on new songs at the moment. I think we’ll try and do something quite different from the last EP when we next record.
Watch “Believer” by JACK JOSEPH BAND here:
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