tom, matt, jon & will  jettblack
Interview by: Mary Evans
Date: 29 September 2010
Venue: Academy, Liverpool, UK
Photos by: Mary Evans / Jettblack / Spinefarm UK
 2010 is quickly drawing to a close… what has this year been like for you guys?
T: Very good
M: Busy
T: Busy, we’ve had the album recorded for a while and this year finally we signed the record deal and released the album and from there it’s just got better and better really. So, yeah, really good!
Can you tell us a little about how Jettblack came about – you all went to school together didn’t you?
T: Yeah, we were at school when we were like 15 years old. We got friends through skateboarding and then started a band, thought that’d be a good idea. We were just mucking around doing covers and it took a long while getting better, and finally we sorted it out about four years ago.
You’ve kind of just exploded onto the UK scene in recent months… how does it feel to have put in all the hard yards and now be reaping the rewards?
M: Yeah, I think obviously it’s amazing for us. I think it is well deserved to be honest, we’ve had a lot of years and some shit times and that. Yeah it’s really good…
T: Finally having fans that aren’t your friends and family…
J: ‘Really, I don’t know you very well! I bought your album!’
M: We’re amazed it’s out to be honest!
You’ve signed with Spinefarm haven’t you… that’s quite a big deal isn’t it!?
T: Yeah, definitely. We were lucky because we almost signed to another label…
M: But we f***ed it up big time!
T: Luckily it fell through and we got picked up!
M: Yeah, luckily it fell through! It’s amazing to be on the same label as Rammstein as well!
OK, so if you had to describe yourselves to someone who’s never heard you before what would you say?
T: Does this have to be censored?
No, I’m going to type it all up later so you can say what you like!
T: Well we like to call it cock metal but some describe it as f*** metal…
M: So somewhere in between the cock and the f***!
J: High energy f*** metal!
So you’re quite happy with that description?
T: Yeah, I think so! It describes it pretty well!
Ok, so why should they listen to Jettblack?
T: Because we’re f***ing wicked!
(all laughing)
M: It’s something different, it’s a nod to the retro era, people can just get into it!
T: It puts a smile on your face rather than the last ten years of dreary crap!
Oh it’s almost like being in that room with Olli, you’re saying the same things!
It’s good that you’re two bands with similar theories on everything isn’t it?
T: Yeah!
For those, like myself, who are yet to experience a Jettblack live show… what can they expect?
M: (without any hesitation at all!) Sexual frenzy!
(all laugh)
That was quick!
T: High energy cock metal with a bit of f***ing in there!
J: That and a lot of gyrating… and smoking…
M: Shadowy gyration…
J: Smoking fingers on fretboards!
 You’ve toured the UK and parts of Europe… obviously every band tends to have dreams of breaking into America and Australasia etc; any plans to get there in the near future?
M: We have to go! We have to! We’ve got to get out of here!
T: Our booking agent is really good friends with an Australian agent and he came to see us at Download so there’s a possibility we might get to go there. I just want to go anywhere, I’d be happy to go anywhere, America, Asia, Australia, or anywhere.
J: We do like surfing but we’ve heard it’s lethal out there.
You get eaten by sharks!! Believe me, don’t go in the water!
J: I don’t need any more sun! Mick Dundee! (laughs)
M: Dundee Rock! (laughs) Crocodile Rock!
Get Your Hands Dirty was released in June… was has the response been like so far?
M: Really f***ing good innit!
T: Amazing, we’ve not really had a bad review. It couldn’t have gone better really! This tour has really helped, now we’ve had a chance to do a UK tour with the album out… well we got an email from management the other day to say 88% sales have gone up since the tour!
So what’s next?
T: More touring! We’ve got another album that’s almost there, if we get a bit of time to sit down and sort it out… so hopefully we’ll be touring next year and stick an album in the middle of that and just keep going! Hopefully, fingers crossed!
Ok, you have two lead vocalists… how did that come about?
T: I dunno how that came about…
J: Well we had this bloke who was helping us out, like financial backer sort of thing. He used to come to our band practices and check our songs out. He was just pushing us to write new material all the time and I just had this song that I hadn’t really finished, so I had to sort of sing it because Will didn’t know the lyrics. So I gave it a go and he was like ‘Oh f*** you should sing as well!’ and then that’s about it really.
T: So we said ‘Why don’t you sing it? So he sang it and that was it!
M: So they’ve been sharing it out ever since!
So for someone who’s only heard you then, how can they tell the difference between you and Will?
J: Well, I’m not as good as Will!
(laughing)
Nothing like confidence is there!?
T: On the album there’s actually not… I dunno, it’s actually quite close!
M: I always define it as he’s more sleazy (points to John) and the other guy is a bit more emotional!
T: Since the recording of the album it has changed and you can tell the difference a lot. I dunno why in particular, but maybe because they are doing the vocals in the same room together and they could hear each other.
I wonder if it is different once you’ve seen you guys, because you expect it to be the same singer so you don’t really think about it…
M: Yeah…
J: I think when you get to know our voices they are completely different so you’d be able to pick it up, just takes a bit of time.
T: Got to see us I think!
 Can you describe the song writing process?
T: It’s pretty simple, it’s not that exciting.
Is it democratic?
J: In a way yeah. Basically you sit on your own and write down whatever you think is the best way and you show the rest of the band and they go ‘That’s shit! That’s shit! Change that!’, so it is democratic.
No, but some bands have a distinct leader don’t they and they do all the writing?
M: Well we jam out as well which is good…
T: Will and John are definitely the main writers, they write everything… but when we do band practice you know, things get changed.
J: It’s good to get other opinions of things because stuff you think are amazing is sometimes just shit!
T: If you’ve just sat there writing it for ages, you’re kind of wrapped up in it yourself!
Which do you prefer… writing or getting out there and playing your stuff live?
J: Writing isn’t really fun! It’s not really a fun part, it’s more just you sat in your room on your own and trying to make something work. If I’ve got an idea and trying to write lyrics it can take about two or three months to make something work. You think of lots of things in your sleep but live you just get that energy.
T: Making the album is fun. I think getting out on the road is a lot of fun as well.
J: It’s definitely more fun.
Will joins…
You recently played Ozzfest… was that as exciting as it sounds?
T: Amazing, yes!
M: First band on so we were a bit worried about what to expect.
Did you get a good crowd?
M: Yeah, really good actually, what would you say, four hundred in the end?
T: We were expecting, first on second stage, same time as Skindred, we were thinking fifty people if we were lucky. As soon as the first note played it was ridiculous! It was amazing.
Quite an opportunity wasn’t it!
T: Unfortunately we had to leave immediately after to play a gig in Manchester on this tour, but it was an amazing day!
You’re currently on tour with label mates Reckless Love… how has this been? What are they like to tour with?
T: Really good.
M: Like you say, they have the same outlook on it as we have. We get on really well!
Have they introduced you to the Finnish delight that is fisu!?
M: We’ve had it because we’ve played in Finland, we did a gig there, it’s pretty horrible.
T: What is it?
M: You didn’t have it!
Fishermens friends crushed up in vodka…
T: I did have it! I did have it!
M: Put it this way I’ve never felt so ill on a plane in my life! I thought I was going to die on that plane!
T: The good thing about touring with Reckless Love as well is that it’s a similar sort of thing, but they’re pretty different as well so it’s really good.
Yeah, you have the same kind of attitude don’t you?
T: Yeah, it’s a perfect mix for a tour because you don’t want to see the same band twice in one night. So it’s a similar sort of thing but different.
 Sticking with the touring theme for a moment, over the next few months you’ll be playing shows with Skindred, Dear Superstar and Enuff Z’Nuff… what can people expect from these shows? Anything different to the tour now?
T: Well I think…
M: Some more songs hopefully…
T: A bit more time, we’ll be able to fit a bit more of our repertoire. We’ll have half an hour tonight but hopefully about forty five minutes then.
J: We’ve got so much material, but we have to promote the album so it has to be current stuff and we’ve only got half an hour…
W: The album is just under an hour long!
J: So we play half the album!
You could just speed them up!
J: Matt does his best!!
(laughing)
What has the highlight of this rock’n’roll rollercoaster been for you guys so far?
M: Probably Ozzfest to be honest!
T: Ozzfest, Download..
W: Shooting the video… Two Hot Girls, visually that was a highlight!
M: Have you seen that?
Yeah, I’ve seen the video!
M: You can see why!
Yeah, I can see why it’s a highlight!
T: We’ve been pretty lucky this summer in general with gigs, and this tour as well. The whole tour has just got better and better, it started good and it’s just got better!
W: Releasing an album that we’re proud of and everyone else likes as well!
Who or what influences you the most as a band?
W: Musically?
Anything…
T: I think it’s just…
J: Office jobs probably… and trying to avoid them?
(all laughing again)
So the thought of having an office job inspires you?
M: Having to be a real human!
J: Old school pals adding you on facebook and their lives are f***ed.
T: We have no money but we drive ourselves to do this because even with no money we still have so much fun, we meet loads of new people and even though we’re pretty sick of each other we get to hang out with each other all the time.
So as clichéd as it is, you’re living the dream right now?
M: Yeah, but with no money!
Yeah, but the money will come later...
T: Yeah, if you threw money in, it literally couldn’t get any better!
M: We’re not even thinking about not having any money! We were thinking about it today, we’ve not got any money but we get our food, we’ve got sandwiches…
T: Well it sort of pays for itself, you don’t have a lot of money but you can afford to do this so what does it matter? We’ll just be f***ed in five years!
No retirement fund!
T: No!
Well, this is a bit weird as the four of you are here but can you describe one member of the band each?
T: I could sum it up in one word for all three if you want!
No, a couple of words?
T: Matt: One word?
No, a couple of words!
T: Hard work!! Temperamental!
(all laugh)
M: Tom – well you’re just predictably a knob!
(all laugh again)
T: John, hard work, temperamental…
 You’re not supposed to be describing them all!
T: I’m sorry!
M: This is what he does! He tries to take charge…
W: The truth is coming out now.
J: It’s just like therapy!
T: Therapy!!! We’ve known each other so long, everyone has good bits and everyone has bad bits. We know each other too well, it ends up being like family!
If you could cover one song, what would it be and why?
M: You’ll hear it tonight, we’ve already done it!
T: We did Dangerzone off the Top Gun soundtrack. We did it because it’s a wicked song and it’s not a rock song.
M: It’s a poppy, cheesy song.
T: It’d be easy to cover an AC/DC song… well we already did that as well. It was for an AC/DC tribute.
M: We kinda put our own little twist on this as well.
T: People LOVE it as well, because they love the song!
You’re very modest, I’m learning this!
J: It’s from the film… Tom Cruise and planes and shit!
T: Well no, it’s from the film that everyone loves, so it’s in everyone’s mind and they forget about it…
M: Sorry I just remembered from a couple of years ago you went, ‘I’m never playing that again!’
T: Yeah, but that was because it was becoming the song that we were getting known for. When we started playing it people started remembering us for that and that is the last thing I wanted to happen. Do you remember Alien Ant Farm, Smooth Criminal, that’s all you remember them for, and that is horrible. They probably cry themselves to sleep every night!
J: And then wank themselves off into their bundle of cash!
(laughing)
And alternately, if a band asked to cover one of your songs, which band would you want it to be and which song?
M: I’d like to see some sort of hip hop act, or something, just to see how they could do it.
W: 50 Cent…
T: 50 Cent, covering Motherf***er, I reckon he’d do a bloody good job of that.
J: He’d slow it right down!
I'm sure that would be interesting! Well that just about wraps it up, do you have a message for your fans?
M: Thanks a lot for getting us as far as we have, coz we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them!
J: Get all your mates to buy the album.
T: Yeah, keep supporting us…
M: Stop downloading it!
Christmas presents!
T: Christmas presents and we’ll see even more fans soon we hope!
Thank you very much!
All: Thanks!
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