Published: August 12, 2008 12:38 AM EST
By: Isaac Davis Jr., MBA
(Juniorscave.com)
New Music Interview
Jet Black Stereo
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Jet Black Stereo
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Perhaps one of the coolest bands that I have had the pleasure to interview-- the Canadian group Jet Black Stereo is the epitome of Rock- N – Roll. If you don’t believe me, make sure to stop by their MySpace account to see for yourself. The magazine caught with Lead Vocals/Bass man Danny t who allowed us to enter into their world. Here is what developed.
Members:
Danny t - Vocals/Bass
GM – Guitars
Monti - Keys/Vocals
Dano - Guitars
Isaac: What's the name of your band? What's the origin of that name? Have you changed the band's name before?
Danny t: Jet Black Stereo
-There's no real cool story or origin behind it. We just thought it up one day and thought it was good enough so we decided to stick with it, which was good I guess cause a lot of people like it.
-No, never changed the name before.
Isaac: What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?
Danny t: A lot of people might classify us in a certain genre of music, but we never do. We just consider ourselves a rock and roll band because that’s the music that we grew up on.
The cool thing about this band is the influences of each member are so different from each other, but that plays a key part when we're writing songs.
Our influences go from The Beatles and Rolling Stones, Guns n Roses and Aerosmith, to Nine Inch Nails and classical artists like Clint Mansell.
Isaac: How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?
Danny t: We all played in bands together at one time or another.
I Myself (Danny t) have known GM since we were little kids and we played in our first band together in high school. Then GM moved and eventually joined another band with Dano and Monti and I joined another band as well a little down the road. Our bands would always play shows together, tour together and we eventually got really close. So one night after a show we were all sitting outside and just talking and one of the guys brought up the idea of jammin. So one Sunday morning we got together, and a 2 hour jam turned into an entire day of jammin and we just took off from there.
Isaac: When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?
Danny t: We've only been playing and writing songs for a year now, which to a lot of people is kinda shocking that we've only been together for a year.
So we started in July of 2007 and I think we always knew we were gonna make music together, it was just a matter of time before someone brought up the idea and we all agreed to it.
We all thought the same thing, that there are so many bands that sound exactly the same now a days. We wanted to bring something new to the table and see how people would react to it, and so far we've got nothin but good responses.
Isaac: Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues? Do you have any upcoming shows?
Danny t: We've performed at almost every venue in Southern Ontario Canada, from downtown Toronto up to Montreal and Ottawa, South to Hamilton, Burlington, Oakville and way west all the way to Windsor, London, Ontario just before the U.S boarder.
-It's hard to pick a favorite venue cause they all have something different and unique to offer. There are a lot of cool venues in Burlington, like the Red Rooster and there's a bunch of cool venues in downtown Toronto like the Rivoli and Horseshoe.
-We've taken some time off from playin live, we've decided to bury ourselves in a rehearsal space and write new material. So, we'll be doin that for a while before we start playin shows again.
Isaac: Which songs do you perform most frequently? Do you ever play any covers? Do you have a set play list?
Danny t: Since we've only been together for a short year, every song we've written is in our set list, which is only 6 songs. We like to keep the sets somewhat short cause when the sets finished, it always leaves the audience on their toes and wanting more.
- We haven't played any covers before but we've talked about maybe throwin one in the set. Maybe some Paradise City or an Aerosmith song.
-We have our 6 songs that we play, most of the time we run off the same set because we really like the flow of it and how the audience reacts to each song. But, we do sometimes switch it up and play them in different orders. It kinda all depends on the show and the audience.
Isaac: Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs? Do you think these topics will change over time?
Danny t: When it comes to writing songs, we usually don't just stick to one method of writing, it's constantly changing.
Most of the time, me, Gm, and Monti will jam us three and work on ideas we have. Then we'll bring it to the other guys and they'll add their input on the ideas and it takes off from there.
I am a big supporter of Animal Rights and do a lot of campaign work for Peta and Save the Tiger fund and lots of other organizations. So some of the lyrically topics for me revolve somewhat around those ideas and just topics that people should be more aware of.
Of course I think these topics will change over time. As you get older, your mindset becomes completely different; hence, you'll begin writing about different topics.
I remember Noel Gallagher sayin in an interview once that now that he's 40 or whatever that he can't sing about the same things that he was singing about when he was 21.
That pretty much sums it up.
Isaac: What are your rehearsals generally like? Do you have a set time each week in which you practice or are rehearsals more spontaneous?
Danny t: Our Rehearsals?
Well, their generally full of lots of yelling and makin fun of each other (lol), things like that before we actually get down to work and writing.
We joke around a lot when its time, but then when its time to work and get shit done, we're really focused and dedicated to work.
Our Rehearsals are more spontaneous, we don't usually work off a schedule.
Isaac: How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
Danny t: As we get older, even just a year older we go through different experiences that affect our music and the way we write.
When we first started writing, we were just really excited to write and be in a band together so we would just kinda, not rush through writing songs,
but just not take the time to work on specific aspects of the songs.
Now that we've got a little more experience with writing, we dedicate a lot more time to writing and getting the song to sound exactly how
we want it to sound and not just rush through songs just to have another song to add to our set.
Isaac: What has been your biggest challenge as a band? Have you been able to overcome that challenge? If so, how?
Danny t: Some of us are also in other bands at the moment as well, and that's been a huge barrier for us sometimes.
We've had a lot of arguments over it, a lot of heated discussions and it's still to this day a pretty big issue in the band.
We've also lost our drummer recently who we've been writing and jammin with since the start of the band. He decided
to hold off of music for a while and so we're kinda stuck in finding someone to fill his shoes, you know?
But somehow we've stuck through it, I think mainly because we such close friends, if it were anyone else, this
band would have never lasted past 2 months.
Isaac: What's your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?
Danny t: Top of the world.
Isaac: How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?
Danny t: Ya, we've obviously got the MySpace thing going. You can check us out at http://www.myspace.com/jetblackstereo
we got the songs up there that you can listen to and they'll be available to buy on iTunes and a bunch of other online
stores within a few weeks.
Isaac: Any last words?
Danny t: Thanks so much to the fans and everyone that’s supported us and still is supporting us.
Please visit www.peta2.com and www.savethetigerfund.org
Thanks!
Danny t/JBS
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