Would you care to introduce yourself?
My name is Nikki and I'm the singer with Digital Jones. The rest of the band are Phil (producer/drums/samples), Chuck (trumpet/bass) and Andy (Keys). Hiya.
How would you describe the music you make?
Mooching and grinding, bleepy and bloppy, filthy growling soul. A combination of sampled beats and sounds augmented with live bass, keys, drums, trumpet and vocals.
How did you start out making music?
Wellll...I've been pals with Phil (producer/drums) for many years now. I think we first met when I was 16. I was going out with his flat mate for a while and I believe the first time he heard me sing was when I was taking a shower at his flat, giving it laldy quite unaware that anyone was listening. He saw some potential in my warblings and as he'd been producing his own music he asked me to do some vocal parts for him. So through a mutual affection for P-Funk, disco and electro Digital Jones grew from there. We developed a handful of songs together before we decided to play them live. Now skip 5 years, 3 drummers, countless band set ups and we've finally found ourselves with our dream band. We were blessed with the skills of local trumpet player Chuck Dearness when we brought him on board to do the horns on our single 'Speak My Language' and we liked him so much we kept him. And Mr Andy Jeffcoat, well we met him when he was working in a cocktail bar. He was a waitress I believe.
What process goes into the way you write songs?
It's currently a very exciting time for us as a band. From the beginning Phil and I developed the music together then asked others to play it live. All the songs on the album were really the fruit of our musical loins and we produced and released it all ourselves (big up to Phil here...when I say 'we' the majority of the time I was just there for moral support, he's the computer wizz). We're very proud of the album but it can be hard to translate a sound that has been developed on a computer for a live performance and for it to have the same impact. We were determined for our live shows to be as 'live' as possible, if you get my meaning and as some tunes on the album weren't really working for our live show we found a bit of a gap in our sets. Now that we've found our permanent members we're in a position where we have begun to write music together as a four piece and the process is much more diplomatic and organic. I think we've relaxed a little now that we feel more secure as a collective and we're experimenting much more with what's possible live. So far we've been over joyed with what we're coming up with. When developing new material we often go away on wee trips up north and lock ourselves away from the world to craft out some tunes. We're a bit schizophrenic in our approach to music. We seem to suffer from musical ADHD which can lead to some interesting ideas emerging. I'm always scribbling away in my wee lyric book and might come to the table with a general feeling for a song then we'll take an idea develop it, sew it onto another idea, chew it up, spit out, throw it away, come back to it, pick it up again, shine it up and fall in love with it. Our musical influences are really broad and i think that comes through, especially in our live shows.
What can people expect from your live shows?
Bass that rumbles through you and demands your full attention. Music to sway and float to one minute then bounce, grind and scream to the next. Vocals that seduce and threaten with every lung full. We give it all we've got. Emotive and memorable. Hopefully. In the past we have expanded on the band for our live shows bringing in additional elements like a full horn section and backing vocalists. At the moment we're focusing on our sound as a four piece and it blooms and grows ever fatter! There's every chance in the future that we might bring those additional elements back for live gigs if we thought it would work.
What are you all listening to at the moment?
Hercules and Love Affair, Radiohead, Metronomy, Caribou, Fever Ray, Bjork, Them Crooked Vultures, Hudson Mowhawke, Flying Lotus, Massive Attack, PJ Harvey, Portishead, Warpaint, Zeds Dead (Specifically the 'Gimmie Shelter remix. I cant get enough of that kinda wubba wubba),
What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2011?
Well we're in the process of recording some new live tracks and we'll be releasing an EP sometime in the near future. We're lining up some gigs down south so we hope to be spreading our wings this year and sharing our sound with the rest of the UK. We're keen to get as many gigs as possible this year and get the Digital Jones sound out there. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears cocked.
Digital Jones - Waiting
Bandcamp
Digital Jones album 'Click Clack' is available to download now through iTunes.
No comments:
Post a Comment