Jumping Ships will be playing Cardiff ahead of their upcoming UK tour, we talk to the band to see what excites them and what they have planned for the future.
Jumping Ships, tell us about yourself, how long you have been a band, and what are your influences?
We have been a band for about 4 years now and are based down in Brighton – we came down here to study and get involved in the local music scene. We all came from suburban parts of England so it was a welcome change – you’re spoilt for choice down here. Music has and always will be our main love, I have been writing songs for about 15 years now and love the buzz of the creative process.
So being based in Brighton, what type of music scene do you see in the city now, and are there any acts that we should look out for that you would recommend?
The best thing about the Brighton music scene is that it has something for everyone which makes it very easy to go to a gig every night. If I were to try and describe the scene as a whole I’d say that it was predominately indie with bands such as; Maccabees, Blood Red Shoes, 80’s Matchbox, Peggy Sue – that kind of thing. Cave Painting, Maker and The Physics House Band are all bands to go see down here in Brighton at the moment.
What are your personal highlights of being in a band?
The best bits of being in a band for me would have to be the live performance side up close and intimate gigs in small sweaty venues, lovely eh?! We are currently writing our debut album and we actually really enjoy the writing process, you get a real buzz of excitement when a new song starts coming together.
You’re about to embark on a UK tour with Alcopop label mates Gunning for Tamar, what places are you most looking forward to playing and why?
This tour is going to be ace! Can’t wait! We are really looking forward to Brighton and Oxford shows, as they are hometown gigs for both bands. Really looking forward to coming back to Cardiff and Liverpool as well – I’m half Welsh and its always great to cross the border. We are also looking forward to playing in new places such as Canterbury and Harrow too.
Any tour stories that you can share with the BeatReview.com readers?
On our last tour with Alcopop! Label mates ‘LightGuides’ we celebrated after our last show at King Tut’s with 80% proof Balkan Liquor. I’ve never tasted anything like it in my life – my face hasn’t regained feeling since!
What do you plan on listening to when you hit the road?
For me it’s going to be the Alan Partridge Biography, I bought it on audio book a couple of weeks back and have been delaying it for the tour, should be ‘classic’. Normally I take my old school iPod on tour for nostalgia purposes; Staind, Limp Bizkit etc usually gets an airing. This time round though I think I am going to leave it at home. I will mainly be listening to Three Trapped Tigers, Karnivool, The Bronx, Errors and Decemberists.
Are there any particular artists / music Jumping Ships can’t stand at the moment? You don’t have to name and shame or please do we like it!
Ha-ha….. name and shame time. We do like a bit of Pop music now and then, however some of these recent ‘cross genre’ duets have been shit! ‘Dappy and Brian May’ is abysmal plus it sounds exactly like the last song ‘Dappy’ released… Also ‘Rihana and Chris Brown’, can’t believe that they are dueting after all the hatred, it’s a crazy world, should sell though.
If you could have anyone listen to your music who would it be and why?
Good question. For me it would probably have to be my guitar hero Jimmy Page – although I don’t really class myself as a lead guitarist I will never forget the first time I heard Led Zep’s ‘Rain Song’ it made me start experimenting with chords and inversions.
Ultimately we want to get our music out to everyone and we hope that people can relate with what we are trying to do.
What do you do when you’re not making music?
Get back to reality! We all work down here in Brighton; Me and Rich work in retail, Kai works at a pub and Olli works as a labourer. We also all play in various functions outfits to supplement our income. Who said being a musician is easy eh? Olli and I both enjoy playing football, Kai enjoys reading / watching Naruto and Rich enjoys watching ‘Breaking Bad’ (a passion that I share too)
Finally describe your sound in three words…
I dedicate this answer to MySpace – ‘Melodramatic Popular Song’.
Jumping Ships and Gunning For Tamar playing on the 28th March in Buffalo Bar and we are giving one lucky gig goer a chance to win a bag of swag from the band, including their new EP’s, Tshirts, Posters and more!
All you have to do to win is buy your ticket for their gig from We Got Tickets: http://www.
Tickets will be taken off sale at 5pm on the 28th and the winner will be picked at random from the ticket list. The winner will receive their prize at the gig!
For more info on the gig here is the facebook event:http://www.facebook.com/
