Most
of the bands I interviewed met me in the pub or invited me to their houses.
Jameson invite themselves round to my house! I finally find enough chairs for
everyone and with a pot of tea in front of them the band launch into the weird
and wonderful tales of Jameson and the mysterious J Foundation.
"It started way back, it started before we could play anything, probably around 1991. It was not under the Jameson name, though. We were a three piece based in Walsall but that was appalling so we don't talk about it!"
"As Jameson we started getting a bit more experimental, listening to different sorts of music. When we supported Truman's Water we did this Neu type song, then we branched totally into experimental music. We were not writing any songs, just doing half-hour sets of whatever....meaning it was drivel! When we eventually realized that, the band split up for a while and we were left thinking what we could do."
"So we started writing songs again and went from there. The Jameson as is now probably started Christmas 1996 and we did our first gig the following March."
Recently when playing with Avrocar and Magnetophone (then called Rocket Science) they seemed to return to their Krautrock jam session style:
"We felt that if we went on doing relatively straightforward songs that it would not fit in with the evening. That's why we wanted to do that. It was a step back but it was nice to do. It was totally unrehearsed; we just turned up and did it. We've played similar sets since as the J Foundation. If we get records released you'll probably find a lot of the B-sides will be like that."
Recent setbacks have included getting all their equipment stolen and their quest for an appropriate drummer:
"I think it's a curse with our band and drummers. We've had the experience of people answering adverts, they turn up and they're rock drummers - great warlocks! There are so many different beats other than rock."
"You
put an advert in with names of drummers that you like such as Jaki Liebezeit,
the Can drummer, and the Stereolab drummer and no one answers. So you start
putting in band names like Stereolab, Can and Neu. Still no answers. Now the
drummer in the Smashing Pumpkins is also really good. As soon as you mention
him in the next advert it's "bang", one hundred replies though it's
a queue of great warlocks again!"
"I don't feel that a lot of the drummers felt comfortable about what we were doing either. Play hard and as varied as possible we say, when you listen to us you need to be able to enjoy the way every instrument is played."
"You look at our recent gigs and there's not been that many young people there. We need to get the eighteen-year-olds listening to local bands. In the 60s going to see a band was your Friday night out, now it's computers and Play Stations. That's one reason why we wanted to form a band. When we were young we went to see a few large bands but it was the band down the pub, the really crap bands, that we respected. I love going to see local bands, just to see if they are going anywhere."
"I think that we were also influenced by bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana. It was just the fact that it was three chords, it just gave you the impression that anyone could get up there and do it....and we did! We used to get loads of people coming to see us but we were just terrible. It didn't come together at all, but we still used to do it."
"We used to practice playing bass on a guitar through a bass amp, that's all we had. That's why we are so determined."
"The only way that friends and family will see that we've made progress is if we get a record deal and an album in the shops. They can't see what's already happened in six months.We think that because we've got a certain pop element in what we do that we've got the potential to sell a lot of records. We're not looking to be signed to a little rabbit label to sell about 500 records forever. We want to get a decent deal where we can go away and make a good album."
"Everyone compares us to the Pixies. A few compare us to Pavement, the dreaded P-word, but it's only last year that a lot of people heard about them. They don't sound like anyone; their music seems to be timeless."
"Recently we've had gigs where people have turned up who we don't know. We've stopped inviting our friends to gigs because we believe we should be able to start getting an audience. Supporting the Warm Jets was fantastic; people down the front really got into us."
"What
we try and do with all the tunes is to pack them full of as many different melodies,
vocally and instrumentally, and the n throw in loads of unexpected things. We
spent so many years where people were not interested in us at all that we really
developed just trying to keep our own interest in the band going, trying to
keep it nice and fresh. We are very self indulgent. We played ages ago at the
New World in Walsall with the strobe light on for the whole set. That was the
height of our self-indulgence!"
"Suddenly people are taking an interest in us. We're happy with what we're doing now, it's clicked, and we're finally getting somewhere."
"London's not taking any notice of what is going on in Birmingham. If a town is ignored for so long it's going to be brewing up there. I can't think of the last time I saw a review of a Birmingham venue apart from the NIA. Johnny Cigarettes used to do it. Maybe the promoters need to hassle the music press. We want the press to come to us. At the moment the bands release a single, mainly on Wurlitzer or Earworm, do gigs in London on the back of that and then get signed to an intermediary label . It's only when they get to London that the real interest starts."
"At some point though we will play in London, at some point we will get signed, at some point we will make an album. We don't give it a great deal of thought at the moment; we're just being carried along for now."
"The only thing I worry about is that any experimental scene is going to be like the punk scene in the 70s. The bands all release their seven-inch singles and then the majors move in for their share. We don't like scenes but we would like Birmingham to be known for what is happening at the moment, it's just breeding excitement."
"So many venues have shut down in Birmingham. The Hummingbird used to be a great venue. The Breedon Bar, the Hibernian, the Barrel Organ - they've all gone. It all seemed to go away from Birmingham but its back on its feet and building itself up again."
"We've paid our dues, we're ready to go now. There are millions of bands that have not got signed but we believe that if you are good enough they will come to you, it's as simple as that. If we are sitting here this time next year and not making an album we will be cross."
"We are just dead determined. No one realizes how determined we are, this huge master plan that we've got. We just want to change Birmingham forever!"
Jameson
interviewed at the end of 1998
This interview appears with pictures of the band in "We Brought Our Friends"
available from Bearos Records
Thanks to Jenny for the use of her picture of Jameson that appears at the top
of this article and in the "We Brought our Friends" magazine.