Getting To Know You: JJ Brine

We meet in a cafe on the Lower East Side. Two of the only people occupying the establishment, I sip my cappuccino as he tells his story.

We start with an introduction to his work. He plays me the music video which seems to have the most popularity right now. It is for “Ghost Of Your Mother’s Womb,” which is on his album President of Mozambique. He tells me this is the first album in a three-part story he is trying to tell. It was released December 2011 on Druglord Records.

I’m not sure where to begin, so I start with the obvious.

“How would you classify your music?” I ask him.

His response: Electronic spirit music.

Go watch the video I mention or listen to samples from the album. The description is rather fitting.

I like the fact that he creates his own descriptor, rather than trying to force it into one of the more “traditional” genres that people would be familiar with. Sometimes there are no set words to describe a thing, so you have to create your own. It shows creativity – something every musician should have but not enough actually do.

If you really must have something more familiar to judge this with, then others have said it sounds like Depeche Mode. I can understand where they get it from.

The next obvious question I could think of was where he got his inspiration from. His response included conflict, front companies, international organizations, and being possessed by spirits. The biggest inspiration, however, was horror films. Being something of a fanatic on the subject, I of course jumped on this. This is how I learned his favorite horror movie is “The Shining” and that he reads a lot of horror, especially Stephen King.

Besides being a musician, he is also involved in film and is currently working on an indie production called “Hectic Knife”. He plays the lead villain in this, a serial killer doctor with a drug trafficking operation. Greg DeLiso is the director, and it is being released on Munrovia Pictures.

Another interesting point of discussion involves world travel. Originally from Iceland, he has been to 40 countries, including attending grad school in Lebanon, where he studied International Relations with a focus on the Middle East. It was there that he was kidnapped for 7 hours by Hezbollah. It was all a misunderstanding, but his life did feel threatened during the ordeal.

Besides being interested in travel, he also has an interest in photos, design, painting – essentially anything artistic. When asked what he would do if not music, his response was either acting or writing. Clearly creativity is in his blood. It may not be practical, but for some people it is a calling that cannot be ignored.

Right now the focus is on music, but it could transition to film or theater at some point. In fact, he has thought about writing a film with his own score. The music videos he is working on now are said to be leading up to a larger film.

So what’s next?

An east coast tour, hopefully in the spring. He also is trying to get a band for the live shows, to add a more organic feel than a backing track would offer.

I was also going to include a bit of an album review where I tell you what the story is about, but I think I’m going to send you off to listen for yourself. Everyone interprets things differently based on their own perceptions. I would hate to influence you before you get to listen for yourself. I’ll just send you to iTunes, or if you like actual record stores then go check out Soundfix. I actually real like the art on the physical album, so it might be worth the trip just for that. Plus I like supporting local businesses. There aren’t many of them left. It would be a shame if they all disappeared one day.

That concludes our business for the day. It was a pleasure meeting and introducing such a unique individual to the world. I hope I’ve done some small part in helping his journey. Until we meet again, reader.

Adieu

Interview w/ Bandana Splits

Recently I reviewed the Bandana Splits debut album here on the blog. I was lucky enough to get a chance to interview this lovely ladies as well. Here’s what they had to say…

1) What inspired you to focus on the old-school 50s sound your music primarily showcases?

A couple years ago, the band Balthrop, Alabama (occupied by an imaginary town and fronted by Lauren and her bro, Pascal) invited Dawn to sing a song for one of their fab Christmas shows. Annie was also a member of the band, and Dawn pinched Lauren and Annie to come sing oohs and ahhs along with her. She wrote this really cool song about falling in love with a Salvation Army guy, in the style of an old doo-wop tune. We had so much fun singing together in that style that we just didn’t stop! Every time we hung out afterward, a melody would erupt from out of nowhere and the next thing ya know we’re just riffin’ on a new idea. Kinda like Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty in Ishtar, only real and more critically acclaimed…

That said the 1950s style doesn’t necessarily define our sound. We all play with a lot of different musicians and listen to everything from Mary Ford to Missy Elliot.

2) What were some of your favorite artists growing up?

Picasso, Rothko, and Monet… but musically speaking, we all grew up with a love for the great girl groups. Some faves are The Caravelles,The Andrews Sisters and The Ronettes.

3) What was the process like making this first record?

Fun! We recorded at Dawn and Steve Salett’s studio, Saltlands, in DUMBO. The three of us sang around one mic to capture the classic girl group sound. With producer Sam Cohen of the band Yellowbirds at the helm, we experimented with lots of sounds and ideas were flowing pretty quickly.

It was great working with Sam. He acted as our one-man backing band, and even let us put lipstick on him one day when moods were low. He’s a pretty amazing musician and we’re psyched he was able to produce this record.

4) Now that the debut album is out, what do you think is your next step?

Next year Carnegie Hall!

5) What is one random/fun/interesting fact you would like your fans to know about yourselves?

Nous aimons à parler le français ensemble!*

*We like to speak French together

Jukebox the Ghost Interview

During CMJ this past October I did an interview with Ben Thornewill of Jukebox the Ghost. Due to circumstances beyond my control I was not able to finish transcribing and posting it until now. I am very sorry for the delay. Here it is (finally) for your viewing pleasure.


News on Shuffle (NoS): interview with Ben of jukebox the Ghost. So, first question for you is about the album: How different was it working on the new one now that you’ve been kind of established and have a fan base?

Ben: The main difference w/ this record is the amount of time we got to spend on it, and how the time was spent. So instead of doing the first record, doing a record in 12 days, which is how we did the first record, we recorded and mixed, which is crazy in the recording world, we got to spend 40 days on it and really take our time. and it wasn’t 40 straight days, it was like we’d go in during the week and have the weekends off

NoS: it wasn’t biblical?

Ben: It wasn’t biblical no. Making a record it feels like a task of biblical proportions.

NoS: It came out good though. it came out very good.

Ben: I am very pleased with it, yeah.

NoS: Do you listen to your music at all?

Ben: I haven’t listened to the record in a long time actually. You listen to it so much when you record it and so many variations of the songs and the mixes that by the time the record’s out you’re plum sick of listening to it.

NoS: Do you have a favorite song off the album?

Ben: I think the interlude came out really well, and I think, I mean all the songs came out fairly well. I really love the build-up in Summer Sun. It’s only about 10 seconds of material but I think it came out incredibly well.

NoS: On both albums, actually, I really like how a lot of the songs kind of connect to each other and one goes right into another.

Ben: We’re all about that sort of thing.

NoS: A lot of bands right now, because you just mentioned how people don’t listen to CDs anymore, and a lot of bands keep that in mind and just make singles, and you’re one of the few bands I know that still makes albums.

Ben: Yep, absolutely.

NoS: I really, really appreciate that. On the song So Let Us Create, it might just be a total coincidence, but I thought I heard a little George Harrison in there.

Ben: It is total coincidence, and I had obviously heard that song but I don’t think I ever really listened to it until after the fact and then found out it was the same chord progression. It happens. And it’s a different statement of it, but the chords are the same, I hope the key’s not the same. I’m not sure there.

NoS: I don’t think it was. It was similar enough that you could hear it, but it wasn’t like “oh that’s the same song”.

Ben: It was not at all on purpose. It was only one of those after the fact, oh it happens to be the same chord progression.

NoS: Moving on to the tour – how was this one?

Ben: Really good. Full, all around the country and people were at every show and it was really encouraging.

NoS: Do you have a best moment? Worst moment?

Ben: Worst moment was Milwaukee. It was a late show on a Tuesday night. It was 21 up, and there were people there but it was just weird. Some shows are just strange. Highlights are two was in New York, in Chicago it was sold out.

NoS: New York was a great show too.

Ben: New York was a great show too, but there was a tornado and there was some stuff in the way. But Chicago was amazing, and San Fran was amazing. really all around. It was a great tour.

NoS: Obviously there’s a lot of traveling with a tour. What were some ways you guys kept entertained on the road?

Ben: On this stretch for the first time we had wireless internet in the van, which was completely life-changing. So we got to keep up with things. It’s crazy, internet in the van.

NoS: So some of the stuff like the Tumblr and all that you did –

Ben: Almost every single Tumblr or Gumblr review we did from the van.

NoS: I noticed a lot of “loves”

Ben: A lot of loves. It’s hard to hate something.

NoS: So you’re done with the main headlining tour now, right? And next is opening for Guster and Barenaked Ladies.

Ben: We do four shows with Guster coming up next week, and then hit the road for three weeks with Barenaked Ladies.

NoS: How exciting is that?

Ben: I can’t wait.

NoS: Any other bands in the future – if you could tour with a band, it would be…?

Ben: It will never happen but I would love to tour with Vampire Weekend.

NoS: Never say never. Because they will hear that and surprise you. And you will find out that they are huge fan of yours and will want to tour with you.

Ben: That would be really nice.

NoS: That would be really nice. I would totally go to that tour. I dig Vampire Weekend.

So after Barenaked Ladies, do you have any other plans? Or are you just taking a break?

Ben: We have about a week off for Thanksgiving and then we’re back on the road for another two weeks doing another headlining run in a bunch of cities we didn’t hit during this previous headlining tour.

NoS: Alright, so all of those people complaining “You didn’t hit my city”…

Ben: We’re coming back, yep.

NoS: Keep an eye out on the website, which came out really good.

Ben: Thank you

NoS: It was under construction for a long time, but it was worth the wait. Speaking of “online” – a lot of promoting with bands now is social networking – Twitter, Facebook, all that stuff. But then you find that it’s hard to keep a separation between the public band stuff and then the personal –

Ben: yeah, the line definitely blurs, especially with Facebook. I haven’t taken myself down yet, and I get friend requests pretty much every day from fans, and it just is what it is. But I keep my friends and my stuff in one place, and the band stuff is somewhere else.

NoS: And then, the people that are friends with you on Facebook – Do you find that a lot of times you’ll get comments on photos or something from people that you haven’t necessarily even met yet? Does that get kind of weird?

Ben: Not photos. I mean, when I do big postings about like, like when we did Letterman I got tons, and half were from close friends and family and half were from strangers. But that’s stuff meant for the public.

NoS: Last question – What’s your favorite music, artist, band, whatever that you like to listen to? And do you think that you are influenced at all by them?

Ben: Influence is such a funny thing. Yes, I do think, I would say – the last artist I really fell for was St Vincent. That’s close to a year and a half ago now that I really fell for this band. And it’s not like I emulate or try to write songs that sound like her, but I use – somewhere in my subconscious is the stuff that she does and knowing how she does it. And I use that sometimes as a reference point. But I think you’d be hard-pressed to dig into a song and find a quote-on-quote influence directly related to St Vincent.

NoS: Thanks a lot.

Ben: You’re welcome