INTERVIEW: JAWS - WEST COAST VIBES FROM THE UK
JAWS may be considered an anomaly with their West Coast sounds, lyrics about skateboarding, and a retro-surfer aesthetic. This band seems like it was ripped straight from a time warp, but believe it or not, they are a part of a scene in Birmingham, UK that's getting a lot of attention for their unique sounds. We got the chance to ask frontman Connor some questions about the band and where exactly their lo-fi sounds are coming from, and where they, as a band, are headed in the coming year.
We hear your band is named after Jaws, the Bond villain. What is your favorite James Bond movie? Did you four happen to play Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64? How unfair was it to be Odd Job?
You are correct. I love all the bond movies too much to pick out one in particular! I never had a Nintendo 64, they were a little beyond my time.
The logo on your demo seems to recall a late 70's/early 80's Surf/Skate theme. It's an aesthetic that seems to fit well with the song 'Holy Cat'. The shirts you're selling remind me of something you'd see Stacy Peralta or Rodney Mullen wearing as they drop into their drained pools. Being from England do you identify with this? Do you skate often or is it just an aesthetic that you like?
Well the logo is a rip / play on the Santa Cruz skateboards logo, and it’s to fit the theme of Holy Cat and it’s badly put together video. I used to skate a lot. Not so much these days, but when I can I do for sure.
What gear do you ride? If you could soundtrack a skateboarding video, what skaters would you want in the movie?
Right now I have a 8.0 D E A T H deck with some Royal trux. I’ve had this set up for a bout 6 years now so it’s all a bit rusty. If we could soundtrack a movie it’d have to be for Tony Hawk, and it would have to be called “Tony Hawk goes to vegas”
There seems to be a lot of bands coming out of the Birmingham area of England, PEACE, Swim Deep and yourselves are quite the stand outs. Is there something in the water?
It’s something in the Pepsi Max
We love your singles Toucan Surf and Donut. What was the writing process behind these songs?
Donut was actually the first song I ever wrote, like years ago before I ever even started writing anything for JAWS. I was listening to a lot of Best Coast // Wavves at the time as you can probably hear. Toucan came about from just messing around on my keyboard and adding layers and layers. Lyrically both songs are just the thoughts in my head at the time of writing them.
Was 'Toucan Surf' really almost called 'Pizza Blood'? Do you regret not naming it that, and could we possibly see 'Pizza Blood' on a future EP/LP?
Pizza Blood is actually an old demo song of ours that we’ve never really took anywhere or done anything with. How ever it could work as an EP title or something. There are no plans for an EP/LP at the moment but there is another single coming before the year is out.
Follow up: What are your favorite types of pizza?
MEGA MEAT FEAST [Ed.Note: For those not in the UK, this pizza actually exists]
Do you have plans for an EP or LP in the future? What are your plans going into 2013?
I think 2013 hopefully for an EP or LP, we don’t really have anything planned yet, we’re taking it all month by month, week by week.
Any plans to tour the US? We'd love to be able to catch a show.
None unfortunately, but if anyone reading this wants to take us out we won’t say no!
We know you've been compared to bands and artists all along the spectrum of pop and rock, from S Club 7 to Joy division. Who are some of your influences and who are you listening to now?
Right now I’m listening to Jessie Ware's record. It’s full of crazy pop jams, I love it.
Are there any new bands that you've been listening to, or that you've toured with that you feel deserve more attention?
There are a few more bands from Birmingham coming through right now that I think you might be hearing about in the future… Wide Eyed, Caves and These Kings
Do all of you share the same love for the King of Pop? What are your top 5 Michael Jackson songs?
- The Way You Make Me Feel
- Don’t Stop 'Till You Get Enough
- The Way You Make Me Feel
- The Way You Make Me Feel
- The Way You Make Me Feel
I love that song.
For those who don't know, your Twitter handle is JAWSJAWSJAWSSS, apparently there is a Japanese individual with the handle @JAWSJAWSJAWS, is there anything you'd like to publicly say to him? Should we get a campaign started to reclaim the name?
Haha, the guy with @jawsjawsjaws doesn’t even tweet, it’s so annoying, I want to tell him that we’ll play in his living room and feed his goldfish for him if he lets us have his twitter URL.
JAWS is curently touring around the UK, you can pre-order their 'Toucan Surf' single via their website.
