The Jacks are a rock 'n' roll band by their own accord, and they're very adamant about that. Whether they'll be the saviours of the genre remains to be seen but what we do know is that they're one of the most promising bands rising from over the Atlantic - in the UK we get very little rock from America but The Jacks blend a perfect mixture of British rock with their own American twist on it. Their single "Tonight" is a certified anthem in its own right which will have even the most miserable person tapping their foot. There is big things coming for these guys. Take a read of my interview with them below:
Question. Hey guys, how would you define your music?
The Jacks: We like to think of our music as raw Rock n Roll with a modern spin. We are trying to create something that sounds timeless and unique at the same time.
Q. You've just released "Tonight", what are the thoughts and feelings behind that song?
The Jacks: It was the first time that we worked with a producer during the recording of this song. It was a great experience working with the talented Chris Seefried, who really pushed us to expand on our song ideas. We ended up combining various sections of past songs creating “Tonight”. We feel the song captures our brit-rock guitar influence with the prominent riff in the verse and our raw energy in the chorus. We feel “Tonight” is an anthem that our listeners can relate to and sing back with us.
Q. There's so many influences on show in your music. But which band has influenced you the most?
The Jacks: There are a lot of artists that have influenced our music, and certain artists influence us individually more than others. The Rolling Stones is probably the best band to sum up The Jacks biggest influence. The Stone’s music, attitude, energy, and swagger is something we all feel influences our music whether we are aware of it or not. We also love The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, The Black Keys and Cage the Elephant, and they are some of our biggest individual inspirations.
Q. What has been your biggest problem when writing and recording?
The Jacks: When it comes to writing we always want to make sure a new song is going to hit hard live. We really focus on making sure the energy and momentum of each new idea carries over to our live show— many times we’ll test out new songs on a live crowd and use the live feedback to make necessary changes to the song. Sometimes this can take a little extra work tweaking songs which can be difficult, but overall we think it’s worth it.
The biggest problem with recording can be trying to finish a song by a certain deadline — other than that we really enjoy tracking and our time in the studio.
Q. You're about to embark on a huge tour, how have you prepared yourselves for that?
The Jacks: We’ve been busy rehearsing our show and our new songs, trying to make sure that we’ll have the best live show to share on the road. This is going to be our longest tour so far (43 days) so we’ve been trying to mentally prepare for being on the road for that long as well. We’ve never been to a lot of the places on the route, so we’re very excited to share our music across the country.
We also had to take care of a lot of logistics as well, including getting a new van, finding places to stay along the route, and making sure we’ve packed everything we need. Overall we’re very excited for the next several weeks.
Q. What can fans expect from one of your shows?
The Jacks: Every show we play we try to leave it all onstage. When we first started performing we thought that a good live show consisted of not making any mistakes while performing. We now know that a good live show consists of much more than being technically proficient live, but engaging with our crowd. We want our fans to feel as much involved in the show as we are. Hopefully our fans will leave feeling more connected with who we are and a memorable live experience.
Q. What's the most Rock & Roll thing you guys have ever done?
The Jacks: Long story short we invited everyone from our show at The Roxy to our Air BnB for an after party. The night consisted of a 500 person pool party.
Q. The Jacks are in such an exciting place at the moment, but what are your plans for the future?
The Jacks: We want to spread more music to more fans. After this tour we are planning on being in the studio tracking our first full length album and hitting the road possibly in November and after the holidays.
The Jacks: We like to think of our music as raw Rock n Roll with a modern spin. We are trying to create something that sounds timeless and unique at the same time.
Q. You've just released "Tonight", what are the thoughts and feelings behind that song?
The Jacks: It was the first time that we worked with a producer during the recording of this song. It was a great experience working with the talented Chris Seefried, who really pushed us to expand on our song ideas. We ended up combining various sections of past songs creating “Tonight”. We feel the song captures our brit-rock guitar influence with the prominent riff in the verse and our raw energy in the chorus. We feel “Tonight” is an anthem that our listeners can relate to and sing back with us.
Q. There's so many influences on show in your music. But which band has influenced you the most?
The Jacks: There are a lot of artists that have influenced our music, and certain artists influence us individually more than others. The Rolling Stones is probably the best band to sum up The Jacks biggest influence. The Stone’s music, attitude, energy, and swagger is something we all feel influences our music whether we are aware of it or not. We also love The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Oasis, The Black Keys and Cage the Elephant, and they are some of our biggest individual inspirations.
Q. What has been your biggest problem when writing and recording?
The Jacks: When it comes to writing we always want to make sure a new song is going to hit hard live. We really focus on making sure the energy and momentum of each new idea carries over to our live show— many times we’ll test out new songs on a live crowd and use the live feedback to make necessary changes to the song. Sometimes this can take a little extra work tweaking songs which can be difficult, but overall we think it’s worth it.
The biggest problem with recording can be trying to finish a song by a certain deadline — other than that we really enjoy tracking and our time in the studio.
Q. You're about to embark on a huge tour, how have you prepared yourselves for that?
The Jacks: We’ve been busy rehearsing our show and our new songs, trying to make sure that we’ll have the best live show to share on the road. This is going to be our longest tour so far (43 days) so we’ve been trying to mentally prepare for being on the road for that long as well. We’ve never been to a lot of the places on the route, so we’re very excited to share our music across the country.
We also had to take care of a lot of logistics as well, including getting a new van, finding places to stay along the route, and making sure we’ve packed everything we need. Overall we’re very excited for the next several weeks.
Q. What can fans expect from one of your shows?
The Jacks: Every show we play we try to leave it all onstage. When we first started performing we thought that a good live show consisted of not making any mistakes while performing. We now know that a good live show consists of much more than being technically proficient live, but engaging with our crowd. We want our fans to feel as much involved in the show as we are. Hopefully our fans will leave feeling more connected with who we are and a memorable live experience.
Q. What's the most Rock & Roll thing you guys have ever done?
The Jacks: Long story short we invited everyone from our show at The Roxy to our Air BnB for an after party. The night consisted of a 500 person pool party.
Q. The Jacks are in such an exciting place at the moment, but what are your plans for the future?
The Jacks: We want to spread more music to more fans. After this tour we are planning on being in the studio tracking our first full length album and hitting the road possibly in November and after the holidays.