2000 To The Present
Foreword
In 2001 Jesus Jones signed to Mi5 Recordings and played a few dates in the UK and America. A new album was released titled 'London' and Jesus Jones were back. EMI released a greatest hits CD titled 'Never Enough' which includes what would have been their last release for the label, 'Come On Home'.
A support slot at The Wonder Stuff's christmas shows brings many fans out of the woodwork and a tour in May 2002, albeit a pretty low key affair, shows that the band can still put in the live performances. The new tracks from 'London' sound just as good alongside old faves like 'Move Mountains'.
A great gig in London in November 2002 saw the band at their brilliant best with a great mix of old and newer stuff, some of it chosen by fans via the official web site. The gig was recorded and is available on DVD. Mike continues to dabble in all types of music with various projects and hopefully some more tracks that may be graced with the Jesus Jones name one day in the not too distant future.
In 2008 The Wonder Stuff played two gigs to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release if their first album, Eight Legged Groove Machine. Jesus Jones were the support and played a warmup gig the night before. Many old and new fans gave a great welcome to Jesus Jones and fantastic nights were had by all.
In 2011 fans were to get some fantastic news as a compilation CD of old faves and previously unheard recordings was released. The band's website was also relaunched and a few gigs took place. The story is to be continued...
Poster for the support act for The Wonder Stuff - 16th & 17th December 2001
Interview - Rockzone.com - circa September 20th 2001
A Conversation With
Mike Edwards by Rayanna Barker
September 20, 2001
Rayanna: Mike, other then music what have you been up to?
Mike: Well, the friends that like to take the piss out of me would say at this point "Cycling", and it's accurate if I'm honest. I think in the run up to the last JJ album, "Already" and the period afterwards I got caught in this trap of always writing for an album that would maybe come out one day, maybe wouldn't. It didn't do much for my work ethic, despite starting work with another band, Yoshi, and it was only working on this new album, knowing it would definitely come out, that snapped me out of it. The cycling's still going on though !
Rayanna: Things have been pretty quiet as far as Jesus Jones goes for the last 4 years or so, what made you reform and what other projects have you been working on?
Mike: I'd been working on a solo album for Food / EMI that they'd ultimately not been interested in (even though I thought some of the songs had some good points) and on Yoshi stuff (I'm still doing that too). A number of things got me back to JJ stuff ; firstly, the idea of shaping those EMI songs into an album to maybe sell via the internet, then Gen, the original drummer who left in '96 indicated he was keen to work together again. Lastly, when Ted at MI5 got in touch and it seemed we felt the same way about the music industry now it all seemed as though it was the right time.
Rayanna: In JJ you are the front man, and in your other band Yoshi you play guitar, do you prefer one over the other?
Mike: Being a singer is ultimately more gratifying for the ego but it's hard work worrying about your voice all the time. One of the first things I felt about being in Yoshi was how great it was to concentrate on playing guitar - the way I started out.
Rayanna: Is Yoshi similar to JJ musically?
Mike: No. I'd say the primary difference is that in Jesus Jones elements from outside rock music get brought in to make the fusion, whereas in Yoshi those outside elements remain closer to the surface. We're currently working on an EP to release as soon as we can so I guess people will be able to judge for themselves soon enough.
Rayanna: I know that you produce as well as write for other musicians, who have been your favorite to work with?
Mike: Traci Lords was a dream to work with, very creative, fun to be around and had a strong idea of where she was going. I have fond memories of that album. The last thing I worked on with someone else was Manchild, a band that Arianne (Yoshi singer) just had a minor hit with here. That I enjoyed because of the two main guys excitement and enthusiasm at getting involved in all this - great music, too, mind you.
Rayanna: Over the years who has been your influences musically and have you ever had the chance to work with any of the musicians that you looked up to?
Mike: I think there have been different influences on different albums as well as a kind of bedrock that's always there. My parents record collection tended to be my babysitter when I was young so the likes of the Beatles, the Stones, Hendrix, Janis Joplin got mixed in with my own early record buying days involving Slade, the Sweet and moving on to the Sex Pistols and AC/DC. As I was starting to learn guitar U2, the Cure and the Police were coming up with those guitar styles that defined the 80s. But I think it all really kicked off with the Beastie Boys first album, Sonic Youth, Big Black / Rapeman, the Jesus and Mary Chain and then Acid House, without which there would have been no Jesus Jones. As for this latest album, Drum 'n' Bass, Soul Coughing, Stina Nordenstam, UK Garage, Slipknot - they're all in there.
Rayanna: How do you feel about where music is now and what bands do you enjoy?
Mike: Ah, I think I just answered some of that. I'm actually really enjoying music now, I think we've pulled out of that mid 90s slump into pure nostalgia. That said I love the Strokes album despite really not wanting to. I think R & B has some really creative minds at work but it takes its' roughneck London cousin Garage to make it rock. Drum 'n' Bass seems to be going the way of Techno (ie sideways, not forwards) which is a pity since it's the most heavy metal you can get without a guitar. Let's have a look at my current CD pile ; Tricky, Kid Galahad, Haven, Missy Elliot, Destiny's Child, the Strokes, Oxide and Neutrino, Nick Cave, Sia, Elbow, Deftones, Muse, Zero 7.
Rayanna: You recently wrote a book, "Death Threats From an Eight Year Old in the Seychelles." Where did the title from this book come from and could you tell us roughly what it is about?
Mike: Yes, it's about how it all goes wrong for a band, how it is that one year you're always hearing about a band and the next year...nothing. I used to meet people who think we did it out of choice ! This explains how it happens while giving an insight into how we became famous and what it was like when we were.
Rayanna: Where is the book available?
Mike: You can download it free from www.jesusjones.com
Rayanna: I understand that the new album London will be released on Ted Mason's label MI5, how did that come about?
Mike: Ted got in touch via the web site and invited me to come over to New York see what he was up to, play onstage a little and chat. It seemed had a lot of shared views about the chaning nature of the music industry and role that art and creativity have in it.
Rayanna: When will London be released? And when it is released will it be in just the UK or will it be released in the US as well?
Mike: It's a US release primarily, October 9th, but we're currently figuring out ways of getting sold around the world. Obviously the UK is important to us but there are plenty of fans around the world still that we need to look after.
Rayanna: What can we expect from the new album? And how does it compare to the old stuff?
Mike: I always maintain that you're asking entirely the wrong person that question! There are influences that didn't realy exist as I was writing the last album that are a central part of this album, like drum 'n' Bass and Garage. Those things make it sound very different, although saying that my signature hasn't changed in the last 10 years either so I think it's still clearly a Jesus Jones album. Overall I think this album sounds a lot more relaxed and happy since it's been made in a far better atmosphere than the last two JJ albums.
Rayanna: Are you planning to tour with this album and if so when should we look for you here in the states?
Mike: As far as I know now we're due to tour in early December, just a few dates to start with but maybe a bigger tour next year. www.jesusjones.com and www.MI5recordings.com are the definitive places to look though.
Rayanna: Thank you so much for taking time out to talk to me, is there anything that you would like to add?
Mike: Just a big shout out to all our New York and Washington fans, friends and family.
Interview - Website Artistlaunch.com - circa January(?) 2002
JESUS JONES FRONTMAN, MIKE EDWARDS - by Shauna Skye
Jesus Jones is the band responsible for the huge hit "Right Here, Right Now" back in 1991. The video for this song was in heavy rotation on MTV, and it seemed whenever I watched the tube I saw Jesus Jones. This was not a bad thing. I loved their song! It was catchy, and made it to #2 on the American charts. One memory I have involving "Right Here, Right Now" is a radio playing and a number of my friends enjoying it along side me. One was a sixteen year old boy who usually blasted Slayer and not much else. I remember thinking it was funny that even he liked it! I only mention "Right Here, Right Now" because it's the song most people knowthis band for; and yet Jesus Jones and Mike Edwards have a decade's worth of history. If you'd like to catch up on what has (and is) happening with JesusJones and Mike's new band,Yoshi, I suggest you visit www.jesusjones.com whereyou can find their biography and also a free book available for download. The following is an interview I did with frontman, Mike Edwards. I hope you enjoy it.
SHAUNA: Mike, aside from music, what have you been up to lately?
MIKE: If I'm honest, a very large amount of cycling: mountain bike racing, road
racing, amateur stages of the Tour de France, a couple of bike legs of the Malibu
triathlon - all that kind of thing and more. This year I'll be running the London
marathon in April, walking / running the Grand Canyon rim to rim in a day (send
a search party after two, please), the usual summer of cycling and then the
full triathlon in Malibi in September. Preparing for all that kind of stuff
takes a lot of non-music time.
SHAUNA: I just downloaded your book, "Death Threats From an Eight Year Old
in the Seychelles." I read the title was inspired from a letter you received
after you made a negative comment about the New Kids on the Block. Could you
give more details on that; and what's it like to receive a death threat from
an eight year old?
MIKE: It was such an offhand aside that I really can't remember what I said,
although I'm sure it was something I wouldn't feel proud of now. It was definitely
something more by way of conversation than a sermon from the mount, and that's
largely why it seemed so strange to get such a strong response. I think for
me it was evidence that we'd achieved a status whereby even trivial small talk
could be blown out of proportion. By 8 year olds.
SHAUNA: In your book you say you enjoy interviews, with the exception of the
top40 stations who constantly asked how you got your name. I can see how that
would get annoying. What are some of the more interesting experiences you've
had with the press, be it positive or negative?
MIKE: Undoubtedly our stock rose with a Texas Top 40 station when an underwear-free
woman got backstage and repeatedly gave me (and the station manager beside me)
a very close inspection of the full extent of her nudity. I'd count that as
a positive. On the other side, our agent told us in '93 that the most important
Alternative music paper here had made their sponsorship of the UKs biggest festival
(Glastonbury) dependent on Jesus Jones not performing. There was the time when
an English journalist and I were given a not-quite-as-safe-as-planned tour of
a very anti-British part of Belfast, Northern Ireland by a woman currently serving
jail time for terrorist offenses.
SHAUNA: A large percentage of the people who read this interview are musicians.
Based on the experiences you've had with success as well as struggling, what
advice would you give us?
MIKE: When I try and analyze where it went right for us, I believe it was a
combination of perseverance, learning from our mistakes (the musical ones) and
making sure we believed in what we were playing totally.
SHAUNA: Which one of you is Jesus? (Just kidding.) Seriously, why don't you
tell us about the new album you'll be coming out with on Mi5 Records.
MIKE: This is a question I've always had difficulty with, in the same way that
whenever people say some other band "sound like Jesus Jones" and I just can't
hear it. I don't really know how to describe it but I know that this time out
there are no big principles involved, I'm just trying to add a twist to my record
collection, adding in the things that excite me currently, like UK Garage, Drum
'n' Bass and Nu Metal. That said, writing is like your signature, however you
approach it, it's still pretty typically yours. Iain, the JJ keyboard player
says: "It's the sound of us not trying too hard."
SHAUNA: Please tell us about your band Yoshi. How would you describe themusic
to someone who has never heard you?
MIKE: Ah, check the first sentence of the last paragraph! Yoshi is a lot more
mellow than JJ stuff, partly due to having a female singer, Arianne. There'sa
lot more of an R'n'B influence there, or at least there was starting to beuntil
we took a break while I concentrated on the new JJ stuff.
SHAUNA: Do you think you'll ever stop playing music?
MIKE: No, I really doubt it, I enjoy it and it costs me nothing so there's every
incentive to keep playing, none to stop. Besides, I've always had a plan to
be a 70 year old blues player, although if I get terminally ill or just impatient
I may reduce the age by 20 years.
SHAUNA: What are some of your interests and hobbies?
MIKE: I think the life I lead counts as both! I'd like to travel a lot more
despite the fact that I've done a fair amount of that already. South America
appeals, I have a strong interest in the Incan empire but as long as it's a
fairly arduous and remote trip I'm into it.
SHAUNA: Who is your favorite Beatle? ;)
MIKE: It was definitely Lennon (my all time favourite song is Dear Prudence)
but the more I discover about and listen to the both of them the more it swings
in Macca's favour.
SHAUNA: Out of all the musicians you've worked with, who are some of your favorites?
MIKE: I really liked working with Traci Lords: it was good music to work on
and Traci herself was fun, self-effacing, strong minded and very talented, a
pleasure to work with. I've also worked with a friend of mine, a very famous
Japanese star called Hotei and it's always a pleasure to be with him, working
or not. Tony James, of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik I think of as a
friend, a very interesting man.
SHAUNA: How do the American fans differ from those in other parts of the world?
MIKE: Not much, people tend to be the same pretty much all over, or at least
the ones into your music are. And there you were expecting me to say they're
the best in the world!
SHAUNA: What is your favorite Jesus Jones song?
MIKE: Hmmmm, that's tricky for me. Even before it was a single I felt very good
about "Right here...." "Idiot Stare" from Perverse I love and "Wishing it away"
from Already surprises me, pleasantly, that I wrote it. Most of Doubt and Liquidiser
I find hard to listen to now but I enjoy the later albums a lot more.
SHAUNA: Do you have any favorite bands that are currently on the radio?
MIKE: Having just turned 16 again I can't help liking Slipknot and Limp Bizkit,
also Methods of Mayhem. Albums I've bought in the last couple of weeks include
True Steppers, Stephen Malkmus, Wu Tang Clan and Daft Punk. Sigur Ros made a
big impact on me last year as did The Junket, Grandaddy and 6 X 7. I'm always
buying compilations of Drum 'n' Bass (usually the Ram Records ones) and UK Garage
- I doubt the latter is on the radio over there yet.
SHAUNA: If you had to choose an all-time favorite band, who would it be?
MIKE: AC/DC but only between 1976 and 1979. Close behind would be Sonic Youth,
the Beatles and the Aphex Twin.
SHAUNA: Do you know what happened to Satan Smith? :)
MIKE: Ha! I think the rumour of that tribute band died out before the band could
form.
SHAUNA: What is the one question you'd like an interviewer to ask you, but they
never do?
MIKE: In the last 12 years I don't think any avenue has been unexplored. Although
in a few cases "Would you beat me to death ?" would have gone down well.
SHAUNA: OK, here is your chance to plug anything you like. Where can we get
hold of your next releases, find news about you, etc.?
MIKE: Between www.jesusjones.com and www.MI5recordings.com you'll find all the
Jesus Jones news you can handle!
SHAUNA: Any parting words?
MIKE: Something about the Red Sea ?...Nah, based on that it's definitely time
I went.
SHAUNA: Thank you very much for the interview, Mike. It will appear on the
front page of ArtistLaunch.com. We have several cool radio shows going there.
I will be hosting my own show soon, and I would like to contact you again in
the near future if that is all right.
MIKE: Most definitely, thank you.
SHAUNA SKYE http://www.mp3.com/shaunaskye
Photos - Gig at Bristol Fleece & Firkin - 21st May 2002
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Newspaper advert and Signed Setlist, House of Blues gig, Chicago - 22nd June 2002
Poster for the current release, Never Enough The Best Of Jesus Jones - 2002
Poster for the Marquee Gig, London - 8th November 2002
Click here for pictures and my review of the Marquee gig.
Article - The Guardian - 9th August 2003
At the age of 17, I couldn't imagine anything better than earning
a living through playing in a rock band. After a lengthy apprenticeship
I managed to get my band, Jesus Jones, into a position where
I could describe my occupation while form-filling as "musician"
without crossing my fingers behind my back and worrying about
the small print threatening prosecution for false or misleading
information.
With hits around the world we became famous for a few years.
At the start of 1990 I wrote a song called Right Here, Right
Now, a title I disliked but intended to change before the final
recording. Inevitably unaltered, the song became a No 1 in America,
popular enough that versions of it still appear on karaoke discs
in bars all over the US. These re-recorded versions make me
cringe but I don't begrudge the musicians involved. Everyone
has to make a living.
Thirteen years later, I'm still making a living from that title,
even if Fatboy Slim's identically titled song may have eaten
into my action. As well as continuing radio play, every so often
a drinks company or car dealership in Michigan or Maine or Montana
decides Right Here, Right Now set to that paticular tune perfectly
soundtracks their advertising campaign. The first I'll know
about it is a call from my manager that starts, "Right,
I've got another one for you..." And that's the council
tax bill settled for another year.
Last year a major corporation, the biggest privately owned comapny
in the US, decided they'd take it further and get the band itself
to play at a conference for their best achieving employees,
the strapline to which was... well, you get the idea by now.
Thankfully Fatboy Slim wasn't mentioned and so began my induction
into the murky world of corporate gigs.
It really is a murky world. Asking friends in the music industry
about other examples throws up a sonic cathedral of "You
absolutely cannot quote me" and "You can't name names".
These days, it seems you can pretty much buy anyone if you have
the money, but no one else must know. Rumours in the industry
and reports in the tabloids about everyone from the Rolling
Stones and Dylan to Robbie Williams abound. Rod Stewart earning
$750,000 to play a businessman' birthday party may or may not
be taken with a pinch of salt but it is clear that famous bands
can play private shows for far more than they'd get from a standard
one.
An aquaintance of mine, famous for a string of hits over the
last 25 years, was offered $75,000 by a phone company to be
part of a bill that included two more contemporary (and therefore
better paid) boy bands. The same artist was offered £50,000
to play a couple's wedding. That's 50 grand for an hour of songs
that probably don't even need any rehearsal, unlimited food
and booze and no obligation to listen to the speeches. "Everyone
has a price," one of the best known managers in the industry
tells me, and the figures go both way, way up (talk of the Sultan
of Brunei and Elton John and Sting bring us into "if you
have to ask..." territory) and down, which is where I come
in.
We were approached via our website to play the conference while
in the middle of an American tour. It was a spartan trip compared
with our old days; one roadie and the cheapest hotels (sharing
driving and rooms), selling merchandise to cover petrol and
cheap US-bought amplifiers to save on shipping our own gear.
Two weeks of preparation and a month of one hour-plus dates,
usually five in a row.
The offer was for three shows in under two weeks, any costs
we could dream up, accomodation (one person per room) in the
same five-star Florida hotel as the conference delegates and
a fee that was in multiples of the profit we'd make on the tour.
A "show" was one song, twice. That would have been
seven minutes a night but without the too-wild-for-commerce
guitar sole and an abbreviated last chorus I'd call it an even
360 seconds. Three groups of delegates on a three-day schedule
meant we played one night in three, with all 10 days to spend
as we pleased.
We didn't hesitate to accept the offer and I can't think why
we should have. I recall from my music-press-reading days that
accepting money from The Man is wrong but I can't remember why,
or how it differs from signing a recording contract or playing
a heavily sponsored festival. Like other teens, when I was younger
I formed a notion about purity of art versus payment for art
(this correlates inversely with the number of 15-year-olds paying
mortgages) that made it an Offence In Rock to accept an honest
month's pay for an honest three minutes' work. Even then there
seemed to be some contradiction between punk ideology and the
Great Rock 'n Roll Swindle. My cousin is a classical musician,
a French horn slinger for hire, for whom it would be unthinkable
to turn down employ in his chosen line of work. A school friend
of mine is an actor and voiceover artist. I have recorded her
in my home studio practising a tone of friendly sincerity on
behalf of a kitchen cabinet make in Guernsey. Her TV adverts
don't look very "method" either but she rejoices not
agonsies, when she gets one.
In Florida, literally thousands of delegates were already deep
in discussion in the hotel bars, restuarants and coffee shop
by the time we arrived, pushing the envelope to the cutting
edge of the max in today's highly competitive world of business
jargon.
I didn't, and still don't, really know what the company does,
although we'd established it wasn't arms, tobacco or Third World
human organs. Technically on holiday, all the men still wore
suits, even late on the Saturday night. Likewise we were meaningfully
advised, along with much talk of respect for our artistry, to
wear black turtleneck jumpers. It's an item of clothing I'm
not fond of but I have certainly worn worse things in photoshoots
and videos.
We opened and closed the show, starting after a film sequence
featuring a businessman searching sand dunes for a half-buried
laptop, and a gravelly-voiced man saying in a so-baritone-it-must-be-important,
film-trailer way, "There was a search for an internet business..."
The rest of the sequence was always lost to me as I was concentrating
on standing upright and not wetting myself with laughter: Gravel
Man was our signal that the revolving circular stage we were
on was about to turn us briskly to face the audience and, we
suspected, hurl our much ridiculed, old before his time guitarist
into the front row like a ball off a dodgy roulette wheel. The
spectre of Spinal Tap never leaves a rock band.
Each evening also featured the kind of entertainment designed
neither to offend nor largely appeal to anyone: Irish dancers,
South American drummers and a variety of speakers, some of whom
were important enough to have limos drive them right into the
backstage of the 10,000-capacity venue. I didn't recognise any
of them.
Listening politely, some of the audience figured out that
song was being played by that band and took a few surreptitious
photos. The vast majority sat with quiet fortitude until the
motivational speakers had them out of their seats, whooping
and punching the air to greatest hit phrases like "It's
what's inside that counts" and "Fear is your greatest
enemy". Now there are song titles for us, Fatboy.
At the close of the first night, realising that we heralded
the end of the show and that the trip to Sea World (reserved
in an exclusive buy-out by the company) was imminent, an ugly
scrum developed in the rush for the door. This didn't bother
me unduly. What band can honestly say they have never cleared
the floor? I'd been asked not to mention the band's name from
stage for fear the Jesus part would offend in this part of the
Bible belt. It made for an underwhelming end so subsequent nights
saw the chairman courting religious furore by introducing us.
Everyone sat patiently to the end, which must have been worth
it if just to see the fireworks set our guitarist's hair alight.
Unlike usual shows, no one bothered about coming to talk to
us afterwards. We were up against Sea World after all. It was
just us clearing up with the real prima donnas of the show,
the heavily unionised stage hands, types our US-resident bass
player has seen refuse to work until the right kind of sandwiches
arrive. And presumably the brown M&Ms are removed. As always
in America after a performance, people said, "Good job,
man". It used to rankle me back in the days when it wasn't
supposed to be a job; it was supposed to be art, it was supposed
to be fun. Now it occurs that when it is just a job it's a lot
more fun. How my 17-year-old self would have been pleased.
Where Are They Now? Article - Q Magazine - February 2004
Formed in 1988, Jesus Jones' noisy blend of punk guitars and pile-driving dance samples saw them achieve an impressive run of hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic, most notably 1991's Right Here, Right Now which reached the US Top 5. This proved to be their peak - successive releases failed to make the same dent on the chart. The band called it a day after 1997's Already album, before re-forming briefly for the London album in 2001.
Mike Edwards (vocals/guitar): After Already did nothing the band was dropped. I was retained by the label to work on a new project called Yoshi with a female singer, but that came to nothing. Since then I've just been working on a few things on my own. I'm doing some songwriting on a pop thing - I'm going for a Sugacubes vibe - and I also have an electronic solo project. Last year Jesus Jones reconvened for a corporate conference in Florida, which was brilliant - an all-expenses-paid weekend in the States! We'd play pretty much anything if asked. It's just nice to earn a living through music.
Iain Baker (keyboards): When the band fell apart, I didn't have any other plans. After two years of sitting around, my wife said, "All you ever do is talk about records - why don't you do that for a living?" I sent off a few demos and luckily [London alternative station] Xfm picked up on it. I do their afternoon request show. Would I play a Jesus Jones song? No, that would be a bit like masturbating in public.
Al Jaworski (aka Alan Doughty) (bass): I moved to Chicago after the band were dropped. I've been playing with the Waco Brothers. They were a traditional country outfit when I joined, but I contributed to their sound becoming a bit noisier. I also work in a wine warehouse, which means I get to drink and operate heavy machinery.
Jerry de Borg (guitar): I've been in a band called Sum Demeana for the last two years just playing all around London. It's very Jesus Jones-y, but we've got a girl singer and it's maturing nicely. I also wrote some music for an art documentary recently. That was something I hope to do more of.
Simon "Gen" Matthews (drums): I left Jesus Jones in 1996 and joined Baby Chaos. After we were dropped, we changed our name to Deckard and decided to do it all ourselves. I also sell second-hand motorbikes. It's good because it leaves me enough time for the music.
How the publicity was tracked by MI5 Recordings for Culture Vulture after its release - 2004
| Magazine: Jesus Jones full page interview feature in the June issue of Bullit Magazine 18.06.04 Magazine: Culture Vulture review in Exposure magazine 06.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on Alternatives Show 37 and 38, on Radio 021, Radio Boom 93, Radio Kikinda, Radio Kojot, Radio OK, Radio Fast, Radio Kragujevac, Radio Prizma, Radio City, Radio Slon and Radio Planeta, Vojvodina, Serbia, Bosnia/Hercegovina, Croatia, 06.04 Web: Culture Vulture review on ThisnotTV website, 06.04 Web: Culture Vulture press release on main page of Tinfoil Music website, 06.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on The Show on UKsounds.com, 06.04 Web: Culture Vulture review on www.ukmusicsearch.co.uk, 06.04 Radio: Mike Edwards interviewed on 107.4 BCRfm, Bridgwater, Somerset 28.05.04 Radio: Mike Edwards interviewed on Q97.2 Causeway Radio, Co. Londonderry 27.05.04 Radio: Mike Edwards interviewed on Spirit FM 96.6 & 102.3FM, Sussex 26.05.04 Web: Jesus Jones 'Find the Dial' featured on Windows Media Player UK Guide front Page, 21.05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist All FM Radio, Manchester 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist ETC FM, Edinburgh Telford College, Scotland 'Great song!! A song that will be stick in your head' 05.04 Shop: Culture Vulture in stores now including HMV, Virgin and Sister Ray, 17.05.04 Web: Culture Vulture available to buy at theMusicIndex.com 17.05.04 Web: Culture Vulture EP Windows Media Player Downloads available to buy at www.UKsounds.com, www.USsounds.com and www.OZsounds.com 17.05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture played on BBC York Radio, 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture and Head in the Sand is now available on the new Radio station song delivery service by Musicpoint, 14.05.04 Magazine/Radio: Interview with Mike Edwards recorded for Q Sheet Radio Industry Magazine 4 page article Click Here and audio to be offered to Radio Stations 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture and Tom Robinson Remix played on Tom Robinson's Evening Sequence, BBC6 Radio 06.05.04 Web: Culture Vulture review on BlazinVibes.com, great review 9/10 look out for the interview coming soon, 11.05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist on Radio Middlesbrough, 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture being played on Lantern FM, Barnstaple, Exeter 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist on RNA RM, Arbroath, Scotland 05.04 Radio: Mike Edwards on Radio2 Jammin Thursday 6th May 2200-2230 And repeated on Saturday 8th May 1330-1400, also listen again available for 7days. Radio: Culture Vulture on B Playlist TotalRock Radio week commencing 26/04/04 Radio: Culture Vulture was played and reviewed on the Roundtable show with Andrew Collins BBC6 Radio 6/10, 7/10 and 1/10!, 23.04.04 & 24.04.04 Radio: Culture on daytime and specialist playlists on HeartlandFM, Perthshire, Scotland, 'remixes..a damn fine idea' 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on request list on University Radio York, 'Much more rocky this time round!' 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on the playlist Bay Radio, University of Wales, Aberystwyth 'pretty cool, didn't hear them 1st time around, but this is a cool tune. Great mix of rocking vox & wicked guitar play. Decent' 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on the playlist Air3, University of Sterling 'very impressive, an upbeat, Culture Vulture leads the way forward, making entry for equally impressive prog/rock which sounds similiar to Muse, Not a bad thing' 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on the playlist CFX Radio, Plymouth College of FE 'Like it, it's bangs along well. I've always liked his vocals. Hope it does well. I've got Doubt!' 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on the playlist Tube Radio, Thames Valley University, London 'This is really good, I like it, very rocky' 5.04 Radio: All the Culture Vulture EP on the playlist Blast 1386, Reading College 5.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist Isles FM, Isle of Lewis, Scotland 'A Brilliant, exciting, rocking track!' 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist Waves Radio 101.2FM, Peterhead, Scotland week commencing 3/05/04 Radio: Comment from BBC Wales Radio: 'Excellent Track. It's too crunchy for our airwaves' Radio: Culture Vulture on playlist 107.4 BCRfm, Bridgwater, Somerset 'the track will certainly get plays on our evening shows. Its also a great idea having the different files to enable people to remix their own version - I'd like to be able to do that to other peoples songs!!!!!!' 05.04 Magazine: Jesus Jones advert in the May issue of Logo Magazine 05.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on Evening Playlist on Spirit FM 96.6 & 102.3FM, Sussex 'Great to hear Jesus Jones back...Fresh new rocky sound, on Evening Playlist' 04.04 Radio: Culture Vulture on Shades of Rock playlist on Q97.2 Causeway Radio, Co. Londonderry 'Good to hear JJ back on the scene. Remix your own track eh? Good idea, like that.' 04.04 Radio: Quote from Chris Hawkins BBC6 Radio 'Such a distinctive vocal performance strong lyrics & driving guitar. Like it - reminiscant of old Jesus Jones, in a good way!' Magazine: SINGLE REVIEW by Logo Magazine Jesus Jones – ‘Culture Vulture’ Released 17th May on Mi5 Recordings UK Author: Suzie Q Rating 3_/5 2004 seems to be the year of the comeback; The Alarm confounded critics by hiding under their Poppy Fields pseudonym, Marillion (who never really went away) have new product out this month, even Tears For Fears are getting in on the act. What next? The long overdue return of Jesus Jones, best known for their era-defining pre Brit-Pop single ‘International Bright Young Thing’. ‘Culture Vulture’ doesn’t – indeed couldn’t – match that, but it’s far from a slight return. They always liked to align themselves with the likes of Pop Will Eat Itself, mashing up dance rhythms with the energy of cynical punks and the disdain of disillusioned rockers, and here, for perhaps the first time, it all works. Expectations were not, it must be said, very high; they’ve easily exceeded them though, by the simple expedient of employing that same formula and enlivening it with a dash of cyber-swirl and a barely suppressed seam of mania. It’s surprisingly enervating stuff, best played very loud. Radio: Mike Edwards (Jesus Jones) on BBC6 Radio Craig Charles Breakfast Show talking about the Culture Vulture release, 9.30am (UK). www.bbc.co.uk/6music 15.04.04 Web: Thoughts from Tom Robinson from BBC 6 Radio, The Evening Sequence on Culture Vulture Remix feature 04.04 Web: Culture Vulture news on Spanish site Canal Pop, 2.04 |
Promotional Photo of the new Jesus Jones band - 2004
Promotional Photo of the new Jesus Jones band - 2004
Gigs - 29th, 30th & 31st October 2008
Jesus Jones played three gigs in October 2008. The first one at The Luminaire, Kilburn, London was an intimate show warming up for the following two gigs supporting The Wonder Stuff. There is a separate page devoted to these three gigs. It contains the set lists, short reviews and lots of photos with the blurry ones kept in! Click here to view the page.
NME Interview - Where Are They Now? - 24th January 2009
This was an interview with the band in an article about bands from the '80s & '90s who have influenced other bands in the future. 
Yahoo Interview - Interview by Johnny Famethrowa in Where Are They Now? - 27th May 2010
They merged pop, rock and dance into a pioneering new sound, cracking the US with smash hit ‘Right Here Right Now', a feat they would never match. We asked keyboard player Iain Baker how it felt to be an ‘International Bright Young Thing'.
That was then...
Mike Edwards formed Jesus Jones in London in 1987, recruiting guitarist Jerry De Borg, bassist Al Doughty, drummer Gen and Baker, on keyboards. The band found their name on the back of a packet of Spanish crisps and immediately set out to make progressive music.
"I think sampling to the ‘90s could be what the electric guitar was to the ‘60s. Sooner or later there'll be a Jimi Hendrix of sampling and I want it to be me," Edwards said in 1988. Debut single ‘Info Freako' was a minor hit, as were ‘Never Enough' and ‘Bring It On Down'. Accompanying album, ‘Liquidizer' further highlighted their eclectic tastes, using samples as diverse as Prince, Sonic Youth and ‘Apocalypse Now', and served notice of their pop intent.
Jesus Jones then moved onto their greatest triumph. In 1991, they released second LP, ‘Doubt', featuring the Cold War-inspired ‘Right Here Right Now'. It fell one place short of the US number one and although the track stalled at 31 here, the album topped the UK chart, while the singles ‘Real, Real, Real' and ‘International Bright Young Thing' were big hits. The band played to 72,000 at Wembley Stadium supporting INXS and won MTV's ‘Best Newcomer' award.
However, by the time of the 1993 follow-up, ‘Perverse', their position alongside EMF, The Shamen and Pop Will Eat Itself as UK indie-dance figureheads was over. It may have been the first album recorded entirely on a computer but ‘Perverse' stiffed, despite the US success of ‘The Devil You Know'. After one further album, 1997's ‘Already', Jesus Jones left their record label and split.
This is now...
Why did the band end? "Simple stuff, really. In 1997, when we decided to take a break, we were swimming against the tide, musically speaking, and it got tiring. Nobody seemed to be listening anymore, and we didn't have a record deal, so we just thought, ‘Let's stop for a bit'," Baker tells us.
What happened post-Jesus Jones? "Mike did some solo stuff and various collaborations. Me and Jerry were in a band called The Feely Room. Alan played with punk legend John Langford in a number of bands, chiefly The Waco Brothers. In our ‘downtime' I went off and DJ'ed and worked in record shops again," explains Baker, which has led to a career playing records on XFM and, most recently, NME Radio, alongside a management role with Union Sound Set.
What about the others? "Mike is a personal fitness trainer! Jerry manages a band too - Hill Valley High, alongside our new drummer Tony. Alan's been living in Chicago since the ‘90s. Our original drummer Gen still plays, and is in a band called The Blazing Zoos, after spells in Baby Chaos and Deckard."
Ian also refuses to rule out the possibility of a full Jesus Jones comeback. "Well, it would be nice...it's all about logistics. With Alan in the US, and the rest of us with other jobs and commitments, it's all about finding time to do it. We've played from time to time (most recently in 2008 supporting the Wonder Stuff) and we get offers all the time to do more gigs, so who knows?" he told Yahoo! Music.
The Quietus Interview - Interview by Francisco Scaramanga - 14th July 2010
As a fan of both The Fall and Jesus Jones, our man from the Emerald Isle, Francisco Scaramanga spoke to the latter's Mike Edwards about working with Mark E. Smith
Scott English and Larry Weiss wrote the song 'Popcorn Double Feature'. It was first recorded by Time Wilde in 1967, before also being recorded by The Searchers in the same year. It was later released by The Fall in 1990 for the Extricate album, which was made immediately after Mark E. Smith divorced Brix Smith. Her departure influenced more than just the subject matter of the album - it helped define part of its sound. Her background vocals and post-punk guitar, which had become mainstays of The Fall, are noticeably absent in this release. In one of the more unusual events in the group's history, she was replaced by founding member Martin Bramah, who had previously left the group in 1979 to form his own band Blue Orchids.
The critical reception to Extricate was positive, with Melody Maker suggesting it was "possibly their finest yet" and NME giving the album a full 10/10.
I remember Mark E. Smith playing his favourite records (Can, Augustus Pablo, The Young Gods, Napoleon the 14th) on the Mark Goodier BBC1 radio show in roughly 1991. Goodier commented that Mike Edwards of Jesus Jones was also a fan of The Young Gods, a fact he considered weird because "two people with less in common he couldn’t think of". Smith retorted: "Mike Edwards played on 'Popcorn Double Feature'". I loved both bands, but I was unaware of the connection at the time. Since then, it’s always fascinated me.
How did the collaboration come about? Because no-one seems to know... Were you just in an adjoining studio? (In the scheme of Fall one-offs it seems to be only bettered by the Chemical Brothers' manager Nick Dewey drumming for them at Reading festival when they were caught short).
Mike Edwards: The producer Craig Leon was working with both of us at the same time. He had one session going on in one room in The Townhouse Studio in Shepherds Bush, and another session in in another room. Not all the time I'm glad to say and I seem to recall my Fall moment was recorded on a Sunday, or some similar 'off' time.
Was the recording completed in one day? Where did the recording take place?
ME: I couldn't tell you how long the entire song took to record - I wasn't around for that - but my part was done in a couple of hours. It was some guitar playing so we didn't need a drawn out session for my few bars.
Did you (and the band) sit down and listen to The Searchers version of the song before recording? (The thing that always struck me about the song is how Mark E. Smith makes the song his own - it definitely helps that the original is great and the lyrics are fairly off the wall).
ME: No, I heard it for the first time when I walked into the studio. In fact, I've only just discovered it wasn't a Fall original! So yes, he definitely made it his own but I'd say that was par for the course for him.
Did you work on any of the other recordings on the album / B-sides?
ME: Nope, just that one. I think I was an interesting experiment on Craig Leon's behalf that Mark E went along with. I don't think I was ever considered as much more than a novelty in Fall world.
You must have been busy in 1990. Can we just try to get the timeline correct? At the time of the recording you had released Liquidiser and you were writing Doubt - or was this 1989? In February 1990 you played for the British troops in Romania. Later that year you would release an album that sold 2 million copies. Surely you had more pressing things to be doing than working with The Fall?
ME: Fighting my natural urge to be utterly pedantic I'll still have to point out a few points there; the session was done as we were recording Liquidiser - the summer of 1989, Tiananmen Square on the TV all the time. Six months later I was writing Doubt (in the aftermath of the collapse of the Iron Curtain) and on the verge of going to Romania, playing to utterly bewildered Romanian rock fans who were expecting German Heavy Metal to be part of their bright new future - no British troops there to my knowledge. It was a year later that Doubt was released. And yes, it was busy but busy with doing interesting things like playing on that session. After all, this was the kind of professional musician lifestyle I'd been chasing for years.
At the time of Extricate, The Fall were probably at their largest number. Mark had broken up with Brix. Martin Bramah had rejoined the band. They were undergoing a renaissance critically. Mark had moved from Manchester to Edinburgh. The Fall had got hip collaborating with Coldcut. This timeline is correct? What was the mood in the camp?
ME: I can't really comment accurately on that. I do remember the Coldcut collaboration but I really don't think The Fall needed to get any hipper at that point. It was a tangential move but not necessarily a progression in the eyes of critics. As I only met Mark E. Smith I can't say what the feeling within the band was. On the few times I've met him the mood seems to be about the same.
You were a lot younger than most of The Fall. They didn’t pick on you did they?
ME: Ha! I'm probably taller than all of them so no! The session was very small, just Mark, Craig and I. I was keen to please since this was a big moment for me, Mark was very quiet and withdrawn so that most of the communication about what and how to play came via Craig. He was respectful but definitely knew what he wanted. I didn't get the idea me playing on the track was the high point of his week but if Craig thought it might work and I wasn't an arse he'd go along with it and see what happened. At least that's my impression after 21 years of memory hazing.
Were/are you a Fall fan? What are your favourite Fall songs and albums? Have you seen them perform live on stage?
ME: Probably more of a Fall fan than Mark was/is a Jesus Jones fan! Yes, I have some Fall albums but I can't remember which and they're at home now when I'm not. They were one of those few bands that if you were a music fan in the 80s, you absolutely had to have a knowledge of. They were seen as an essential part of the development of British music in that era so even if you didn't listen to them daily, not listening to them at all was a serious omission. Seen them live on a number of occasions, usually festivals. Always enjoyed it.
You were termed as indie dance - isn’t it slightly incongruous that you and not someone from the Manchester bands collaborated with The Fall?
ME: It is interesting to see how history has become re-written with all this. The term indie-dance hadn't been used, or at least not coined often by summer 1989. More to the point, at that time the first Stone Roses album was only just out and listening to it you'll hear a straightforward Indie album, no dance element at all. Not that there's any problem with that. The Happy Mondays at this point were still just a funk band - an interesting and way above average one - but it was Vince Clark's remixing of 'Wrote For Luck' that provided a pretty radical change of direction. 'Fool's Gold', a year later, was really the Stone Roses' one stab at the dance side of it and by that time the Manchester thing was in full swing. If I were writing history I'd point out that Age Of Chance in 1986 were doing stuff that fully combined dance and rock, soon followed by Pop Will Eat Itself and The Shamen. Those are the bands that were the pioneers. Basically the people that came late, and in some cases pretty half-heartedly, to the party are now credited with being the be all and end all. My acid house remixes of our tunes in 1988 aren't good enough for me to complain about being written out of history !
Were you aware that The Fall’s version of 'Popcorn Double Feature' is sung in full by Johnny Vegas in the opening sequence of the latest series of the sitcom Ideal?
ME: No! I'm going to have to chase that. I hope he puts the emphasis on the guitar parts.
Jesus Jones as a band have remained the same guys since 1989. Did you not pick up any tips from Mark E. Smith about hiring and firing?
ME: It's a good point. God knows I tried, but there was always the concern that I might not actually be the real talent in the band.
In your writing and recording were you influenced by anything from The Fall - the distorted vocals perhaps? I always hear Talking Heads and Public Enemy when I listen to your band.
ME: And you'd be dead right. I'd always liked the spikiness of The Fall, though, especially the guitar parts with their unconventional approach. From my experience of the session I think some of that may very well be down to Mark E Smith.
The Fall have never really had a big hit; you had yours with 'Right Here Right Now'. Can it be more of a hindrance than a help? I ask this question because I feel that sometimes The Fall may have sabotaged success at times for exactly this reason. I mean, why not release 'Bill Is Dead' as a single? Why entitle it 'Bill Is Dead'? People don’t expect to hear a specific song when they go to a Fall concert.
ME: Depends on whether you want to be perceived as having a solid body of work or being a 'One Hit Wonder', as I believe some in America view us. Over here we had a few other songs that could be added into the one hit lucky dip, and we have 'Info Freako' as a potential cult classic. But if I were given the choice I'd go for the One Hit Wonder and this may be because - as many suspected all along - I am simply a mercenary swine, but it's really great to be able to feed your kids on the back of American radio still playing one of my favourite Jesus Jones songs 20-years after I hurried it out in a dingy London flat.
And this feeds into another question... Did the cycling stop you from doing a Kurt Cobain when massive success arrived? [Edwards is a keen cyclist and, according to the BBC, also works as a personal trainer]. Insensitively put but some people were lauding you as leading a new Beatles British style invasion - that must have been stressful.
ME: Absolutely spot on. Some people are just not mentally built to be famous and whereas Bono and Liam Gallagher either are or developed the ability to cope, I couldn't and it doesn't seem much like Kurt Cobain could either. Cycling, and racing in particular, gave me something to be equally obsessive about without people criticising me for. Career-wise, developing an alter ego would have been the best move but I wasn't clever enough, and besides, I've won a few tiddly races so what do I care?
In the early Food Record days did you know Blur? Were you aware that Mark E. Smith features on the new Gorillaz album?
ME: Yes, I first saw Seymour, as they were then, as Food were on the brink of signing them. They were acquaintances as a result of the Food deal (Food's office at the time was one small room in Soho) but not friends. Not because, on the whole, we and they weren't likeable, just slightly different. Apparently, Alex James, in his book, recounts a fist fight between Damon and I that I was totally unaware of. So too were the rest of the band when I asked them (in case my memory of me doing something totally out of character was faulty).
Mark E. Smith on the Gorrillaz album? Great idea!
Were you a tiny bit disappointed when Obama overtook Hilary Clinton in the presidential nominations given that she was using your song?
ME: Gutted! Although she'd already chosen a Celine Dion song (my, the company we keep) as her campaign theme tune. Since Bill used 'Right Here, Right Now' in the 90s I still have hope for Chelsea using the family favourite when her political career kicks off.
What are your plans for the future? Any new material / gigs on the horizon?
ME: Nope. We've reached a point where the amount of paying gig goers who want to see us versus the money required to take us all away from what we do otherwise don't match up. I say this every year, though, and we still manage to get together to play every so often. As for writing new stuff it's too time consuming for me at the moment, although I'm itching to do it again once I give up all my other time-consuming hobbies.
Read the original interview that was on The Quietus which is an excellent site and features youtube links to some of the songs in the interview.Guardian Interview - Interview by Dave Simpson - 23rd September 2010
From pop star to chiropractor: musicians' post-musical careers
Mike Edwards
Then: Leader of indie dance hitmakers Jesus Jones
Now: Personal trainer.
I decided early on that being cardiovascularly fit would prevent me losing my voice onstage. I got into cycling, which became a good method of transport in London when we were famous because you could get where you wanted without people on the tube going "I saw your interview this week." Cycling became such an obsession that I started racing. But as the band's career went down the tubes, I wondered what I'd ever do should Americans ever stop playing Right Here, Right Now, and remembered Mick Jagger saying that apart from music he was unemployable. I came across an advert asking "Have you ever fancied a career in fitness?" and I did. I enrolled on courses, I had clients. I now run a personal training business with a couple of trainers under my wing. The band thought I was nuts, but I was always the least rock'n'roll in the group. I use music a lot in classes but never Jesus Jones: it was a separate life. But being a pop star has helped. When I was first qualifying, the people around me were absolutely terrified, but after playing to 72,000 people at Wembley Stadium, doing exercises in front of 10 people was nothing.
Read the original article that was in The Guardian which features many more stars from the music business explaining what they've been up to lately
Jesus Jones played four gigs in August 2011. The first three were with The Wonder Stuff and The Clouds in Australia. The fourth gig was in Tokyo, Japan. Below are some links to the best youtube clips and photos.
Jesus Jones - Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Australia - 19th August 2011 - Photos
Jesus Jones - Who? Where? Why? - Palace Theatre, Melbourne, Australia - 19th August 2011 - Video
Jesus Jones - Info Freako - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia - 20th August 2011 - Video
Jesus Jones - Full Length Gig - Enmore Theatre, Sydney, Australia - 20th August 2011 - Video - This is a professional video.
These are really good videos of the Tokyo gigs. Good standard for in the crowd filming, good sound, over 20 minutes worth altogether:
Part one - Part two - Part three
Mike and Tomayasu Hotei at the Tokyo gig
Gigs were scheduled for November but Al had a nasty injury that required surgery so they were postponed to January 27th and 28th at the HMV Insitute, Birmingham and O2 Academy Islington, London respectively. The pass scan below is courtesy of Jeff who flew over from the States for the London gig.
Setlist for both nights:
Who? Where? Why?
Move Mountains
International Bright Young Thing
Caricature
Real Real Real
Nothing To Hold Me
Get A Good Thing
Never Enough
Culture Vulture
All The Answers
Victoria
Message
Right Here Right Now
What Would You Know
Zeroes & Ones
Bring It On Down
Info Freako
Idiot Stare
What's Going On
Blissed
O2 Academy, Islington
Gig review and superb quality video of What Would You Know - view here
Full length audio of the gig, pretty rough but nevertheless well worth listening to - download here (right click and save target as) - 36MB MP4
HMV Institute, Birmingham
Photo set - view here
Gig review - view here
Gig review - view here
Get A Good Thing Video (Courtesy of Elaine) - view here
Picture of Gen at the London gig - (L-R) - Rob Bates, Gen, Richard Perry, Richard Daly
Richard Perry and Richard Daly were the chaps who brought you the amazingly funny All The Answers fanzine. Richard Perry also designed the t-shirt for these gigs and the visuals for the London gig.
CD Release - The Collection - January 2012
A 2 CD set of old favourites and some totally unreleased and unheard tracks. Initial copies from the band are signed. Some lucky people who went to the gigs would have got Al's and Gen's autographs as well.
