Am I the only person out there that still likes Jesus Jones? I miss them. I just watched part of their 2005 DVD Live at the Marquee - And, man were they awesome… There’s just something about early 90’s british dance alternative rock pop stuff that they do that really gets me.. I’d love to be in a band like that.. I’ve been having that feeling lately — here’s the question I ask… How do bands like Jesus Jones get a group of guys together who are all mutually interested in doing the same sort of music? Every band I’ve ever been in, everyone is interested, really, in doing other things… The first band I was in was an indie punk band that sounded like The Ramones on a train playing clean guitars instead of dirty… Everyone quit that band because it wasn’t the sound they were going for… the second band I was in was sort of Smashing Pumpkins/Sunny Day Real Estate-ish that got broken in favor of Trash Metal… The next few bands were me wanting to do music like The Cure vs. Math Punk — they broke up cause we weren’t tough enough sounding… even now, My band is two bands because we can’t focus on one sound… we often wonder if we should be three of four bands.. even now.. I’m writing songs that are decidedly darker than our classic rock/kiss/dirty blues inspired last record… We already have a whole album written and ready to be recorded and I’ve written at least half of a new album after that.. but, we’re splitting our time with a punk outfit, because nobody can really decide what they want to do.. I mean, and I’m guilty too.. One day I want to be Warren Zevon meets Aerosmith, the next day I want to be The Cure meets Jesus Jones.. the only real question is… Why am I only into bands that no one buys their records anymore?? I mean, you’d think you’d model your band after something people besides yourself actually like…
ANYWAY, the best (if not the best) show that I ever saw was Jesus Jones’ Mi-5 gig at Arlene’s Grocery in NYC in 2001 (May 5th, according to their Web site) — It was set up by Ted Mason of Mi-5 Records, the guy that used to be in Modern English (He played during his set “Melt With You” — though it sounded more like the Rolling Stones doing it) — Midge Ure and Jesus Jones were also on the bill.. Somehow, I got in touch with Mason via email and he set me up on the guest list since I was traveling up all the way from Delaware — So that was the first cool thing, but, being seriously almost up on the stage with Jesus Jones was the coolest… A band that was so big in the early 90s… It was crazy.. I even met Mike in the bar after the show… If I had a scanner, I’d scan in some of the photos from the show. Anyway, that was probably the best show I’ve ever been too.. — Although, I seem to remember their drummer, who was new at the time, did a false start during “Right Here, Right Now” and actually starting playing “Real Real Real” — or it may have been the other way around… Mike referred to the Jones’ as the world’s only One and a Half hit wonders… It’s sad to read interviews with Edwards now about how Jesus Jones’ isn’t really a band anymore and they don’t really have any plans for the future. Besides the DVD the only other recent release was 2004’s Culture Vulture EP — Which was kins of a cool concept… After the tracks on the CD, it featured the instrument tracks so you could make your own remixes of the Jones’ songs..
Jesus Jones sounds so much louder and rocking live than on disc… Just way better, and that DVD proves it aswell… It strips away some of the techno gleam off songs like “Zeros and Ones” and “The Devil You Know” — Well, I guess Mike has a new Country music project going right now called The Blazing Zoos http://www.myspace.com/theblazingzoos – Check them out.. and does anyone else out their love Jesus Jones?
