Featuring the combined talents of Aaron North (Nine Inch Nails, Icarus Line), Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire, Queens Of The Stone Age) and Evan Weiss (Wires On Fire), Jubilee is a new project born of an LA scene brimming with ideas and interaction between musicians.
In the midst of recording their debut album they headed to the UK this January to road test their new songs. Artrocker.com caught up with the band relaxing on the tour bus, prior to their final show at the Camden Barfly.
“I quit The Icarus Line because I thought we’d become cartoons of ourselves. And also because I’d sworn to myself that I’d never play loud rock music ever again,” begins Aaron. “So I started recording an album of, like, folk songs which got put on hold when I got the Nails gig.
We’d never played a show before we got over here, so it was kinda like; what’s it gonna sound like? Can we be around each-other all day, every day for two weeks and not kill each-other?
“Then I talked to Michael, who I know because Wires On Fire put out records on my label, Buddyhead, and he had a bunch of songs too that he’d recorded at home. He’d played all the instruments on them and I was just blown away.”
The original idea involved, on Aaron’s part at least, a desire to move away from loud guitar distortion and to make “what you might call pussy music”. Michael elaborated, “It started building and building, it started out with an acoustic and piano, but we still had an itch for rocking so that had to get done as well.”
The studio they all share is a space in LA called Shabby Road. “It’s a great vibe there,” explained Aaron. “It’s like a double-edged sword because you’re never looking at the clock, but on the flipside if you’ve only got two weeks or two days, it’s like: go!”
So far, the album is unnamed although song title favourites include ‘Baggy Spandex’, the Chris Morris-esque ‘Get The Gun Away From Her’ and Aaron’s very own ‘Scotch, Scotch, Scotch. I Like Scotch. It Goes Down. Down To My Belly. Mmm Mmm Mmm’.
The UK tour has been a voyage of discovery for the group of Californian friends. As Aaron puts it, “We’d never played a show before we got over here, so it was kinda like; what’s it gonna sound like? Can we be around each-other all day, every day for two weeks and not kill each-other?” he asks.
That night at The Barfly, Jubilee set out to answer these questions. From the outset, it’s clear that “pussy music” this is not. The prerequisite elements of scrawling feedback, heavy bass and vicious drumming are all correct and present, albeit with the addition of three-part harmonies, acoustic guitar and Jeff Lynn creating mayhem with keys, tambourine - and whatever he can lay his hands on.
“Rock musicians are weird,” said Evan earlier in the day. “It’s like you’re cheating on your girlfriend if you’re playing with other people, but if you look at old jazz records, those cats played with everybody and were all the better for it, y’know?”
“It’s a theme we’ve tried to keep with the band,” continued Aaron. “The definition of a jubilee is a celebration and playing with all these different people was so positive, uplifting and inspiring that the name just felt obvious to us.”
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