video: The Static Jacks - My Parents Lied

I've been following this band for a while now and am still uber impressed with their chops.

The Static Jacks "My Parents Lied" from Michael James Murray on Vimeo.

the track comes from Laces, their newest EP

The Static Jacks - My Parents Lied [mp3]

visit them on MYSPACE

The Static Jacks give away EP + interview with Dandy Warhols manager

our NJ boys are giving away their newest, darkest EP, called Laces (don't let the name fool you, it's about as far from Victorian lit and corsets as you could possibly think) as a holiday gift until 21 December.

it's good.
download it HERE
then go to their shows and buy their merch.

I find it kind of hilarious and awesome that the boys are playing 21+ venues before they can drink legally

Jan 14 2010 8:00P	Pianos (21+)	New York, New York
Jan 21 2010 8:00P	Astoria Indies @ The Bohemian Beer Garden	Astoria Queens, New York
Jan 22 2010 8:00P	Lake Johnson with Shapes, Milo And The Fuzz, and Beast Make Bomb

speaking of hilarious, check out Henry's closing line in the interview which he and Ian did with Lee A Cohen (the manager of the Dandy Warhols):

Lee A Cohen: You guys are only 19 and so I'm thinking you were born in the 90s if not right at the tail end of the 80s. There's a big 80s English Guitar sound in what you guys are doing. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about? Are there bands from the 80s you are specifically referencing?

Ian: Personally I tend to look more towards the 70’s for my inspiration: The Clash, Joy Division, etc.

Henry: I’ve always really liked The Cure and I know Mike has always been a big fan of The Smiths, so with that I think our inspiration for guitar tones comes from looking in that direction a bit.

Lee A Cohen: I'm 35 and grew up in the 80s. If I wasn't so precious about my virginity I could have fathered one of you, I'm that old. Being that I work in music I am always in touch with younger people like yourselves, but my 80s references to film and TV are sometimes met with blank stares. Beyond music are there 80s films or TV that had a profound effect on you?

Henry: The only thing I really know about 80s television is what I've seen from thirty second clips on VH1 shows like I Love The 80s. I'm sorry!

Ian: In terms of movies, I would say Full Metal Jacket, Scarface, and The Empire Strikes Back have all been pretty essential to my development into who I currently am, I think. They all have an element of danger and adventure that motivates me to go out and take risks and really live my life, as cheesy and stupid as that might sound. So those movies are important. Oh, and Big.

Lee A Cohen: You guys are from Jersey. I recently saw a 60 minutes piece about a Canadian Documentary Film maker who was held hostage in Iran. His kidnappers were obsessed with Jersey. They thought it was Shangri La. The world seems to know best about Jersey from the likes of Springsteen, Bon Jovi, The Sopranos and those douchebags on The Shore show that MTV does. How do you explain bands like yourselves and Titus and Real Estate. Y'all don't seem very "Jersey" How do you explain this new burgeoning art rock scene?

Ian: I think there are a decent number of “Jersey” sounds, its just that outside of New Jersey people tend to think primarily of Springsteen, which is great, and Bon Jovi, which is… different. I think bands like Titus Andronicus and Real Estate and everyone else in this new scene are boldly combining some aspects of the Springsteen-esqe New Jersey sound everyone knows with some lesser-known musical traditions of our great state.

Lee A Cohen: Besides me, has anyone else totally awesome surfaced as a fan?

Nick: Apparently the guitar player from Taking Back Sunday is a fan!

Henry: There was a rumor that Spike Jonze listened to our EP LACES before making Where The Wild Things Are.

Lee A Cohen: Got any good cougar stories? I can't help but think that all these 30 yr old rocker chicks might want to take advantage of your collective youthfulness. Don't get me wrong, I'm not gay but damn you guys are cute!

Nick: There are many cougar stories. They show up at our shows with children or banners…very strange.

Henry: Some mom once thought I was one of the Jonas Brothers and asked me why I wasn’t wearing my promise ring while tugging at my belt.

The Static Jacks - Parties And Friends (And Bullshit) [mp3]

The Static Jacks: new EP + free song!

The Static Jacks, a band from New Jersey that I absolutely adore, are back with a brand new EP, called Laces. it'll be released in two weeks, on September 15th, but you can download a song from it called "My Parents Lied" on their fancy shmansy newly designed WEBSITE. also, if you preorder the EP, you can get a digital copy "immediately". sounds like a good deal to me.

if you download the new single directly from the website, it comes with a lyric sheet (PDF) and the album art for the new EP, but you can be lazy and download below:

The Static Jacks - My Parents Lied (new song!) [mp3]
the song is a lot more subdued than their earlier work, it's like Joy Division meets loads of great percussion (including claps!) I like it a lot, it seems like these guys are being brave enough to explore lots of new musical territory at an early age, which is always a good sign.

visit The Static Jacks on MYSPACE for info on gigs. the band is currently playing a handful of NYC-proximal shows, check em out if you can!

BONUS:
The Static Jacks - The Waltz [mp3, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!]
I know I've posted it before, but I just can't help myself, I love this song and want to share it with as many people as humanly possible.. I listen to it over and over again sometimes, it's just so...right.

interview: The Static Jacks

The Static Jacks are currently recording their third EP, which will hopefully see a release this fall. I am absolutely addicted to their first two EPs, a collection of eight brilliant songs to satisfy anyone's thirst for unbridled garage rock.

I had a chance to ask the band a few questions, so read on below:

Where did the band name “The Static Jacks” come from?

Henry: We wanted to be classified as something… like a Velvet, a Ramone, a Stroke, a Jack. We just thought Static Jacks sounded cool. It’s just a name. Plus, there are plenty of letters in there to make a good design out of.

What inspired you all to make a band? Did you set out to make music for yourselves or did you always want to share the music with a larger audience?

Ian: We started such a long time ago that we never really spoke about where we would go with our music… I know that all of us dreamed of being big rockstars but I don’t know how many of us thought we would actually become musicians.

The musicianship is surprisingly advanced for how young you guys are. Were any of you in band in school or did you just pick up guitars one day and decide to learn how to play?

Henry: When I was younger I took piano lessons privately for eight years and then I played trumpet for about five years through school. I had always really wanted to play guitar since I was young but for some reason never had the courage until I turned thirteen to ask for one. I think I just didn’t feel like I was ready. Mmm.

Michael: I developed a solid ear for rhythm and structure playing percussion in elementary school all the way through to my high school years in the drum line. I picked up an electric guitar and learned how to play when the desire to express myself through melody had struck me!

Nick: Literally, in 4th grade they assigned me drums and I was never given a lesson. I just listened to a lot of music and mimicked it. Green Day, The Strokes, The Who, The Killers, I just listened to these styles until I had my own.

You guys have played Bowery. Do you prefer playing for smaller audiences? Is intimacy lost when a band plays for thousands of fans?

Michael: I prefer playing sold out stadiums.

The first EP is much more varied sonically. “The Waltz” sounds like something from the fifties. Where do you draw inspiration for your music?

Henry: I had always really wanted to write a waltz and at the time I was listening to Abbey Road a lot which has a few of George Harrison’s waltz on there! Besides that everything else is just a strong combination of different things. We draw inspiration from our 19 years of life experiences whether they’re exaggerated at all or the straight truth. I like things to feel pretty cinematic. Usually a good sign for us if a song is good or not is if we can picture it in a movie trailer.

A lot of the lyrics seem a little too dramatic to be real. Where do you draw the line between fact and fiction? Is music better if it is based on something that’s already happened, or if it draws from the imagination?

Henry: Well both Ian and Nick handle a majority of the words. Ian has a very dramatic style where everything feels like it is some epic wasteland scene in the big apocalyptic blockbuster of the summer…and Nick has a very straightforward style where he claims how much he likes a girl and then claims how much the girl sucks. We’re still only 19-years-old so of course everything is going to be an exaggeration of what actually happened and of course it’s all going to be related towards girls.

Nick: Dramatic is good, when you attempt to tap into a feeling or mood that you think is important enough to acknowledge. And it works…that is the ultimate goal. Too many indie bands out there write about obscure, ridiculous things that I don’t relate to at all.

Ian: Most of our lyrics ought to be considered fact, at least at their core. We occasionally blow things out of proportion, but I think it’s the job of teenagers to blow things out of proportion.

Michael: I think creative lyrics are a rare gem to come by these days and I’m glad to be part of a band with such creative/imaginative minds!

The band is still in its early stages. Are you guys working, going to school, what?

Spencer: A few of us have part-time jobs. Nick’s working at Crumbs Bakery, I’m working at Pier One, Mike’s always starting a new job, Ian’s always trying to work at Rockn Joe’s Café and Henry’s always trying to do freelance graphic design work through Craigslist.

Ian’s singing reminds me a lot of Joe Strummer. Are you guys fans of The Clash? What bands do The Static Jacks love?

Nick: We do love the Clash. We do love The Strokes. We love Sam Cooke. The Pixies. The Replacements, The Buzzcocks. Bruce Springsteen. Punk is great, but it has to have pop sensibility.

You guys have two really great EPs so far, eight songs in total. Have you had to scrap a lot more than that? How does the refining process work?

Michael: We have had to scrap a decent number of songs, but we usually realize this within a few weeks of writing them. It’s hard because sometimes you can get really excited just by the fact that you wrote a song and it worked out. You have to give it time to listen to it and realize that it actually sucks.

Henry: We recycle a lot though too. A lot of times we’ll take parts from these scrapped songs and combine them to make one ultimate song.

I usually don’t like remixes of songs, but I am digging the RAC Maury remix of “Fire on the Bridge and in the Tunnel below”. How did that come about?

Henry: I’ve always loved RAC remixes and only heard about them because of the work they do with bands we’ve played with like Tokyo Police Club and such. So one day I contacted them just to let them know I was a big fan and how someday I would love to work with them on a remix for one of my band’s songs. André from the group emailed me back immediately saying how much he liked our stuff and then passed us along to Andrew Maury who also works there. Andrew did the remix for us and we all hit it off right away. And now he’s currently producing our next EP, which should hopefully be out in the fall!

Is there a song that you guys love to play more than the others? Maybe a song that you’ve realized really grabs people’s attention?

Ian: We very much like playing our new songs, just because we are so excited about them. In terms of the songs that are out already, I really enjoy playing “Stay A Lover,” because it is probably one of our wildest songs live. We all go pretty crazy by the end of it, and its really fun.

Michael: I enjoy Parties and Friends (and Bullshit)- which will be available on our upcoming EP! - because the guitar parts make me move in strange ways. People seem to enjoy that.

If you could tour with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?

Michael: ZIGGY STARDUST.

Henry: A young Elvis Costello.

Nick: I’m going to say The Clash. They would bring guns and shit, it would be insane.

Ian: Joy Division

Spencer: Lil’ Wayne


visit the band on MYSPACE where you can listen to all 8 songs in their entirety, as well as the RAC remix of "Fire on the Bridge". my favourite is "The Waltz"--a song with such sugary guitar licks you might just get reprimanded by your dentist for indulging in it

visit their OFFICIAL WEBSITE

and buy their stuff HERE
I really recommend both EPs, even though I slightly prefer the first, Sonny Halliday.

band of the week: The Static Jacks

Current lineup:
Henry Kaye -guitar
Ian Devaney -vocals
Spencer Kimmins -bass
Nick Brennan -drums
Michael Sue-Poi -guitar

Ah, youth. It seems like all of the best music is derived from those too young to worry about mortgages or driven by ego-maniacal motives like wanting to be heard on the radio or winning five grammys.

The Static Jacks are from New Jersey. They’re five eighteen years olds who play good rock n roll music, but don’t be fooled, they aren’t a “new band” per se, as they have been together since they were thirteen. Their latest release and second EP entitled “Bridges and Tunnels” has entranced me beyond measure. I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since I first clicked play, and this troubles me, as the band is still in its early stages and I have no idea when they’ll come to California. And this is definitely a band worth seeing live.

On the rise, the band has opened for Tokyo Police Club at Bowery Ballroom and Blind Pilot at Mercury Lounge, two sold out shows that have hopefully opened people’s eyes (and ears!) to this fantastic band.

The Static Jacks are all about bringing the good stuff back to the table. Guitarist Henry Kaye told me “We're sick of synth music too..that is why we are here, to try and help fill the void of straight set up garage rock bands.”

The first thing I thought when I first heard the band was “damn, these boys are exactly what I need right now.” Guitar, bass, drums, vocals. No synthesizers, no special effects. Stripped down, exactly how I like it.

RCRD LBL sum it up quite nicely: "be stoked that there are kids still buying guitars out there instead of Ableton". The Static Jacks have recently been featured on the website, click here to check that out.

Lead singer Ian Devaney’s voice actually has the same nasally quality that Donald Cummings of The Virgins has, but the delivery is much more urgent, like Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters.

The Static Jacks have lyrics that’ll blow you out of the water. They are dreary and incredibly insightful for such a young band, but I’m not complaining.

On the opener, “Resistence/Self Control”, Ian sings: “so give up on hope and cast down your dreams/resistance is as resistance seems/and nothing's gonna happen if you stay or go.” The songs are riddled with references to lovers that are strikingly mature; this is clearly a band beyond its youth and ahead of its time. On “Fire on the Bridge and in the Tunnel Below”, a highly dramatic scene is rendered: “it was a crime of passion/done in my own fashion and I couldn't escape it/it was an act of war”. These first two songs are the darker of the bunch, the latter two flirt more with melody and strangely optimistic hooks.

“Stay a Lover” sounds like a Ramones song with more intricate lyricism. This, and the closing track, “Wine Cellar” even flirt with Beach Boys-esque guitar licks. Needless to say, I’m hooked. Now you can be too.

The Static Jacks on MYSPACE

The Static Jacks – Resistence/Self Control [mp3, highly recommended!]
My favourite of the bunch, it’s instantly gripping and heartbreaking as it shatters your ears with glorious sound. “We wouldn't fall in love, we'd just fall down,” Ian declares. Little does he know of how much power The Static Jacks’ modest handful of songs have, most importantly: the the power to help people rediscover their love of rock n roll, pure and simple.

And I’m pretty ecSTATIC about that.

DATES:

Jun 18 PERSONALITY CRISIS @ Crash Mansion New York, New York
Jun 25 Velvet Lounge w/ PANSY DIVISION WASHINGTON, Washington DC
Jun 26 The Fire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 28 Billy Baloneys Danbury, Connecticut
Jun 29 The Middle East Cambridge, Massachusetts

the last time I posted shows local to the area which an impressive band hailed from, about a month later, they went on a full on US tour! I'm hoping that the same thing will happen with The Static Jacks.