Ep. #83 James and Tyler- Jayler

Back Stage Pass with Steve Ryan Ep. #83 James Bartholomew and Tyler Arrowsmith- Jayler. Talking about the new album, tour and the songs, Down Below, Need Your Love, Riverboat Queen, Take me Home, I'll Meet You There and more. #Jayler

Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:05

It's back to Dave Fats with Steve Ryan. And here's your host. Steve Ryan.

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Hey guys. Hey. I got both of you.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Indeed. Sweet. How you doing, mate?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Good, how are you guys?

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Not bad. We just got back from the Netherlands this morning.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Where are you now, Tyler?

SPEAKER_01 0:33

We're um we're both just outside of Birmingham at our at our homes.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Hey, hey, thanks for giving me some time. I uh I got sent some information on uh on this new album, Voices and Heard. Um that's a cover right there. It's great. Yeah, too. Yeah. Oh, it's a vinyl. Yes. Oh man, I love vinyl so much.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

We do too. We're really excited about it, man.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

I um I spent some time listening to the tracks that that have been released so far. And man, I don't know. Um I love what you guys do so much, and and I think that musically, I think that people are really thirsty for what you guys are doing because there's not enough of it. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Then there's there's some bands out there, you know, um, that we get compared to or that we're in the same category of. So there's the Greta Van Fleet, uh the Band feel, um, Dirty Honey, you know, uh the Black Crows as well. Yeah, I wouldn't say the new, but the the and the black keys as well. So we have that kind of vibe.

SPEAKER_00 1:38

Yeah, but there's something still fresh about what you guys are doing, and I and I really appreciate it. I dug into your to your catalog a little bit, but I wanted to talk about the new stuff real quick, if that's okay. Um, I was listening to Down Below, and you know what I love about that song? It caught me immediately, and it kind of reminded me of Western Americana, kind of with that harmonica at the beginning. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah. And then it just kicks into some good old-fashioned rock and roll. Man, I love that song so much. Tell me about this project and kind of the band, because I don't I I had not heard of you guys, and I don't know um uh uh very many uh I I don't know for if what's happening in America, but I hope you guys just explode. But tell me about the band a little bit in the background and how you guys got what you're you know, where you are and and your sound and just everything.

SPEAKER_05 3:22

Um it kind of the band started from me and Tyler meeting at an open mic night, and I convinced after him coming down to the open mic night a couple times, I convinced him to leave his six form, which is like something you do after high school, uh, to come join my college. Uh that I was studying music and music tech because he was studying science and maths, and I was like, You're a guitarist, you don't need that. And um, so I and Ed and Ricky, our bass player and drummer, they were already there at this college as well. I didn't really speak to them that much, but I knew they were there and I knew they could play. And um, so I was like, Okay, that's cool. So when Tyler kind of came around, we started the band and we had a different bass player in, but Ed's always been the drummer, and um yeah, we we did the pub circuit, the club circuit, and then our old bass player left. We got Ricky in to play, but he's originally a guitarist, so we're like, Oh yeah, this is role for a bass player, and he was like, Well, I played bass a couple times, and we're like me and Ed were like, Yeah, we've seen you play bass, you're better that on bass and you work guitar, and um so Ricky joined in. He also knew how to play some chords on piano, so we got him on organ and mandolin now as well. He's our multi-instrumentalist, and yeah, we just wrote and wrote and wrote until we had songs coming out of our ears, and you know, we've got like plus 60 tracks now, or like it's probably 60 mark of just unreleased music and demos, and we're just like, okay, cool, let's record an album before we start carrying on. And then we recorded the album and here we are.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Wow. Who are your who are your musical influences? You know, kind of when you're you got an ACDC shirt on, but where do you where where who turns you on? Who what what was the vibe, especially as you were deciding what kind of music you liked growing up? And then even now, who who are you listening to?

SPEAKER_05 5:25

Uh I mean I'm I'm always out searching for new music and new artists, not even new artists, but music which I haven't heard before but is old. Um, but the people that I've been playing since I was about 10 years of age have always been Bob Dylan, John Denver, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, uh, Cream, Eric, like anything to do with Eric Clapton, George Harrison solo stuff. So those are kind of the vibes that I went for. And well, Ed, our drummer, he's into jazz and big bands and kind of disco beats. Ricky, our bass player, is into jazz as well, with but more reggae and Motown, and Tyler's into uh, you know, like the the big guitar gods of the 80s and like more riff-based. So we didn't really think any of these genres would combine. We were like, well, let's just play and see what happens. And what happened was the sound that we produce on this album, and we've been playing for ages, and so there was no particular sound we were aiming for, it's just what naturally came out. And from being a folk country kind of guy, and John Denver's got a high range, but to me, he was the highest range. Like I was like, Oh, he was pretty and I wouldn't really get there, but kind of competing over the frequencies and the loudness of the amps and the drums, I have to sing high. So I started looking at people like Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin and loads of like soulful blues uh black artists, and uh especially women as well, and they were just so inspirational to me. And I was just like, wow, uh, and to get somewhere like that, it's it I I've I'm I'm quite impressed.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah, I would have never guessed John Denver. I love John Denver. Who does him? Who doesn't? I think he's so great. Hey, um, you know, I just a couple of weeks ago I had on the singer from Kula Shaker. Yeah, and yeah, your guy, your your background and the way you guys dress kind of reminds me of his vibe too. Cool, cool. Yeah, hey, I was listening to uh Need Your Love. Yep, great tune. I I I jumped on YouTube and I watched the video. Did you know it's got over a million views?

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Yes, it's uh it's it's pretty unbelievable. Yeah, we um I mean only within a few weeks, like we down below did well, but um, we weren't expecting need your love to do that well. So yeah, it's uh pretty incredible.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

What do you think about what do you think it is about that track that that people are just I mean, because obviously when you when you get that many views, people are talking about it, right? I mean, it's not just people accidentally came across your your song. They I mean they either search for you uh for it or somebody told them about it and they went and found it. So what do you think it is about that track that just kind of that just kind of exploded?

SPEAKER_05 8:21

Uh I think when we were writing it, I kind of we didn't have any lyrics, it was just like the vibe of the guitar, and Tyler came up with the guitar if and we were just jamming it out and demoing it without any vocal, and I was just like, this is so like cockrocky, and then like that's such a phrase I hate. Cock rock. It's just like because it's not what rock music should be about, but I'm just like, oh, this is like Aerosmith, uh you know, a bit GNR in there. I'm just like, oh something, something about it that's like pulling me into like more of a primal kind of thing, and essentially the lyrics are about a one-night stand, you know, uh that primal urge that we all have as humans to kind of have someone there and then, and I think everyone can kind of resonate with that. Uh, not even just for a one-night stand, but maybe seeing your future partner or your future wife or anything like that, and you having those same kind of feelings. So I think that's what kind of drive people or kind of get people, is like the lyrics are quite easy to understand, and um, there's no like hidden meaning, it's it's literally at face value, and the riff is really cool as well. It's fun to play, and it's just bouncy, the drums groove, the bass grooves they get like, yeah, it's just like it's just pure rock and roll.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yeah. The full album comes out later this week. And uh, what are you anticipating? I mean, there's it seems to be a lot of buzz, guys.

SPEAKER_05 10:38

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're hoping it does well, and like people, it's just well received. I think that's the only thing we're really looking for, is because we get compared to bands and a certain band as well from the uh late 60s, early 70s, and um we get called you know, they're just like Led Zeppelin, you can say it. Yeah, Led Zeppelin, they're like, Oh yeah, these guys are rip off Zeppelin.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Who has that band?

SPEAKER_05 11:08

Yeah, exactly. That's what I say. And um I'm like, if you actually listen to the album, which they can't at this point in time because it's not out, it's just like when you listen to the album, hopefully these other influences that we have individually will pop through, like bitter sweet. When that comes out, I think it's gonna shock a lot of people because they're like, hold on, this is completely different and hate to see it end as literally just a folk song, like um, but with an overdriven guitar over top. Um, so I think that's gonna surprise some people and kind of sit make them sit back and think, okay, they did they they have more influences than just Zeppelin because we we are influenced by them, and like most bands are. Most the the greatest bands of all time will always say Led Zeppelin, like they they're just the band and they're just you know, we're trying to just recreate what the effect they had, not the sound or what they did, but you know, what uh a bit of what they did, but what they did to people, not how they played the guitar, how Robert would sing, how John Bonham would play, nothing like that. Just we want to bring peace, love, and unity back and make people feel good again. That's all we're trying to bring.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah, you know, I was I was reading about you guys last night and I saw a a a number of different articles that talked about the Led Zeppelin influences or the sound. And I I mean I I I I actually heard it after I read that. Then it's like, okay, I I see that. But to me, when I was listening to your stuff, I mean, I was thinking 80s rock. I mean, you know, it was just like, you know, poison and you know, all that that fun rock back from the 80s. It just that's what that's the vibe I was getting. When when it was fun rock, it's like kind of pop rock. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Yeah, that's more like oh my alley kind of thing.

SPEAKER_05 13:00

Yeah, yeah. And I think uh when we released these the singles of uh need your love down below, it was just the the easy, easier songs for people to get and resonate with, and like, yeah, as you say, poppy, they are poppy. And because you know, we we are a band who like to talk about the 70s and the sixties and what what happening at that time, but we are subconsciously involved and inspired by pop music because it's what you grow up on, yeah, and it's everywhere, like it's with the kids in our year at school and in our classes, they were listening to it and it subconsciously sinked into our heads, I think. And uh, I mean, I like 80s dance music, I think that's quite cool, and some of the poppy stuff is really like Blondie, massive Blondie fan. Not people get that, but massive blondie fan, and um so yeah, and oh and Donna Summer. Who doesn't like Donna Summer?

SPEAKER_00 13:55

Can we talk about that? I found a song called Riverboat Queen. Yeah, and that to me goes back to what you you were just talking about, James, a minute ago with the 60 to 70s feel, because that's the feel that I got more of that song than the new than the newer songs. The newer songs to me, I just got this 80s vibe, but that Riverboat Queen kind of it had that 60s-70s feel, and the video too. Yeah, I mean the clothes you guys are wearing, is that what when you go out, is that what you wear?

SPEAKER_05 14:24

No, I wish we did. These these these vintage clothes are expensive. Yeah, they are sometimes we have a dress up. Yeah, you never know, but uh yeah, I mean it's it the look of what was happening back in the 60s and 70s, all the all the colour and all the sequins, the patterns, and kind of the flamboyancy, and you know, especially with um David Bowie and Elton John, and as they were crossing boundaries of women's clothes and kind of creating that thing. I'd like clothes don't defy gender in a sense, and that's what stuck with me. And I was just like, Okay, yeah, clothes don't defy gender, but you you can just how however you want to express yourself. So I know I look better in women's jeans than I do men's jeans. So that's what I'm gonna wear. Yeah. I've got the bum for it, I've got the arse. So that's where everyone says it. Everyone says it.

SPEAKER_03 15:19

Yeah, I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Do you guys do you guys live close together or no? Close by each other? Not too far.

SPEAKER_05 16:05

Yeah, not not too about a 40 minute drive.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, and I like rehearsal space slash studio where we uh make all of our demos, write, rehearse. It's like right in the middle of that for all of us, all four of us. So it's this, you know, it's a we it's a nice space where we we get together multiple times a week, and sometimes we just go there to rehearse, and then someone will come up with an idea, and it's like, right, instead of rehearsing, scrap the rehearsal, we'll we'll write a song.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

That's what's that's what I wanted to ask you about your recording process, because you know, recording music now isn't the same as it used to be. And there's a lot of people who have in-home studios, and you know, when COVID was on, people were recording at home, and then they were sending them all, and somebody edited it all together, and it didn't have that live altogether kind of you know collaboration feel to it. It just kind of felt to me, a lot of that stuff felt kind of sterile. So, do you guys you guys actually go in the studio and you cut your tracks and you're all together?

SPEAKER_01 17:00

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's something that was that was very important to us, you know, the the whole experience. Because like in our own studio now, we do we do that with demos. Um back when we did the EP, we didn't have the facilities to, and you know, those songs sound good, but um, it was overdubbed, and you know, we're we're live bands. We we when we write, we write as a band, um, like the riffs, especially like in a room is is where the song kind of comes alive before like the lyrics come onto it. Um, so yeah, for the album, we wanted to go somewhere where we could all track live together, even for tracks like, for example, Need Your Love, James doesn't play the guitar live on stage. Um, however, we wanted that it goes back to like the ACDC mentality of you've got the the live band play and you've got guitar left and right. So James actually went and learned some of the guitar parts and and created some new parts. So that main rhythm track that you're hearing is one take, one you know, it'd say performance in a room. Um, and yeah, we just think that that is it's part of the sound. You can create a good result um doing it over dubbed, but it's the mentality. And we went to the studio, it's called Vader Studios with uh our producer George Perks. We had a fantastic time, and we actually stayed there for the whole two weeks as well, which is again like a kind of old school way of doing it, and it was for that mindset, you know, you go in there for a couple weeks, you're gonna record, but you're also gonna hang out, and yeah, it's just it's like a mental state, and that's very important to us.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Do you guys record um live all at once, or do you you know set the drum track and then the guitar tracks and then you know the overdubs and then the vocals, or do you do it live, or maybe a little both? A little both.

SPEAKER_05 18:49

Yeah, a little bit of both, but mainly the like the base the main drums, bass, guitars, um, are all done in the room together. So me and Tyler will both lay down a rhythm track instead of him doing Lee, we'll do the lead overdub later, and then the vocals are like the last thing we do of the day, just so it gives me time to warm up and kind of get used to the song and how it was sitting. And um so yeah, some and then percussion was the overdubbed as well. Um, but yeah, so it's mainly the meat and the potatoes was live, and then the seasoning and all that was done later.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

I love that. I love it when you listen to a track and it's just live, and you know, I've I've I've done almost a hundred episodes now, and a lot of times people say it's the live cut that's always comes out the best because when you go back and you try to perfect it, it never feels right, it never kind of has that something special, and even if there's a little mistake in there, that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

Yeah, some of the best ideas have come from mistakes for us. Like we've we've messed up and gone, oh that's cool, and it goes go, it goes on the album track. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

You guys gonna hit the road? What's the plan?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

Uh yeah, we just got back from um the Netherlands. Um, we got our album launch shows coming up. There, it's like a small little tour we're doing there. Um, the big stuff for us is um kind of starting in the summer. We got five dates with Sammy Hagar. Um, which is it's a great start. Yeah, obviously, me being kind of like an 80s rock fan, Van Halen. I know James likes some of the Van Hagar stuff as well. Um, that's a great no, it's just in the UK. So there's um date in Manchester, date in Wolverhampton, and three dates in London, and then uh to end the year off, this is around September to November, we got a 36-date tour with Deep Purple across Europe. And that's like the yeah, that that's that's the the be all and end all. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Wow. That's so great, you guys. Hey, um, I know we're coming up on the clock, and what I promised I would keep you guys, and I know it's uh it's evening over there, but I just wanted to talk tell you about I was kind of deep diving into the catalog, and I ran into uh across the uh a piece of our time LP. There's a couple of tunes on there that I just wanted to ask you about. There's a the song on there called Take Me Home, which I really love, the groove to that song. But you know, you guys kind of have kept it it when you hear it, I know it's you guys. Now that I know you, and I've listened to the news that I heard this like, yeah, yeah. Was when you was that when you guys were just kind of cutting your teeth and figuring yourselves out? Or what tell me about the process on that early album?

SPEAKER_05 22:07

I I think it yeah, it was definitely us cutting our teeth and figuring out who we were. Because like l listening back to me vocally, I sound completely different. And um i I w I wouldn't put those two together. I wouldn't be like, okay, uh and we thought about remastering it but we're just like it doesn't sound like me, there's no point. And um so we're just leaving it as it as a piece in our time, if you will. Um but yeah, take Take Me Home was fun. Uh I'll meet you there. We kind of that's where like the folk, I was introducing the folk element with the acoustic guitar bass stuff. And take me home is country in a way. Uh obviously the inspiration of uh John Denver's Take Me Home Country Roads, and I was just like, I've got I've gotta show my uh I've gotta put my heart on my sleeve for this song, and and yeah, Take Me Home is about you know going to a festival or going to a gig with your mates, having a good time, having a drink, you know, and what happens after the festival, the the gig and how you feel, and for the audience as well. Um it's definitely uh it's it's that EP was it was so fun. And we we did a vlog for that uh uh EP and uh that's on YouTube, so you can watch that on YouTube, us like goofing about in the studio. And um yeah, it's uh it's a it's an interesting little piece of work.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

I I I really was digging it. I you know, and I'm glad you mentioned I'll meet you there because I put it in my notes and and I love the cool mellowness of that song, and it's just kind of got this classic rock ballad 80s feel to it that you just don't hear it enough anymore. I I think. And and I really appreciate what what what you guys did with that tune.

SPEAKER_05 23:55

Cheers, thank you, thank you. Right, thank you. Glad you like it.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

We danced online under the stars, we looked at the scene, we traveled the world, we started all, we watched the mountains all. We'll never give up, we'll never fight out in the world.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Guys, I am I I'm so happy about this new album. I'm so excited to see what happens with it. I I hope that you guys at some point get over here to the States. I would love to see you guys do some something live uh myself. I I've you know, some of your videos I've watched. I can't imagine that uh a live show is uh it's it's gotta be fantastic to watch you guys up on stage. So I hope we get to do that someday. But I wish you nothing but success with this, with this project. And uh, and I hope maybe as uh as things progress, maybe we'll uh we'll do a follow-up and you get new stuff or a tour. You're coming to the States. Let's talk again and make sure we get the word out.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

Yeah, sounds good.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

All right, you guys, thanks again. Thanks, have a great evening, and uh, I'll talk to you again, okay? Okay, bye bye.

SPEAKER_06 25:40

For questions or comments, email Steve at steverion.song of the day at gmail.com.