Tuesday 12 June 2012

Meet JOS

Hi all,

It's 10 question interview time again. This time with John O'Shea and Rosie Botterill from JOS.
This has to be the most international band I have interviewed, and I've interviewed 3 (yes 3!) bands. Find out what makes some of these guys tick below.

1) I haven't been following you long, where have you been and where did you come from?
JO: Well I've been writing since I was 16, tried going solo in my early 20s which went nowhere so in 2010 I decided to record the first album I ever wrote called Ad Nauseam. After a year of preparation I met Anna Thomas in March 2011 and together we recorded the album in 7 days. Once the album was completed I met Rosie Botterill through Anna and Chris Pinkton through an advert. After just a few gigs another friend of Anna's Nathan Baldachino completed the line up of JOS.
RB: We formed around october last year, so we haven't been around long! I was the last to join after meeting John through Anna. I had been playing in a previous band who had just broke up when John got in contact with me. It was perfect timing!

2) How would you describe your music?
JO: Ummm... That's a bit tricky. We're a rock band, but we're rock in the broadest sense. For me rock is everything from Bob Dylan to Marilyn Manson and everything in between and the band reflects that. I think instinctively we're a grungy punk rock band, but as musicians we'd never limit ourselves. Also, I get bored really quickly of my own songs so the idea of doing the same thing twice I find utterly repulsive. As a result every album is different from every other album. We're no one trick pony.
RB: This is a tricky question for me because our style is very broad it's quite hard to explain. Although almost all the song fall in the rock category. You'll just have to come and see us to find out!

3) What was the first album you bought?
JO: Can't remember. I can remember nicking my sisters copy of Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion II and listening to that constantly. I suppose the only album I can think of that I used to listen to a lot before that was Queen's Innuendo.
RB: I really don't think I can remember that long ago! Probably some bullshit, I didn't have a great music taste as a child hah. I think the 1st album I remember buying which I still have now was Evanescence's debut album Fallen. That was really big when it came out, I was 10 at the time so it was probably the 1st album I brought with my own money so I guess that counts.

4) Who are your influences?
JO: Another tricky one. Emotionally, Guns N' Roses and Led Zeppelin is where my heart lays. But as a songwriter Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson is where my head lays. Other artists and bands may have come along since them and sold more albums and done bigger tours and made more money. But on pure song writing talent alone no-one in the last 50 years has come close to those men, not by a long way.
RB: My biggest influence as a guitarist would be Slash. Guns is my favourite band, and they are what made me pick up the guitar in the first place. There are so many guitarists and styles I love its hard to pick a few! Players like Joe Perry, Joe Satriani, George Benson, BB King, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Nuno Bettencourt, Steve Morse.. I could go on!

5) What venue would you really like to play, who would you support and why?
JO: Citi Field Stadium in the USA. I would of love to have played Shea Stadium for obvious reasons but the idiots demolished it so Citi Field will have to do. Who would we support? Sod that, we'd be headlining!
RB: The ultimate goal Wembley Stadium! But being a bit more realistic I would really like to play Brixton Academy because I've spent a lot of time there and some of the best gigs I've seen have been at this venue. I would love to support Slash.. of course haha but any band that I admire and love their music, whether they're big or not, I'd be happy to support.

6) What is the most stand out moment you've had so far?
JO: There was something special about our first gig. This is the first band I've ever been in but even the others said there was 'something' about that night. I think that night we realized that there's 'something' about this band.
RB: I think for me personally the best moment/feeling I've had with the band so far would be on stage at our first gig. At that gig a lot of important people to me where in the audience and to see all my friends come out and show their support was really lovely. It was a great gig and it felt like everything had come together, like our work up till then had paid off. But there's still a lot more hard work to come!

7) What is the name of your DEBUT ALBUM?
JO: Ad Nauseam. The name came from the fact that I've spent 14 years trying to come up with a name for that bloody record and by the time I had come up with it I was sick of it.
RB: Our debut album is Ad Nauseam.

8) What should people expect from your DEBUT ALBUM?
JO: Well there's a variety of styles on it. Overall I'd describe the album as Garage Rock as the songs on it vary from Grunge, Punk, Indie and Psychedelia. Funny thing is I can't write songs like that anymore. Back then I had no idea how to write a song so there's naivety to the songs which my later songs don't have.
RB: Some awesome tunes ;)

9) Your fantastic NEW video for "When Giants Walked the Earth" features an animated amphibian, who came up with the video idea, where did the original video come from?
JO: Oh that's easy, the idea was inspired by laziness! Basically I did a video last year for the song 'Get Up' and it was a right royal pain in the arse sourcing all those clips then converting them then editing it them, bloody nightmare it was. It's a cool video but I had no appetite to do something as time consuming as that again, but I did want to keep a similar feel for 'When Giants Walked The Earth'. So the idea was to find footage that was already edit. I did find a strange 1950s strip tease collage video but it was kinda sleazy and then I stumbled upon that frog cartoon and thought that would be different and funny and it seemed to fit with the music so I used it. So if you're looking for a JOS video with meaning check out 'Get Up' if you're looking for a laugh then 'When Giants Walked The Earth' is the one for you.
RB: Erm John made this, I have no idea where it came from or what it is haha I was sent it when it was finished!

10) Whats next for JOS?
RB: Hopefully a lot of gigs to be booked. We're talking about putting on our own events, and playing student nights etc So hopefully we can get the up and running soon. Now we have our new member and we're all in good health we're gonna be upping out game! Watch this space!
Plenty. We've just released Ad Nauseam as a torrent. Here are the links:
https://tpb.pirateparty.org.uk/torrent/7343983/JOS_-_Ad_Nauseum
https://isohunt.com/torrent_details/394432781/JOS+Ad+Nauseum?tab=summary
https://kat.ph/jos-ad-nauseum-t6441811.html
We've also got a Charity gig coming up for Little Princess Trust and we're going to be hosting our nights in the autumn. So lots to look forward to!

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