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A Frenchman asks The Jamming Arabs some questions, which they answer.
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THE SECRET ORIGIN
DI: How and when did you start this band?
TJA: A while ago. We were all 18 or thereabouts, we met at college, and none of us could play our instruments. Actually none of us had any instruments. And we mostly just went out drinking. The main thing was that the three of us were in a band. Music was something we would get round to later. About a year later, as it happened.
DI: Where did you get that name?
TJA: Not telling…
DI: Were you playing in any bands before?
TJA: No. We all learned to play in this band, so we've developed our own way of doing things. No other band would have us, as was illustrated when Russ joined another band for a bit, then got kicked out for having the wrong 'attitude' and playing too many samba beats. (We loved his samba beats.) Our new drummer got kicked out of the same band, though he was playing bass at the time…
DI: Do you remember your first rehearsal?
TJA: Our first rehearsal – we had no electricity so electric guitars were out (not that we had any) and so were electric lights. We used candles and acoustic guitars, some camera cases for drums, some wooden blocks and a biscuit-tin lid. We were 18. It was a beaut laugh.
THE INFLUENCES
DI: What's new for us is that ska touch: how come you manage to mix ska, surf and punk?
TJA: The ska thing… there's no rhyme or reason for it. We just happened to try it, started playing ska-ish tunes totally by accident, we thought it sounded good and so now we try and do it on purpose.
DI: Tell us about this ska scene, current bands you like etc…
TJA: As far as we can remember we've never played with a band in the North East of England (where we're from) that wasn't an 'indie' band. There isn't a ska scene, a punk scene, a garage scene… Just an 'indie' scene. Maybe that's how come we mix so many styles together – no-one's saying "Hey! That's not ska! Stop it!" or "That song wasn't punk enough!". So we do what we want, if it sounds good.
DI: I think that the Beatles, the Barracudas and Madness are the only bands listed on your EP. So is that the 'holy trilogy' for the Jamming Arabs?
TJA: Yeah, they're all good bands, but you're forgetting Elvis, The Banana Splits, Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini. And all the telly programmes are a big influence on Dave's songwriting.
DI: What kind of covers do you do on stage?
TJA: At the moment there's: Mr Moonlight, a song the Beatles used to do; My Girl, the Madness tune but with a samba beat; and His Last Summer by The Barracudas, so that's the holy trilogy covered, but we also do Legend of Xanadu, the no.1 by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch. Which is just funny. And cool.
DI: With who are you mostly compared with (I noticed you like the tralala's and the lala's like the Dickies)?
TJA: Yeah, people sometimes say we sound like the Dickies but we've never heard any of their stuff. We're quite poor so we can't buy many records. Are the Dickies good? Are people being nice?
THE ALBUM, NEVER BIN SURFIN'
DI: Did you really record your LP in one day?
TJA: Umm, yes.
DI: How did you record it?
TJA: We recorded the music live, then added the vocals 'cos we wanted to get them sounding right. The lyrics and the harmonies are pretty important, y'know? We reckon it worked, it all sounds pretty good. Not bad for a day's work…
Buy it tomorrow.
DI: What are the secrets of your clear, fresh, groovy sounds?
TJA: No effects pedals, a nice WEM valve-amp, a healthy diet, er, dunno really…
STUFF WE LIKE
DI: OK, these are some of the keywords you printed on your first EP. Would you develop and comment on each of them…
Superheroes:
We like them. They safeguard our way. We all read comics in the band, probably more than we listen to records. We'd like to be superheroes. As you can tell from the cover of the EP.
Godzilla:
We've just seen the new film. It was great. Huge, huge monster. Fantastic. We can't wait for the sequel. With more huge monsters all fighting each other.
Professor Stephen Hawking:
He's a clever man. Dave read his book, now he can't sleep – he's just realised how big the universe is. We'd like the Professor to write the sleeve-notes on our next album, or maybe write us some lyrics. That'd be amazing.
Sergio Leone:
Cool because he made Clint Eastwood a movie star and an icon, and 'cause of the amazing music Ennio Morricone did for his films.
The Banana Splits:
Well, the 'Tra-La-La Song' is one of the best tunes ever written (the Professor proved this was a FACT with a clever equation yesterday). Could be our main musical influence. And they lived in a really cool house too. Our Jamming Room (where we practice) is starting to look like The Banana Splits' house…
Driving:
'Cause of drive-through burger joints. And 'cause driving is when music sounds best. And 'cause we don't like to walk anywhere.
Evil Dead II:
Actually, we prefer George Romero's Dawn Of The Dead now. Dave reckons it's a feelgood movie – he'd love to be stuck in a well-stocked shopping mall with a big gun, surrounded by hundreds of zombies.
Robert Crumb (have you seen the documentary movie on his life? Wow, a totally weird family):
Yeah, we've seen that documentary. It was insane. He lives in France now; he swapped some of his note-books for a chateau. Could we swap a pile of EPs for a nice house in Toulouse please?
PLAYING LIVE
DI: Tell us about your city, Cleveland (or is it Saltburn, you got a strange address).
TJA: We live in Saltburn, a little sea-side town on the North-East coast of England. It's lovely. A bit like your French Riviera only really, really cold.
DI: Do you play a lot?
TJA: In Saltburn? Yeah, quite a bit. We did a gig here just recently for Surfers Against Sewage, a national charity campaigning for the English coastline to be cleared up. Apparently if you inhale a piece of shit when you're surfing, your lung can collapse. Yuck.
DI: Have you toured England? How was it if you did?
TJA: Kind of. We've done a couple of gigs in Oxford, one in London, loads in Middlesbrough, one each in Glasgow and Edinburgh… We just haven't done lots all at once. We'd love to try though.
DI: Have you got jobs?
TJA: No. Don't you start…
THE FUTURE
DI: What are your goals now for the band?
TJA: We really want to tour round Europe. And record another album. And we'd like to become superheroes.
DI: Any other ambitions?
TJA: Well, Dave says he wants to buy a bi-plane and go and live in the south of France, which he says is beautiful. He would live by the beach, on the money he would earn from crop spraying.
James would really like a cigarette (he's just given up smoking).
Marcus would like to be in a normal band who play normal gigs in front of normal people.
And Russ seems to have achieved somebody's ambition, as he is presently far away from the other Arabs on a remote island living off the indigenous fruit and getting a nice tan.
DI: Have you considered touring in France?
TJA: Is that an offer? If someone could help us organise it we'd be over there in a flash. WE REALLY WANT TO COME TO FRANCE.
DI: Any message to your French fans?
TJA: Er, oui. Bonjour. Hopefully see you all soon, so, um, au revoir notre amis! (Is that all right?)
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"Just such brilliant songwriting... such a great album for the summer...
full of amazingly catchy pop songs ****1/2"
Review of 'Never Been Surfin' - NGG magazine #6
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"Pour la route, jetez une oreille sur les quatre titres surf emplis de 'lalala' et de 'ouhouh', idiotes et rejouissants, que propose le EP des joyeux Jamming Arabs sur Alopecia, le label de Sir Bald Diddly. L'album sort sous peu. Je leur dois quelques larmes emues et nostalgiques a l'ecoute des 'tralala' tires 'Banana Splits', les emission qui a enchante mon enfance,
bien que je me demande parfois si quelques boulons n'ont pas saute depuis, vu que j'ai jamais rencontre qui que ce soit l'ayant vu chez nous. Les Dickies aussi etaient fans, ils avaient ose reprendre le generique en entier."
Dig It! magazine, France
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none of this is necessarily true.
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