INTERVIEW: Lady Jane’s Revenge — Music Musings & Such

INTERVIEW:

Lady Jane’s Revenge

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IN a change of sonic direction...

the raw and heavy Lady Jane’s Revenge have been talking about their new cut, Pure, and what it concerns. I ask how the band formed and the music that inspires them – I discover whether there are tour dates coming and where we can catch them.

I was curious to know whether the guys had favourite albums and if they have time to chill; who they’d support on tour if they could and whether there is more material coming along later in the year – they each select a great song to end the interview with.

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Hi, guys. How are you? How has your week been?

Hello! We have been very well; very busy too as the new video for our single, Pure, just released last night so we have had messages and emails galore in return (which is very exciting).

The band, work; uni and children keep us very tired indeed. Haha. Shout-out to our loving partners who are the real superheroes to us!

For those new to your music; can you introduce yourselves, please?

We are a Rock/Alternative band from South-West U.K. For fans of The Used, Incubus; Faith No More. We feel we are unique and refreshing for our genre because we incorporate each of our different favoured styles and create something unexpected with each song. Our vocalist has an unusual voice for Rock due to growing up in inner-city London surrounded by many wonderful cultures. If you want motivation and a real look at the world then check us out on your fave music platforms.

Pure is your new single. Can you reveal the story behind it?

The message is one that tries to invoke the memory into the listener, of a time when they were young; free of judgement and behaviours against ‘different’; therefore reminding them also with the chorus, that we have opinions and views forced upon us by elders in our lives and mass media propaganda. We just wanna help keep pushing an open-minded and morally-good existence which, fortunately, in recent times has grown magnificently towards gender, race; species and beyond.

You know...”Unite! Not separate”.

In terms of artists, do you take inspiration from particular bands/corners?

Oh. We are an amalgamation of various inspirations. Haha. Vocally, Billy grew up on Motown, Soul; ’60s/’70s and Country music before discovering Michael Jackson - so a lot of his melodies come from those wonderful catchy, poppy vocal runs and harmonies that really delivered songs from that era. Sam, our guitarist, is absolutely mad for the true six-string icons: your usual Clapton, Page; Slash and Tremonti types, whereas our bassist James also takes influences from the technique of the Sabbaths and other originals...but he finger-picks with an added bounce and energy that the good feels of R.H.C.P. (Red Hot Chili Peppers) and Blink-182 do simply with an extra big smile on their face.

We are still learning about Adam, our new second guitarist, and our drummer, Ash, is a heavy hitter emulating the groove and power of Vinnie Paul and the amazing groove bands that followed: Pantera, Korn; Limp Bizkit etc...

How did Lady Jane’s Revenge form and find one another?

We first connected via an advert post Ash (drums) created on a musicians’ website (joinmyband.co.uk) at the very tail-end of 2014. Billy (vocals) had been tracking the opportunities on there while working solo on YouTube covers and he approached him. The two hit it off very well over the phone and continued to do so upon meeting up in person.

They then sought out a guitarist and recruited an online friend, Lorna, to be the focal main vocalist and keyboard player. Within two weeks, Sam had contacted the three and they all arranged a jam practice mid-February 2015.

Things were going well but, unfortunately, coinciding with the time James had arrived to join on bass in April; we had to make the sad decision to let Lorna go due to other instances. We then adjusted our sound and proceeded to record as a four-piece. That is until Adam added to our line-up in mid-2018: he originally was a fan of the band and we had spoken with him at shows or bumped into him occasionally due to mutual friends. We always got on well with him so, naturally, he was our first port-of-call before auditions.

Thankfully, it worked out nicely.

Might there be more material coming later in the year?

Yes. Our intention is to release three singles in 2019! Pure is the first - and we have a few demos in our back pocket that need to be recorded properly. In which order we will release, we are still unsure. We plan to record them A.S.A.P. and we have been jamming fantastic new ideas too. We just struggle to find the time to do it all quicker - perhaps a record label can help us go full-time? Wink, wink. Hahaha.

Have you got a favourite memory from your time in music so far – the one that sticks in the mind?

Hahaha. We have memories for everything in the past four years!

A favourite would have to be when we played Fuel in Cardiff (2017). We were unable to park the van near the venue after load-in. It was a busy Bank Holiday, so we had to put the van into a car park which stated a closing time that would be after our set...so the plan was for Sam to jump off stage after our set and go get the van out the car park. He really needed to change his contact lenses as his eyes were sore. Also, we thought nothing of it and mingled with the guests...until he returned, panicked that the car park was locked until 7 a.m. the next morning! We began to fret because we slept in the van and it had our belongings and we would need to load out all our backline of gear onto the street shortly, with nowhere to put it.

Massively, the venue was kind enough to arrange for us to pick up our gear the next afternoon when they reopened. Some friends of ours that had come to the show allowed us to stay at their house for the night. But they lived in The Valleys, fifty miles from the city, and we had ten minutes to reach the last train in time; so having to leave early and miss the headliners we were touring with...we bolted to Cardiff station and got our tickets as the train arrived. Fortunately, we made it on with just what we were wearing and travelled to Bargoed and spent the night.

Sam was fretting that he would receive a massive parking fine from the car park and ensured we left at the crack of dawn to get the first train back and remove the van before it got ticketed. We arrived at 7:20 a.m.; no ticket, luckily, and had do sit around the city until 2 p.m. when we could load up our gear from the venue and then race it in time for the next stop on the tour! Hahaha.

Which one album means the most to each of you would you say (and why)?

Adam: Holding on When Moving on - Dependence

Because it helped me release negative emotions after coming out of a long-term relationship.

James: Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath

Due to discovering them (and all of their wizardry) when a young teen learning the bass guitar.

Billy: Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park

I stumbled onto their song, Crawling, by accident while watching MTV and somehow was mesmerised by this style I had never heard before. I waited four hours for it to be shown again to see the name of the song and band as I’d missed reading it the first time. The next day, I had my friends sit and wait for it to show and we were all won over instantly; walked down to Virgin Megastore and bought the album immediately. I began my life in the Alternative scene from that day.

Ash: By the Way - Red Hot Chili Peppers

That entire album was pretty much my childhood on a C.D. I listened to it every day!

As you are Lady Jane’s Revenge, if you could choose a Jane to seek vengeance on someone, who would the Jane be and who would she be hunting down?

As we have used her name as a metaphor for our band name, it would have to be Lady Jane Grey and her revenge on King Edward VI and Lord Guildford Dudley for setting her up against her will; in a weird loophole that intentionally made her Queen in order to continue Edward’s religious theme of Catholicism in the U.K. and cut out his next-of-kin, Mary, a devout protestant. This treacherous fraud of law that Jane was forced into led to her being imprisoned and eventually beheaded as a pawn of the ‘system’.

It just seems fitting. Haha.

If you could support any musician alive today, and choose your own rider, what would that entail?

James: I would support Rise Against or Volbeat and my rider would be two pint-jugs of beer and a cigarette Cheech & Chong would be proud of, if you catch my drift. Hahaha.

Adam: Don Broco for me, with a bottle of single-barrel J.D. and a bag of large ice cubes!

Ash: I’ve been waiting for COLD to comeback and I’d love to support them! A jug of beer and chips on the side for me please.

Billy: I’d reckon Panic! at the Disco for me. To be able to be as huge as they are right now and still, technically, Alternative is a huge achievement. To play a show with them would be phenomenal. I like a good curry personally and I can’t operate without a proper cup of tea.

What advice would you give to new artists coming through?

Save, save and save up your money before starting a project and, of course, naturally during the band’s life. The expenses are huge! Rehearsals, travel to and from them; travels to shows (you don’t always get paid or earn enough), instruments and their upgrades over time.

Then, if you move onto in-ear monitoring and wireless packs, demoing; recording producer/studio, graphic designers and onto social media marketing; P.R. companies for exposure and booking agents. Quality over quantity with what you put out...and a desire to read as many blogs about managing a band as possible.

Do you have tour dates coming up? Where can we catch you play?

Plymouth: Fri, 19th April @ The Hub/Dbs

Glastonbury: Sun, 28th April @ XPO South-West

Bridgwater: Fri, 17th May @ The Cobblestones

Yeovil: Sat, 22nd June @ The Royal Marine

Northampton: Sat, 29th June @ Hop Fest

Bristol: Sat, 10th August @ The Stag & Hounds

Manchester: Sun, 11th August @ Jimmy’s Bar

Royal Cornwall Showground: Sat, 31st August @ Cornwall Tattoo Convention

St. Ives: Sun, 29th September @ The Guildhall

With more being confirmed, follow our events via Facebook or Bandsintown.

If we came to one of your live shows, what might we expect?

You would be greeted by lots of beards, dreads and long hair (laughs). We are all very sociable and approachable and we like to get the energy high once on stage. We pride ourselves on breaking the barrier between artist and audience, by getting into the crowd where we can in our set and bonding - usually Billy can be found climbing or jumping off something when in the moment. Haha.

IN THIS PHOTO: Bathub Sailors/PHOTO CREDIT: Youthscreams

Are there any new artists you recommend we check out?

Bathtub Sailors for fans of Sublime. They have new music imminent. Follow them guys for sure. A New Hope from Newbury have something very special to release soon. They have music up right now for Pop-Punk lovers and so will our buddies in Fear the Atlantic. Punk Rock Black Anchors are taking over the South-West at the moment and for good reasons...alongside our mates in Last One Home. There’s a brilliant female-fronted Australian band in the vein of Paramore; pulling up roots big time named Yours Truly.

IN THIS PHOTO: Yours Truly/PHOTO CREDIT: Brooke Harley

Do you get much time to chill away from music? How do you unwind?

Hmm. Not a lot really. Every day there are more things to work on or plan; responding to messages and emails, putting up post updates or trying to book shows. It is seriously full-on and extremely draining most of the time to be honest, especially added on top of our parental duties or regular jobs.

Finally, and for being good sports; you can each choose a song and I’ll play it here (not any of your music - I will do that).

James: Black Sabbath by the band...you’ve guessed it, Black Sabbath!

Ash: Hell Is Home by our friend and the headliner of that tour we had the parking mishap; ex-Judas Priest and Iced Earth vocalist, Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens from the Judas Priest (Demolition) album