With their sound often compared to that of the baggy-bands that ruled the UK during the Madchester era (and also the Beach Boys in their harmonic delivery), it could be considered strange that Jagwar Mar are from the other side of the world, calling Sydney their home. The Aussie duo have rapidly built themselves a solid reputation through their hybrid of sounds which - far from being simple revivalism - have captured the imagination of both young and veteran ravers and band lovers alike. With a list of influences as diverse as Moondog, J Dilla and Aphex Twin it's no wonder the pair have made compelling and infectious music that has led to them selling out their upcoming UK shows. We spoke to the guys about their unique sound, the music they listen to and how it feels to be supporting the world-conquering The xx.
Would you agree it’s been a pretty crazy year for you so far? Yeah things just seem to snowball constantly. Once one thing starts off then everything else seems to take shape too so it’s been busy to say the least.
Your debut album Howlin’ is on route – as a band that are tackling this format head on, has it been an easy and natural process to be able to record a body of work? Has it been a long process? Well we’ve all done separate things before Jagwar Ma, and worked on lengthy projects but this is the boldest move yet for the band as it is right now. Jonny used to play in another band Los Valentinos and he also had a lot of background in production too. I used to be in a band called Ghostwood, it’s a sort of shoe-gaze type sound, using lots of pedals and drum machines and stuff. Jonno is very techno in his tastes too. In our older bands, there was a bit of a meshing of sounds and styles. In Sydney, it’s very close knit and everyone is in a band, so all the local people and stuff are always hanging out. From the ashes of our old band, I think that’s how Howlin’ came about.
It’s evident that you’ve got lots of influence from across the board in there and touches on many styles of music – is there any particular influence though (or sound) that links them all together? I listen to pretty much everything to be fair. I made a Spotify playlist. I was really embarrassed about how random and disparate the track selection was, so I just called it something like ‘What happens When I Put My iPod On Shuffle”. I love everything music wise but I’ve been massively into lots of that proggy, jam-led rock stuff. Also there’s this new Soul Jazz compilation that’s come out and it’s called Acid; that’s amazing. I’m into lots of obscure music.
You know when someone says ‘oh, you should listen to this’, even if they don’t know you that well? I always take attention and take them up on it to be honest. I actually take notes down on my phone – I love to take people up on their suggestions, especially based on what they know of me
As bands like you show – and most modern musical forms – there aren’t really that many boundaries anymore in terms of creating hybrids of sound… Have you heard of this Beware of Mr Baker documentary? It’s all about different cultures hanging out together and stuff. People didn’t take any notice of colour or race, people didn’t care about that sort of thing, as long as you were digging the music. I like to think the same way too – we don’t care about scenes or genres or geographic location. We didn’t want be a dance band or pop outfit – we didn’t really care!
So without sounding selfish, are you making your music for you, regardless of whether it’s massively popular or not?Is it difficult to stay clear of trends? I think we’re making music for each other, when we were in the studio we’d try and impress each other. He’d produce beats for me to sing on and vice versa. Not impress each other but keep one another happy and keep the vibe happy and warm. It comes across in the music.
Howlin’ contains a number of upbeat tracks but also quite a few more poignant and deeper numbers too. Is there an overall theme or concept or an emotional anchor running through the album? I always think in landscapes (sounds weird I know) but I’m always thinking about how things sound in the Ocean for example. I think also I write lyrics to attach a personality to the music, so that it’s crossing over. I definitely wanted to have a theme underlying the songs, especially the more electronic ones. I still wanted that humanistic quality. But there’s not a straight narrative in there. It’s more our childhood and growing up in Australia and Sydney more than anything.
You’ve had some major support slots for The xx and Foals this year; how do you feel about your own headline shows and performing as a band in your own right? I get nervous I guess but I don’t think that’s an irrational thing. It doesn’t matter too much about the past, you can be really confident after playing one show and killing it. Then it can all go down from there. But I guess I’m really excited about our own headline shows. Plus you know how the show is going to be in the first ten seconds, just by reading the crowds.
Do you find that being in a band means you’re subjected to more scrutiny? As you’re performing (and there are lots of instrumental bands) do you feel that you’re more at the mercy of the crowd than a DJ? I think you’ve just got to roll with it. People have pushed the whole ‘there’s been a lot of hype around this record, how do you feel about it”? And I just say it’s got nothing to do with us. We’re not hyping ourselves up. I think people overthink things where as I’m just doing my thing. People like to have an opinion – and luckily people’s opinion so far has been quite favourable, which is great though. I’m just nice and grounded and just happy that people like it!
Listen to Jagwar Ma on Pulse Radio.