Jupiter C
Jupiter C make otherworldly sci-fi music, and create a dystopic soundtrack to the world of J.G Ballard, who incidentally was the subject of both of the duo’s dissertations. Car crashes, obscenity and war-torn regions are all here, but somehow beautiful and entrancing. Their latest release comes in the cassette form of ‘Insect Eyes’; a song which has been released by the PINS label ‘Haus of Pins’ and has an illuminating video (see below) backed with glaring and entrancing fluorescent lights (details of that release here). They were without these visuals at Islington Mill for Sounds from the Other City where they won numerous fans and gave a great day, the perfect start.
Tonight I interview them over skype, while they sit in their London flat. For all the world, it seems like they’d be up for swapping positions. As their desire to be back in Manchester, their self-proclaimed hometown, becomes apparent when the duo speak excitedly about local acts, including Bernard and Edith, Kyogen.
Next for them is an EP and a show with Pins, where they will collaborate with Kyogen live on stage. Tonight, though we discuss much more, from recording new songs within twenty-four hours to the anxiety issues that they struggle with when performing live. Their names are David Kane (D) and Ashiya Eastwood (A). See what they’ve got to say below.
The EP before ‘Insect Eyes’ on Haus of Pins was ‘The Process’, can you tell how that came about?
D: It came off the back of our Lydia Ainsworth support slot, when two people from a cassette label, Rob and Amber of Ramber Records who were at the show, got in touch with us a couple of days after to let us know they enjoyed it and asked us if we would be interested in putting something forward. We gave them ‘The Process’ and then ‘Locust’ on the other side, we actually set ourselves a challenge to write that in 24 hours.
A: I think it’s actually one of my favourite songs that we’ve ever made and recorded. We’ve written a few of our strongest tracks in a very short time but it’s sometimes nice to step away from things.
D: We got home one night after work on a Friday and turned it round in 24 hours. It was an odd experience, usually we take our time and just happily go through things meticulously but when you put yourselves under the cosh it’s a completely different animal. There were moments at like 3 in the morning when we were like what are we doing? But We still had enough faith in it
Haus of PINS is releasing your next cassette, a split cassette featuring songs from yourselves, Dream Wife and Kyogen, how did that come about?
A: It’s just a one off that we did, I used to work a Saturday job at Fred Aldous in Manchester with Lois from PINS years and years ago. We played a show with them at the Roadhouse last May and they got in touch saying that they wanted to put it out. We’re really excited about it, it’s a fantastic label and they’ve put lots of thought into it.
I’ve also heard you’ve done a demo for your record, tell me about that?
Jupiter C
A: Well we just wanted to make something from start to finish and then leave it and come back to it. We do things in reverse, we write, record songs and then play them live. But it’s really when we play them live that we realise where we want to tweak things. When we play live, we never want to replicate the songs off the recording.
D: Since listening back to it, we want to make tweaks and we’ve got new tracks that might replace others.
You sort of touched on it then but how does your live performance differ to when you record music?
A: at the moment were quite limited, we’ve developed the live show to where I trigger samples so that’s loosened it up a bit. It’s different for each show, if we go in there feeling a bit pissed off we find that it sounds aggressive. I try and keep my vocals ethereal but sometimes if you are in that situation, it can get angry. It’s the little nuances rather than a massive change.
D: We’ve said we could get another few people in for the live show, but its convincing people to play what you want them to play
A: I think we’ve decided it’s just going to be us for now, maybe down the line we’ll think about that. But at the minute we just want to push the boundaries with what we’re doing. Our visuals by our friend Sapphire have also change the live sound for us. We’re aware its just the two of us, and that we’re not very active, so it can be a bit scary for people.
D: Yeah, we’ve adjusted the live show to our visuals. I suffer with quite bad anxiety, so a lot of times I’m fixated with just staring at the foot panel and don’t get chance to take in sapphire’s visuals.
A: I also really struggle with stage nerves, like I really struggle with them, and can’t really relax and having visuals behind me enables me to relax a little bit because I know there’s something for people to watch.
In the past you’ve supported people like East India Youth, do you find you have to win people over in support slots?
D: As long as we reach one person we’re happy. We wanted to play live loads at the start to combat our anxiety and practice our stuff, but now we’re more selective with who we support.
House Od PINS ‘Myths Cassette’
So, David your from Liverpool and Ashiya your from Manchester, what brought you to London?
A: We met in Manchester in 2007, then I moved to London in 2009 to come to Uni and when I finished David came down here for Uni in 2012.
D: I was in Manchester for seven years.
A: I still see it as home.
D: The reason I moved to Manchester was because all of the bands there were my favourite.
A: Yeah, you were a traitor to your scouse roots.
D: I know, all my friends called me ‘Manc’ before I even moved to Manchester.
A: There’s really exciting things happening up there, with bands like Mother, Kyogen and Bernard and Edith’s new albums fucking brilliant. All that makes me homesick, that makes me wanna be there. Every-time we come down here, we just get a bit depressed about not being there any more.
A: There’s just something more personal about playing Manchester, basically you’re just a drop in the ocean here. Whereas in Manchester it’s more condensed, people really care. This has become really pro-Manchester (laughs)
What are your influences outside of Manchester?
D: My dad lives in the states, so I got into grunge young, Sonic Youth and your New York no wave scene.
A: Philip Glass, Kraftwerk, Beastie Boys, SWANS, Portishead, Gazelle Twin and Beak are massive influences for me.
Is the band your only priority or do you have other endeavours as well?
A: It’s hugely important to us, but it’s not our only priority, we do things we love outside of it and that’s the way we want it to be. David’s pursuing a career in academia and I’m starting a Contemporary Art Theory masters in autumn this year. We want the band to be sustainable and go on for a long long time, but also have the freedom to pursue other ideas.
D: We don’t want it to burn out in a couple of years, we want to use the band as a way to push out our other creative endeavours.
With so much going on is it hard to balance everything?
D: Its knackering, I’m constantly knackered, its Uni then its work and then it’s the band. Its good but my head feels like it’s going to explode. Also it’s so expensive down here, so it’s hard to fund it.
A: Yeah, we never have any money because everything we get goes back into the band.
D: It’s important that the band gets to a point where it can sustain itself, it will be nice when we get beyond this point of constantly being knackered. I’ve been in work all day today and got back from Scotland last night.
Finally, what’s next for Jupiter C?
A: We’re going in the studio in July and the immediate idea is that we are working on an EP
D: The album will come out a bit later than initially planned, so we will have the EP before that. It will be different and we’ve got to get making new music. We’re aiming to get the EP out for autumn and then we’ll tour. We’ll try and get out of London a bit more as well.
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Hi all, my name is Paddy and I have a love for everything from African music to indie to house (basically anything other than heavy metal). Gigging and listening to albums are genuinely the things I most value and love doing.
