INTRODUCING: Jetski
Storytelling is a huge aspect of what makes music such an important aspect of our lives, whether as a means of expression or catharsis, it is a huge portion of resonating with an artist. Sheffield-based emo rockers JETSKI are an outfit utilising this in their song-writing, having just released their debut EP For The Family following a string of five singles. We caught up with singer Charles Fitzgerald and bassist Jack Gunn to discuss what drives them, blending influences, and their love of live shows.
“With the scene that we come from it was all EPs, nobody had any money to make albums in emo, pop-punk and DIY stuff. We just wanted to do our own little one,” states Charles on why now to release their first collection of work. It is a diverse EP considering its brevity displaying a broad range, from the jubilant feel of lead single Joey And Zoe, to the more ponderous Jack’s Song. Throughout their track list though, there is a commonality to the style of lyricism and storytelling which has a clear honesty in their conception from Charles‘ life. “Not all of them are sequential stories, so there’s several different stories that have gone throughout our lives in one or two songs,” explains Charles. “Joey And Zoe is about one continuous night out, that was meant to be a fun song. The rest of them reference different times and situations, so they’re a big amalgamation of things that I thought would fit together.”
The lyricism isn’t the only factor that makes JETSKI such an intriguing outfit, but also the wide body of musical influences they draw upon. They have a keen interest in British indie music, with a particular mention to BLOC PARTY on the day, as well as the influence of American emo and pop-punk, they are looking for ways to be uniquely themselves. After a brief diversion to discuss the meteoric rise of TURNSTILE and what that is down to, we settle upon the decision it’s at least in part due to the use of samba rhythms, leading the conversation nicely onto their own rhythmic maestro Alex Pullen. The grooves and patterns he produces in their tracks are often highlights, rarely what you expect, and justifiably attention grabbing. “[Alex] is always trying to make sure he’s not doing the standard thing that he has to do. He wants to be able to challenge himself and I think it pays off a lot of the time,” comments Jack.
Playing on your expectations is seemingly something intentional with this outfit, as Charles explains regarding their gigs. “We often try to put ourselves on lineups where people aren’t going to know who we are. We go play these indie festivals and middle of the road, non-alternative festivals, and it really works out for us.” Their love of live shows often comes through in their music, with all of their tracks featuring moments curated for that environment, it is apparent this is the main reason they love doing what they do. “We always write for live not for records. We all love shows, we love being there, getting involved, so we want to convey that to people,” explains Jack.
For The Family is a very sentimental body of work for the group, focussing in on relationships with one another. Given the name of the EP and that names feature on two of the three song titles, human connection is unabashedly on Charles’ mind. “Our guitarist Elliot has just become a dad for the first time. He actually became a dad while we were on stage in London. He missed the child’s birth to play the biggest show we’ve ever played. Not on purpose, we tried to get back it was just a super quick birth.” Given that Elliot is still a member of the group, this fact fortunately hasn’t been held against him or the band. “When I knew his girlfriend was pregnant, I started thinking about what my motivations were for the band, and what I wanted to get out of it. I started to think it would be rad to sit down and show [Elliot’s son] Rivers all the music we made when his dad was in his late 20s and the shows that we played, and maybe that would make Rivers want to be a musician or inspire him to go do something. So, For The Family was just a name that I put forward and I didn’t tell anybody what the meaning was behind it, I just thought it looked cool and everyone agreed, but that was my little subliminal meaning. That JETSKI is for Elliot’s family, for our families, for your family, it’s for everybody. It’s about creating memories.”
For The Family is out now via self-release.
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