Photo: Press and Imogen Thomas
Jagwar Ma are one of the finest Aussie bands to have ever toured and they impressed heavily with their debut album Howlin' and its gorgeous lead single 'Come Save Me'.
Back with second album Every Now & Then out via Marathon Artists - a brilliant indie label that also home to Childhood and Courtney Barnett - they've come up with the goods once again. It's been brilliantly received across the board they've been spurred on to another level and played their biggest UK shows to date. Gigwise caught up with Jono Ma, who makes all the fantastic beats, at their London show.
Hello Jagwar Ma, Howlin' came out three years ago, which seems crazy considering how fast the time has gone, what have you figured out about yourselves since then?
J: When we made Howlin’ we’d never played live before. It was a project conceived and executed in the studio. In a way, since then, we’ve worked out who we are as a live band and that certainly informed creative decisions on the new record
I was listening to Every Now and Then the other day, which is a great album by the way, and I was struck by how optimistic the record is. It seems very forward-thinking and that life is maybe too short to worry about things. Was that your feelings behind creating it?
J: Gab can comment more on the lyrics. In terms of the music, I don’t ever really over think things to be honest. Both our previous bands were quite gloomy and minor and serious. I think part of the appeal of Jagwar when we first started writing was that it had this brightness to it. Writing in major keys and not being too self indulgent.
Before the album was released there was a lot of live clips of you playing unknown songs like Loose Ends, is it scary debuting new material to an oblivious audience?
J: Scary is probably a bit dramatic but yes, there’s always a little bit of anxiety when you play new music out to people. The first times we played Loose Ends and O B 1 were to 10,000 plus Tame Impala supporters in Europe. So on the one hand it was risky to be going with unknown material to a crowd that big, but on the other hand, half the crowd probably didn’t know the difference between our old stuff and new stuff anyway so it was a good testing ground.
What did you mean when you said Andrew Weatherall was in "close proximity" towards the end of the album? His sound and style seems to perfectly mesh with yours, not many current bands manage to capture the heady quality of acid house quite like you do.
J: Basically, I have moved into a studio with Ewan Pearson who mixed both Howlin and Every Now And Then. He and Andrew Weatherall are DJ buddies and Weatherall was recently sent marching orders from his old studio dwelling in East London. The opportunity arose for me to move into the same space as The Commander and Ewan so I would have been a fool not to jump at it. To be honest it’s one of the few things keeping me in London. So, by close proximity, I mean I’m literally in the belly of the beast, 30,000 Weatherall picked records deep.
Who did the artwork for the album? Can you tell me a little more about how you collectively decide what the cover will be?
J: Patrick Santamaria did the art. He also worked on the Howlin’ art with my brother Dave Ma. Pat’s an old friend of mine and in fact a former band mate and former flatmate. Gab and I would have conversations with him and send references but ultimately we let Pat run with his own ideas.
You've spoke about how you spend your time between Sydney, London and France - did any individual city have an effect on the album or was it a mixture of all three?
J: A mixture of all three. Each environment more or less represented a different stage in the record. Australia was mostly writing, sound pallete designing and beat making. France was like the body: fleshing out songs, recording vocals, building arrangements, some additional writing. London was mixing and post production and some additional over dubs and drum recording.
Was there any particular equipment that anchored the sound of the new record? The Oberheim Two Voice Synthesizer was mentioned, which is pretty vintage.
J: I used both a vintage Oberheim Two Voice and the new reissue. Both are absolute beasts and certainly made their way onto almost every song of the record. Everything gets recorded through a pair of vintage Neve 1064 pre amps which I love for EQing and also overdriving inputs from things. I like to keep things pretty limited in terms of gear, the 808 also holds the fort quite regularly.
I read somewhere that you're influenced by gaming; what kind of games are you into?
J: We all love Nintendo; I’m a big N64 Mario Kart fan. Gab is basically a Nintendo wiz. I also grew up with lots of PC Sierra games. We are all very into our technology.
I noticed Coldplay tweeted that they liked Ordinary. Are you fans of the band yourselves?
J: The short answer for me is no but I can’t help but admire how far they’ve gone and their music is undeniably accessible and emotive but just not my bag. I got too deep into twisted underground electronic stuff like Autechre when I was a teenager, so it’s hard to recover from stuff like that.
What was the first musical experience that really touched you?
When I was about 13 I saw Fugazi play live and it blew me away. So much raw, thoughtful anger and passion. Straight up made me wanna play guitar.
What musicians do you think are changing the game right now?
J: I think Jamie xx is seriously impacting how younger kids see electronic music's role in popular music. His solo records as well as his role in The xx are so well considered. He’s a proper game changer for me.
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You seem to be touring pretty much non-stop until next March now then you'll play some big shows including the 02 Forum in London. How has your relationship with your British audience developed since you started?
J: Well, we recently reflected on the fact that since our first show at Birthdays in Dalston, we’ve never not played a sold out show in London. So, that feels good. It feels like this city really has our back and I guess that’s probably a big reason why all three of us left the sun and the sea to be here amongst the glory of gloom.
Finally, what do you do to stay consistently inspired?
J: For me, right now, I’m systematically rifling through Andrew Weatherall’s record collection. I love DJ'ing under various alias'; DJ'ing, for me, keeps me wired into the the arteries of a city and its dance culture. Dancing is more important than we give it credit.
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Forthcoming Jagwar Ma tour dates. Check here for more ticket information
18 November Grand Mix (Les Inrocks), Tourcoing, France
19 November La Cigale (Les Inrocks), Paris France
20 November Stereolux (Les Inrocks), Nantes, France
22 November Rock School (Les Inrocks), Bordeaux France
11 March Melkweg, Amsterdam
15 March Kentish Town Forum, London UK
