Winston's Zen

LETTING NEW ACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

If you haven't heard me raving about Turrentine Jones yet, then you've definitely not been listening very carefully. A swollen, organ-laced blues-tinged beauty, the Manchester three piece's self released debut EP is a mainstay on the Zen Avenue stereo for a few months now. In fact, we like them so much we made them the first ever Zen-trifuge headliners back in July... and then we booked them again.

While we were at it, we asked them a few questions too....

MP3 - Turrentine Jones - Della May

What’s the least accurate description of your music that you’ve ever seen or heard in the media?
Every critic will best try and label us in some way, in a deprecating or complimenting fashion. There are so many different flavours of music these days, not singling out ‘Dance’ music for that but – what the fuck is happy hardcore? Everything has been chopped and changed around I’m surprised it doesn’t physically all come out of the speakers as vomit.

Set the record straight. How should journalists be describing Turrentine Jones?
That ringing noise in your ear when you go to sleep after a loud and ruthless blues gig.

Tell us how the band got together.
Jude got talking to Chris’s uncle, Eduardo, who was waiting for an Italian restaurant in the city’s CBD. Jude who’d only recently moved over from Australia was looking for players, Eduardo pointed him in the direction of Chris who was the drummer for The Children at the time. After a few rough dabbles in a local studio they made the move to finding a bass player which became a gruelling task finding only unreliables, no-shows, and cats that turned up without any instrument at all! When an organ player, Tommy, put his hand up for the spot the sound it produced suddenly gave more room for improvisation. At that point we decided to keep things pretty simple. We got used to the sound of organ filling rhythm, and Jude playing his usual style of guitar playing which was a mix of rhythm and lead guitar gave plenty of mind for thought - there was a lot of sound in that rehearsal room.

What has being in Turrentine Jones given you that you wouldn’t otherwise have? Ladies. Lots of ladies. Sometime men, but in these desperate times, money and all, you’ll take what you can get. Ideally, I would say that it has just given us the chance to get on that stage with some of the great cats in town, learn from them and see a few places. Jude had the experience of playing with those guys like Knopfler, Eric Bibb and it takes a little bit of muscle from them to ever get yourself the opportunity to play in the kinds of venues where you walk in the front doors and straight away from looking on the wall you see the greats in golden frames who have played there before. It’s a damn real thing. Chris got the chance to play with Weller at the Apollo in The Children, meet up with Mike Joyce from The Smiths and play with Anton Newcombe from Brian Jonestown Massacre. It’s all part of the game.

If Turrentine Jones had a motto what would it be?
Never forget where you and your music came from.

Describe the average Turrentine Jones fan.
Certainly not average. They’re the people who will work their arse off during the week and spend it all in a weekend having fun. You’ll see them buying a ticket to a show. Fucking incredible.

What can a punter expect from a Turrentine Jones gig?
A wall of sound. Enough to vibrate the legs of your pants and a few other things. A whole lotta thump and crunchy blues licks. The smell of tubes running hot and overdriven!

I sneak a look through your mobile while you nip to the bar. What’s the most famous name I find in the phonebook?
My mother.

When did they last call you and what for?
Last week and to know if I had a job yet. Lazy bum of a musician.

Put your iPod / MP3 player on random. What are the first five tracks?
Mr. Airplane Man – Wait for your love.
Taj Mahal – Statesboro blues
Band of Gypsys – Machine Gun
Screamin Jay Hawkins – Put a spell on you
Pete Tosh – Black Dignity

Tell us about the greatest album ever made.
It hasn’t been made yet.

And the best gig you ever saw.
Just as difficult as the last question. The Black Keys put on a 100 filla show at a university in Canberra, Australia. Dan Auerbach had his guitar growling through some of the loudest 4 stacks I’ve heard. Everyone was smoking n choking and soaking in the whole vibe of the place. I think they played for over two hours and Patrick was hitting his drums that hard he had to change sticks each song. I decided that was the only way I wanted to see a blues gig.

What was the last record that made you stop in your tracks?
I think for me personally, a bash between TV on the Radio’s Return to Cookie Mountain or the Black Lips’ Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo. I know Bowie said in an interview he was diggin TV’s album and once I picked it up and gave it a listen I ran that thing red hot for weeks. I made an appearance at a Black Lips show in Manchester not that long ago and that was a live act of such fucking energy and noise! People were right in it, including myself. Amazing. Great band.

And the last one that made wish you were deaf?
I think as a group effort, it can be said that anything that has made the Pop charts in the last 10 years has fallen on deaf ears. RnB isn’t RnB anymore its auto-tuned plastic rubbish. Pop is all about singstar wanna-be’s and 15 minute glory queens. Where has the fresh air gone? There needs to be a big vacuum that sucks all this shite in and gives hard-working bands a chance. There’s some great music out there but unless the artist is willing to have an arm held behind his back and rear guarded from some label exec he has to settle for a place on the bench. It’s a game of chess and we’re the pawn pieces.

What’s going on for the Turrentine Jones right now?
There’s a lot of love and interest but for the moment it’s all coming out of our mother’s stereo speakers. So OK, we’ll give you the 4-1-1. We have recorded a 4-track record we’ll be handing out free-as-a-bird to all the kids on the street next month. We’re in BBC radio studios around the same time so you’ll get a chance to love, hate or relate to our music on the waves soon.
We’ll be hanging posters for shows we’ll be doing around Manchester – keep an eye out for white posters with big black writing on them saying ‘Who is Turrentine Jones?’ Our shows will be cheap, if not free for all the punters, and CD’s will be given away there too. We didn’t pay to get our music recorded so you won’t need to pay to hear it!

Turrentine Jones will be shakin' their tail feather at Zen-trifuge II, this Thursday night - 27th August at the Good Ship, NW6. Tickets available from WeGotTickets. Doors 7:30.

If you find me, (There'll be a clue folks) I'll buy you a drink.

Back soon,
Winston.