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Not since DEADHORSE released “Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers”
and THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS were loaded on acid and running naked
on stage has the humongous state of Texas been so musically
overlooked. Really, Deaf Sparrow seems to think so and you
should agree because we know our stuff. THE JONBENET’S first
real full-length Ugly/Heartless just got released and is well
worth more than a few spins. Skinsman Drew Ireland answered a
few of our questions.
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First
of all, Ugly/Heartless is quite the improvement over your
previous release. The Plot Thickens wasn't bad at all, but it
was quite uneven due to the fact that it was the combination of
two previous releases. Even though the music is clearly spastic,
the new material still manages to be more cohesive. What was
your approach to songwriting with this album? What's the main
difference between The Plot Thickens and Ugly?
When it comes to the songwriting process of Ugly/Heartless,
we approached it as relaxed as we could have. 95% of all the
material came from us just getting in the room and jamming. The
Plot Thickens for us sits in an entirely different realm from
Ugly/Heartless, seeing as how it’s two separate releases put
together, with some songs being 4 or more years old at the time
of its release. We had all grown as artists and as people, and
wanted to create more of an entity with this album. The whole
idea behind Ugly/Heartless was to be as real as we can and keep
it raw and avoid overproduction as much as possible. It felt
more real.
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Tell us a little about Ugly/Heartless recording process. How was
it different in comparison to The Plot Thickens? How happy are
you with the end result?
Ugly/Heartless was recorded live in a bar during closed hours
in downtown Houston. We just set up and played. 5 out of the
12 tracks on the album are the first take; meaning it was the
first and only time we played the songs for the album. I
believe they are tracks 2, 3, 7, 9, and 11. It was a little
scary sometimes, because the whole process was a big leap of
faith. Both releases that comprise The Plot Thickens
were
recorded by tracking with a click track. That method is
important sometimes, but we felt a stronger need to make more of
a statement with our ‘debut’, no matter what’s still to come on
future releases. We are extremely happy with the end result, it
seems like more people are getting it than we thought. That’s
an amazing feeling.
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You guys come from Houston, TX; other famous people like George
Foreman, the Duff sisters (Hillary and her big nosed sister),
Shelley Duvall (whose face was freakier than Jack Nicholson's
performance in The Shining), Beyonce, Patrick Swayze (the
pedophile in Donnie Darko), Bill Hicks (funny guy, dead guy)
Kenny Rogers (The Gambler), Phylicia Rashad (Bill Cosby's wife
in that show) and ZZ Top hail from there. What is it with your
city that breeds so much talent?
I’m sure there’s a broad list of artists from any city the
size of Houston, haha. It must be all that humidity and smog.
It just comes together to form this vaporized airborne parasite
of inspiration.
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How was the beginning of the band? How did
the signing to Pluto come about?
The beginning was back in early 2003; our guitar player and
singer are the original members. Dann (guitar) had songs and
riffs he’d written, and all the kids we all grew up with always
jammed with each other constantly. There have been numerous
line-up changes, but all the members and ex-members have known
each other for many, many years. There was a newcomer about a
year ago however, Wil Spent (current bassist), came down from
Illinois on a bus and joined, but it feels like he’s been here
since the beginning. In the early days, I’m not best at saying
because I wasn’t an original member, but I know the guys were
into a lot of stuff like SAETIA, AT THE DRIVE IN, and THE RED
LIGHT STING. Who knows how we were introduced to it. It just
came to us I guess. Pluto got in touch with us while we were
booking our second tour ever, and then we met up with them and
signed with them. It was a pretty chill process.
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Everyone is familiar with Jon Benet Ramsey. You guys named the
band after her, and I am assuming it's not necessarily a
tribute, haha. Sorry, not sure why I am laughing here...Why did
you go for that name? Do you see it as morbosity or as some sort
of social reminder of what can happen when parents try to live
vicariously through their children?
There was no greater purpose at all. We had our first show
coming up, and we needed a name. We needed something that would
look good on a shirt and be ambiguous. Our original bass player
came up with it and we ran with it. The story pretty much ends
there, just a name.
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I believe you have been together for at
least 3 years, how have you seen the overall scene change in
that time?
Hmmmm, we had all been regular show-goers long before the
band got serious, and I think looking back on all that, the
scene hasn’t changed at all. Good bands, shitty bands,
innovative bands, traditional bands. It’s always moving and
shifting and evolving, but the heart of it never changes. It’s
all really relative, I guess. That general outlook on it is
what’s most appreciated by us.
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One somewhat annoying trend in the scene
is the 'girl's jean thing'. I know it is a somewhat superficial
thing to pick on, but what is your take on it?
It’s just like anything else, just a newer style that
happened for certain people. Hasn’t that died down? I don’t
think I’ve seen that around in a long time. Maybe I’m just not
hip anymore. Hahaha! We don’t really care. Wear them or don’t,
or just be naked.
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There are a few parts in the new record where we can see a
previously unheard side to the band. There is a cleaner more
melodious sound that seemed to be lurking somewhere there. Do
you see the band cleaning up its sound a little? Maybe cleaner
singing, poppier sound, catchy melodies, grand choruses,
choreography...... maybe not that much. Not like HANSON and
O-TOWN, but you know what I mean. You know stuff people can hum
in the streets without passers by giving you a stare like you
have monkeys on your face and crap....
The future of our sound could be anything. We don’t know
what it will be. We’ve all agreed that it would be fun to play
around with ideas of more melody, anthems, etc, but it’s all a
natural flow. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next album was
more vicious, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was way more
melodic. We want to be constantly exploring, that’s how we
intend to keep it. Hahaha! Who knows, maybe when we ‘grow up’
we’ll write another ‘Ok Computer’. It’s completely up in the
air. It depends on where we are in our lives as people and
musicians.
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I am always curious as to which
bands/records have influenced certain artists. Please recommend
us a few records/artists?
Well, I can’t speak for everyone in the band, but I can take
a few good collective guesses.
Anything by Black Sabbath in either era (depending on who
you’re asking), lots of hardcore/punk from any era. Our musical
tastes as a whole have spun off into random craziness. There’s
just not really much of a pattern anymore. The guys often tease
me for listening to metal too much though, haha.
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What's next for THE JONBENET?
Tour our asses off, write another album, tour our asses off,
drink beers, tour our asses off, write beers, drink another
album, and tour our beers off, hang out. Your questions were
stimulating, I’m being sincere. Thanks for the interview. Good
work!
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Thanks to you!
Ugly/Heartless is out now on Pluto Records.
Read
our
Ugly/Heartless
review |
