on the record with...
Jay R
Jack Viper
By Alissa Ordabi
(SugarBuzz London)
SugarBuzz Magazine
I was meaning to catch up with London sleaze rockers Jack Viper ever since they returned from Los Angeles this August after playing at the coolest LA venues during CrueFest. Now that the band has released their debut single entitled “Devil May Care” in October and picked up the Best Live Band award at Glasswerk New Music Awards later on that month, I simply had to meet up with them ASAP to get up to date on all their news.
Jay R: Jack Viper’s provocative singer and frontman, the exemplary wild rocker whose image sums up the spirit at the centre of his band’s music, met me before the band’s show at Camden’s Purple Turtle on October 19 for a chat. We had a blast drinking (Jay - Foster’s, me – Jack) and talking about his band, the States, the unsigned British scene and rock’n’roll in general.
SugarBuzz::Congratulations on picking up the Best Live Act Award at Glasswerk this week. How do you feel about winning this?
Jay: It's good! It's good to be recognised by the industry and the fans all over the country for being what we are. It also goes to show that sleaze rock isn't dead and buried in the past. It's relevant here and now.
SugarBuzz::A lot of things have been happening with Jack Viper recently. Not only have you won the award, but your debut single, "Devil May Care" came out earlier this month. What has the reaction to the single been so far?
Jay: It's been good so far. We don't know what the exact figures are, because we haven't had them yet, but it's still early days, but so far so good, it's looking pretty good.
SugarBuzz: Another thing I wanted to ask you about are your shows in LA this summer. You went there to play at the CrueFest, what was it like?
Jay: CrueFest was awesome. LA was fucking amazing! It's the home of sleaze rock really, isn't it? It's where it all began, that's where it is. And even though it's not such a big scene there now, when we were there it was Saturday night, the Strip was alive, everyone was going mental, it was like the heyday of rock around there! We sold so many "Go Fuck Yourself" t-shirts, people were going up and down the Strip wearing our t-shirts, guys coming up to us saying, "We love fucking Jack Viper, man!" That was cool, we met a lot of cool people, like Anthony Fox from Beautiful Creatures, hanging out with him, Taime Downe was at our gig, there were so many people, hanging out with LA Guns at the Rainbow, it was really cool. People absolutely loved us, they thought we were the best band on the bill.
SugarBuzz: Is the scene in LA any different from the scene here? Was the audience reaction any different?
Jay: Not really, the audience was wild, they really got into it. When we kicked it off, they went apeshit. They were really cool, and good people to hang out with. It was good going into another country and to see how they would take it. And they loved it.
SugarBuzz: What's next for Jack Viper?
Jay: We're off to New York in a couple of weeks to play at CrueFest New York. That makes us the first British band to do two CrueFests. We're playing a headlining set in New Jersey the night before with the Primadonnaz and Rockets to Ruin, two local American bands. Then we are getting back and there is a possibility of a really massive show before Christmas, and as soon as we know we'll announce, and we've got some record label interest which is starting to heat up, and stuff coming in from Japan, so we have all sorts of stuff going on at the moment. We are writing an album, so when we come back from the States, our priority is really to finish writing the album and get ready for release next year. That will be a full world-wide release.
SugarBuzz: Are you getting a bit disillusioned with the scene in the UK in general?
Jay: Yeah. (Laughs). 'Cause it sucks!.. The music here is dominated by pop and indie, and the reason why it keeps on like that is a lot down to the press and the promoters, and what do you have to do to get mentioned in Kerrang? At the end of the day, we've done movie soundtracks and mp3 players, and we are critically acclaimed all over the world, and the mainstream press won't touch us because we are a sleaze rock band. Like get your heads out of your ass, you know? Music's gone around again!
SugarBuzz: Sleaze rock by definition is a very sexy, very provocative kind of music. Are you a kind of person who likes to be provocative?
Jay: Oh yeah! You know what they say, haha! Sure, I am, I'm not like a lot of the other guys, I'm not a screeching type, I'm a dark brooding fucking smouldering type, and the ladies love it, apparently!
SugarBuzz: What kind of woman do you find appealing?
Jay, laughing: Well, I like women who say what they want. I think a woman has as much right as a man to say what she wants and go and get it. That's the name of the game!
SugarBuzz: What does it take to tempt or provoke you?
Jay: Not much! Buy me a drink and we're all OK! (Laughs). Just come and talk to me! A lot of people are scared of me at first because I'm quite aggressive and have quite a lot of attitude, but just come and talk to me, I like it. I like talking to people. I like meeting everybody at the gigs. And it's good when people tell you what they think because at the end of the day, we do what we do for ourselves and for the crowd, and when someone comes up to us after a show and says, "Ya man, I really fucking loved that", that means a lot, even if it's one person.
SugarBuzz: Is there any famous woman who doesn't stand a chance with you?
Jay: That would be Kate Moss!
SugarBuzz: Why is that?
Jay, laughing: First off, I wouldn't touch her after where she's been.
SugarBuzz: Whoa! Haha!
Jay, laughing: Yeah, that's pretty much it. And she's just a poster girl for chavs, she has nothing for me.
SugarBuzz: What do you not like people say about you?
Jay: What really fucks me off is when people hear the words "sleaze rock" and go, "The 80s are dead". That pisses me off more than anything because we are not an 80s band. We play sleaze rock and we are not ashamed of that fact, but we have metal in it, and when people tell you, "Oh, it's retro", my reaction is, "Fuck you, man, it's not retro, it's here and it's now, and it's coming to get you!" I don't think in any way our sound is retro, it's a modern sleaze or the new breed of sleaze if you like.
SugarBuzz: Are there any other unsigned UK bands that you think stand a chance of making it?
Jay: Good question. I think that the dynamics of the scene has changed over the last year. I think that there are definite forerunners at the moment: us, Gypsy Pistoleros and New Generation Superstars. These are the three bands heading the race to become fucking big, you know? We played with Gypsy Pistoleros before, we played with New Gen quite a lot of times, we're friends with the guys, and there is a lot of respect. The three of us are leading the pack at the moment. So the other bands have to pull their fingers out of their ass and start fucking doing something.
SugarBuzz: Any last words?
Jay: I just want to say thank you to everybody who voted for us in the Glasswerk Awards, it means a lot to us winning it. Also I want to say that you've seen nothing yet. We've got really big things coming out, and I mean really big things. By this time next year it's going to be a whole different ball game.
Jack Viper’s debut single “Devil May Care” is available online from i-Tunes and www.hmv.co.uk.