Jim Jeffries
von: Stefan Schulze
Tattooed and cool, charismatic Jim Jeffries grew up singing Rock’n Roll songs along with his Dad. Since these days he certainly has become “That man” who gave his audience the thrills and not the “Shiver”. Years of experience and knowledge of artistic and personal background flow into the songs he writes. Now he has released a brand new solo album. Jim Jeffries spoke with pitXplorer about the release of his CD “Coming to get you”, what music means to him and why hanging out with Marlon Brando and painter Gustav Klimt would have been a cool thing."
pitXplorer (Diana): Hello Jim! It is a pleasure to talk with you. This weekend is very special for you: You celebrate the release of your new album “Jim Jeffries - Coming to get you” and you also play at the “I sold my Soul festival” in Speyer, Germany. Does a day like this make you wake up with a big smile on you face?
Jim Jeffries: Hello Diana, nice to meet you! Yes I am very excited about the album release and to be back performing at Halle 101 in Speyer! But I never wake up with a smile on my face as I work too hard and too late at night and don’t get enough sleep! Ha ha
DEBUT SOLO ALBUM
pitXplorer (Diana): Tell us about the new album…
Jim Jeffries: The new album is really a mix of many of the various rockin’ musical influences that I have had through my life, including rockabilly, country, blues, dark folk and some bitter sweet ballads, but it has been recorded with a higher budget than I have had before, to make it sound polished and professional and hopefully commercial, except for a couple of tracks that I deliberately recorded in a 50’s style. It is the highpoint of my musical career so far, and I hope that it helps me become better known. I am very excited to be working with I Sold My Soul Media as they are a very professional company with big ambitions!
pitXplorer (Diana): Is there a song on the album which you call your favourite?
Jim Jeffries: The album has many songs which are favourites of mine.. I deliberately constructed the album to be a great mix of rockin’ tunes and nice bitter sweet songs… I love the kick arse rock n roll tunes like Deluxe Mama, the rockin’ blues of Bad Blues Baby, but especially the heartfelt ballads like Cold Hearted Woman and Shiver, and of course I am proud of my version of Don’t Go.. the Yazoo classic.
pitXplorer (Diana): You and drummer Mark Richards live in the UK, Dan Flamm (guitar) and Puck Lensing (upright bass) live in Germany. And inspite of different locations and full schedules of all artists involved, you’ve somehow managed to record this album and get together for rehearsals and gigs… difficult?
Jim Jeffries: Fairly difficult, but I am good at organizing the business side of the band.. Puck and Dan are professional musicians that have played all over the world, so they are used to long travelling and living on the road… Mark lives very close to me, so that’s not a problem. For the album, I developed the songs at home and whilst on previous tours with the lads, and then sent them ideas and chord charts online, then they drove to England and stayed at my home for a week whilst we recorded the “guide tracks” to the album. The album was finished by me doing further recording at home and mixed at the Old Blacksmiths studio in Portsmouth, England, and again with online filesharing, Dan recorded his guitar and vocal parts in Cologne and then sent the files to my engineer for us to mix. Gigs and tours can be difficult, but we try and get together to rehearse before playing, even if that means having an acoustic practice in the hotel before the gig!
pitXplorer (Diana): The white guitar on the CD cover photo is sacred to you, I heard. What makes it so special…so special that you chose this 6-string for the cover photo?
Jim Jeffries: Sacred… hmmm I wouldn’t say that, it is just a tool.. an expensive and pretty tool, but yeah, it’s special to me… the Gretsch White Falcon was always a kind of dream guitar to many rockin’ guitarists, and the one that I have is a smaller bodied model which is very rare, they only made a few in the 1990’s.. and I bought it with the money I got from selling my 1957 Buick car which was black and flamed, so yeah it is kinda special, and everywhere I play other guitarists ask to look at it and have a play on it! The CD cover needed to be simple and effective and to be a good advert for the music inside.. and my hairstyle and my guitar give people a good idea of what to expect!
pitXplorer (Diana): How far have tour plans been developed to promote “Jim Jeffries – Coming to get you”?
Jim Jeffries: At the moment we are using a professional promotional company to try and get me some bigger tours and maybe some support slots for major artists, and we hope to start a series of tours in early 2012. I like being on the road, but these economic problems in the world today are making it difficult to play to large crowds every night.
A LIFE FULL OF MUSIC
pitXplorer (Diana): I heard that you have been playing music since you were ten years old… and you are still totally into it…
Jim Jeffries: Yes I found a cassette tape the other day from when I was 10 practising singing to songs by Elvis, Stray Cats and Sex Pistols, and I remember at the same age I started to try properly to play my dad’s guitar, and learned songs such as Bob Dylan’s version of House Of The Rising Sun, which I performed solo at a school concert when I was 11 in 1982. Music has always been a driving force in my life, it has always been the reason behind my appearance, and what girls I liked ha ha. My parents, my ex-wife, my kids, my German girlfriend Lena will all tell you that sharing a home with me is a nightmare…. I have 3 stereo systems and 2 other ghetto blaster in the house, (even in the bathroom) just so I can listen to CDs records, cassettes and vinyl wherever I am in my home.
pitXplorer (Diana): There have been many bands and projects which you initiated or have been part of, “Rancho Deluxe”, “XX Cortez “, “The Caravans“, „Levi Dexter”, “Viktoria Modesta”, and the “The Whip Crackin’ Daddies “, only to name a few. The range of styles is kinda wide. Just as wide as the artists bouquet who you name as your influences: Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Hot Boogie Chillun, Depeche Mode, Chris Isaak. This seems to reflect a really open-minded, curious and energetic personality… do you consider yourself this way?
Jim Jeffries: Cool, you’ve done your homework! Yeah…. I have had loads of bands, for loads of reasons.. Rancho Deluxe was my band playing dark acoustic and rockabilly music from ’95 till 2005 and we did three albums on the German label Crazy Love Records, but due to personal and musical differences I stopped the band and started Whip Crackin’ Daddies, which continues with the guys from Caravans and Mad Dog Cole that I still like – Choppy and Lee Barnett. XX Cortez was my punk band, and we released an album 2 years ago, but the band split. The reason why I played for other people is because they were cool and I liked playing guitar for them, but at age 40 now I have decided that I need to concentrate on my own career rather than help others achieve greater success. Currently my main project and the focus of most of my attention is this new “solo” album as Jim Jeffries, but I will also keep Whip Crackin’ Daddies going for the psychobilly scene, and I have started a local UK based pure rockabilly band called 56 Killers, and I may release the album which I did of dark folk, gypsy jazz, bluegrass and Irish banjo tunes as JJ’s Wretched Souls. I love so many types of music that I cannot limit my creativity by only exploring one musical avenue….. I am the most musically eclectic person that I know.. Those influences that you mention are only the artists who inspired me whilst writing and recording the new album “Coming To Get You”
pitXplorer (Diana): What makes dark Jim Jeffries happier: Is it the composing & writing of songs, or playing live gigs?
Jim Jeffries: I love the creative process.. I have a home with thousands and thousands of CDs, records, tapes, books etc.. and I love to research stuff to create new musical ideas,
new lyrics etc.. and I get an artistic satisfaction from recording my new ideas.. at least when I am dead there will be products somewhere to show some of what I did with my life… Gigging can be an immense buzz when it all goes well, but travel problems, health problems, band member problems and technical problems are often outside of my control, and that causes as much anxiety as it does elation!
pitXplorer (Diana): If you nominated the best and the worst show in you music career, which ones would come to your mind?
Jim Jeffries: Ha ha great question!!!!!! Best show…… hmmmmmmm can’t think of the best – I hope that is yet to come! But the gigs I did in LA and Russia and many gigs at Speyer are probably the best to my memory.. The worst…. Ha ha Dead Kings & Nigel Lewis at Satanic Stomp in 2006.. we were not able to practice properly, and then had technical difficulties.. I wanted to die on stage.. but then many people still said it was a great gig, and the photos looked fantastic, ha ha so I suppose what it feels like on stage is not always how the crowd feels about the gig, and vice versa!
PERSONAL JIM
pitXplorer (Diana): Jim, what makes you smile, aside from music?
Jim Jeffries: Lena my German lady, my kids, my best mates, art and antiques, the farm that I live on, family occasions.. and er….vodka and whiskey,
pitXplorer (Diana): Thinking of days when things aren’t so bright. How do you motivate yourself on a bad day?
Jim Jeffries: Caffeine helps! Ha ha and sometimes I just have to make myself work and again obviously listening to the right music can change my mood….
pitXplorer (Diana): Do you have some all-time non-musician idols who you would love to meet, and from whom you just HAVE to collect information, snippets or stuff?
Jim Jeffries: My second creative love is fine art.. I used to draw and paint, and am fascinated by art history and insanity and eccentricity in artists. So I’d like to meet people like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt the Austrian Expressionist painter.. also writers, I’d have liked to have a drink with Charles Bukowski and Jack Kerouac.. and actors like the obvious - Marlon Brando and James Dean, I would have liked to have hung out with them at their peak… maybe Johnny Depp now…also business people and politicians – I have a few mates that are millionaires, and I like to hang out with successful people and learn how they developed their own lives and realised their dreams…
pitXplorer (Diana): Let’s take a look at the coming days: How will these look like for you, including 2012?
Jim Jeffries: I expect that there will be a lot more musical work to do with promoting the new album, and I know that Frank Dickau at I Sold My Soul Media is spending a lot of money and time pushing my profile, so hopefully I will be in a town near you, rocking hard on stage and sharing a few beers with you and friends at the bar later!
I’m also getting more involved in sponsorship deals, and am working with a couple of great clothing labels like XtraX, so there may be more pictures of me in magazines and online soon too! But it’s all just business as usual to me, work hard, play hard, and keep aiming towards achieving my goals and ambitions!
pitXplorer (Diana): Thank you for the interview!
Jim Jeffries: Thank you Diana! It was great to meet you, and I liked your interview questions!
Neuvorstellungen: Jim Jeffries - Coming To Get You
Jim Jeffries
