Brutal Dance Poppers: An Interview with The JeanMarie

January 19, 2009 2:50 PM
by Marcos Colón

While the sounds of Miami’s nightlife seem at times to be far too dominated by the DJ, there’s hope. For those who creatively feast on the sounds of live music, good ol’ rock and roll, a band hailing from Magic City have decided to battle it out with the man behind the decks; The JeanMarie. Having slowly climbed the ranks of the live music spectrum in the city, The JeanMarie are finally set to release their debut full-length album, Annie Jump Cannon. Known for their high-energy live shows and dancy creative melodies, the boys will have their CD release party this Friday at The Vagabond, where they will treat the lucky crowd with a live performance.

CoolJunkie recently caught up with vocalist/guitarist Jordan Davidson and guitarist/percussionist Curtis Nydstrom on their full-length release, the rock scene in Miami and how fire breathing midget hookers just may be part of their live shows.

CoolJunkie: Next week is a big week for you guys. After so much hard work and dedication, your album finally comes out. How does it feel for you guys?

Jordan Davidson: It feels gorgeous man. We’ve definitely been working on this material for a little while and it feels great to finally have this stuff come together. It has been a long process but it’s turned out to be extremely rewarding.

Curtis Nydstrom: It has be a VERY long process. (laughs)

CJ: We you guys went into the studio to begin the recording the album, Annie Jump Cannon, was there a specific feel or sound that you guys were shooting for?

Jordan Davidson: We went into the studio a couple of times and we did a lot of re-recording to get it right, because I feel as though we did have a sense of fidelity that we wanted to attain and that took a couple of tries.

Curtis Nydstrom: We were really trying to get an organic sound on this album. I think one of our best attributes is our live show and the energy that we have in our live show, so we were definitely trying to communicate that on the album and try to really have as much energy translating on to the record as possible, so we used a lot of organic instruments and try to use as many first takes as possible. There’s also a lot of stuff on the album that sounds synthetic but is actually either done with guitars and keyboards. We really wanted to put the effort to make it sound organic and obtain that sound quality of having it as natural as possible.

CJ: It’s difficult to pinpoint the sound of the album, but that’s should be taken as a compliment in this day in age where music is so easily labeled by the media. I thought that maybe this could be contributed to some of your musical influences. What do you feel are some of your musical influences that may have rubbed off on your sound?

Jordan Davidson: It’s nice of you to say that because that is something that we pride ourselves on, is having a large major musical influences, and for us to pigeonhole ourselves is not in any way what any of us are about. Our influences range from anywhere. We obviously have a dancy influence, from the Talking Heads to Prince. But I’ll tell you, lately I’ve been into flat-picking traditional Blue Grass for the last several years and I’ve been pushing it on the band and pushing it in the album. It seems as though that came through a bit. (laughs) We’re all jazz musicians so we’re all into all types of jazz.

Curtis Nydstrom: Absolutely. I agree as well especially with the jazz. When we play we really try to communicate that background by adding in that improvisational element. Maybe it’s not a guitar solo, but it’s the dynamics that translate over from that type of background. A large part of the album, too, is drumming. There are a lot of external percussions and just drums and that’s something that we’ve been pushing a lot. That sort of afro-pop with the inclusion of other percussion elements that take it to the next level.

CJ: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard of The JeanMarie before?

Jordan Davidson: Brutal dance-pop. (laughs)

Curtis Nydstrom: Brutal dance-pop. (laughs) Yea, I like that. That sounds great.

CJ: How did you guys get together?

Curtis Nydstrom: We’ve been a band, in some regards, almost for three years now. We started with the three of us, Jordan, myself and Jeff, who’s out bass player, and another guy Aaron Scott. We did some stuff with him for a while before he cut out, and we were also playing with another drummer, but now we have a new drummer and Jordan obviously has taken the lead vocal role. In this present format it has been about a year and a half. We’ve played with this keyboardist Richard, who has his own Panic Bomber thing going on, and he’s also with Dead Hookers. It’s this whole incestual union.

CJ: Now, talking about other artists here in Miami. How do you guys feel about the music scene here?

Curtis Nydstrom: It’s up and coming I’d say. It’s been doing a lot better recently. Rachel’s (Goodrich) really been blowing up. Spaceship Rocketship’s been doing some really good stuff recently.

Jordan Davidson: ANR, who are really good friends of ours and who before we even formed the band we’d be those four dudes at the show every time.

Curtis Nydstrom: It was actually two guys from ANR that helped us out on our first record.

Jordan Davidson: They were very influential for us to even start a group.

CJ: Do you feel that the rock scene here in Miami sometimes is overshadowed by the large support that electronic music gets here?

Jordan Davidson: Oh absolutely. Our jobs are basically, ‘warriors against the DJ.’ (laughs) Even if you’ve booked the show and get people to come out, you’re still fighting the DJ all the time when you’re up there and you’re still getting cut off because that’s just the mentality here. ‘Get them in, and then pump the DJ and get them drinking.’ I’m not sure, but it’s definitely a different culture to live music. But you know what? We make do.

Curtis Nydstrom: Personally I like it. People here come to the clubs in Miami and most of the time they’re not expecting a live show, but when you get over that hurdle and you get a band to play and have a lot of people coming to your shows to see this band with a lot of energy, I think that those people and that crowd will really begin to latch on. It adds a cool dynamic. When you go out in Miami you’re not really seeing a group play every night , like other cities where you see a lot of live music. So here in Miami, sometimes I feel like it’s a special treat. For example, what they do at The Vagabond is really great. They always have one really great group playing that compliments the night perfectly.

CJ: Do you feel that’s it’s difficult to get widespread attention as a band from Miami?

Jordan Davidson: I’ll tell you what’s hard about it, it’s establishing yourself in the surrounding areas, because Miami is so far away from everything else. That’s what we’ve been trying to do, is sectioning off weekends to work in Orlando and Tampa and Gainesville. Even up to Georgia and North Carolina. It’s not impossible, but it is difficult because of the geographical location.

Curtis Nydstrom: We also don’t get as many national acts coming down to Miami as we’d like. I think it’s getting better with what they’re bringing in at the Fillmore and what Studio A did. And it’s great when they do because as a local band you have a chance to network and enjoy each other’s music.

Jordan Davidson: We’ve had some great opportunities, opening up for Bloc Party and The Noisettes and Hellogoodbye.

CJ: What kind of impact has Miami had on your music if any at all?

Curtis Nydstrom: It’s dance music and people in Miami always come to dance so you can’t disappoint. I look at it as a challenge because you arrive at the gig knowing that you have to make people dance.

Jordan Davidson: Your job as a musician is to implement that musicality while everyone’s dancing.

CJ: This Friday you guys will be playing you CD release party at The Vagabond, what can the audience look forward from you guys?

Curtis Nydstrom: Fire breathing midget hookers. (laughs)

Jordan Davidson: (laughs) Besides fire breathing midget hookers, which sounds amazing, a lot of new material and a lot of stuff that’s on the record. We’re really trying to exploit the live show concept. We’re bringing in a live percussionist, this girl Geneva, who’s been playing with Rachel, and that should add an element that we’re trying to bring to our live show.

CJ: What can everyone expect from you guys for the remainder of the year?

Jordan Davidson: A lot of touring.

Curtis Nydstrom: Soon we’re going to be announcing a couple of dates that are coming up soon up the East coast, and also playing some bigger shows down here.

Click here to hear more from The JeanMarie.