Birmingham dream-pop act JAWS were the source of a lot of local hype a few years ago when they burst onto the scene with a series of extremely enticing demos. It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the band since, taking in the realities of moving out of home and getting jobs, as well as touring extensively and learning to be self-sufficient.
I talked to singer Connor Schofield about the journey so far…
You talked a bit around the release of the last record about how your situations had changed – growing up, essentially, and having to move out, get jobs, that kind of thing. That’s got to be a bit of a reality check in a sense. Do you think you can hear it in your music?
Kind of, the main thing that’s changed is time, we have less of it, but it also means we can be more patient and take our time with writing and making sure the songs work.
The Ceiling has been out a few months now. Are you happy with how it’s done?
Very very proud of it.
I’d imagine it can get quite complicated reproducing some of the texture of the record live. How do you deal with that?
It’s not as tricky as you’d think, we have a few magic tricks plus a lot of practice.
Do you feel like the process of recording and reproducing records in a live setting helps you develop as musicians? How do you compare to the band who started out?
100%, with The Ceiling we learnt to play them together after recording which we’d never done before, we all learnt a lot from that, probably not to do it that way again, but still was an interesting way to do it.
I understand the record is mostly about feeling a little bit lost. Is that feeling still with you?
Always. but it’s good to talk about it.
Have you begun to think about what the next record might look like? Are you expecting more changes in style?
We haven’t, I imagine our 2020 will start with some writing but right now we haven’t thought about it.
The Birmingham music scene seemed to be really hyped a few years back. How is it doing now?
It’s really thriving right now, Sugar Thief, The Assist, Ivory Wave, Chartreuse, Mayday are a few names to look out for. Also, a shout out to Tim Senns from BBC WM for being the heartbeat of it all at the moment.
There was a fair bit of noise around you guys when you first came out with demos all those years ago. What’s that like to experience?
I didn’t really notice it to be honest, maybe I was quite naive about it all. I’ve always wanted more, but also felt lucky to be where I am with everything. I mean it’s exciting, but we never let stuff like get to our heads.
Have you played much in Ireland before? What do you expect when you come here?
I’m not sure, we’re really excited to come and play and see Belfast and Dublin, hopefully, it should be really fun.
What should people expect from your live show?
A lot of energy, a good laugh.
JAWS play The Academy 2 on November 27.
