It seems rare these days to see a band that doesn’t have some sort of synthesizer on stage with them. The evolution of electronic music has bled seamlessly into pop, rock, rap, and indie music making it possible to replicate a variety of pre-constructed beats and sounds. But California rock group, The Jacks, have made a conscious decision to stick with a more straightforward approach; “Our goal is to never have a computer on stage,” said bassist, Scott Stone, quickly adding, “Not that there’s anything wrong with bands who do that, we just really want to just keep it to four guys and four instruments.”
The band feeds off classic 60s and 70s British Rock, citing The Who and Led Zeppelin as personal music influence. But drummer Josh Roosen wants it to be clear that they’re more than just a band trying to recreate classic rock. “I think what really helps us create the unique sound that is The Jacks is that we all pull from different influences and we all aren’t completely set on the same bands as our favorite so we can all bring something different to the table.” When discussing how they would describe their sound, Stone put it perfectly, “I think I would call it rock n roll with a modern interpretation.”
“I’d say we’re pretty raw” added Roosen, “Nowadays in music sometimes you can’t even tell if there’s a band playing, and I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, but what we’re trying to do is when you hear one of our recordings or see us live there’s no smoke and mirrors, you know exactly what’s going on. You know what everyone is playing.”
He paused thoughtfully then finished his thought, “We are trying to stay as raw and organic to rock n’ roll as we can. We don’t want to reinvent it cause it’s so great, but we do want to bring something new to the table.”
The band started with Scott and lead guitarist Tom Hunter, who had a cover band called The Echos in middle school “We played our eighth grade graduation. We were pretty cool” joked Stone.
Two became three after they added lead singer and guitarist Jonny Stanbeck when they heard him at an open mic their senior year of college. “That’s when we really started writing original music and started taking it a lot more seriously. Then we got Josh to join about a year ago, and that’s when it became a real thing” said Stone.
They are currently gearing up for their first major tour, which will take them from Los Angeles to Chicago. “We haven’t played most of the places we are going,” said Roosen “But I’m most excited for the two festivals, which are going to be crazy because those will probably be the biggest crowds we’ve ever played for.”
They just released a new single earlier this month called “Tonight”, which is an anthemic rock song driven by heavy guitar and catchy vocals with a bit of a punch behind each note. “The process for this song was different from the past ones because we worked Chris Seefried who is a producer/writer. He’s worked with The Kooks and Trombone Shorty and a lot of other cool stuff. But yeah, it was actually two different songs that we ended up combining into one ” said Stone.
They are planning to get back in the studio after their tour to record an album with the hopes of releasing it next Spring. No matter when the album comes out, it is sure to be a continuation of The Jacks modern take on classic, no frills, rock ‘n’ roll.
Check out The Jacks on tour and follow them on Instagram and Spotify to stay updated.
