We caught up with Mae-Anne, from the band The Jaw, after they attended one of our A&R Sessions with rapper, singer/songwriter, poet, and frontman of successful British Punk Rock band The King Blues – Jonny Fox (Itch).
Lucy: Hi Mae-Anne! Why don’t you tell us a bit about The Jaw to start?
Mae Anne: Hello! We are The Jaw – a wit-punk psych-pop trio making obscure and unusual music on the skewed perspectives of life and sharing our world with curious people
Lucy: How did you hear about the A&R Sessions and was this your first session?
Mae Anne: We heard about this via the mail out and had kept our eye on the session speakers. We like to research what is going on and free sessions are always interesting! Having been unable to attend the previous sessions over the last 6 months Mae-Anne, our bassist, spotted Itch’s profile and was intrigued. Given his background in poetry and lyricism, she thought our guitarist Don Jon would enjoy the talk, and knew of The King Blues from her teenage years.
Lucy: How did you find the feedbacks and the atmosphere?
Mae Anne: The atmosphere was really friendly and open, a lovely bunch of people all just after advice and wanting to improve. Some were familiar from the gigging circuit or studying, about half were all new to one another. The feedback from everyone was really constructive, and positive. The levels of how ‘finished’ a song was varied, which didn’t matter at all, but what shone through was the super high level of quality music we heard. For us, several people expressed an interest in our next live shows and we got some really useful feedback. All in all, it was a successful night.
Lucy: Amazing, thank you. So, Itch invited you to support two of his shows – how did you find it?
Mae Anne: Itch was amazing! He was so excited by the sound of our band at the session that he offered us support gigs on the spot! That was such a pleasant surprise, we were obviously psyched. Cut to 2 weeks later – we opened for 2 of his shows in St. Albans and Oxford with an acoustic show. One ended up being a duo (scary!) As Molly, our drummer, was very unwell. Supporting Itch was truly fantastic, the gigs flowed so well I think because of the complementary mix of poetic lyricism in his music and in ours. Itch is really down to Earth off-stage and on-stage and even invited Mae-Anne to play the violin on an unreleased new song as a special live experience, which was great. It was amazing to share the stage with him and his fans are so lovely, the reception for both shows was heartwarming.
We would fully endorse going to a few sessions – we have already got our eyes on the next ones we’re available! You never know who you might meet. Just shed any inhibitions, go up to everyone and start asking questions. There was such a diverse range of disciplines from breakbeat producers, singer-songwriters, crazy weird wit- punk bands like us, everyone has something to offer that is worth learning from and sharing. See you there!
