New York, NY (Top40 Charts) I guess that makes us a father-son band, but we really wouldn't like us to get labeled that way. It might be cool now, but not 5-6 years from now . . .
The Jewell Thieves, Mike Jewell & Nick Jewell, a Boston, MA, independent alternative rock band, are releasing two new singles in anticipation of a future EP tentatively titled Caught in the Act. The singles being released are "My, Girl, My Girl" and "We Need To Leave, Now". They are two very different types of songs both in sound and lyric.
We caught up with the duo to ask about the new songs and why the different directions for each single. Plus, we wanted to find out a little about the band.
Visionary[s] - You are a relatively new band in the
Boston area, how did you come to be?
Jewell Thieves - It started out as a fun side project. Nick had been in a number of school plays and parents were coming up to me saying, "Your son has such a great voice, you should do something with it," and I thought, "Yeah, I should do something with it." At the same time, he also wanted to learn guitar, so the opportunity just presented itself.
Vis - Just to clarify, Nick is 10 years old?
JT - Yes, he is. And he is my son, so I guess that makes us a father-son band (laughs), but we really wouldn't like us to get labeled that way. It might be cool now, but not 5-6 years from now...
Vis - What was the motivation to write songs?
JT - It was easier for us to work through the whole process together: writing a song, recording, mixing, marketing, discussing music and creating sounds. Don't get me wrong, we play cover tunes when we practice, but it helps that we created something from scratch. It helped to understand the why and the how.
Vis - So, through the learning process you guys wrote these songs. Why are they so different?
JT - They are actually songs from two different projects. The first project, Caught in the Act, is a compilation of songs we wrote over the last few months and includes "My Girl, My Girl." Nick likes a lot of the pop songs on the radio, like
Imagine Dragons and Black-Eyed Peas. I tend to lean more towards alternative type music, Flaming Lips, Beck and Tame Impala. We both found a mutual love for the
Beastie Boys though. This song, which is one of the first ones we wrote, was a middle ground for us and it was also the beginning of creating our sound.
Vis - Okay, but then you are releasing "We Need to Leave, Now", which doesn't really sound like it should be on the same EP.
JT - When we write, it is easier to start with a story, come up with characters and have things happen to them. "We Need to Leave, Now" is part of another project called Tainted World. The story is that the Earth has finally been eradicated of all its natural resources, there is nothing left for us to fix, so we must flee and find a new planet to call home. We focused our story on leaving the planet and then being in space looking back at what we left. From that point of view the sound needed to be different and have a completely different feel. More like progressive rock with a science fiction twist.
Vis - So there are more songs for each EP coming?
JT - Yes. We are in the process of mixing them now and decided that it would be best to take our time and release them as we finish them. We have roughly 12 songs at different stages in the process. It's coming together, just slowly. The goal is to release a few singles and then when everything is mixed the way we want it, release the two EPs.
Vis - What's next for the Jewell Thieves?
JT - Right now we are having a lot of fun creating music. Nick likes to perform live though, so at some point we will need to create a show and find venues.
The Jewell Thieves are an independent alternative rock band, located in Boston, Massachusetts, that was formed in 2014 by Mike Jewell & Nick Jewell.
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