Formed in early 2020 by lead singer Jack Perez, Joe The Band has been one of the most prolific projects over the last five years releasing seven full length records along with several singles and E.P.’s
I sat down with Jack to talk about his early musical experiences, how he started playing and the making of their new album “Turn On/Tune In”.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artist or band did you enjoy the most?
Jack-My parents had music playing in our house constantly. My mom introduced me to a lot of 90s Grunge and Alternative (specifically Pearl Jam, which was a love of mine at an early age, still is!) And my dad showed me all of the Jangly, college radio stuff I’ve now started to emulate in my music.
CMM-When did you start playing music and writing songs and what led to Joe The Band becoming a project of yours?
Jack-I’ve always been singing and making dumb songs up since I was a toddler. I got a drumset in 2016 for Christmas. I wanted to write music for real so I begged my parents for a guitar which I got in 2019 and a phone with GarageBand on it not long after. That was kind of the immediate start of Joe the Band.
CMM-You recently released a record called “Turn On/Tune In”. What was the writing and recording process like and were there any particular pieces of gear you used to get the sound you were looking for?
Jack-All songs were written and recorded by me and my good friend Ellyette. Elly played all the bass. I did everything else. We wanted to make fast, loud, pop songs similar to Guided by Voices, while also having the textures and sounds of My Bloody Valentine. I used very inexpensive microphones and a two input interface connected to Garagband on Ipad. All rhythm guitars were Squier Jaguar/Jazzmasters through Big Muffs. All Solos were done on a telecaster with a bunch of stacked fuzzes. I also layered tons of guitars on top of each other with different effect boxes and chord shapes.
CMM-If you could do a score for any film director, who would it be and what would the film be about?
Jack-While it’s not really a movie or specific director, I’d love to score a game similar to Silent Hill. I love the atmospheres and textures in the soundtracks of the first three games and at times I’ve thought of doing something similar under a different project name.
CMM-Anything coming up?
Jack-I have over 5 releases, big and small, planned for Joe the Band. I’m always writing music. No shows planned right now but soon we’ll start playing shows as much as we did during the summer!
