Young, fresh-faced and, frankly, burning with a passion for music that rivals that of any of their peers, local band Jane Doe may not have walked off with any awards just yet, but there’s no denying that 2012 was as much their year as any of the local scene’s more established acts.
To start with, their debut single Shivery, released a year ago, was very positively received. Its melodic hook packed the necessary punch to attract regular radio airplay, as well as a place in the upper reaches of various local radio charts.
Follow-up single SMO, released a few months later, consolidated the band’s standing as one of the more exciting alternative prospects on the Maltese music scene, but even as the airwaves were blasting out the new single, the band was already busy working on a new release.
If we were to write only with radio airplay in mind, it would limit our creativity significantly
Balancing live gigs with a hectic, albeit intermittent recording schedule, Jane Doe’s summer involved many irregular hours of studio time. Further to their decision to record and produce the songs themselves, this time, there were also some interesting sounds and a distinct less-is-more quality to their music.
The four tracks featured on the EP, namely title track Keeps Me Waiting, Goldrush, Killing Joe and Control still adhere to the band’s alternative roots, but Jane Doe’s latest offering is a diverse selection. The sound is collectively influenced by a multitude of bands that represent an interesting blend of classic and indie rock genres.
While each song is markedly different from the other, all of them possess a certain quality that links them. There’s also a clear indication of the band’s persistent quest to evolve and explore new areas, its members’ enthusiasm practically guaranteeing we’ll be hearing more of Jane Doe sooner than anyone might think.
Guitarist Edward Bonello speaks of the band’s latest work, the experience of doing it for themselves and their plans for 2013.
The link between Shivery and SMO and the new songs is evident, but there are clearly more elements at play on the EP. Were the changes and the sparser arrangements intentional or perhaps the product of a band still discovering its comfort zone?
I think as a band we know what sound we like and where we feel comfortable. It’s more a case of not wanting to restrict ourselves to just one element. Reproducing a song that sounds good is relatively easy, but in creative terms we find that rather boring. So if I’m totally honest I think the rawer sound on the EP sounds more like us. In fact, we’ve already decided to re-record both songs and give them some slight twists as we plan to include them on our debut album.
Unlike the singles, you opted to record and produce the songs yourselves this time round…
Yes, we love having total artistic freedom. We are fanatical about music and we want to express ourselves in as pure and clear a fashion as possible. Recording the tracks ourselves gave us that freedom. Working with a producer tends to be somewhat restrictive due to predetermined timings and schedules. Of course, I appreciate that having a producer can be a very comfortable aid too, but frankly, we really enjoyed our 2am recording sessions.
The songs on the EP also bear less of a mainstream sway compared to Shivery and SMO…
I admit that Shivery, in particular, was intended to have a strong radio quality. We needed the song to have an immediate impact since it was our introduction to the Maltese public. On the other hand, when one digs deeper into songs, and with all due respect to the more popular songs, it is generally the lesser-known tunes that possess a certain genius to them.
The mainstream scene is not our main area of interest. Having our songs played on radio is great and gives us exposure, but if we were to write only with radio airplay in mind, it would limit our creativity significantly.
The songs on the EP are mainly characterised by softer choruses and unusual placing of the main themes. In so doing, we were able to capture and transmit what we wanted our audience to hear while still allowing them to interpret each song as they pleased.
The EP was released without much pomp just before Christmas. Is there a reason you didn’t go for a more strategic release plan?
I find that people tend to plan and think too much about such things. We could have organised a proper EP launch and some kind of strategy to promote its release, but that would have taken up a lot of our time focusing on the organisation when in fact, the music is what is really important to us. Nowadays, it seems like it’s all about PR and marketing, which I suppose is also very important but, in our case at least, not at the cost of losing sight of our main interest which, as I said earlier, is the love of music.
And you gave it away as a free download…
The reason behind our decision to give the EP away for free was because we want as many people to hear it as possible. We didn’t want to put them off by charging money for it, so I urge your readers to visit our Facebook page and download our music… and please feel free to share it.
Now that the EP is done and dusted, what should we expect from Jane Doe this year?
We’ve been writing new material for some time already. It is something we all love and actively participate in. I must say that we dearly missed having time to write while we were recording, so once the EP was finished we immediately moved on to writing songs. We’re working on an album, a music video and we will definitely be playing live a lot this year… that’s the plan!
The Keeps Me Waiting EP and Jane Doe’s first two singles are all available as free downloads at www.facebook.com/JaneDoeMT.