This Camden based 7
piece soul punk outfit have been a big hit in the UK, self
described as The Clash meets Dexy's Midnight Runners, their punk
style with a rawkus 4 piece horn section sounds great and has already won
them plenty of fans. Touring with the likes of Lit, Reel Big
Fish, Suicide Machines, Lightyear, 4 Ft Fingers, Vanilla Pod and
Shootin' Goon, they have made huge inroads in the UK live scene..
Jesse James have a really good sound
- sort of a soul punk/punk rock, with the great addition of big horns -
described by one member as 'modern heavy punk with soul influences' - and, the
lead singer, and bassist, Dko (previously of Speedurchin)
has a voice really suited to this style.
Admittedly, the first time I saw
Jesse James, when they came onstage and I saw the horns I automatically though
that they'd play ska punk, but even with huge drive from the horns, it doesn't
have that ska beat - it's a lot smoother...
Their first EP
'Shoes' I was really impressed with - the tracks are all very upbeat with
great guitar riffs, really good horn breaks, and the lyrics were really catchy,
so will have you singing along in no time. shoes
review. The
newly released 'Hotwired' is sure to
be an even bigger hit. hotwired review. They are
currently in the studio recording their first full length album, due out Oct
7th, on Golf Records
These two releases
have proved popular, with the title track from their first EP 'Shoes' being the 3rd most popular video on Kerrang
TV within
the first week, also, tracks from both of these EP's have gained airplay on various Radio 1 shows..
They're a great live
act, very energetic, jumping around like loons (once resulting in
a certain semi nude member *coughPetecough* falling over and
breaking his wrist), inviting members of the audience on stage,
and basically having fun.
With a huge
headlining tour this summer up and down the country, including playing
on the Concrete Jungle Stage at Reading
Festival in August, I'm
sure they'll gain plenty more fans. Around September 2002' they decided to leave
the deck cheese stable to go on to the greener pastures of Golf
Records. Sadly, shortly after they inked the deal, the saxophonist
Pete decided to leave to pursue his love for Jazz.
Late October saw them tour with U.S giants Bowling For Soup, an
opportunity for Jesse James to plug their new album 'Punk Soul
Brothers'. The tour went down really well, and you can catch their
latest single 'Empty Tank' on Kerrang TV, MTV2 and P- Rock!
Drag queen then left the band, soon to be replaced by Guy. Early
this summer, they flew over to San Fransisco to record their next
album with the infamous Ryan Greene, but they left the States
without squirrel, as he needed to finish uni in New Mexico. After
their summer tour Dan decided to leave, and having also flown over
to record, Pete decided to rejoin for the September tour, along with
the new edition, Paul on trombone.
