26 minute read
Jo-Jo & The Teeth Interview by Alice Jones-Rodgers.
Bare Their Pearly Whites!
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Interview by Alice Jones-Rodgers Photography by Kamila Jarczak.
After what they consider to have been a less than satisfactory period performing as a duo in their native Canada, vocalist Jo-Jo O’Donoghue and guitarist Rylan Woods travelled the world (or Toronto, Dublin and the Isle of Wight to be exact) in search of three other like-minded souls to form Jo-Jo & The Teeth, picking up two Isle of Wighters, lead guitarist Keir Hicks and bassist Max Battista, and Surreyman, drummer Andy Barker along the way.
This bright and vibrant collection of Rock ‘n’ Rollers, who cite their influences as being Queen, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones and Aerosmith, release their latest single, the thrillingly anthemic and crescendo-heavy ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ on 6th May. The first taste of their forthcoming debut album, ‘No More Good News’, recorded, mixed and mastered by Jason Stafford at The Albion Rooms, The Libertines’ HQ in Margate, Kent, and slated for an autumn release, ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ is the sound of a band with all the right ingredients to be one of the most important and memorable that you will hear this year.
To find out more about a five-piece who have managed to effectively marry style with substance, whilst amazingly never allowing the former to overbear the latter, we recently caught up with the band’s extravagantly-attired frontwoman and namesake via Zoom video chat at her home in London for the following interview.
Firstly, hello Jo-Jo and thank you for agreeing to our interview, it is lovely to speak to you. Could we start by going right back to the beginning and asking where, when and how Jo-Jo & The Teeth came about and could you introduce us to your members?
Yeah, it’s just me today unfortunately, they’re all at work, but I can sure tell you the story. It’s kind of long and complicated actually. So, me and Rylan [Woods, guitar], who’s the guy with the twirly moustache, me and him
grew up together, so we’ve actually been in a band together for years and years, since we were kids and so, we were touring the UK, just a little baby tour, in 2017, and Keir [Hicks] and Max [Battista], who are the lead guitarist and the bass player [respectively], their band, who they were in at the time opened up for us. And there was no one else at the gig, so we just played to each other and me and Rylan both just looked at each other and we were like, ‘What have we just seen?’ We just immediately ... I think, musically, because we didn’t really have much time to actually speak to them or hang out, because we were on tour and you were just travelling as soon as the gig’s over ... but musically, we were like, ‘This is what we need!’ And we talked all night about like how we needed to find guys like this, this kind of style, this kind of playing and of course, we would never find that again [laughs]. So, we went on our whole tour, we dreamed about them the whole time and then we came back to Canada and we were in the middle of recording an album and we just couldn’t even finish the album! We were like, ‘There’s no point!’ We were like, ‘We need them! we need those guys!’ So, we just packed up our bags and came to the Isle of Wight, which is where they lived. I emailed them first, I didn’t just show up! And, yeah, we agreed to spend the summer just jamming and we went on a little tour together, both our bands, just to see what we could do together and we ended up never going back home! So, that’s that part of the story and then when we ended up needing a drummer ... because Keir and Max’s band were a trio and they had a drummer and they were actually in the middle of breaking up, so we needed a drummer and Keir suggested Andy [Barker], who is our now drummer and they had played in a function band together growing up. And so, Andy came on our Western Canadian tour with us with two weeks of preparation and I don’t know how he pulled it off, but I hadn’t even rehearsed with him ... I don’t think I rehearsed with him once, because there was a death in the family and I had gone home early for a funeral. So, I
was never in a rehearsal with Andy before we were on tour! [Laughs]. So, we really pulled it out of our ass [laughs] and I was really pleasantly surprised! I had played with the same drummer my whole life and it was such a breath of fresh air to play with Andy, because the way he approaches the drums is so tasteful and he doesn’t overplay, so there’s just all this room I wasn’t used to having when we performed with a full band, yeah. So, that was the beginning and at that time, we were performing under our old band name and they were kind of our backing band, but since then, we’ve completely re-done everything and re-worked our old songs, wrote new songs and we’ve really gelled as a five-piece. That’s a really long story [laughs], but I don’t know how to make it any shorter!
So, you are originally from Lacombe, Alberta, Canada and travelled to the Isle of Wight (where you picked up two members of Jo-Jo & The Teeth), via Dublin, before ending up in London. Having lived in all these places, what musical elements and influences do you feel you have picked up from each that have found their way into the sound and overall outlook of Jo-Jo & The Teeth?
It’s been a journey, I must say! So, me and Rylan grew up in Alberta, which is ... I suppose I never really thought of it as a Country place, because that’s just not our experience, right? We grew up in Punk bands, listening to Rock music, wearing leather, but I guess when I look at it now, it’s quite Western, it really has a more Folk and Country feel. I was just completely not aware of it until I left and realised how Western it was in fact [laughs]. So, we found our way and we knew we had to go to a city, because we’re from the middle of nowhere and we knew if we wanted to pursue music, we just had to leave. I didn’t really see a way around that one, so we started working our way East. So, we first moved to Toronto and we kind of tried our hand there, but we kind of had no idea what we were doing. I’ve always had, Rylan as well, we’ve always had a very clear vision of
being in a band. Like, at no point did we want to be a duo. We ended up working and touring as a duo because of necessity. There was just the two of us, so that’s what we did, but that is absolutely not the way ... like, when I write songs, I don’t think of them like performing with an acoustic guitar and a stool. I think of like stage lights, I think of big latex boots, I think of [laughs] glitter, you know, I’m a real showgirl! So, that was never how I imagined things, so I think it was really hard for us at first, because playing as a duo was so unsatisfying ... so incredibly unsatisfying, because we just had these big visions of what these songs should be. And Toronto, it just didn’t stick, I don’t know why, but it just didn’t stick and we ended up going to Dublin. My mother’s from Dublin, so I just have a love affair with Ireland in general, but definitely the city [of Dublin] and now, that, I think, was a real turning point for us, because Ireland is so musical and everyone in Ireland is a singer-songwriter! I mean, everyone! You can throw a rock and hit a singer, it’s the weirdest thing and that was so fun, because we kind of just got to lose ourselves in music and it not be about the business and we weren’t hunting for a band, we just were writing songs and we just were singing our songs to pub crowds and we just ... me, personally, it was the first time I had fallen back in love with playing, because, you know, you do get disheartened along the way and I just had a ball there! We also made some amazing friends and I don’t know, it’s something about me and Rylan, all our friends are over 65! Those are my people! [Laughs]. I think they have better music tastes! But we made lifelong friends. They’re my people [laughs], that’s what I’m about! I guess where I was getting to is that in Dublin, is that we were playing five nights a week in pubs all over the city and it was just really about songwriting and just falling back in love with playing, you know, and it was a real ... hhhhmmmm, it was a hospital for the soul! One of my old friends always calls Ireland that. That’s what it felt like. As a songwriter and as a person, I just really needed to reconnect with
why we do this. [Laughs] Why do we do this?! It’s the worst career choice ever! But sometimes you just need to be reminded of why the hell we’re doing this, so that’s what we were there for and we were there for about a year and a half, I believe. And then we came home [to Canada] and we finished our next record, which we were not happy with [laughs], to put it mildly! I think we had just had such an authentic experience that getting back to the studio the way we did wasn’t where we were at anymore. So, we finished our record and we didn’t love it, but I thought ‘let’s finish it, let’s button it up’ and half way through making the record was when we went on tour as well and met the guys. So, we just had this really weird couple of years that were really transformative. We toured a lot ... we were in Spain, we were all over the UK, we were in Ireland, we were all over Canada. We played and we played and we played and by the time we went to make our record, we were just like ‘I don’t even want to do this anymore! I’m not in this place anymore! I’ve moved on to something so much bigger’ and I think I found the guys that we were supposed to do it with. It sounds so cheesy, but that’s how it felt and it was really hard to come back and finish the record when I knew that like, ‘Hey, this doesn’t matter because our future’s in England with these guys that I met once!’ [Laughs]. That’s how it felt, so, yeah, we just packed up our bags and we just fucking left! Like crazy people! [Laughs]. I honestly don’t know how I convinced Rylan to do this, because he’s much more reasonable than me! [Laughs]. Those were the years that mattered, I think, that shaped us and then when we got to England, it was more about ‘Can we make a band out of these kids?’ We didn’t know them, we had met them just that one night, but I’m a big believer in your gut instinct. Because you meet wonderful players all the time, but you don’t feel like you’re going to throw your life away and chase them back to England, right? [Laughs]. Like, that’s not a normal feeling! I just felt like ‘This is crazy, but I just have this feeling like we’d be amazing if we joined forces,
like ‘What we could do if we could work it out!’ It wasn’t the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but it might work out yet, you don’t know!
It goes without saying that Jo-Jo & The Teeth is a band with a very striking and colourful Rock ‘n’ Roll image, but did you have an idea for the image that you wanted your dream band to have before it came into being, did it come fully-formed or is it something you have worked on over the time you have been together?
No, it’s just what we look like! [Laughs]. It’s simpler than it looks, I think! It’s not contrived at all. I mean, I’ve always been a very colourful lady. I’ve been a make-up artist and a dancer. I’ve done it all! I’m very expressive with my clothes and my make-up and my hair and, you name it, I’ve done it and I’m sure that had an effect, because I’m like the sort of person who would be like, ‘Keir, I was thinking, you would look really good with bleach blonde hair’ and he’d be like, ‘Yeah, I fucking would, wouldn’t I?!’ But, it’s not something we have contrived at all, they are all very stylish and very much have their own image and their own ideas of what they look like. It’s definitely not something we contrived, but I guess it’s definitely something we’ve turned the dial up on. Do you know what I mean? Because the way I see being in a band, or being an artist of any discipline is our job is to just be our biggest self. Like, a secretary maybe doesn’t do that, but a performer does. So, it’s like, the way I always see it is like, I dress how I’d want to dress if there was no limitations, if money was no object and if, you know, getting stared at an the tube [laughs] wasn’t a thing, how would you want to look? And that’s kind of, I guess, how we’ve inspired the band to be their kind of most authentic, biggest, most colourful self. And I think it’s just been a lot of fun and I think the guys have had a lot of fun too, because, I don’t know, I’m not sure they’ve been in such colourful bands before. I don’t know, you’d have to ask them, they’re not here to defend themselves! [Laughs].
Well, it’s brilliant because even just looking at your website, the colours are amazing. So, obviously, that is going to draw attention to you, isn’t it? Which is always a good thing!
Yeah, I mean, we definitely get some looks everywhere we go, that’s for sure! [Laughs]. I’m used to that though, I’m used to that!
How important do you feel the marriage of music and image is in terms of getting a band noticed in such a competitive arena?
Oh, I have no idea! Because to be honest with you, the music industry is an actual enigma! So, I actually have no idea what’s going on. I don’t see any correlation between talent and success, or money and success. I honestly can’t figure it out! It’s crazy town! So, I don’t even bother anymore and I just think ... and I guess that’s circling back to when we were in Dublin and forgetting about all of the shit and just being yourself and loving what you do and just making music because you fucking love it. And that’s all we can do, because I honestly have no idea what’s going on in the industry! [Laughs] No clue! But I think the best thing anyone can do is probably just completely be yourself and just live in your own authenticity and whatever happens is what happens! You can’t choose it or contrive it. So, I don’t know, I suppose with the way that we look, people definitely know that you’re a band! Like, when you walk around, people go, ‘You’re a band, aren’t you?’ So, there is that. But, no, I don’t really know that it matters anymore. Honestly, it’s so weird out there! If you have any clues, [laughs] let me know!
Oh no, none whatsoever, we don’t understand the music industry these days either!
I think it’s chaos theory! That’s my theory anyway!
Yeah, definitely! That’s a good one, actually! How do you feel that the image of the band transfers into a
live setting and for anybody who hasn’t seen Jo-Jo & The Teeth on stage, how you describe one of your gigs?
I personally love a good show, so I appreciate any level of showmanship. Coming from like the Prairies and this is absolutely not in a dissing way, but every band does look the same! Denim and flannel shirts! [Laughs]. And they all have beards and they all have big-framed black glasses and long hair! Every band looks the same, so you definitely have my attention if you look different, you know, and I appreciate a show. That’s not to say a bunch of dudes in flannel and denim don’t put on an amazing Rock show, I just mean that if you took a picture, I might not choose you out a line-up, that’s all. But, how does our image translate to our live show? I don’t know, because I think the way that people perceive you is like none of your business. People have told me the craziest shit about what they expected us to sound like based upon what we look like and I don’t know how they got this idea!
So, what sort of things do you get?
Oh, like crazy stuff! Like, people think I am, speciafically, like a crazy Gothic Screamo, or something weird! Not that I think that’s crazy, because I don’t, I think that’s rad, but I don’t know why you’d think that, because I wear glitter! [Laughs]. There’s nothing dark and scary about a lady covered in glitter, is there?! I don’t know! [Laughs]. And I think people sometimes think we’re a Punk band, but I would say that we’re all ... well not all, but me and Rylan were certainly influenced by like Punk music and more so, Punk attitude, just like that be yourself, everyone can fuck off, I’m doing my thing! I think we definitely have a lot of that going for us, but I’m not sure so much that you hear it in the music. I think if you didn’t know what we sounded like, how I would describe it to you ... this is the worst question, I hate this question, because it’s so hard! Genre is like gender, it doesn’t really exist. It’s juat these boxes we’ve invented to help describe stuff to people. But if I had to, I would say we’re a Blues-rooted,
Glam, Rock ‘n’ Roll band, maybe? We’re genre-fluid! [Laughs].
Your London debut was opening for The Libertines, Dirty Pretty Things and The Jackals’ Carl Barât and you have since gone on to record your upcoming debut album ‘No More Good News’ at The Libertines’ former recording space, The Albion Rooms in Margate, Kent. Could you tell us a bit about the writing and recording process of ‘No More Good News’ and what can we expect from the album?
Well, the way our band came together was unique. You know, we didn’t start a band together, so it wasn’t like a clean slate. It kind of was like the guys joined our band, or like our duo, so Rylan and I had songs that they learned that were old songs. And by the way, were completely transformed and completely took on an entire new life. They’re just so good! I have so much gratitude for stumbling across them, becasue only now, songs I wrote years ago feel the way they were meant to now. Do you know I mean? Because I’m only one person, Rylan’s only one person, and you just can’t have tht big ass sound coming out of two people and it doesn’t matter how many musicians you hire, if peoples’ hearts aren’t in it and it’s not really what they do, you’re just not going to get that sound we were after all these years. So, what we’re doing with the new album is that we took a collection of songs where we hated the way they were recorded the first time [laughs] and we completely just workshopped the shit out of them with the new guys. I think the issue was, we wanted to always have going forward, every song that we play live, we wanted it to be available for people to listen to. I didn’t want to play songs that they couldn’t get, or have it so the only version of the song they could get was that old studio version where we had like musicians we hired and they just don’t have that soul of the band, you know? So, we took a collection of the songs that we are continuing to play live with the new band and we re-recorded them and we also have a
selection of new songs. So, that’s going to be the ‘No More Good News’ album. It’s kind of like the bastard child [laughs] of mine and Rylan’s songwriting past and then what to expect going forward with the new band. And we recorded the album in The Libertines’ studio out in Margate, which is an amazing place to record. This is going to sound so like something I’d say, but it’s just really well decorated! [Laughs]. I’m very untechnical, I really don’t know anything about studios, none of that, but the atmosphere that they’ve created for artists is so beautiful. You just like walk in and you’re like, ‘Oh yes, this is where you make a Rock album!’ You know, it’s beautiful. No detail is left unturned. The light fixtures are beautiful, you know, and the carpets, everything! They’ve just done a really good job and on top of that, the staff are amazing and so accomodating and on top of that, they have the most wonderful sound engineer and I will go on the record, I hate sound engineers! [Laughs]. Well, that’s a little harsh, but what I mean by that is, I’m not a technical person, so for me, to be in the studio is very stressful because I don’t know what the fuck’s going on! I just write pretty songs and sing, do you know what I mean?! And Jason Stafford, who’s our sound engineer, he’s just the calmest, chilledest dude with such a great attitude and such a great energy and it was the fist good experience I’ve ever had in the studio. I cannot praise him enough, I really can’t! I can’t say enough good things. We’ve had a ball making it. I have to go back and record some vocals, but we’re almost done!
We have noticed that you stated some of your influences as being Queen, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, but when you were making ‘No More Good News’, were there any particular albums by other artists that you wanted your album to have a similar feel as or was it a case of wanting to harness the feel of all of those Classic Rock acts within a sound that was your own?
I mean, there’s definitely amazing albums that I would love for someone to say ‘This reminds me of that’, but no, I can’t say ... We don’t do anything like that, that’s just not how ... I’m not very good at that. If you were like ‘Jo-Jo, write me a song’, I would never be able to write a song, because as soon as I have to do something, then all the inspiraton has just fucking gone! It’s gone! And I think a lot of musicians hate songwriters like this! I’m one of them! [Laughs]. Inspiration has to literally fall out of the sky and into my lap. I’m not a machine, I can’t just sit down and pump stuff out and like, I wish I could, I’m not saying this in a negative way, but that’s a gift I do not have! I have to be completely in a place to receive! [Laughs]. So, not at all, but I think that ‘Rumours’ [1977] by Fleetwood Mac is one of the best albums ever, just as a listener. But no, because these songs were all written at so many different times in our lives, so definitely not. But, going forward ... I can’t imagine being that organised to be honest! [Laughs]. Maybe that’s something I could see me doing in the future, like, where we’re like ‘Right, let’s do this type of a thing’, but it’s definitely not currently how we do anything! [Laughs].
Following the singles ‘MoonChild’ and ‘We’re Just Animals’ (both 2020), the lead single from ‘No More Good News’, ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ is released on 6th May. How representative of ‘No More Good News’ is ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’?
That’s a good question! Hhhhmmm, again, genre is fluid! [Laughs]. I don’t know of any one song I feel like represents us as a band for sure, but of the album, I actually don’t even know if I can answer that! Because I’m obviously like the writer of it and that’s obviously a bit more of a listener’s thing, maybe. But why we chose ‘Don’t Get Too Heavy’ [as the lead single] is ... this is like really logical and really practical ... because I got sick [with COVID-like symptoms] and I couldn’t finish all of the songs, we only had a handful to chose from that we’re fully finished. So, it was really
simple and ‘Out of these four, which one’s the single?’ Instead of out of these twelve, you know! [Laughs]. We were like, ‘We have four songs, what can we do with these songs?’ and ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ was the one ... it was between two songs and, at the end of the day, it was like a tie and I had just asked a friend! It was like, ‘Which one do you think?’ And whatever they said ... they said ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’, so I was like ‘Done!’ [Laughs]. But I think what ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ encapsulates for our band is just like that energy. It just doesn’t stop. I totally hate singing this song [laughs], because as a singer, it’s not very dynamic. It really sits in the same part of my voice the whole time and it feels like a freight train that I’m on top of and I’m just trying to fucking hang on until the end of the song! And live, because all the guys love that song, it just has a way of speeding up, so by the end of that song, it’s going so fast, I don’t even know what’s going on! But it’s a lot of fun to do live and I think it definitely captures that like high intensity energy that I think we deliver live. And also, I think we write good songs. I guess that’s a matter of opinion, but when me and Rylan go to sit and write, it’s always important for me to have lyrics with substance. I don’t often write fluffy lyrics, they usually have some sort of deeper meaning, or they come from an experience, or like a storytelling place, but that song, there is a degree of that, but also it’s just fun to listen to [laughs] without getting too deep. I thinks it’s just a fun song and the feedback from most people, that’s their favourite song. I really love the guitar licks in it too. It has a very ‘80s vibe or something! [Laughs].
Finally, the ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ single is about to be launched with a gig at Camden Assembly on the day of release, with special guests Bang (tbc) and Tizane and you are playing at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden on 23rd July with The SoapGirls. Will there be a more extensive tour and perhaps festival appearances in support of ‘No More Good News’ and what else can we expect from
you in the future?
I would love that, [laughs] but again, we’re a very logical and practical band and I think we’re still in the incubation period, like with COVID especially, and gigs and tours haven’t been our focus. It’s been like, ‘Let’s get this album done’, like, ‘Get some shit done’, because up to this point, we’ve just played and played and played and toured and toured and toured, but we had nothing to package and to sell to someone. It was like, ‘We don’t have a record, you don’t have any of these things, we have this great live show though!’ We’ve kind of taken a step back actually from touring and gigging to just focus on ‘Let’s just get some shit recorded! Let’s write some new music, let’s make some shit and then we can take it out on the road’. Yes, that’s in the future, but it’s not in the immediate future. I think we accidentally missed festival season [laughs], but yeah, we would love to take it out on the road, like a proper tour, that would be amazing! We’re hoping to release the full album in autumn, but as everything in this industry is chaos theory [laughs], as we’ve established, who knows! But my goal is to have it out before Christmas. I would be delighted if we could have it out before Christmas.
Thank you for a wonderful interview. We wish you all the best with ‘Don’t Get too Heavy’, your upcoming live dates, all your other upcoming activities and for the future.
‘Don’t Get too Heavy’ is released on 6th May.
