INTERVIEW: All the Jacks want to do is ‘Remember You’
Photo: The Jacks features Jonny Stanback (lead vocals/rhythm guitar), Tom Hunter (lead guitar, vocals), Scott Stone (bass guitar, vocals) and Josh Roossin (drums/percussion). Photo courtesy of Paige Sara / Provided by press rep with permission.
The Jacks, a rock ‘n’ roll band from Los Angeles, has had some of their 2020 plans derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. Like other bands who have seen their tours fall apart, the Jacks are taking a wait-and-see approach to better figure out when they can get back on the road and meet their fans.
But this quartet will not stay quiet for long. The Jacks — consisting of Jonny Stanback (lead vocals and rhythm guitar), Tom Hunter (lead guitar and vocals), Scott Stone (bass guitar and vocals) and Josh Roossin (drums and percussion) — recently released a new EP called Remember You. Its their second EP in as many years, and they are excited for fans to check out the new tunes.
For this project, they headed into the studio with the legendary producer Joe Chiccarelli, who has worked with everyone from the Rancoteurs to the White Stripes to My Morning Jacket. Songs on the new EP include “Olivia” and “We Were Only Young,” among others.
The band first starting making music together in 2016 in their native Los Angeles. Eventually their gigging around Southern California led to even bigger engagements around the United States, and now they are a national act, having played in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, Phoenix and everywhere in between.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox talked with Hunter about his life, his career and his time in the Jacks. Here’s what he had to say:
On how the latest EP came to be …
“It’s been great. Luckily, we got the EP out before this all went down. … We recorded our very first EP with Matt Wallace in January or February of last year, and that came out in May. So once we had that EP out, we still had some more songs that we wanted to get out on what we considered to be an album. … We had maybe seven or eight songs that we were really good that we still wanted people to hear. Basically it became a talk of, should we wait to do an album, or should we just do a second EP and get those ones out? Because we’re a newer band, we wanted as much music out and as much content for people to digest as possible, so that’s why we decided to do an EP because it’s so much faster.”
On their work with Joe Chiccarelli …
“So we decided to do this EP, and we worked with a legendary producer, Joe Chiccarelli at Sunset Sound, which is pretty surreal being in the room where Zeppelin recorded, Stones, Doors. Young the Giant did their first record there in that same room with the same producer, so we were definitely in the presence of some greatness being over there.
“It was a great experience. Joe’s great. He knows how to get his sound and how to push us on arrangements, and I think a lot of that shows on the record. We progressed our sound with that second EP.”
On whether band decisions are made in a democratic manner …
“It depends on what it is exactly. If it’s based on a song, like should we do this arrangement or whatever, we usually default to the songwriter, so the person who brought the song into the band. Unless it’s a 3-to-1, which sounds really confusing, but it kind of makes sense. If we can’t agree, then the songwriter decides, and if it’s overwhelming in one direction then that overpowers. In terms of business decisions, it’s always been us hashing it out until we all agree on something. There’s no way we would ever operate like one or two people wanting to do something, and the other two people not wanting to do it. We would never force the band to do anything. We get in our fair share of arguments, but we usually hash it out until we get it right.”
On his first experiences with music as a child …
“You know you have a first musical experience — like, oh, that’s what a song is, that’s what music is. You remember that moment, and for me that was when I was playing guitar, and my dad showed me ‘Over the Hills and Far Away’ by Led Zeppelin. That was the first time I remember, at least in hindsight, that’s music, that’s a recorded thing.”
On how he came to be a full-time musician …
“I think it was more gradual. I think as a kid I always wanted to be a guitarist in a band, like Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, all those idols. I think as I grew older, it became more of a pipe dream. Am I actually going to do that, or is that what I wanted to do as a kid? I need to figure out a way to make some money and provide for a family and all that stuff.
“I actually went to school and didn’t study music. It was going that route, and I just thought, oh, I’ll do it on the side as a passion project. So I kept playing and kept writing songs, but never with the intent of I’m doing this full time. …
“Then once I met the other guys, and we started jamming, and we started writing songs together and saw how good they were, we thought maybe this could actually work. … That was probably like four or five years ago, when me, Scott and Jonny started playing together. …
“From there we got Josh. Since Josh has joined, it’s been 100 percent full time. We have a shot at this. We’re going to put everything we have into this. All of us have been playing our entire lives. Jonny has been writing music his entire life. Josh and Scott have been playing drum and bass their entire life, but it takes a certain environment to be able to pursue it full time.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Jacks’ new EP is called Remember You. Click here for more information.
