Interview with Rock Band Jane’s Party

MuzicNotez: First off, it’s an honor to be doing this interview with you, thanks for taking the time to sit down with us. Introduce yourselves, what are your names and rolls in the band?

Jane’s Party: Jane’s Party is made up of four members, Tom Ionescu on guitar and vocals, Devon Richardson on bass and vocals, Jeffrey Giles on keyboards and vocals and Zach Sutton on drums.

How did you meet and form up? How long have you been together?

Jane’s Party: We met at York University, all attending the Music program there back in the mid 2000s.

How did you come up with the name Jane’s Party?

Jane’s Party: After meeting at University, our first record was recorded in a townhouse garage that we all lived in together not too far from Jane and Finch in Toronto. Right before then we we’re playing cover gigs around campus and uptown under the name The After Party, but once we started writing and playing our own original music we decided to keep the Party, ditch the After, and pay homage to our formative neighborhood by naming Jane St.

Who were your musical influences, idols, or bands growing up that have helped mold you into the band you are today? Or helped mold the music that you create?

Jane’s Party: Collectively we’ve always been inspired by the classic writers of lyrics and melody, turning to bands like The Beatles, The Band, Bob Dylan and The Kinks, but over time more modern acts like Arcade Fire, The Killers, The Strokes, My Morning Jacket and Spoon have really driven us sonically.

What’s the greatest concert you’ve ever been to or performed?

Jane’s Party: It’s hard to say if the band has collectively been to a concert that would meet the criteria of “greatest”, but as far as playing our own shows, opening for Tom Odell in Poznan Poland to a warehouse-style venue full of Beatles-esque screaming fans was a pretty surreal experience, and one of the more rockin’ shows we’ve ever played.

What’s the ultimate goal you want your music to achieve, or for you to achieve in your career as a band? Any particular message you wish to send?

Jane’s Party: For goals, there are so many! I think that is also what has kept us going for all this time. It’s like learning an instrument – just when you think you’ve figured it out, there’s something new just around the corner that draws you back in. Performance has always been one of our focuses; trying to put on an excellent performance that doesn’t rely on backing tracks or gimmicks, but highlights our musicianship and songwriting. It can be challenging sometimes when you’re following an act with loads of computers on stage that sounds just like the album. But in those times it can also feel very exciting, like you really have to rise up and prove yourself.

As for a message, we’d love to communicate a feeling of joy and community to all of our listeners. So much of what drew us to music was the communal aspect – getting to share your favourite music with your friends, playing music at parties, and making new friends through music. This is why we regularly put out live videos with our favourite musicians (Tally Ferraro, Shad, Greg Keelor, Skye Wallace, Nick Rose, and others). We hope that this energy translates and rubs off on everyone tuning in, and we all use music to make the world a better place!

Your latest release is the single ‘Common Guys’, what inspired this track?

Jane’s Party: Part of it was craving a fun, dancy number in our live set; something that would get us and our fans moving! Lyrically, the song is sung from the perspective of someone feeling insecure in the presence of his love interest. We really wanted to make our fans want to rally behind the main character and cheer him on. That sentiment, along with lots of backup vocals and handclaps, has been translating into some really great energy on stage. It’s been a blast to play live!

You pride yourselves on giving one hell of a live show. What do you think are the most important elements of a great concert? How do you get prepared to put on a show?

Jane’s Party: It’s often just different strategies for getting in a comfortable and present headspace. Sometimes it’s running some scales, other times it’s doing a vocal warmup, and sometimes it’s just turning your phone off and hanging out. Everything except for actually playing a show can be really stressful. Sometimes the long drive to get there, loading-in and setting up all the gear, worrying if it will be well attended, trying to make sure you won’t forget any lyrics. The list goes on. The real challenge is being able to shake all that off just minutes before showtime and be 100% in the moment as soon as you step on that stage. If you’re able to do that, the show usually goes great! And if you can’t, thank god all it usually takes is looking over at your bandmates on stage to get you back in the game!

What else are you working on? What can we expect to see and hear from you in the future?

Jane’s Party: We’re just about to head out west to complete the last couple of dates on our Live Again tour, then it’ll be festival season in the summer and back to touring and recording in the fall. We’ve got some great new songs we’re really excited about so getting into the planning stage of releasing those will occupy the next calendar year. We enjoy coming up with our own music videos and social media antics so we’re always looking forward to that aspect of what’s coming next.

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