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Emerging: Joe Jordans Experiment
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"Cool,” a refreshing yet simple word that is used for everything from acceptance to a description, a..."Cool,” a refreshing yet simple word that is used for everything from acceptance to a description, and it just happens to be fitting for Joe Jordan Experiment (or JJX for short). Joe Jordan, frontman of the Philadelphia-based genre-defying rock outfit JJX, used “cool” in various ways when describing his band and their music via an email interview. However, when it came to describing the real sound of the Joe Jordan Experiment, things got a little more complicated. “Our music is technically electro/progressive rock/funk/acousto-fusion but we’ll just call it interesting rock ‘n’ roll,” Jordan explains.
Jordan already has some industry experience under his belt – he played in the bands No!ze, and Concrete Method (the latter, which was featured in this very magazine some years ago, brings Jordan full circle. “It was way cool being 16 and in a local ‘zine,” Jordan says of Concrete Method’s feature).
As much fun as those previous bands were, Jordan decided to go solo and acoustic with his live performances. “I was still recording full band arrangements on my own in studio, and it wasn’t until a friend of mine, Amanda Mayhem, suggested I do a live show with a band that JJX was born,” says the frontman.
The formation of JJX was a simple one – Jordan recruited some people together for live gig. It was meant to be just a onetime deal but bassist Wisnu Wardhana, whom Jordan met at The Buddha Fest (which is, says Jordan, “an all day/night knockdown, drag out, music fest held bi-monthly at Tritone,” ran by the couple who runs South Street Sounds music store and Buddhazen Studios) asked if they were going to make it a regular thing, and from that simple question, JJX formed.
The Joe Jordan Experiment isn’t just meant to leave a lasting influence on an audience, it also learns from a variety of other influences. According to the 21-year-old Jordan, JJX is influenced by a wide range of music, from jazz to heavy metal, and while he “digs the classics” like Jimi Hendrix, he also loves the Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Yes, Surgeon and, his “first and foremost,” Michael Jackson. Of course, it isn’t just Jordan who brings his influences into the JJX mix - drummer Jacqui Gore (Jordan’s mom) loves funk rock, blues, and fusion bands from the ‘70s and ‘80s, bassist Wardhana is into everything from progressive rock to jazz, hip hop, and gospel, and, finally, guitarist Jesse Gimbel finishes it out with rock and singer/song writer experimental type of music.
All of these influences seem to be working for JJX, since they just recently won World Cafe Live’s Philly Rising open mic this past October. Seemingly characteristically, Jordan starts describing this experience as “cool” for the band. “We weren’t sure if we would win. The competition was fierce but we also had a lot of fun simply playing,” Jordan says. “The only thing I can say we did differently than a usual set is we organized it [as if we were playing] the Super Bowl Halftime show,” Jordan says. “Due to the small window of time we had to do our thing on stage, we put together the best mini show possible and it worked out.” To get that mini show to be what it was took a lot of work and a lot of writing. “Everything from the hair on your head to the soles of your shoes and lots of what’s going on socially, politically, and personally inspires the writing,” Jordan informs.
In lewd to the holiday season, Jordan was ever so kind as to share what JJX would suggest as a title for a hit for the holiday season: “Ho! Ho! Ho! Where’d My 401K Go?” JJX is certainly aware of the current state of the economy and how it could steer some away from pursuing their own musical dreams, but Jordan hopes they won’t. “Seeing how it is a rather touch and go career choice, I believe that with determination and a good work ethic, all things are possible,” he says. Jordan even had some pointers for how one could get started. “[I started] playing along with my favorite records and reading books on guitar playing. I think it’s the best way to start,” he suggests.
JJX may have started out as something that was supposed to be a onetime thing but it’s obvious from their success that there are only more good things to come for this band. “We are in the midst of recording new stuff between gigs and tour dates, which is a lot of fun,” he says. “[We’re] planning the release of said new stuff and, other than the Philly Rising showcase, we’re excited for what 2010 has to offer.”
It’s safe to say that whatever JJX has planned for the future, it’ll be cool.
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Mother, Do You Wanna Bang Heads With Me?
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Joe Jordan was on the road — somewhere in Utah — when he checked in the other day.
"People have l...Joe Jordan was on the road — somewhere in Utah — when he checked in the other day.
"People have loved the music and are really getting off on us during this tour," said the 24-year-old singer and guitarist. He's as high-energy and cheerful while struggling with his cell phone's lousy connection as he is on stage rocking out some electric fusion blues or rustic folk.
The lanky West Philly ax man has toured the states before, as a solo act and as an opener for Living Colour. Jordan's wiry licks and machete-sharp solos fit nicely with that band's slick prog-metal and brusque funk. He's got a live CD, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, and a forthcoming studio effort, Twisted Visions, that he's currently putting the final touches on.
This recent jaunt, however, was the first cross-country tour for the hard-driving Joe Jordan Experiment. Joining his sleek soul-metal ensemble is bassist Wisnu Wardhana and drummer Jacqui Gore. (Rhythm guitarist Jesse Gimbel did not go on the tour.)
If Cream had speed metal leanings or if Rush had hooks and rhythm — that's the JJX sound. While Gore and Wardhana maintain a pliable but pummeling rhythm, Jordan soars atop it with a mass of focused blistering solos and warmly handsome vocals.
It's not readily apparent to audiences who've witnessed the screech and burn of JJX in person — at spots like Doc Watson's, The Balcony and Tritone — that the diminutive Gore is quite a bit older than the rest of the group.
Which is to say she doesn't look 57. Gore's face is unlined and she carries herself like a confident teen when she walks. She's doesn't hit the skins or bust grooves like she's 57 (not that 57 is old for a musician). Gore swings, kicks and slams like a thrash-fancying skate-punk who just bought her first Mandrill album. Sure, her theatrical use of a cigarette holder when she smokes is unusual, but it gives off an air of breezy sophistication rather than age.
On the phone, Jordan recalls the occasional stare at the occasional gig, somebody in the audience trying to figure out Gore's story — her age, her connection to this pack of pile-driving rockers. "That's a 57-year-old woman up there — whoa!" he laughs. "Banging the drums with precision and doing her thing."
Then he reiterates in a mock-operatic tone his nightly introductions. "Ladies and gentlemen — my mom," says Jordan, reliving that ritual moment with stagy brio. "She was 33 when she had me — how's she doing?"
He's done that intro countless times. The reaction's always the same. "The crowd goes nuts," he says.
That's been the case since the pair joined musical forces in 1999, in Jordan's balls-to-the-wall metal band, Concrete Method. Back then he prowled the stage shirtless, screaming bloody murder, thrashing on his guitar while his mother bashed about on drums.
"She rocks," says Jordan matter-of-factly. "I mean, she always played — blues, funk acts, jazz bands. You name it, she's played it. And I was almost always with her. But we figured all this out on the day that I came home from high school to hear her jamming to my copy of Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power."
"Hell, yeah, I told him right there how much I liked Pantera," says Gore.
Hell, yeah.
Back in Philadelphia, preparing for last weekend's gig at World Café Live, Joe Jordan talks about a life in music.
At the very least, he's been doing it since he was 4. That's the age from which he has his most vivid memory of sitting around his mom's home in West Philly (they've had several; currently they live at 55th and Spruce) during one of her jam sessions and coming up with something that made it onto a record. She's been a fixture of Philly's funk, jazz and blues scenes, having jammed in bands with nearly forgotten Philly legends like Eddie Gaines and Cliff Edwards.
"She was playing with some of The Intruders" — one of Philly's finest soul bands of the '60s and '70s — "at the house during this particular session," says Jordan. He and his brother Malik were always part of his mom's jams in one way or another; Gore started giving her sons instruments to play as soon as they could hold them.
"Even when they couldn't hold on, the kids needed something to do, something constructive," says Gore, smiling at the memory. "They had something like ADD but we didn't give 'em Ritalin or any of that shit. We gave them guitars and drums and they mimicked us."
During this particular session, young Joe was sitting across the room from his mom while the adults were playing and tape recording the jam. "Right in the middle of the session I yelled, 'I want to sit next to my mommy!'" recalls Jordan with a grin.
Mom always remembered that yelp and was so smitten with it she inserted the sound clip at the beginning of her lone solo CD, 2007's swanky genre-jumping Sum of One. Still, way back then, she never figured that her son would still be sitting next to her, making music.
As much as Jordan claims he got his skills and inspiration through "the osmosis" of living with Gore, her house jams and her collection of Black Sabbath, Weather Report and P-Funk albums, he's always been an independent soul with his own ear for music and words.
"Lyrically, in particular, I don't always know what the boy is saying but I know that it's deep," says Gore of the working-class poetry Jordan writes for JJX.
At William Penn High, he got turned on to Rimbaud which led to Jim Morrison which led to "drinking whiskey," Jordan says with a laugh. That's how he developed his dreamy-realist lyrics. He was the black goth-metal dude in spikes, fishnets and Chuck Taylors. "People either asked me, was I mixed [race] or was I from Mars?" he says.
This was stuff he didn't get from his mom. Or his dad, for that matter. He is estranged (and Gore is divorced) from his guitar-playing father.
Then one day in 1999, Jordan introduced his mom to Concrete Method. "Our drummer was a good friend and an OK time-keeper, but he wasn't tight," notes Jordan. "My mom jumped in at a block party and never left."
This wasn't and isn't a gimmick — she's the best man for the job. Nor is it her attempt to stay young. She prefers the company of her youthful children because they're smart and open-minded, she says. "More so than most older people I know."
"At first, it was just until he got another drummer," says Gore. "That's how we've run it for all these years. I kept waiting for him to get somebody younger or stronger."
Jordan interrupts: "Nobody is better." He's JJX's leader and its songwriter, but he's quick to credit his mom with orchestrating the drum track to one of his newest songs, "The Great Divide."
"I only recently conceded to the fact that I am the drummer," she says softly.
Gore's pretty much always been a drummer — that is, when she wasn't singing or playing piano. The North Philly-born Gore grew up with a dad who managed bands, a mom who sang, and a hippie mentality. She loved the idea of living free and easy. "That's because I lived with my mama until I was nearly 30 and didn't have to pay for anything," she laughs. "Every time I did leave home, I came back pregnant."
Gore picked up the drums at age 16 when she saw bands on the Channel 6 television program The Steel Pier Show — an Atlantic City-based variety show starring Joe Grady and Ed Hurst — and realized that lip-syncing, fake-playing bands like The Kinks needed to be taught a lesson. "They ain't playing those drums — I'll show them," she says. She started small, playing with bands at church socials until, in 1972, she wanted to drum in earnest. She locked herself in her bedroom for six months playing to Emerson Lake & Palmer and Temptations records until she got ferociously confident enough to play with jazz cats at hot spots like Slim Cooper's in Germantown. "I did gigs with R&B guys, too, but they were cliquish and none of the guitarists liked me. They said I played too much stuff." She doesn't name names. She's too much of a lady.
Before hitting the stage at World Café Live, she jokes about having had kids just for the company. "They understand and accept me without criticism," says Gore. Maybe she also had kids to have someone to jam with, someone whose busy biting songs Gore could play too much through. Watching them roar through their set, the crack dynamics come down to the on-stage roles of bold guitarist and powerhouse drummer.
As for family dynamics, she knows when to lean back. He can get his mack on with the girls who stop by after the show without her butting in. "It's his band and I let him lead," she says. "Personally, by the time you're 18, the only thing I can do is offer advice. I don't run it anymore. But I keep an eye on him."
What about the other way around — does Jordan have to watch for suitors hitting on his drummer? "Funny you should ask," says Jordan, meeting with fans after the World Café Live show while Gore stands nearby. "When we were in Utah, some guy came up to me and asked if it was cool to talk to her. I said of course. My drummer's a grown woman. But be cool. Don't mess with my mom or there will be hell to pay."
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Bringing A Little Philly Back To The Trocadero
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Bringing A Little Philly Back To The Trocadero
Local bands storm the...« Previous Post | Next Post »
Bringing A Little Philly Back To The Trocadero
Local bands storm the Troc, proving that maybe they are ready for the big stage.
Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 5:11 pm | Joseph Covell
The Trocadero
1003 Arch Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107-2316
(215) 922-6888
www.thetroc.com
The infamous, world-renowned burlesque house-turned-music venue, located in Philadelphia's Chinatown (10th and Arch), bears the name of The Trocadero (or the Troc). In the past, for most aspiring Philadelphia bands, gracing the Troc's legendary stage was a pipe dream. The Troc's been a venue dominated by nationally touring bands, and slots are seldom open to local bands. But things are changing, and the Troc has begun to seek out, promote, and book more local based talent.
Through the hard efforts of local promotional agencies such as Praying Mantis, the Troc's calendar has evolved to include more local artists. With a square footage as large as the Troc's, the management has been hesitant to roll out the red carpet for bands that struggle to draw out twenty people, but local bands are now required to sell just 100 tickets (a generous step down from 175 just a few years ago).
On Saturday, March 27, I had the pleasure of seeing one such local line-up of solely area bands, a show that included a band that I used to drum for, King of Prussia's original alternative rock band 58 Fury. The evening hosted a solid bill, highlighting a few of Philadelphia's finer talents, including Your Bright Ideas, Bullets and Belvedere, 58 Fury, Broad St. Blues, and Joe Jordan's Experiment as openers for the headliners, The 74s. Of the bands I was fortunate enough to catch, it was Joe Jordan's that caught my attention.
Jordan, a versatile, local virtuoso of many instruments, has a resume that includes several large-scale Philadelphia acts, such as The Spades and Preston Swift, and tonight he once again left his audience in awe. A star-studded supporting cast to Jordan's face-melting was comprised of guitarist Jesse Gimbel, bassist Wisnu Wardhana, and Jordan's own mother, drummer Jacqui Gore.
Considering the over saturation currently plaguing the music industry, for an up-and-coming band like 58 Fury to sell in excess of 100 tickets is no small task. 58 Fury shows always seem to bring out a multi-generational fan base, regardless of time, day or location. Not many area bands can depend on the loyalty demonstrated by Fury fans. The good thing about the Troc is it's a big stage, and for bands like Fury, it's a major opportunity to cement their following and draw a new audience.
The hype of the night was centered on the album release party for The 74's, a post-pubescent variation between alternative rock and pop punk. It seemed like a flood of high school kids had followed the 74's to the Troc, but the band performed far beyond their years, and the teenyboppers swooned to every word and body gesture.
Even in this tech-centered age, just when it was looking like local shows had lost their steady fan appeal, it was refreshing to us local musicians to experience the numbers that the Troc drew out on Saturday. If only bands and fans could reunite into a general consensus in this town, and strive for a scene rebirth like that of the old New York Hardcore or Bay Area Thrash scenes. Now that'd be the day.
supersonic
