Feel Good Jacket

Feel Good Jacket began officially in January of 2018 with members Danielle Edge and Rob Kaup. January 1st they set out to take a holiday to the United States; Texas, New Orleans, Arizona. Upon arriving at the border they hit a wall, figuratively. There were 5 hours of intense interrogation. Rob was locked in a cell and made an example of for the new TSA agents being trained that day. When they were finally released, they were sent home to Canada and denied entry. No criminal records, no illegal possessions... But anyone who can make their living anywhere they go will encounter this problem. Try running an online business and traveling to the States. You’ll be treated like a criminal just as they were. Turned around and angry, with an empty schedule for 2.5 months - what would they do now? Make a rock album of course.

Upon arriving home they proceeded to write a song a day for the entire month of January. February through April Rob played and recorded each instrument himself, they finalized the lyrics and vocals, and then came the tedious task of mixing and mastering. April through till the end of August Rob spent every moment of free time crafting the perfect album until it had a comparable audio quality of something you might hear on the radio.

Rewind to May. With the album sorted out enough to share a rough copy, Danielle and Rob set out to find band members. Though the bass player and drummer they had in mind expressed little interest or were impossible to reach, they continued their search for what seemed like a very long time. In late June, bass player Jacob Bigelow joined the group as well as a friend of his who was a drummer. The drummer didn’t connect with the group, but it was obvious from the start, Jacob was a keeper. Jacob’s persistent optimism was exactly what the band needed to counteract their feelings of being smothered by societal norms that inhibit a sustainable quality of life from people who don’t want to play by the rules. College, 9-5, kids - saying no to expectations had left the band out in the cold with a realistic, if not pessimistic view of the world.

The search continued. Drummer, after drummer, after drummer... The band added multiple people and tried to work with their schedules and other needs they had, but no one seemed to be fitting in with the group. They had come to the realization they may have to wait to find their perfect match while on tour, but just at the right time, in September, Jon Edge expressed interest and immediately joined the band. They began playing weekday shows at 2 local bars every Wednesday and Thursday to get the bugs out of their act and the act out of the basement. The reaction was very positive and they added weekend shows to the schedule right away. With the long awaited release of their debut album, Battle Rock, they entered into the next phase of their music career.

A message directly from the band:

Feel Good Jacket began out of feelings of futility and angst, but has evolved into something that is hopeful and positive. We’ve found the only way we can deal with feeling fatalistic is to take hold of every single day and rise above it. To be larger than the problems we have and take control of our destiny is all we can do. To be on tour and playing our music for fans who love it as much as we do, who feel as stomped on as we do, and who just need a break from reality for a night - well now that’s living. We can try to change the world or we can just change our reality for a few hours and feel a little better about it. We hope with every show we can entertain and form a tribe of people who are just like us. With strength in numbers, maybe, just maybe we can change the world.