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One look at the album cover and it is clear that Love Jones certainly look the part of a rock band. Adorned with great hair, novel belts, and a variety of wrist paraphernalia, each member looks like they belong on an A2-sized poster on the wall of a teenager's bedroom. Fortunately, this idea is further corroborated by their music. They've described their sound as “The power of the Foo Fighters meets the pretty pop of Britney Spears.” Alarming? Certainly. But don't be put off; Miss Spears has absolutely nothing on Miss Jones. For a start, Miss Jones is attractive and talented, and moreover, being arguably the tallest woman in SA rock and at least a foot taller than Britney, she'd soon put her in her place.
Love Jones is unashamedly as much a pop band as a rock one. Despite the power chords and liberal use of gain, their sound is clean and upbeat, while their lyrics ooze confidence and optimism. Theirs is music to leap around to, and it sounds like the band is doing precisely that throughout. Even Miss Jones' vocals are prone to frequent octave-high inflections; something for which I've always had a soft spot. Love Jones go for gold from the outset, with the opening track ‘Kicks' also having been the first single, and the track used for the music video that accompanies the album on its enhanced portion. There's no denying the strength of this single, as the chorus managed to lodge itself in my head for the better part of a week.
It may sound like Love Jones are a band producing mainstream ditties and trying to ride the fickle wave of popularity while it lasts, but this seems an underestimate. What impresses most on this album is the clear demonstration that this band understands the marketing machine that is the music business. They have the look, the sound, the energy and, most importantly, the product (thanks, in part, to the incomparable production skills of Mr Birch). The band appears on the album cover precisely because they realize the importance of asserting the intrinsic link between the music, and the image of those making it, in the minds of the buying public. The inclusion of the video for ‘Kicks' further strengthens this association, while displaying the band's ethos of good times and lack of pretension.
I found some of the slower tracks on the album a little disappointing, and on the whole, it is an album unlikely to impress the rock aficionado. But that doesn't seem to have been the point. Local music stores continue to lump diverse genres under the ubiquitous category ‘Pop Rock', but here is a band who could be that category's flag bearer. Moreover, their confidence in this regard is irrepressible. With lyrics like 'When I grow up I want to be like me' and 'How does it feel to be you? 'Cause it's so good to be me' it's difficult not to like Love Jones, and even envy them a little.
Cover/Art: 4 /5 | Sound/Technical: 4/5 | “I like it factor”: 7/10
MIO RATING:
****/5 - MIO - Craig Wilson
By Jane Mayne
Levi'sVintage Sundays have returned with another showcase of homegrown talent at the Green Dolphin this weekend. The intimate venue is currently offering personalised performances with both budding starlets and established names.
One of the upcoming highlights will be Durban's Love Jones, who team up with The Rudimentals on Sunday.
If Love Jones's energetic self-titled début album is anything to go by, this band is going to be one of the most exciting rock acts to appear on the South African music landscape this year. At the heart of the Love Jones machine is vocalist Esjay, a talented rock diva who collaborated with Tree63 drummer Darryl Swart a few years back.
The duo were due to snap up a record deal in the United States, but Esjay was refused a visa, and years later Love Jones is the lucky outfit to snap her up for their frontline.
Esjay sums up the band: "Love Jones is unique. A lot of bands in this country strive to be other international acts. We're not trying to be anything.
Our music can't be put in a box. It's very special because there isn't anything like us in the country - a female-fronted rocky pop band. Peter and I are guitarists and we carry the same weight on our shoulders. It's quite a nice element."
The group started recording unusually soon after first meeting.
"It was just Peter and me. After we met, so much creativity came out of it that by the time we found the other guys to form Love Jones, we had enough material for an album. So in June last year we started recording, which took a long seven months
."
The band recorded with David Birch, who also produced and
engineered the album.
With the prospect of full-time touring on the cards, drummer Antony bade farewell.
"We've got a new drummer, Mike Goddard (ex-Perez). The band has just become its own. You have to come see us live. It's fun, but there are still serious undertones. We're not a bunch of shallow people. We are concerned about what's going on around us. Since Mike joined the band, everyone has been writing. The process is so creative and the stuff is snowballing from there."
Love Jones has just been signed by Sheer Music, and they also signed an American management deal.
"The guys we signed with are extremely well connected. The lawyer has been involved with the likes of Iggy Pop and he's in the process of signing a Britney Spears deal. We want to get a major deal so that we're permanently based there."
Love Jones's Cape Town schedule includes an electric set at the
Independent Armchair on Friday and an acoustic gig at the Green Dolphin this Sunday.
Levi Strauss's Mike Leslie expands: "For us it's all about musical performances. We haven't boxed our artist selection into genre or style, but have rather gone for acts that create something original, and who have the charisma and personality to get a crowd rocking."
- Cape Times
Top SA band Love Jones, in association with Be Phat Motel Productions and Suncoast Casino, will be shooting a high-budget music video for their latest single ‘Limozeen’. Filming will take place from 29 June to 2 July at Suncoast Casino on Durban’s beachfront. International director and producer Michael Matthews will shoot the video using 35mm film, a rarity in the South African music-video industry and has valued the cost of the video in excess of ZAR 300 000.00. The song features a guest-vocal by multi-platinum selling urban artist Mzambya who will also star in the video.
‘Limozeen’, taken from the Love Jones Special Edition album, was written, recorded and produced by Love Jones. The collaboration with Mzambya, extremely talented producers and engineers, Brian O’Shea and Paul McIver, and respected urban hip-hop producer Wakes, has given the track the gold plated ‘urban’ element.
Love Jones exploded onto the SA music scene in 2006 with their first hit single ‘Kicks’ and has toured the country for 18 consecutive months. Known as one of the hardest working bands in South Africa, their performances include the 2007 My Coke Fest supporting Hoobastank, Staind and Evanescence and head-lining various music festivals. Love Jones will also perform at this year’s Mr Price Pro – one of the biggest surfing competitions in the world, support Fall Out Boy at the Dome in Northgate, Jhb on 20 July and is also one of the SA head-liners at this year’s Oppikoppi Music Festival Tour – venues include the Dome in Jhb and the Velodrome in Cape Town.
International director and producer Michael Matthews, who has worked with the band before (the ‘Kicks’ music video) has sponsored ZAR 200 000.00 to the filming of the video which will be filmed and edited by Hollywood industry standards, believes that Love Jones and this song, have the potential to put SA music and SA music videos on the world map.
Love Jones’ traveling partner, Kulula.com will fly the 20+ crewmembers to Durban and Suncoast Casino, who is also the official sponsor of the video, will host the band and crew at their new outstanding hotel located on a prime Durban beachfront stand for the duration of the filming. With Ruff Tung being the official outfit designer for the filming and Hair @ 37 the official hair stylists, the official video launch after party will be hosted by Tilt Night-club in Durban in August. Love Jones is also in discussions with Nu Metro Cinemas about an official video launch held at cinemas nationwide - Make Some Noise
Discography
ALBUMS
- 'Love Jones' (2006) Indie release
- 'Special Edition' (2007) Sheer Music
- 'Stealing Love Jones (2008) Ryko Music
SINGLES
"Kicks", "Take This Advice", "A Little Easier" & "Limozeen" all Top 10 singles on all Campus Stations, 94.7fm and 5fm (SA's top national station)
"Kicks" is also playlisted on the following stations in the US:
Spy Radio on KATT Fm - Oaklahoma City
KTCL 93.3 Fm, Denver
KEDJ 103.9 Fm - Phoenix
Dirt Radio on KSWI 95.7 Fm - Atlantic City
VIDEOS
"Kicks" & "A Little Easier" in Top 10 on MK89 (SA version on MTV)
Photos
Bio
“The sound of celebrity, scandal, glamour and sophistication… Esjay’s voice burns leftfield rock hardness into their ingeniously arranged, super stadium-rock ballads.”
SA MUSIC TABLOID
They are South Africa’s most promising pop-rock act since forever. With an already well established South African and American radio presence, a lead-singer possessed of a cracking voice, good looks, and the business savvy of a CEO, Stealing Love Jones are poised to become enormous. It’s time to meet the Joneses.
“We want to build an empire,” says Esjay Jones, aka ‘Miss Jones’, Stealing Love Jones’ 23-year-old lead singer. “It’s a lot of hard work. We have absolutely no life aside from Stealing Love Jones. And the honest truth is that the band is our love. Everything goes into it.” She’s not a bit arrogant, but one wouldn’t describe the Stealing Love Jones lead singer as modest. Esjay has mentioned in interviews before that she sees the band selling as many albums as The Foo Fighters and Britney Spears in five years time. The nonchalance with which she delivers such lofty quotes is disarming; after a few seconds waiting for a wry chuckle that never comes, you begin to see that she means every word.
Born in the spring of 2005 and initially called Love Jones, Stealing Love Jones was forced to change their name early on in their career due to another band of the same name in the United States. They have enjoyed major success in their home country of South Africa. 2007 saw them share the stage with bands to the likes of Staind, Evanescence, 3 Doors Down, Hoobastank, Fall Out Boy, The Violent Femmes, Jimmy Eat World, Groove Armada and Union of Knives. An invite by Sarah Bettens (lead-singer of K’s Choice) to support her at the world famous Viper Room in Los Angeles was also on the table but turned down due to performance commitments in South Africa.
The first three singles off their “Special Edition” album - “Kicks”, “Take This Advice” and “A Little Easier” all peaked at the No.1 position on various SA radio stations and the music videos for “Kicks” and “A Little Easier” were both nominated by MK89 (SA’s version on MTV) in the “Sexiest Video” category. “Kicks” and “Take This Advice” is also play-listed on radio stations in the American cities of Phoenix, St Louis, Atlantic City, Detroit AND SEE WEBSITE. “It’s amazing to see radio stations get behind us,” says Jason Jones, the guitarist. “Success is a package deal. We know we need radio in order to get where we’re going.”
Here’s something you’ve heard seventeen thousand times: This band has its own sound. Early on they were described as a band that “combined the power of the Foo Fighters with the pop sensibility of Britney Spears.” The SA Music tabloid however, did a better job: “It’s the sound of celebrity, scandal, glamour and sophistication. Esjay’s voices burns leftfield rock hardness into their ingeniously arranged, super stadium-rock ballad.” But sooner or later you will have more than enough opportunity to decide for yourself; Stealing Love Jones has almost as many potential hit singles on their album as they do tracks.
The band can rest in the knowledge that their lead-singer has already proven her salability in the most competitive market on the planet. Shortly before starting Stealing Love Jones, Esjay Jones was offered a record deal in the US as a solo artist but turned it down due to “bad timing”. They now however have their sights set on the international market.
The Stealing Love Jones “North American Infinity Tour” kicks of on 14 February 2008 at the Vinyl in Atlanta. 39 Additional performance dates are scheduled through-out the US. Tours to the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan are also scheduled to take place in 2008. With their debut album scheduled for release in the US in March 2008, Stealing Love Jones will again enter the recording studio in May 2008 with the acclaimed American producer, Bjorn Thorsrud (Smashing Pumpkins and White Snake fame). The 10-track album will be ready for international release in August 2008.
Stealing Love Jones is Esjay Jones on vocals and guitar, Jason Jones on backing vocals and lead guitar, Steve Jones on bass and Andrew Jones on drums. This band is so hot right now and soon they will be inescapable. But they’re just getting warmed up. They have an empire to build, remember.
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