the jives

The band met at Barnsley College studying music. They were all united in one goal this goal was to make good, honest music, with no pretensions and no exclusions. Matt, Martyn and Ian started the band, then called The Shakes, in 2002 and gigged extensively around the working men’s clubs in the North of England playing covers of early Beatles classics and similar acts. They also used to slip in a song or two of their own under the pretence that they were obscure B-sides by several well known bands. Eventually, with a huge back catalogue of over 120 written songs including tracks such as “I’ll Be Fine” and “I Wont Wait” building up, the lads decided they wanted to start playing music of their own. They did a number of local gigs and anytime they came across a little money they used it for recording their songs in the studios. But after recording the lads soon realised that a three piece was fine in the studio where any amount of vocal and instrumental overdubs were possible, but live the sound needed that little extra something.

Around this time, the lads bumped into Phil that played piano and keyboards at college and asked him to join the band based on some music he composed and recorded for former Pop Idol, Sam Nixon. As a four piece they continued to play local gigs and continued with recording their own compositions. The lads were still aware that another guitarist was needed to bridge the gap instrumentally to create the live sound they were looking for and help them achieve the standards produced in the studio while on the road. Matt, then bumped into Mike, a guitarist and vocalist in a local music shop and after talking asked him if he’d like to come to the bands next practice. After the first session, the band asked Mike to join and he agreed. The band had now achieved their ultimate goal in forming the talented five piece band line up. They could now start putting together a live set in readiness for the future with a view to eventually touring the United Kingdom.

To this day, The Jives have gigged up and down the country. They have supported Indie band members such as Mani (Stone Roses, Primal Scream), Bez (Happy Mondays), Andy Rourke (The Smiths) and Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets).The lads now have a respectable following of fans thanks to promotional assistance through My Space from well established acts such as The Arctic Monkeys, Little Man Tate, Snow Patrol, Razorlight, The White Stripes, Kaiser Chiefs, Biffy Clyro, The Young Knives, The Beatles, The Hoosiers, Mika and The Kooks. They have been receiving a respectable number of genuine visits from a worldwide audience per day through their My Space site and always take the time to communicate with each and every individual that makes contact with them on a personal level as they believe this is a very important factor on their road to success.

They were recently short listed in a national competition to play support for Sheffield based band Little Man Tate and were approached by MTV producers to use one of their tracks that has been recently aired on the reality TV program “Totally Jodie Marsh”
They have attended and played a number of charity fund raising events and have been recently invited back to make a second appearance in September 2007 at The Cavern in Liverpool where The Beatles played on more than 300 occasions during their successful career

Their Music The Jives music is unashamedly pop, but not pop as in some of the modern rubbish that’s unfortunately around today. This is more like pop from an era when a ‘Pop Idol’ would have been someone such as John Lennon. If you listen to The Jives you can hear that their influences are driven by the 60’s style of music for melody, harmony and upbeat rhythms fused with a really modern day twist.
The Jives have the natural ability to create calm through the transfer of their music to others
The Jives natural ability for writing and performing music will in time turn their ultimate dreams into reality and be enjoyed by a proud and supportive audience
Welcome to the new wave of FAB