It seems like we’re constantly being told that rock is dead. That’s what they want you to believe. But, as is usually the case, the truth is very different. Music doesn’t die. It disappears from the spotlight and into the underground for a while. But as Neil Young so eloquently said, “Hey hey, My my, Rock & roll can never die.”
Take The Jacks, a group from Los Angeles who recently signed with Edgeout Music (under the Universal Music Group umbrella) and just released their self-titled debut EP in June. The band was formed just over two years agoby school pals Scott Stone (bass) and Thomas Hunter (lead guitar). Lead singer Jonny Stanback joined when the pair heard him singing at an acoustic open mic, with drummer Josh Roossin the last to become a Jack.
The sound, while lively and drenched in contemporary garage edge, is heavily influenced by ‘60s/‘70s rock like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. There’s also a ‘90s vibe leaning towards Oasis and The Strokes.
“We turned down the KLOS thing.”
“We got lucky in that all four of us have a good core of influences that overlap, and we just wanted to make music that could be representative of a live four-piece band,” Stanback says. “We wanted to have that raw rock & roll energy.”
The band took part in KLOS-FM’s Next2Rock competition and won the Los Angeles regionals. They performed at the Viper Room and were offered a contract as part of the prize, but they didn’t much like the terms. So, they turned it down and waited for Edgeout to get on its feet.
“Through Scott’s friends, we knew Tony Guanci, the head of the label,” Stanback says. “We had been loosely associated with him for a little bit. Once we got that NeXt2Rock thing, he and his wife Cheryl [Benson] took us aside and said they were starting a new label and they wanted us to be a part of it. That’s what we did. We turned down the KLOS thing, and then it took about a year for their label to be fully off the ground. They signed us January of this year.”
“A lot of the songs are maybe a year old, and then there are a couple that are more recent,” Stanback says. “It’s just exciting to get that music out there. We got to record with Matt Wallace, and he’s a really cool guy and a really good producer.”
Yeah, rock & roll is in good hands.
Date Signed: Jan. 16, 2019
Label: Edgeout Records/UMe
Band Members: Jonny Stanback, vocals, guitar; Tom Hunter, guitar; Scott Stone, bass; Josh Roossin, drums
Type of Music: Rock
Management: Alex Kadvan, Red Light Management, [email protected]; Rick Goetz, Red Light Management, [email protected]
Booking: Andrew Goodfriend, TKO, [email protected]
Legal: Renee Karilian at Carroll Guido and Groffman
Publicity: Amanda Cagan, ABC Public Relations, [email protected]; Sujata Murthy, UMe, [email protected]
Web: thejacksbandla.com
A&R: Cheryl Benson-Guanci, EDGEOUT Records
