Oxford, England’s Jody and the Jerms have released their debut full length album, Deeper, featuring the single ‘It’s All Up to You’, a track that singer Jody describes as “a bit of a dichotomy – an upbeat fast-paced track with an infectious country tinged guitar riff and British Summertime Hammond organ-laden chorus. The words kinda reflect our mood as we  came out of lockdown, and how we need to adapt and be better.“

Released September 4th, the album has already been met with critical praise.”Jody & the Jerms’ sound harks back to those untouchable days indie music enjoyed in the 90s, possessing seemingly effortlessness melodies and choruses which embed themselves in your head for days,”  said XS Noize in their review. “The new album immediately brings to mind a merge of Doves and Mazzy Star,” says Medium.com, “Comparable to the likes of Best Coast and even The Cars…an album bringing together 90’s indie-pop with a fresh, airy sound touching on dream-pop.“

Formed in Oxford, England, in the Fall of 2019, Jody and the Jerms have been writing, recording and playing their blend of melodic and uplifting indie/alt pop ever since. They started as a trio 10 months ago – two veteran indie rockers who recruited complete newcomer Jody. She’s never sung before but had agreed to a rehearsal and quickly the band took shape. With a few quick release singles, they soon grew to a five piece after picking up national airtime on Radio X (UK), Sirius XM (USA), RTVE (Spain) and BBC (UK), had a European tour locked and loaded – then COVID hit. So they wrote an album instead. Deeper was released on September 4.

We had a chance to catch up with the band via email. Here’s what went down:

Refrain Music Blog : You have a new single. Tell us all about it.

Niall: ‘It’s All Up To You’. I wrote this off the back of coming up with the country sounding riff you hear on the intro. Maybe that’s from when I grew up in Texas as a kid. Jody added some lyrics very much flavoured by UK lockdown and individual responsibilities. Then the studio we recorded in as lockdown lifted in rural Oxford, an old chapel, had this big old Hammond organ that sounded awesome which gave us a massive chorus. We had to record in pairs in the studio due to social distancing but still captured a live and energetic performance.

RMB: Tell us a little about the band. Who are the members? How long have you been together? When and how did you form? 

Niall: Niall (guitars) and Alex (drums) had been in Oxford (UK) garage band The Anydays in the 00s and plenty more before then. In Summer 2019 they recorded a couple of tracks in an Oxford studio with a singer, who dropped out to star in a West End musical. Jody who had never sung before agreed to put down some lyrics and sang them. It worked so well – and sent us in a completely different direction than being maybe male fronted.

Jody: “Our first single Never Going Home was released soon after – a cover of an old shoegaze song by a New York band called The Belltower I’d loved in the past. That was literally my first ever time in a studio. I remember it was very cold and I was nervous, which added something special to the song and the performance.”

Niall: “Never Going Home got some good accolades so we wrote some more songs and put together a live band with Rob on keys and Dave on bass (who were friends, but had never played in bands before) which sounded great. Then we were booked on a UK and European tour, along with some awesome festivals. Then COVID hit. So we wrote an album instead that was released on September 4.

RMB: Tell us some show memories. Favorite show you’ve played so far. Favorite bands you’ve played with. Best and worst show/tour experiences.

Jody: Our first hometown show in Oxford in February 2020 was amazing. We were keeping it intentionally low-key but loads of people turned up and if you consider me, Dave and Rob had never performed live before, we really pulled it off. There was so much nervous energy and raw excitement in that performance.

Niall: And alcohol, lots of alcohol. Alex and me had played lots of big shows in The Anydays across Europe. But this was more intimate but so exciting as it was also so new.”

RMB: What’s the biggest success you’ve had so far? 

Alex: Getting some big radio shows playing our songs like BBC and Radio X in the UK, RTVE in Spain and SiriusXM in the US. Radio is really important for us, especially as we can’t tour at present. Also getting the album pressed and distributed on vinyl – it still feels more real watching the needle hit the groove.”

RMB: What artists would you like to collaborate with? Either on a song or touring together. If you couldn’t play in your band but could play in any other band, which band would you chose?

We’ve only just got used to playing with each other – so that’s more than enough for now.

RMB: What hobbies does everyone have outside of the band? Alex loves mountain bikes, Jody makes the best cakes in the World, Rob wrote a book about pub quiz trivia, Dave is a reluctant soccer referee. 

RMB: Any causes, charities, politics etc close to the band’s collective heart?

Alex: We are donating some of the profits from the album to a UK charity that supports the National Health Service (NHS) called Duty to Care. The service the NHS provided, and still provide, at a terrible time has been amazing.

RMB: What’s one piece of gear you are most proud of? Is the band or anyone in the band sponsored by a company? Any piece of gear give you your signature sound, something you couldn’t live without? 

Niall: I use Gretsch guitars which definitely adds a certain twang, and Alex is endorsed by Ludwig. We used a lot of old Juno vintage synths from the early 80s on some of the tracks which gave us a bit of a New Wave edge and were fun to master. We are also really pleased with the album artwork done by an artist friend called Paul Schofield.

RMB: Who has the best/worst/most eclectic music tastes in the band? What about movies/TV? Any guilty pleasures or aficionados in the band?

Jody: We cover a lot of bases with most music genres in our respective collections. A good song or tune is good – regardless of it being punk, rock, folk, funk – whatever. Niall loves old Mel Brooks movies. We even slipped a sample from Blazing Saddles into an earlier track called Breathe.

RMB: What else?

Here’s to 2021!

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