Jet Fuel Chemistry talk about their upcoming EP “Sign of the Times”
Band picture: credit to the owner Hello Jet Fuel Chemistry, thanks for your time. Would it be possible to introduce your band to our readers, as well as your roles in it? Hey! We’re Jet Fuel Chemistry, a heavy rock group hailing from Dublin Ireland. My name is Dan Cusack, vocalist and frontman. The rest of the band are Danny Bochkov and Edd Orr on guitars, Ross McDermott on drums and Lorcan Macken on bass. I studied in Dublin in my early 20s and have a great memory of the music scene there. How would YOU describe the Irish rock / metal scene from your own POV? I would categorise Dublin’s music scene as among the most vibrant and active in Europe. In terms of Rock and Metal, you can really find a bit of everything if you’re looking hard enough, though the press for that slice of the scene remains fairly minimal. Right now, I’d say Dublin is best known for Indie rock music, thanks to a few breakout successes in recent years. There’s a lot to be admired of that community and people definitely get a lot out of the sheer positivity of the songs. But personally, I feel sometimes that same music can be a little obtuse to the zeitgeist. In fact, we've definitely drawn some creative energy from a desire to contrast that vibe. With this record, we steered away from romantic visions of 'a troubled relationship', ‘youth', 'living for today' and so on. Instead, we aimed to address some more difficult subject matter, some questions that really resonated with us as young Irish people. Why are people terrified to express a nuanced opinion? Why, given the advent of social media, do many of us feel more alone than ever? Why do we so readily blame each other for our collective misfortunes, yet do such a poor job of holding those with power accountable? You're set to release your new EP “Sign of the Times” on August 7th. How was the writing process for this EP? The writing process for this record was, I won’t lie, tough for me. We started production on a few demos way back in 2018 (we produce all of the music ourselves). And we picked them apart and put them back together again more times than I care to recall. We were originally something much closer to a garage/grunge rock band. But when we started working on a very early demo of what became “War” well, there was a lot of creative turmoil. I think we all felt like the main riff wasn’t being done justice, but we all had totally different ideas on how to fix that. Ultimately, as stressful as that pursuit was, it inevitably led to a more committed lineup and forged a unique sound we’re extremely proud of. And I’m happy to say that sound is still evolving. Releasing something often means tour support. Do you guys already have some dates planned for the end of the year or 2021? We had a lot of plans for 2020 which were unfortunately scrapped by the pandemic, but fear not! Our EP release show has been rescheduled for a new date in March which will be our first official show back. We have some other tricks up our sleeve for 2021, but all I can say for certain is that if it’s safe to play shows then we will 100% be playing shows.
While waiting for your EP to be out, you've also dropped a music video for your single, ‘War’. What's the story behind this song? ‘War’ is a song very much influenced by the world around us, and I always liked to think of it as a commentary disguised as an anthem. The song deals heavily with the idea that as a society we’re divided and turned against each other because it distracts us and keeps us weak. I’d rather let people derive their own meaning from the lyrics. But to me, it’s about the desire erase those dividing lines and remembering that we’re all fundamentally the same, and that there’s power in that. &feature=emb_title How was the shooting experience? Any funny story to share with our readers? We had a long day shooting the video - as most bands do! - so we were all pretty tired. It was only after conclusion of the performance shoot that our bassist, Lorcan, notified me of the second location for the video shoot on the other side of the city, for what I was told was another hour of filming, tops. I was suspicious as to why everyone was laughing so much on the way, but anyway. Long story short, I ended up shirtless, tied to a chair, with 4 other dudes throwing water over me and the occasional slap between shots, most of which ended up being too dark to use. This lasted for 3 hours. I wouldn’t call it a funny story, but the band would likely disagree with me about that. The last words are for you. If you have a message to convey, here’s your chance! My message is this! If you haven’t checked out ‘War’ yet, it’s available on all major streaming platforms. If you have checked it out, thanks so much for the support. There’s merch and other goodies coming your way soon, very soon, like so soon that I should probably stop mentioning it before Lorcan gives out to me. Spotify and Instagram are the best places to keep up to date with all things JFC. ‘Sign of the Times’ releases August 7th. We hope you get as much out of it as we put in. Thanks for your time!
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