When doing research leading up to the NXNE festival, you would think that it wouldn't be took difficult of a task...but going through the massively long list of artists and bands taking part in this year's event was quite the process. I'll admit, I didn't go through every single one on the list, but I did tackle a lot of it. And among the bands that stood out to me, I stumbled upon Jane's Party.
Based out of Toronto and made up of four band members, Tom Ionescu, Jeff Giles, Devon Richardson and Zach Sutton, this is their third time taking part in NXNE. After listening to some of their music on their website, I was really digging it. So I met up with Jeff, Devon and Tom at The Hyatt (the NXNE main hub for the week) and did a quick interview to see what they're all about.
They played multiple shows at this year's festival, at various venues throughout the city, from the Lavish & Squalor store on Queen Street to The Cameron House. Unfortunately I wasn't able to check out any of their sets, but I'm hoping to see them perform live another time this summer!
Q: How is this year going to be different from your past NXNE experiences?
Devon: Well we're talking to you, so that's a change.
Jeff: We have a record we're working on, we're actually going to be in the studio tomorrow to finish up some piano and percussion. Then we'll have that mixed and it will be out and about hopefully by the late fall. It's going to be our first rockin' honest pop record.
Devon: Our masterpiece.
Q: Being based in Toronto now, where do you guys stand in the city's indie music scene?
Devon: We're big fans. Since we've been together for three and a half years, we've gotten the chance to meet a lot of other bands and sort of mesh into the scene a little bit more. So I think in that sense, we have a lot more friends in bands now, and are able to go see more music. It's got a lot more of a communal vibe now. It's awesome.
Q: Do you guys have a favourite venue in Toronto?
Jeff: The Cameron House. There's a lot of great music coming out of the Cameron House right now.
Tom: Yeah, most nights we'd probably say the Cameron House, whether we're playing or just hanging out.
Devon: But I think for playing though, for actual sound, I'd probably say The Horseshoe.
Tom: But they're so close that you can check out The Horseshoe, then mosey on over to the Cameron House. It's great.
Q: Is there a story behind the name of the band?
Devon: Nothing crazy I guess, take it as it is.
Q: Is there a Jane in your life?
Jeff: I think for everyone there's a Jane.
Devon: Yeah, everyone's got their own Jane.There's not too much but there's also a vast amount of influence so take what you want from it.
Q: Your EP came out this past October, so what have you been working on since?
Tom: This record. We decided to have the five songs we've written for the EP and have a brand new 14 tracks on top of that. So we're not really keeping anything from the past; that's been done, so now we've got 14 brand new songs that we're excited for.
Devon: That EP will now stand on its own as the Jane's Party EP and then we'll have the full LP that'll be brand-spankin' new music. But it's also consistent tunes we've been playing for the past two years but just haven't recorded, plus some new ones that we maybe just completed within the past month or so.
Jeff: Yeah, it's a nice mix of fresh off-the-board tunes that we didn't really even play together until the studio.
I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more from these guys! In the meantime, be sure to check out their
website and keep an eye out for their full length album coming this fall.
Here's one of the tracks from their EP:
- Christina
Follow my adventures on Twitter: @christinaaa28
