You worked on Alibi with Mike Cave? What was the experience like?

Andy: We were approached by Mike over a year ago with an invitation to work together; unfortunately the timing was all wrong and nothing came of it.  When I bumped into a mate of his at a gig in Liverpool recently and heard that he'd moved into mastering I found it the perfect excuse to get back in touch and work with him. 

Martin: Mike was mainly responsible for the mastering of the track on this occasion. But through meetings with him and taking into account his remarkable CV, I think he helped us believe that we are a viable option in the music industry. If he believes in and vibes off the music we might actually be on to something here...!

What did he bring to the Jelly’s Last Jam sound?

Rob: Mastering is beyond me! But what he did brought out all the good stuff we'd got down in the studio. I’m not a technical musician. I just bang the keys and hope for the best!

Andy: Mastering is the art of turning a good recording into a great record and Mike Cave is the alchemist who makes it all happen!
 
The B side “Smash and Grab” is your first song to feature a guitar. What brought this about?

Rob: Ah, the guitar! People make a big thing of this and it doesn’t really warrant it. We just wanted to expand the sound a little.  It’s not really a big deal.  

Martin: In all honesty all four of us can play the guitar to some degree. I wrote the song originally on guitar before we arranged it for the three usual instruments (piano, bass and drums). It just needed something different in there. I have to say though Paul (who plays the part on the record) came up with his own guitar part so as to weave through the usual set up.

Is this a change of direction for Jelly’s Last Jam or will you stay piano driven?

Andy: Maybe a slight change. Paul plays guitar on a couple of tracks. The piano will still be at the heart of everything we do because it’s the instrument Rob plays. A touch of synth here and there, a bit of guitar, a few vocal effects. Just touching up the sound, as it were.
 
Martin: I think we've set a precedent now as you've stated regarding our sound so we will always be a piano led band. Rob has the hands of ivory twinklers of old so it would be daft not to show him off. That said we've never been afraid of adding other instruments to songs.  Venezuelan nose flute anyone?
 
Other than the single, what’s coming up for Jelly’s Last Jam in 2009?

Andy: We've got plenty of gigs coming up to promote Alibi, a second single in the pipeline, and maybe a festival appearance or two.  There's a few new songs we're working on at the moment, and they're brilliant, so we'll be introducing those to the set soon enough.

You’ve also made a video for the track. Is there a story behind it? What’s it about?

Andy: The video is a kind of montage of footage taken from family home videos from 1966 onwards, mixed together with footage we filmed recently.  The video is about nostalgia and childlike fun, in contrast to the theme of the song.  You can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/jellyslastjam

What’s been the highlight so far for Jelly’s Last Jam?
Andy: A recent highlight was playing at Lancaster Library.  I've wanted to play there for ages, and on this occasion one of the bands dropped out and we were called in at the last minute.  The promoter likes us though, and said he'd have us back!

Thanks and good luck with the single.  We’re sure it’s going to go really well.  You can hear Jelly’s Last Jam for yourselves on their myspace page:

www.myspace.com/jellyslastjam
http://www.jellyslastjam.co.uk

Next Issue we review their brand new single 'Alibi'