Jinxremover Tour Blog

Jinxremover are a band about to embark on a European tour, many people that know this band will know them as Airbus, but after a break and embarking on separate projects they came back as Jinxremover and now with two CD’s under their belt they are ready to let themselves loose in Europe. I caught up with Chris (aka Topher) from the band for a chat about the tour and how they got there.

Claire: You were previously known under the guise of Airbus before parting ways to work on different projects, what inspired you to come back together as Jinxremover?

Chris: It was James’ idea. We were all living in LA, California when Airbus parted ways in 2002. James and Nick married American girls and both still live there now. Simon and I moved back to the UK.

In 2006, James phoned me up and said he’d been listening to some of our old material. He felt that he couldn’t bear to let all the songs we’d written together go to waste (around 130). He’d already come up with the name Jinkxremover (he’s obviously lived in America for too long!!!) as he wanted the project to be new and exciting. 

Via phone and email, we listed the more rocky tracks from the Airbus days that hadn’t been released and decided which ones to revisit. Due to lack of cash, Hospital Radio was put together in pro tools, using some of the old recordings. James re-did the necessary instrumentation and all the vocals in LA. After playing the album to industry contacts in LA James decided to release the album on iTunes. This generated lots of interest. 

At this point, James left Vic Du Montes Persona Non Grata (the band he was playing with at the time) and we decided to take the project further. Althhohugh Hospital Radio had been well received, to us it lacked that live vibe we all love so much from our favourite bands (AC/DC, The Beatles, The Stranglers, Motorhhead, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath etc). So Simon and I went to LA in July 2006 to record the Spitfire album. This album would consist of a few more revamped Airbus tracks along with lots of brand new material. 

On arrival, we did three days rehearsing followed by three days recording of all the rhythm tracks in the Studio in LA. The session went so well that we got 29 tracks down! We felt they were hard hitting and had a great vibe; rather than doing loads of takes and getting technically perfect but lifeless performances , we prefer to do one or two takes of each track, picking the performances with the most raw power and feeling. 

Thirteen of these tracks became Spitfire. The rest are currently being finished off for the next album, Beyond The Big Hit, planned for release at the end of 2007/beginning of 2008.

Claire: Have you released either of your albums in Europe yet? if so, what sort of Feedback have you received?

Chris: Hospital Radio is available on itunes now; Spitfire will be by the end of April. We have a publicist working the tour for us and so far we've had a couple of reviews. They're very positive:

          Metal Services:

The British band JINXREMOVER (formerly AIRBUS) return with their album Spitfire - and they did it in a marvellous manner.

 Right from the beginning the direction of this album is indicated by the song “I’m not afraid”. Refreshing Rock (‘n’ Roll) is on the agenda and it is great fun to just listen or to play air guitar and jump across the room. The slightly older generations may find themselves back in their youth with this album.

 DAWN DJ Poison

Spitfire is a famous warplane of the year 1936 which took off like a bat out of hell and swept away everything which thwarted it in the air battle. So much for the metal bird and the name relation to Jinxremover’s new album SPITFIRE.

 Neither the guys of Jinxremover are 70 years old nor their music. With a refreshing Rock And Roll style it comes out of the speakers and has as much drive as this airplane. The trio around James Charlie Childs (inter alia VIC DU MONTE´S PERSONA NON GRATA) packs a punch as if this would be the last day - but we hope it’s not.

Jinxremover started in 1988 but at that time they called themselves Airbus. These guys are somehow obsessed by the aviation. Apart from that they take off like Weiland Lemmy Kilminster – only the grungy rough voice of Lemmy is missing. You also get grooves like Nirvana and harmonies like from the Pink Floyd collection but without giving the impression to only be a poor copy.

Jinxremover´s new album SPITFIRE is an absolutely independent matter and not a cheap collection of samples with the single purpose of rendering homage to other bands. The abovementioned bands could absolutely have been the inspiration for this CD and this is a rare situation in the genre of Rock to get this without all “godmothers” and “uncles” having put the oar in beforehand. Jinxremover have been working in this business too long to need this. The Rock And Roll which is being celebrated on this album is flawless and made out of real British Thames water. Straight, true and funny.

Claire: Was touring something that was a priority when you got back into the studio?

Chris: Not initially, but after the Spitfire recording sessions we did a couple of gigs in LA before Simon and I flew home. All the songs went down really well. After that we decided that touring was a must.

Claire: Did you plan to take your tour into Europe or was it one of those things that just came about? And is a US tour on the cards?

Chris: Yes, it was planned from the off. Touring with Airbus taught us that the kind of music we’re doing now goes down really well in Europe; better than the UK or USA. So we decided that was the ideal market for us. Airbus was a lot more ambient. Jinxremover is all about the rock! There are some plans in the pipeline for this (US Tour) but we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. We're more likely to go back to Europe and concentrate on that market, especially if the Spitfire tour goes down well and we have the potential to start making money out there. We're not ruled by cash - the love of rock being our main motivation - but of course practicality has to come into it. If we can make money, then we have to, to make the music financially viable.

Claire: Tour planning is always a difficult job of juggling your whereabouts with available venue's, how did you go about managing the process of planning a tour in multiple cities and countries?

Chris: We have a German booker called Matte who's sorting the tour out for us. James met him whilst touring Europe with Vic Du Montes Persona Non Grata, the band he joined after Airbus parted ways. The Montes tours were booked by Last Resort Music, who Matte works for. He and James got on really well. At the end of last year James came over to the UK to do a few Jinxremover gigs so that Matte could fly over to London and see the band. He loved the show and, thinking the music was perfect for the European market, agreed to book us a tour.

Claire: How do you manage making sure you've had sufficient rehearsal time before you start touring being split between Bristol and the US? or do you find that it makes you all work that much harder when you are together as a band?

Chris: I think the fact that we've all been playing in bands with each other since we were 15 (20 years now!) really helps with this. It's a bit like the old riding a bike cliché; it comes back to us naturally.

As soon as we're all in the same country we spend a few days rehearsing and then do a local warm up gig for our friends to get us back into the swing of things. Then we start doing publicised shows. So yes, when we're together we tend to do long days and concentrate entirely on the band. Everything else grinds to a halt, much to the joy of our wives/partners!

Claire: Is there anywhere on the tour you're specifically looking forward to playing, or are particularly concerned about playing?

Chris: Yes, I'm really looking forward to doing the Hardtaste Open Air festival in Hassleben/Thuringen, Germany on May 17th. That looks like it'll be really good fun. And Berlin, as that's an amazing city. Aside from that, we're not going to know too much about each gig until we get there.

Claire: If another local band said they wanted to tour Europe what would you tell them were the 3 things they HAD to do before they could even think about it?

Chris: Get divorced, sign on, and never, NEVER get out of bed before the crack of noon :-)

Seriously though: Get a local booker (very important or you'll be playing in shit holes to a man and his dog). Get a publicist (another must; if the shows aren't advertised and no one knows who you are, no one will come and see you). Be prepared to work hard for little or no money: to start with touring has to be something you do for the love of rock! We're looking at breaking even on this tour and having a great laugh doing so at the same time as making useful contacts and getting the band known.

Claire: Finally, what can people expect from your gigs?

Chris: A headache. But you'll have a fun time getting it.

So there you have it, Jinxremover are all set to hit European watering holes in May and to kick-start the tour they’ll be playing the Louisiana on the 6^th May