After spending the last few years releasing a wave of fresh and captivating indie-rock belters, London-based outfit Fabian Jack recently returned to deliver their latest EP ‘Bananas’.
Previewed by the collection’s title-track, the single ‘Bananas’ instantly shows why so many are beginning to jump on their bandwagon of late. With its bold and blistering pace, not to mention the earworm of a chorus, the group are certainly on their way to becoming one of the capital’s most talked about new bands.
So with the EP available now, we sat them down to find out more about the release and what we can expect from them in the near future.
Words by Chris Bound
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
Chris) Hi guys, how are you today?
Fabian Jack) To be fair, at the end of the day, god’s honest truth, no word of a lie, to cut a long story short, we’re going completely and utterly, ever so slightly bananas.
For those that haven’t heard of you yet, how would you best describe your sound and who have been your biggest influences so far?
We like 70's disco, 80's pop, 90's grunge and 00's indie pop. Somebody best described us as The 1975, married to The Queens of the Stone Age, having a fling with Vampire Weekend.
We’ve been compared to the following bands (in no particular order):
The Police, Kaiser Chiefs, The Cure, Young Knives, Joy Division, Dutch Uncles, Foals, Blondie, Two Door Cinema Club, Duran Duran, The Kooks, Tears For Fears, The Teardrop Explodes, Dexy Midnight Runners, Placebo, Bloc Party, The Beat, Razorlight, Coheed and Cambria, Dance Gavin Dance
Do you remember what the first song was that made you want to start a career in music?
Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) by Harry Belafonte
And how did you all meet and decide to start a band?
Beni (frontman) and Jp (guitarist) lived together and they both worked at a pub with Chris (bassist). They were bad colleagues, but good friends. After travelling through space and time in a Delorean they decided to make their own band, stealing John(drummer) from a grunge band in the 90s and Beni guilt-tripping his sister to play the keys as punishment for tormenting him as a child.
You have just released your new EP ‘Bananas’. Can you tell us how the title track “Bananas” came about? And is there a story behind it?
The song was inspired by two old men fighting in a chicken shop. One picked up a chair and they both got very excited. The song actually tells the story about a couple fighting, “She’s” lost it and “He” is in the doghouse.
The music for the song was written in about half an hour, ignited by a filthy guitar riff courtesy of JP. The lyrics came a bit later… …in the original versions we were singing something like “Jesus Pyjamas” which then eventually became “She’s gone bananas” which stuck.
Can we expect another EP, or even an album from you in the near future?
You can expect many more releases on the horizon, but for now ALL WE WANT TO DO IS GET OUT AND GIG AGAIN!
The coronavirus outbreak has obviously affected everyone’s plans, but what have you got in store for the rest of the year?
We have nothing booked apart from one festival originally scheduled for 2020, then 2021, and now 2022 so we have a pretty clear calendar. We’re open to offers (pandemic-allowing of course) so if you’re a promoter or you need any plumbing or wiring looked at (as we’ve all retrained) please get in touch!
Honestly, anyone can get in touch via our social media. Come and say hi, we’re desperately lonely!
And finally, what is your dream ambition to achieve as a band?
The fastest time for peeling and eating a banana is 6.78 seconds. The most peeled and eaten in one minute is 8 bananas. We’re pretty sure we can break these world records. If we can do this whilst playing as many festivals as humanly possible we think we could be the GOAT.