Cast your mind back to that short window of optimism towards the end of summer 2020. Pubs reopened as lockdown was eased and we could enjoy the final drops of summer with a socially distanced knees-up in the company of our friends. This period of grandeur also gave birth to JUMBO.
Hailing from Bristol, JUMBO fuse lo-fi layered vocals with massive pop choruses, and helped us through a heavy winter with their monumental tracks ‘Fluorescence’ and ‘Platypus’. We tracked down the duo in an effort to shed some light on the question that has plagued our minds for months: Who – or what – is JUMBO?
Who are JUMBO and how did you meet?
JUMBO is Joe and Kane. J Bone and K Cloud. Joe used to live with Kane’s cousin Nathan (also in RADIATORS with Kane), so we met through Nathan. Daddy Noo.
We started doing music together a few years ago when Kane begun playing bass in SLONK (Joe’s solo project) before that we’d worked together a bit as Joe recorded the first few RADIATORS recordings. Recently we’ve both started playing as part of Fenne Lily too.
Has the band been in the works for a while? Or is it a product of lockdown?
We always used to hang out together, be silly and make music all the time. Just before the first lockdown happened we decided to make it a proper project. Perfect timing.
Your songs have this defiantly lo-fi sound, whilst adopting massive pop choruses; what inspirations have moulded this combination?
We’ve just been trying to write songs where each one is more catchy than the last.
Inspiration wise we’re cooking with all sorts, we made this exceptional (and enormous) playlist:
JUMBO’s song titles are an art form in themselves and appear on the surface to have a tenuous relationship with the lyrical content; at what stage in the process is the title attached?
Some of them are taken from the lyrics and some of them we play a word association game and find a title that way.
The Bristol scene is becoming a dark horse on the UK music map, what other artists from the area should we check out?
So glad you brought up horses, we’re actually on the look out for a horse for a potential video. If anyone reading this has access to a horse, bring us that horse.
You should check out Hamburger Langkamer, Pet Shimmers, Oro Swimming Hour and LICE.
What’s on the cards for 2021? Have you got more tunes ready to go? Are you planning to tour?
We’ve got stacks of songs and lots of videos on the way. So there’ll be plenty more JUMBO next year.
We just need to get ourselves a karaoke machine sorted and then the touring will be a-roarin’.
JUMBO next single is due in February.
