Hey!

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Long time no see. I’m battling a nasty cold but am gonna try and make it up to Denton tonight to see Skip Heller. He’s Playing at Greenhouse Restaurant at 10pm. 600 N Locust St, Denton, TX 76201

Look! New Look

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While not much is happening with the band (live-wise) I awarded the Worth1000.com prize to Steve G. Santiago. I really liked his cartoonish/playful yet straightforward approach. I’m still tweaking the template – it is a bit heavy.

In music news – I’m almost finished with demos for 5 new tunes and hope to debut them on Dec. 7th – Amanda’s Fine Line Birthday Bash at Club Dada.

revamp coming soon

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UPDATE – View all entries here – (I’m still considering a few and will award the prize in a couple of days)

Just wanted to let ya know a redesign is in the works. I submitted a request to the venerable contributors of worth1000.com to come up with a new logo for the band brand and will rework the site to match whatever the winner comes up with. The top five artists will receive several cds (unless they refuse) along with a care package containing other sundry items to brighten their day. The winner gets $150 bucks as well as cross-promotion via every major thing we do. So look for some changes after the next coupla weeks. The corporate contest submissions I’ve seen so far on Worth1000 have been incredible. If you haven’t seen the site before, you’ll be amazed by what photoshop and a keen eye and brain can do.

Note to self – this weekend’s gonna be great. Sorta on Friday, Ten Hands Saturday and another Dada visit on Sunday, mixed in with drinking, hiking and a screening of Bukowski’s ‘Factotum’! Picking up a copy of ‘The Devil and Daniel Johnston’ too!

Still hangin’

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Hey kids, I realize I make a post a week and you are prolly wondering what is up. I’m still working on some new demos and will debut at least one or two this Sunday at Club Dada Open Mic – solo. It is too funny – I write almost all of my stuff on computer nowadays, never really learning an acoustic representation of the song. Rather I create several parts which fuse into the sum of the tune. So I basically have to relearn the song as a solo artist, making up a rendition that sort of represents my original vision (how pretentious).

Creating new songs is never too much of a problem for me. My ecstasy = playing around with melody, countermelody, rhythm and structure. The real trick is creating lyrics which befit each song. So far only 1 of the 5 new tunes have lyrics befitting its song. Kill me. I used to be able to instantly realize the appropriate theme, metaphor and tone requisite of each song. Today it is a living hell trying to determine exactly what I should say/sing. The vocal melodies are there… but what to say? What do you sing about when your life is pretty much average and engrained? How do those superstars who have everything they’ve ever wanted do it? Do I become more political? Do I sing of love or love lost? Urgh. This whole process is painfully embarrassing. But I have become honest enough to share everything with you.

The idea is this: record a 5-6 song e.p. in January. I can assure you each song will be filled with more emotion and passion than anything we’ve done before. I do this for fun and you as an audience deserve my complete honesty (yes – jeff has been drinking). Seriously though, if the last cd was the entirety of my mind, the next will comprise all of my soul. Laff if you must, but these next songs are gonna be great. The Jones Thing will strike when you least expect.

Drunkenly yours,

Jeef

Being There review of Sweet Simulacra

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Canadian Magazine Being There‘s review of the new cd!

Reviewed by Russell Bartholomee
Four out of Five Stars

When I reviewed The Jones Thing’s debut album ( A Comfortable Pair ) a couple of years back, I said that Jeff Jones’ ability to write great hooks and infectious melodies was keeping me up at night. Now that I’m finally getting enough rest, the band goes and releases its follow-up record, Sweet Simulacra . Like the first record, it’s both catchy as hell and eloquently written. And happily, the sound of the record is a vast improvement over the debut. As good as the songwriting was the first time around, a couple of the tracks needed a little more polish to really shine. On Sweet Simulacra , Jones and co-producer Paul Williams have raised the production values up to the high level of the band’s performances and Jones’ songwriting.

The title track sets the tone for the whole record. It’s a tongue-in-cheek tirade against a musical culture where the same formula has been copied and recopied so many times that we’ve forgotten what the original even sounded like. Like a photocopy of a reproduction of a photograph of the Mona Lisa, something essential has been lost in the translation. “Sweet simulacra / you’re giving me a sugar pill that’s really made of saccharine and…nothing real except the swill it’s killing me it’s killing me…” Throughout the disc, the lyrics have a bitter-yet-whimsical bite that brings Elvis Costello to mind.

The songs are mostly upbeat and rhythmically irresistible (especially the title track and “First Five”). Even when they venture into more mid-tempo tunes, the album never drags. Perhaps the strongest song on the record is the very moving “Anymore,” with its glorious harmonies and lilting guitar line. The band has never sounded tighter. The interplay between Eric Neal’s lead guitar and Jones’ rhythm guitar is mesmerizing while Jeff vocally channels his inner Andy Partridge. Joe Schwartzott’s bass playing is melodic and fluid, Trey Carmichael’s drumming precise and absolutely tasteful, and Chris Holt’s keyboards add levels of texture missing from most guitar-based pop music (check out the killer organ work on “Ego”). And don’t let the title fool you. Unlike the sugar substitute on the album cover, the sound of the record is pleasant and sweet, and there is real substance underneath.

well that was a helluva lot of fun!

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With no practice and our last gig several weeks in the past, the Jones Thing took the stage Saturday and put on what I consider to be one of the best performances ever. I had way too much fun for my own good. The Barley House is usually filled with SMU kids who could care less about music but due to the Labor Day holiday, the club was instead packed with friends, musicians, celebrities (Hi Dave) and music lovers. Everyone really made us feel great up there. Thanks so much for coming out and partying with us. Thanks to Reagan for setting up the gig and Richard for letting us play!

Airline then rocked thusly. I think our quirky styles really work well together and hopefully we can play even more shows with them.

Apparently Holt’s euro tour ain’t happening, so we are looking to book a few shows in October and November. And with at least 4 new tunes – which we’ll need to get up to snuff beforehand. Looking forward to doing this again!

Thanks again everyone for making Saturday a great evening.