ROX-TV catches up with the United Kingdom’s “Jazz Mags” founder Omar Majeed. We talk about the formation of the group and much more
Welcome back to the ROX-TV website. Tonight, we have a really cool story to talk about from the United Kingdom (England way). We recently heard from our friend Omar Majeed, who is a poet and artist from Hereford. We interviewed him back in 2021 and he recently reached out to talk about his latest project…a punk band with some serious influences and things to say. As Omar told me about how the new group “Jazz Mags” came to be, an idea for this article was born. I really dug what Omar was getting up to and told him I’d like to run a piece on the group and perhaps how the whole ball of yarn got rolled up to begin with. We started trading correspondence across the pond and before long, this article came into existence. So, without further to do, let’s hear the words float across the ocean and get hip. As with all good stories, the back story plays a critical role, so we must start with the big bang. I asked Omar if he could catch up the readers and he was happy to oblige. Here we go…
Interview with Omar about the Jazz Mags inception
England
January/2023
“In 2020 my wife Bizzy and I were up later than usual, or even already in bed doomscrolling, I can’t remember. We were definitely in my parents’ annex anyway. The phone rang. It was Marc Reeves – I still had the number from years ago, maybe 2004 even when we were at art college and the first thing I asked him, as he likes to remind me, was “have you ever listened to Joy Division on magic mushrooms?” I don’t remember saying this. But I do remember in the hospital secure unit watching a procession of spectral figures walking in line from corridor to kitchen. Anyway, I still love Joy Division, and somehow or other, Bizzy and I ended up doing a gig down the phone to an affably merry but troubled Marc. I remember he loved our songs, and the covers of Moldy Peaches, Vaselines, and so on that we did”.
“By some twist of fate, the following year Marc moved back from Bristol and ended up on our road. Marc would come round for a cuppa, sometimes with his son and the two kids would play. I remembered Marc to be an enthused and original guitarist, so when he said he was working on an album I tried to support him. This album became “Endings…” which came out on the now defunct SCree label. Marc and his boy also appeared on our second outing as Majeed Family Band, a sort of field-recorded experimental sonic nursery.
In late 2021 I pitched for some bursary money from Sound and Music, writing a strange and attention-grabbing “hail mary” of a pitch, which soared from my evening bed-in laptop to Sound and Music HQ where it landed in a soundly sleeping inbox. My pitch involved the name Jazz Mags, pinched from our mate Gareth’s joke about another musical project, as well as a prototype for Jazz Mags music which was a song by post jazz band Tortoise, crudely sped up and distorted in Audacity. I sort of forgot about it for a couple of days, so I was pleasantly surprised that they’d awarded an old madman their COVID-19 Composer award. Which meant money. Enough to start a proper band. I’d discussed the idea with Bizzy, Marc, and my pal, the artist John Burrage, who had found a Pearl drumkit on freecycle, and I thought he might like the opportunity to play it”.
“After messaging round Marc and Johnny, we approached Corin Myatt at KJM Studios in search of a rehearsal space, with a view to recording with him at the end of it. He cut us a great deal for everything and after three months (and a couple extra practices for good measure) we had an album written and ready to record. This we did, under Corin’s guidance. It was great he understood what we were doing, a DIY punk type approach but with broader influences. It had moved on from simply trying to marry postpunk and jazz music. One time at the rehearsal he said “I could tell you to do another take and another take, but I’m not going to” (I paraphrase). The album I think has an expedience and vital energy, even if we’re never knowingly over rehearsed. Everything was done in one or two takes, recorded basically live (the instruments were performed simultaneously in the room, just vocals overdubbed), and with the added feature of two songs improvised live in the studio”.
“We’ve got our first gig on Thursday 26th January at friendly, neighborhood venue Babar Café. We’re hoping to put on a good show. Johnny no longer plays in the band, as he is concentrating on his art practice proper, and paying the bills. We have Tom Rees on the drums for the gig, who knew a couple of the songs from an old group of ours, Nudibranch, and since then has played with Cabin Music, among others. Our last practice ended on a high, and we have another one tonight, (it’s our anniversary) so we hope to blow the roof off or at least make an entertaining racket for all y’all”.
Further:
I really enjoy the fact that Omar and his merry crew of music makers are creating some anarchy across the pond. I will further admit that when Omar told me about how the band formed up and how money from a government grant was used to create a punk band…well that’s fucking amazing. I laughed out loud as I let those words bounce around in my head. The United Kingdom is home to many Punk Rock Gods and Legends, so it seems only fitting that the country who brought us “God Save the Queen” and “Anarchy in the U.K.“, would someday make grants available for the arts and even finance a punk band.
I had to laugh, and I told him “I’m glad that the government has gotten this one right” or some wacky shit like that. I love that a government is secure enough in its manhood/womanhood (in relation to being a country) to give money to punk rockers, who historically have called for anarchy. I really dig that, because someone in the government understands that healthy disregard for authority which all people need to partake in from time to time, ultimately is not a threat to the country’s survival. This is about keeping things interesting, lanes open for evolution and creation, and not being afraid of one’s own shadow. I wish that there were more programs like this in America, but for all the freedom over here, not much ever gets exercised these days. It’s comforting to know that punk rock, even in its hybrid jazz pattern, is still out there and still being created. I’m excited to see what “Jazz Mags” gets up to and will report back with Omar and the band’s progress along their journey. Good show old boy! Keep it going Omar.
