Artist info
Genre
Indie, Rock
Sounds like
Angel Olsen, Warpaint, The Last Shadow Puppets, Portishead
Influences
Nick Cave, Jeff Buckley, War on Drugs, Mazzy Star
Website
Bio
Jaguar Jonze crafts songs of melancholic beauty woven with gun slinging guitar lines and a strikingly rich, yet intimate voice. Born in Japan to a Taiwanese mother and Australian father, Jaguar Jonze is as eclectic as her cultural upbringing oozing influences by the likes of Portishead, The Last Shadow Puppets, Nick Cave and Angel Olsen.
An enigmatic yet vulnerable songwriter, Jaguar Jonze delivers defiant ferocity through smoky vocals that shift between fragile and forceful and a mature musicality that provides sweetness through dissonance.
Get to know this week's triple j Unearthed Feature Artist, Jaguar Jonze.
Tell us about your music. How did you develop your sound?
Honestly, I guess it was a natural development of my multicultural background. I grew up listening to ballads on my mum's side, and country/folk music on my dad's side but then I would go and binge on alternative rock. So my sound just kind of evolved into this gunslinging, lamenting soundtrack which I use to show my personal emotions and adversities.
What’s your greatest source of inspiration for making music?
I lost my close friend years ago, and he would always tell me that I needed to live life passionately. I didn't understand what that meant until he passed away. When he left, he left behind his soul in poetry, films, artworks and heartfelt letters. Although, I didn't grow up making and playing music, it suddenly became my way of dealing with the grief of losing him, and that's when I suddenly understood what he meant and I found my passion. Now, my greatest source of inspiration to make music is, that it keeps me sane and peaceful.
What can punters expect from a Jaguar Jonze live show?
Well... I think the funniest write up I've seen is that the Jaguar Jonze live shows brings... "a manic stage presence, bending over backwards, writhing, crab-walking and altogether looking like she's possessed by some sort of musical devil." That sums it up pretty well, plus my band - Aidan Hogg, Joe Fallon and Jacob Mann are some of the most talented musicians and I'm super proud to have them by my side, they're a show on their own, but if you aren’t into manic possessed crab walking you can watch them instead haha.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who was it from?
"The best revenge is success." I guess this year, I've dealt with a lot of misfortunes and it was so hard to try and keep getting back up when the environment around me was trying to continuously pull me back down. The advice was actually from a tinder match hahah but he had been seeing things on social media and we became good friends and that was one of the many pieces of advice he gave me and it stuck. I didn't want my trauma or other people's actions to define where I was going so that really helped keep me rolling. I honestly am so grateful and in disbelief about what I've achieved this year and the different places I'm in now. Like, the fact that I'm Feature Artist this week still blows my mind. ARGH THANK YOU.
What Australian track would you play to cheer up someone who was crying?
'Who The Hell Are You' by Madison Avenue.
What Australian track would you play to someone to make them cry?
'Into My Arms' by Nick Cave.
You’re the DJ at a party. The dance floor is pumping. What Australian track do you put on next?
'Don't Call Me Baby' by Madison Avenue. I've used her twice, because she's just the medicine that you want to deny, but know it works.
What was the last local gig you went to? How was it?
It’s so lame because I've been on tour with Lime Cordiale and the last 3 shows were in Brisbane. On the last day we had 2 in one day, an all ages matinee and then an over 18s show. We were just lounging around in the green room when Lime Cordiale found out that 3 of the kids from the underage gig had missed out on the matinee show because they read their tickets wrong. So they put on a show just for these three kids. It was probably one of my favourite tour moments to walk into The Triffid and find Lime Cordiale doing a special show for these 3 kids that missed out. And I mean everybody was on board, including the monitor engineer, FOH, lighting engineer and obviously the whole band. It was so heartwarming, and we all cried in the greenroom afterwards once we realised how much it meant to those 3 kids and their parents.
Tell us about the bands or people in the Brissie music community that inspire you.
Actually the people in the Brisbane music community that inspire me the most at the moment are the ones behind the scenes. The sound techs, the guitar techs, the people who constantly work on their technical craft silently and then share it so generously to the bands who need it to put on these amazing shows. I don't know, I think it's something that I didn't realise was such a huge part of being in music until I started playing these bigger shows, I'm just so inspired by their wizardry.
What are your plans for 2019/2020?
We've just got touring left for 2019, I'm jumping onto the Hermitude Brisbane and Sydney shows this weekend to sing the Like A Version live, got another couple Lime Cordiale shows and a few festivals including.. FALLS FESTIVAL THANKS TO YOU GUYS UGHHHHHHH *animal noises*. But for 2020 it’s shaping up for an EP release, more singles and touring... abroad!!
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We're hearing another side to Jaguar Jonze here. What can't she do!!! It's dramatic, it feels cinematic and the production builds with great drama around you.
We're hearing another side to Jaguar Jonze here. What can't she do!!! It's dramatic, it feels cinematic and the production builds with great drama around you.
Review
at this stage, Jaggy J should invest in building her own website that can hold all her top-quality uploads. yet again, this is affecting and impressive and I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of it.
at this stage, Jaggy J should invest in building her own website that can hold all her top-quality uploads. yet again, this is affecting and impressive and I'm a huge, huge, huge fan of it.
Review
Thematically and stylistically sounding very Bowie-like! An exciting start to the year for JJ - the lonesome cowgirl ascending into orbit with this spaced out dreamer.
Thematically and stylistically sounding very Bowie-like! An exciting start to the year for JJ - the lonesome cowgirl ascending into orbit with this spaced out dreamer.