As Constant as a Northern Star: An Interview with Jane's Party

by - May 31, 2018


To put it in perspective, Jane’s Party started entirely in a garage – they even named their first album The Garage Sessions. In the decade since then, they’ve gone from stripped down acoustic to full-on genre-bending sounds.

They credit fellow Canadians bands Zeus, The Golden Dogs and Arkells as their main influencers as they played the same scene in Toronto. They even got to record their second album, Hot Noise, at Zeus’ studio.

They ended up getting tied in with a guy named Devin Cuddy, whose father Jim plays in Canadian country rock band Blue Rodeo. Their third album, Tunnel Visions, was recorded with fellow Blue Rodeo member Greg Keelor at his Lost Cause Studios. With this album, they began to delve into modern style textures and sounds – trying things they hadn’t tried before.

“It’s been a long evolution and I think a lot of it has to do with our influences and the people we’ve worked with and the scene we’ve been in,” Zach Sutton said. “All of that has become infused in our sound and our songs and our songwriting and continues to going forward.”

Their latest singles, “You’re the Light” and “Right Down the Line” spotlight some of their best work and capture the interwoven sounds that makes them Jane’s Party.

“You’re the Light” was collectively written by Sutton, Jeff Giles, Devon Richardson and Tom Ionescu. They began by throwing around verse ideas; having a pre-chorus going but never really figuring out a chorus section. Once the song came together, they noticed a bit of repetition throughout the lyrics. That’s when they called in Fast Romantics lead singer Matthew Angus.

“Matt was really able to infuse his ideas and pop influences into our ideas and influences as well as trim a lot of the fat off the song,” Sutton said. “He trimmed the repetition and came up with an amazing outro breakdown post-chorus; that’s when the song really came together.”

“Right Down the Line” is a Gerry Rafferty cover that they originally recorded in their home studio. After each member laid down different pieces of the track, they sent a rough cut to DJ and record producer Skratch Bastid who became featured on the track.

“He absolutely loved it and came up with this really cool retro-inspired loop that really became the metronome and the foundation of the track,” Sutton said. “I think we really wanted to juxtapose the indie-rock-pop element of the band with the fact that we really do respect the throwbacks and the retro vibe of the songwriter like Gerry Rafferty.”

Jane’s Party has come a long way since starting in a garage. With a new album anticipated in the fall, it’s just a matter of time before their genre-bending sounds continue to dazzle their audience.

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