Jay Jay Pistolet
Words by Holly Grigg-Spall
Justin James Hayward-Young’s favourite film is Rushmore; his favourite animal is the lion and his favourite music is that of young, folky upstart Jay Jay Pistolet. ‘I want to be my own fan, ‘ he explains, ‘I want to make a fucking good album, and even if it doesn’t sell I want it to be music I’d be a fan of.’ But let’s backtrack - we won’t be interested in what he likes, unless we know we like him.
Dressed in a sweater a Wes Anderson character would wear, his phone flashing with a picture of a cuddling dog and duck - Jay Jay’s the sort of boy you could take home to your mum or dad. If all this doesn’t sound very rock and roll, don’t worry - he’s got a stage presence that makes the girls swoon. His brogues have shuffled onto stages in support of the new folk scene’s break out bands Noah And The Whale and Mumford And Sons, but the 21 year-old history student started out playing hardcore punk in Southampton. ‘I suppose I’m a folk artist,’ he shrugs, ‘and there’s nothing wrong with that.’ If a movie was made of his life, sweetheart Michael Cera would have the starring role. Although Jay Jay might prefer Jason Schwartzman, he loves the actor’s Coconut Records music. He’s also happy to be going solo: ‘If you’re in a punk band you have to write punk songs. I can go make a garage record or a dance record, I can do whatever I want.’
With a voice that belies a bedroom filled with early Elvis and the quieter side of The Velvet Underground, heavy lashed brown eyes and a bashful flop of fringe, Jay Jay’s EP Happy Birthday You has us clamouring to blow out his candles. A four times a week movie fan, he admits his songs have a certain cinematic influence - golden final scenes are conjured up from romances filled with the hopes of a happy ending, but his turns of phrase sidestep Hollywood cliché. The memories sound so box fresh you’ll wonder if he needs help making more. ‘If you look good people are going to give you more of a chance,’ he confesses, ‘But there isn’t a ‘folk’ look - you can’t go into Topman and come out looking like a folk artist.’
Ryan Adams-esque songs like Always On My Way Back Home and Hooked Up On Us suggest a wisdom gleaned further afield than two years of London’s gigging grind. His love of lions sent him to Africa before university and on an isolated campsite in Botswana Jay Jay suffered a bad nosebleed that denoted the onset of Sudden Death Syndrome. ‘It killed a Bee Gee so it could have got me,’ he jokes, but as he relates the experience you can guess at why his song words contain such a lucid sense of loss.
Jay Jay was brought up on a farm in the New Forest with a menagerie of pets, so the cutesy phone wallpaper isn’t just a ploy to pick up girls, ‘I love animals and if the music dries up, I’m thinking I’ll become a conservationist.’ The pandas might need him more than us, but let’s hope he sticks around long enough to make that dance record.
http://www.myspace.com/jayjaypistolet
Got the groove in your heart? Check out our profiles of Frightened Rabbit and Favours for Sailors.
Posted Tue, April 07, 2009