Jonny Cola – Jonny Cola & The A-Grades – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Dom Daley
Saturday, 24 August 2013 03:30
You want new bands? You want exciting original new bands? Well here at Uber Rock we know just the right people who are releasing new music, and we have their phone numbers at the ready to get all the gossip on what they’re up to and what they plan on doing next. One such band has to be Jonny Cola & The A-Grades who’ve just released a successful Pledge album; an exciting band looking to get an album out there without ruining themselves in the process.
After a recent health scare to singer Jonny Cola – who underwent a kidney transplant after being diagnosed with advanced kidney failure and going through eight months of treatment – when everything had to be put on hold I’m glad to report that, after Jonny’s girlfriend donated a kidney last November, things can happily move on.
2013 has been a whirlwind of activity with the Pledge album being delivered and getting rave reviews (as it should) and finally we can talk about music and that new album, entitled ‘Spitfire’. It was music that I was going to concentrate on during the interview with singer and frontman Jonny Cola. So without further ado ladies and gentlemen, a band you really need to hear who are fresh and exciting: on the other end of the phone line I have Mr Jonny Cola from Jonny Cola & The A-Grades………
We’ll start in the present and the new album. Whose idea was it to go down the Pledge route?
It was mine largely; basically there were other groups I respect who’d gone down the fan-funded route, in particular a band called The Indelicates who are self-funded, self-promoted; in essence they do everything for themselves. I’d seen they used Pledge and Kickstarter as a way of them being able to do what they do and they used it to fund being able to produce a vinyl format of their music. Essentially we knew we could afford to record a record but we did the 
sums and it was that we just don’t have the money to do any physical formats unless we raised it ourselves, so I guess it just seemed like a logical thing to do.
Initially is it true you only wanted to put it out on vinyl? Was releasing it on CD something of an after thought?
Well, we’re all fans of that format and with vinyl it just seems to have a longevity to it that is missing from digital downloads, and as much as I like CDs a big piece of vinyl is something extra special. We managed to release the last single on vinyl and we’ve released a fair amount of our material on vinyl (not all of it, granted). We were very keen that with this album, seeing as we’d put so much into it, which I think is the greatest body of work we’ve done. It’s easily the most cohesive thing and therefore it should be presented in the nicest possible way, the way we are happiest with…
And these days that happens to be 180gms of heavy duty vinyl?
Ha ha ha yeah that’s right. As someone who’s got a lot of vinyl… there was a particular thing in the ’90s when I think they were trying to revive the vinyl industry where you’d have plenty of vinyl formats on special edition 7″ and stuff like that, or coloured vinyl, but the downside would be a lot of them seemed to be quite flimsy and I think a lot of them sound like shit. So I do think if you’re going to bother to press up a physical format then get people to pay good money for it then I think you have to make it sound good. So you might as well go for the heavy vinyl because it does sound better no doubt about it.
It’s true that the bands who don’t plump for the heavy vinyl end up sending me warped records and blue tack and one penny pieces isn’t a good look these days. So whilst I’m being all snobby about the 180gms it is a superior format.
Exactly, You’ve got to treat it with care if you want it to last.
So going back to the album, you’ve called it ‘Spitfire’ – is there a particular reason it’s called such a British name, and with such cool artwork?
I’m trying to remember which came first…Um, we had a vague concept for the artwork before we recorded any music. They both sort of got decided upon in quick succession to be honest. With titles they’re usually a last minute thing. I wouldn’t say I write a song with a title in mind – maybe for a big project I’d do that, you know a concept album – but with Spitfire it was a case of how on earth do you sum up a body of music like that with something that works, you know? I think there is sort of an emotional resonance or a feeling I suppose with Spitfire it’s such a simple word that conjures up a sense of movement. A sense of scale I suppose. It’s a direct word, it’s in your face, and grand. It’s like a spitfire was roaring towards you kind of thing. Arguably it could be seen as quite confrontational. It was never intended to be some oh look were British and here’s a spitfire blah, blah, blah. I think we’ve often been referred to as sounding very British and a bit of Britpop so it’s a bit of a play on that as well I think. To be honest it’s a great sounding word and the beer isn’t bad either, ha ha.
I certainly thought from my review of the album that there was a pride in being British and if you don’t mind me saying there is a certain something about the music that fits with the whole Spitfire theme – it’s bold and big like you say and that certainly comes across in the record.
That’s fine but it’s not something we set out to do…but that’s fine. A lot of the stuff I listen to is American, perhaps the rest of the band would say that too. I think we approach it very honestly and that comes through hopefully. I like to think we do what we want to do and not force a sound. We certainly don’t ape anything and we have never forced a sound. We don’t want to sound like were American in the way I sing, if you know what I mean. I think if you take influence from all over the place…
…the sound is natural and not forced…
Exactly. What we’re doing is exactly that and it’s not following a trend or copying what’s in at the moment.
It sounds authentic as well. I think a lot of bands try too hard to sound like the in crowd or copy a style.
Yeah, authenticity is a hard one because all Rock and Roll is borrowed from somewhere these days isn’t it? But we’ve never got together and said OK we’ll have one song that sounds in this style and one that’s going to appeal to that set, you know?
Was your approach the same doing this album as it was the first, considering line-up changes?
It was totally different really as it was only me and Mauro in the band for both albums. Having two guitars is a big difference in itself. The first was recorded in a studio over a lot of sessions and when you’re paying for the studio time yourselves it’s the case that you’re always in a rush and it can become quite disjointed in many ways. We’re not the kind of band that go in and, bosh, just lay down the tracks in a day and it all sounds great, we’re influenced by a lot of punk bands – I don’t think you’d say we sound like that at all and we can’t just go in and do it in one take and get a raw feel. I think we’re a bit more complex in what we do. I don’t think it would work if we recorded like that, I don’t think it would come across, ha ha. Sometimes it takes a lot more care to do something and come across exactly as you want it to I suppose, if that makes sense?
The new album was largely done at Jez’s place in what we called ‘The Dynamite Jet Saloon’ so recorded by one of four guitarists and it was a very relaxed environment to work in and it’s more flexible and we could go in when we needed to really and not have to worry about the clock or money and perhaps put something down we aren’t 100% with, which is great really because we were under less pressure which gave us time to experiment more and just relax making the record, which is ideal.
I also noticed the songwriting credits go to the whole band irrespective of who might have written most or all of a song. A conscious decision or not?
I’d say it is intentional because either the whole song structure was written by me (for the new album) as in I’d do a demo and then take it to the band. Or with some of them Mauro, or Mauro & Jez, would come up with an instrumental piece or a riff which they’ll give to me to write on and come up with lyrics. I’d say it’s me who does the vocal melody and lyrics. The idea is though the whole musical arrangement is the band, isn’t it. I think that’s a key thing in how the songs sound. Some more diva-like frontmen would want to claim them for their own ha ha. I do keep the demos I do really really basic, sometimes 
unlistenably basic… is that really a word, ha?! They might tell you that as well, ha ha. So it doesn’t lead what they do too much… if that makes sense? A demo is a sketch of a song and it might be a chord progression and they can then put their influence on it. There might be a song where I have a particular idea of how it goes and I’ll say that but it’s not like a dictatorship…. I’m not like that. There might be another one where I’m like I don’t even know if this is any good but here you know if you like it ha ha! Besides what really matters is the end product and that’s done by the whole band so…
Considering the way you’ve recorded the album this time did you get everything done you wanted to put on the album or did time eventually catch up on you with anything, because with a Pledge campaign you are sort of tied in with a time scale aren’t you?
There’s one song that we sort of run out of time but that was due to circumstances really. Mainly due to my health issues last year. There are others that we sort of had part-finished but were nowhere near ready and, like you say, due to certain time constraints we didn’t want to dwell on them.
Once you have the album out in the shops in September what are your plans then? Is there anything immediate to follow it up with?
Um good question ha ha. We haven’t totally decided what exactly yet. We’ll certainly be releasing another track off the album as a single, or it might be an EP with some other new stuff on it as well, or we might just decide to do another video for a track on the album as well. I’m not sure is the honest answer ha ha! I would hope we’d get some new stuff out at the beginning of next year if not sooner. It would be nice to get something in the Autumn.
The videos you’ve done so far have been really entertaining and not just straight performance pieces. Whose ideas were the videos for ‘All I Want For Christmas’, ‘Straight To Video’ and ‘Halo’ etc?
Again it’s been a combination. On the first few good ones we started making, not to knock the early ones, but say from ‘The Party’s Over’ was the first one where Jez was in the band and we both worked on that one basically. We came up with and fleshed out the concept for the one shot thing. There was no edit on that one because it was the one shot which made it fantastically easy ha ha. From there through to ‘All I Want For Christmas’ was the two of us, and from there through ‘Halo’ has been us two plus my fiancee Heidi Heelz who’s a DJ, promoter and, of course, bassist with the Priscillas.
Have you had the idea when you’re recording a song that it would make a great track for a video to accompany it?
I’m not sure it’s worked like that; the video ideas have tended to come later in the process. Later in the process when we’re looking at the tracks on the album it sort of happens that a song will perhaps suggest an idea for a video…
Do you have a favourite you’ve shot so far? The ones we’ve mentioned are all different and look like they were fun to make.
Um, a favourite video… Probably the last two together, ‘Straight To Video’ and ‘Marlborough Road’, you know they are a pairing and are supposed to run together in kind of a loop basically. They’re certainly the best executed but they were also the most work as well. They were spread over something like six different shoots and it took a lot of preparation and editing….
Do you enjoy making the videos from coming up with the ideas to the execution and then editing. It looks like it’s a big part of the band.
Oh yeah I love it ha ha. It’s a lot of work but I find it’s good fun as well.
You talk to a lot of bands and they don’t seem to like that side of it, they just want to make the music and play it and aren’t bothered at all about the artwork or other mediums such as video…
Really? I wonder why you’d dislike it? I guess for me sort of directing it as well is less hanging around and I’m always involved in doing something or other with it. I guess for the others there is a degree of hanging around. We do try and make the shoots fun so maybe it’s a bit different but we do try and make them a bit like that anyway. Who wouldn’t enjoy the ‘Marlborough Road’ video? It was ludicrous taking a cab across London and drinking and getting changed 
in the back of a London cab then playing a mini gig in some basement. Great fun ha ha. What would you say was the best video?
I’d agree the last two were very watchable and they looked like a laugh from the band’s perspective and fun for the extras. It was more than a montage of live footage shot in slow mo and black & white segues from back stage to crowd shots, ha ha…. not that there is anything wrong with that but…
Straight performance videos are so, um, boring I guess. It has to be something really different to get noticed. I spose it’s easier but saying that it could also cost a fuckload of money to just do a performance video so… Like I’m sure ours are a whole lot cheaper to do than had we gone for a straight performance live video.
I also think you remember something that’s different other than the live video, something a little left of centre even these days stands out and people tend to remember a band for it.
I hope so it’s kind of part of the reason we do go to town on the video it just connects with people more. I think part of the problem with digital music these days is it doesn’t really engage you. It’s so easy and absent people tend to listen to a track on iTunes whilst on the web or whatever and you’re not really listening so I think with a video you have to engage. If you’re watching it on youtube there is no other distraction because that’s is the distraction so it’s more engaging.
I think that’s part of the problem with modern music, people used to make a deal about buying music; they’d have to go to town, buy the album, take it home, look at the cover, read the inserts, read everything written on the sleeve, but that’s gone with digital music and even with CDs to a certain extent.
Yeah I agree, but I wouldn’t knock a certain format – they all have their uses. It’s like with an iPod, which is no different to having a Walkman or a Discman. I certainly use them and put certain tracks on an iPod because I like the song and it’s probably because I’m aware of the record and transferred it like that rather than just taken it off the net if that makes sense?
I think it makes bands more anonymous and certainly tracks and album running list goes to pot with a thing on shuffle and no cover to look at and no info about who wrote it or where it was recorded – it does go back to what you were saying about engagement with your physical slab of music. I can tell you where I bought my favourite records even now from over thirty years ago (probably tell you what I was wearing) but there was something about buying the new Dogs D’amour album and taking it home, putting the record on and whilst listening to the music taking the artwork in and knowing everything about my purchase. Getting hold of an original Hanoi Rocks Joanna pressing I can tell you anything and everything about it now but it’s hard with a lot of today’s music because half the time I don’t even know who’s released the thing.
You’ve managed to name two bands that get mentioned a lot by Jez and Mauro, ha ha.
I was going to get onto mentioning the forthcoming Midnite Mixtape playlist you guys have kindly done for Uber Rock and how impressed I was with the choices from everybody pretty much. You wouldn’t believe it when I get a mixtape from someone I really admire and when I read the choices I’m gutted at some of the shit they’ve put down as their favourite music, but you guys were right on the money with some of the choices ha ha, very impressive musical taste ha ha!
Sometimes when you get to read those kind of things it can seem too calculated but there isn’t any point I don’t think, you don’t always listen to the same stuff that you actually play and different styles is OK. I guess there are some obvious songs that could have gone down…
You can’t be accused of that though can you? ha ha!
Well, there would have been no point in us all putting Ziggy Stardust which is something we all enjoy but is it really the Bowie stuff that we find the most inspiring? Probably not (as good as it is)
You also chose a lesser known band, Hunx And his Punx, which is a band I’m familiar with but people should check them out, as much as nodding agreement of including ’11th Street Kids’ by Hanoi Rocks which is from the same era I’d have chosen. It might not have been as big selling a record as the CBS ‘Two Steps’ Album but it was their most eclectic and creative period and great to see bands choose songs like that, ha ha.
Yes, I love listening to Hunx at the moment, fucking great record.
The new album has a Beastie Boys cover on it which is nice. Anyway, I’d finally like to ask you about when we might get to see you playing live?
Um, well we’re obviously doing a few London gigs and have one coming up to launch the new record. We’ve done a small amount of gigs but there is only a certain amount of point to playing regularly in London – you wouldn’t want people getting bored of you, would you? In terms of playing outside London we’ve got a few in the pipeline for September. They won’t be going particularly far afield but we’re looking at what we can get at the moment really. Wider it would be great to get something sorted for late this year or early next depending on a few things.
What would you look to do then? Anyone you’d like to go out with and possibly support (realistically)
Um? Someone with a van I think ha ha. That would be a huge help. Trying to tour when nobody has a suitable vehicle is a bloody nightmare and it costs a fortune. Even if it was a hire car it would be so expensive – it wiped us out when we went and did that before but obviously it would be great to go out and play to different people around the country but it wipes you out financially. So you need to do it properly or get another band to do it with, maybe. Breaking even would be nice, we’d settle for not far off it, but to lose a load of money isn’t the best idea really. There are a few bands out there that Mauro and Simon have been putting on at their club night (Some Weird Sin) they’ve put on some really good bands there. A couple I could see us doing some dates with potentially, we’ll see. Kind of watch this space really. There is nothing for a few months but it’s something that’s on the cards shall we say and something we want to do.
Great stuff. All that’s left for me to do is wish you all the best with your health and hope that everything works out for you personally as well as good luck with the album launch (not that you’ll need any luck).
Thank you for pledging by the way. It’s been a really positive experience, obviously we’d always like there to be more people involved but it’s been great and I’d like to thank everyone who has put their hand in their pocket and pledged – it’s been amazing experience. Not only have we managed to produce it in the format we wanted but we’ve also been able to get it made onto CD which is amazing and for once you’re not starting off from a position of being totally financially wiped out ha ha, which is great! It’s sort of put the fun back into the release and you’re not pressured to sell going “argh shit we can’t afford to do this or that with the release so”…It’s here! ha ha which is great; so yeah, thank you everybody who pledged it’s been amazing and hope you like the album we’ve made.
[Photos by Heidi Heelz & Svenja Block]
http://www.jonnycolaandtheagrades.net/
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