Indietracks interview #22: Jam On Bread

Jam On Bread makes lo-fi ukulele pop songs about sea creatures, Swedish indie-pop labels and 80s pop singers. Since Christmas 2007 he's played about seventy gigs, performed live sessions on Resonance FM, Oxide Radio and Fuse FM and popped up on Dandelion Radio and Tom Robinson's 6Music show.

He'll be playing on the steam train as it speeds through the countryside on the Saturday afternoon of Indietracks.

Hi, tell us a little bit about Jam On Bread

My name is Steve, I'm 23 years old, and I've been doing this Jam on Bread stuff for about two years now, which is nice. I make kind of poppy folk, I suppose you might call it, with my ukulele. I've played a lot of gigs and met some wonderful people over the last couple of years as a result of being a pretend musician. I'd definitely recommend becoming a pop star*. It's ace.

*in the loosest possible sense of the word.

What music are you enjoying at the moment?

The new Radio Dept LP 'Clinging to a Scheme' is really great. It might even be their best! Other than that, the Mat Riviere album 'Follow Your Heart', the Middle Ones 'Things Grow There EP' and the Empty Set's album 'As Neat as a New Pin' (Which was released last year) are all on constant rotation. I've been listening to a lot of the Housemartins recently as well.

Do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the year?

I've recorded an album called 'A Railcard Adventure' that was supposed to be getting released very soon, but I'm not sure what's happening anymore. If anyone reading this wants to release a Jam on Bread album, get in touch! It's features Chris from Internet Forever, Grace from the Middle Ones and Will from Stairs to Korea in my superstar backing band and I think it sounds alright.

Also, I'm in a new band with Grace from the Middle Ones and Mat Riviere. We're called Lynx Africa and we've only played two gigs, but we've played with Trash Kit and Internet Forever already so we've been dead lucky! I put my ukuele through a distortion pedal in Lynx Africa and it sounds amazing! I think we're probably going to make some more songs and play some more gigs together over the summer, which'll be fun.

Who are you most looking forward to seeing at the Indietracks festival, and why?

The Middle Ones! Internet Forever! Winston Echo! I've managed to avoid seeing the Pains of Being Pure at Heart thus far, so I'm excited that I'll finally get to see them. I'm dead excited about getting to see Springfactory as well. I love Springfactory. Ooh, MJ Hibbett too! He was one of the highlights of last year's festival for me, even though some idiot woman shouted at me for 'blocking the air' on the train. Where else was I supposed to stand?!

Thanks Steve!