Jay Bones is, well, kind of cool. He’s the frontman of South African punk/ska band Fuzigish, and last year he released his debut solo album, Watching and Waiting, under the name Rambling Bones.
Though his solo act has moved away from Fuzigish’s feistiness and is all about the acoustic, he still knows how to deliver those punchy tunes.
Jay Bones is, well, kind of cool. He’s the frontman of South African punk/ska band Fuzigish, and last year he released his debut solo album, Watching and Waiting, under the name Rambling Bones.
Though his solo act has moved away from Fuzigish’s feistiness and is all about the acoustic, he still knows how to deliver those punchy tunes.
Fuzigish first burst onto the local music scene in 1997. The band is one of South Africa’s most popular, and has released four albums to date. Last year, the band took time off from touring and recording.
Fuzigish has not split up the band will head back into the studio later this year to record another album. Meanwhile, the members have been keeping busy.
Bass guitarist Rockwell started a punk ‘n roll band called Last Bout, and trombone player Big Willy released another album with Pretoria-based metal band, AOA (Architecture of Aggression).
Rambling Bones recently toured to Bloemfontein and parts of the Eastern Cape, and will entertain audiences in the US and Canada in March.
Before his concert in Grahamstown Jay spoke about the necessity of taking a break from being in the band. “Sometimes you have to take a step back”.
It’s good for creative head space he says. It was also important for Jay to work with, what he calls, a more honest approach to music. “I wanted to go back to acoustic, the science of it. “With Fuzigish, it’s a punk/ska band, and you can’t move too far from that sound.
People are expecting something from it. Stepping back allowed Jay the freedom to move away from a particular image,“ he says.
It was during the band’s break that Rambling Bones his self-described “alter ego”became a fully developed solo project.
Jay travelled around the country with his acoustic guitar, and when he returned home to Johannesburg he found he had enough material to record an album.
Although the raw and sometimes folksy tunes of Rambling Bones sound quite different to the fast-paced catchy melodies Fuzigish belts out, Jay actually writes most of the band’s songs for acoustic guitar before they are transformed. “So Rambling Bones is also a chance to hear future Fuzigish songs at their earliest stage,” he says.
For Jay, Rambling Bones is all about an honest approach to music, and there is no one influence on his work. “Song-writing is my inspiration.
A good song can be in any genre,” he says. Jay writes about all aspects of life, “from the political to the dog”.
He tries to find new topics to work into lyrics, and even looks to newspapers for inspiration, adding that in South Africa there are always interesting headlines.
“Conspiracy theories, as well,” “Those are quite big he adds. [The song] Those Grey Men In Those Grey Suits is about that.”
He has even sung about UFOs and space in the past. “Yeah, there are quite a few songs about space,” he laughs. Rambling Bones’s debut album, Watching and Waiting, is a compilation of 10 acoustic melodies.
It has been well received by South African audiences, and FHM even described Rambling Bones as being “like Jack Johnson, only less boring”.
A hit off the new album is duet Baby Shoes. Jay teamed up with Angela de Klerk from South African band Japan & I to deliver this sweet piece.
He got to know De Klerk when Fuzigish’s recording label, Red Ambulance, picked up the new band. “I’ve never done a duet before.
She has an amazing voice, he said referring to De Klerk. Rambling Bones was invited to perform at the Canadian Music Festival in Toronto and the SxSw Festival in Austin, Texas, and he will also perform in New York.
Jay is looking forward to the trip: “I can broaden my horizons, be inspired by other acts, and hopefully make some new connections.”
Later this year he will return to SA to join fellow Fuzigish members to record the band’s fifth album. A second Rambling Bones album is also on the cards.
Rambling Bones has enjoyed a successful debut, but what do fellow Fuzigish members think of this alter ego? They say that they like it to me. Jay laughs. “No, they’re quite supportive. They come to the shows and they jam” added Jay.
