// From far left to right: Brook D'Leau and Jack Davey of J*DaVeY
I remember the first time I heard J*DaVeY’s “Mr. Mister.” After playing it for the 47th time and not minding because it still sounded as fresh as the first, I fell in love with music again. I was amazed at the trippy sounds pulsating through my headphones—I was even more amazed when I found out the people behind the song were African-American. It gave me hope that there were still some people my color out there willing to make music that I liked to listen to.
For me, listening to J*DaVeY is like a nostalgic merry-go-round of rhythmic sounds—they remind you of everything and yet they sound like nobody but themselves. In a music industry where everything sounds like everything else, and you can’t tell where one T-Pain song ends and another begins, any deviation from the norm is more than welcomed.
"I think a lot of people like to think they know what we’re all about because they’ve heard a few things from us"-- Jack Davey
Miss Jack Davey, the voice and words of J*DaVeY and Mr. Brook D’Leau, the sound and music of J*DaVeY, have captivated hipsters, blipsters and L.A. scene kids for years now. After a high profile appearance on The Root’s Grammy nominated album Game Theory, performances at Michael Young for Lacoste Plastic Polo Launch party at Maison Blanche, two EP’s and a fresh record deal with Warner Brothers Records, the not quite hip-hop not quite alternative duo J*DaVeY are ready to make their relatively modest act big with their as yet untitled debut album due in stores in the Spring or Summer of 2008.
J*DaVeY isn’t new to the scene at all. In fact, they’re seven years deep. The duo met in high school at Jack’s senior prom in 1999 and became friends. After hanging out and noticing their mutual love for music they begin making tracks and as they say—the rest is history.
“I had been…recording and performing as a solo act,” Jack says. “We just decided to start working [and] we got in the studio and did one song and then we’ve been working ever since.”
After being signed to Warner Brother’s Records, the duo has noted a slight difficulty in adjusting to a larger record company.
“It’s just interesting working with a major machine and just realizing…what their main goal is versus what our main goals as artist is,” Jack explains. “Our main [goal] is keeping perspective and pushing on what we’ve done from day one and that’s it.”
Apparently that perspective is to make great music. With their debut album the duo is taking their time with what seems to be a more calculated approach to their free and loose spirited music. Jack, even described the album as having “a more mature J*DaVeY sound.”
“We just want to broaden our sound [and] experiment…we’re taking the sound that people are used to, to the next level, so I think they’ll just expect what we do but on a bigger budget,” Jack says with a laugh.
Although one can only imagine what a “mature” J*DaVeY sound can signal one thing is for certain, the album is sure to be hot. With production from Butch Vig, Greg Kirsten and Kali Ferrari the LP is sure to not disappoint.
“We’ve only been signed for about 8 months or so but, it’s kind of taken that long to erode it into what were really are attempting to do with this album as far as who we’re collaborating with,” Brook says of the as of now untitled LP. “The whole idea is we’re trying to come out with our [own] identity as opposed to just latching on to somebody else’s.”
“We might collaborate here and there but we’re trying to keep it to a minimum so it can kind of stick with us a having cohesive sound for the album as opposed to just having a whole bunch of guest appearances and collaborations and stuff,” he later adds with a laugh.
J*DaVeY’s a band enthralled in music. It’s clear they love it. Brook is influenced by trippy 70’s psycho rock and Jack is influenced by 80’s new wave. But don’t expect to find anything modern in their Ipod. When asked what it is she listens to Jack replies with a laugh, “Nothing really contemporary [just] A whole bunch of random bands that nobody’s gonna know by reading the names.”
Like any black artist that doesn’t play what is thought of as typical black music the band has experienced backlash and have been called “too white for black radio and too black for white radio” in a comment posted on one of their videos on Youtube. But, the band has experienced more backlash from industry people Brook explains.
“We’ve probably experienced more backlash from industry people as opposed to…just music listeners,” he says. “In terms of working with a major label and business minded people…you know them trying to categorize an art form so they can figure out an equation for it or whatever or place it into an equation. They are more confused about it as opposed to our listeners [who] are very broad minded and they just wanted something new and fresh.”
“It is more of an issue with people who want to market to everybody as oppose to trying to fit into some box,” Brook later adds.
Whether or not J*DaVeY can be put in a box but one thing is for certain, not if, but when they hit it big the music industry will take notice. Jack wants fans to “Stay tuned and keep your ears fresh.”
“I think a lot of people like to think they know what we’re all about because they’ve heard a few things from us,” she says. “But…stay tuned and keep your ears fresh.”
To find out more about J*DaVeY please visit www.jdaveybaby.com
