Jane in Space is an electronic/industrial sound based in Brooklyn, New York. We had the chance to talk with the guys about their latest album “Gorerunner“ among many other stuff. Let’s check it out!
* Hello guys! Okay, let’s start! Who is Jane? And how did you guys meet up?
Tom: Jane In Space is primarily multi-instrumentalist and producer Jesse Jensen and myself, vocalist Tom Vickers, along with input from other musicians we collaborate with. The origin of the name “Jane” comes from how Jesse was titling his musical compositions (Jane1, Jane2 etc.) because he’s always liked the name. We met first six years ago in a singer-songwriter’s band, and have been playing in other bands together ever since. Jane In Space came together in the latter half of 2014 and has become our primary project.
* Usually bands prefer to mention their influences, but I noticed you didn’t. Or it’s just a coincidence?
Tom: We will happily mention our influences. Journalists frequently compare us to Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and Radiohead. These bands are certainly influences of ours. Jesse and I both have our own individual influences too resulting in Jane In Space being a bit of a melting pot musically.
* You guys delivered a nice music mix indeed. In your opinion; what is the relation between industrial, electronic and rock music?
Jesse: Thanks for the nice words! While there’s definitely “industrial music” as a genre out there, I think of “industrial” less in genre terms and more as a stylistic approach that liberates me to use a pretty open palette of sounds–usually harsh ones. In contrast, “electronic” and “rock” feel like they have some pretty defined sounds associated with them. I think I actually enjoy listening to “electronic” and “rock” music more than I do most “industrial” music! But it’s not as much fun to make…
* There’s nice oriental melody in Eat Your Face. How the idea came up?
Jesse: Wow, that’s so cool that you picked up on that–thanks for noticing! The song is in the key of F# phrygian, so it breaks a little from the traditional western scales that dominate music. I love that scale because there’s a lot of ambiguity and mystery in the way the first interval in the scale is only a half-step away from the tonic instead of a full-step, as most scales are. I think that gets you the closest you can come to the feel of the microtonal music of the Middle and Far East while still using conventional intervals.
* And what was Permian Strata main idea while filming the video?
Tom: There was definitely a Videodrome-inspired aspect to it. I’m not sure exactly how he came up with the plot but he pitched it to us and we loved it. All of his techniques come from video manipulation so the ideas and visions he gives for his videos always play with this. This sort of relationship with technology, and almost sci-fi elements he creates in his videos, compliments our music perfectly.
* Some people think that the audio/visual recent technologies supported for the development of genres like synth, electronic and industrial music genres. What do you think about that?
Jesse: I agree 100%. The type of music we make would be impossible without the development of these technologies–not just in terms of the sonics, but the very structure of the songs, which are built based around iterative sequencing and sampling. That leads to a very different result than sitting around a campfire, or in a garage, or whatnot. And at the same time, I take a lot of inspiration from contemporary visual effects, like the visual effects that Permian Strata does on our video, trying to imagine how to process audio in ways that mirror how that looks. Even just the idea of “processing” audio–until very recently, timbre was very fixed. Now we spend so much time chasing texture!
* Okay then, how do you see the future of electronic/industrial rock in general. Would be a mainstream soon?
Jesse: Honestly, I think electronic and industrial rock had its chance in the early 2000s, and kind of blew it. But at the same time, the craziest thing is that “industrial” did conquer the mainstream–not through rock, but through hip-hop! Go back to Justin Timberlake and Timbaland’s “SexyBack”–that’s totally an industrial song. Then move forward to Kanye West’s “Yeezus”–pure industrial. And it’s fantastic.
* After two years with Aion Records. How a record label could be an add for the musician’s career?
Tom: Music is very do-it-yourself these days. A record label is no longer integral to a band’s career but it certainly helps with distribution. We are with a pretty small Brooklyn-based label so it is still very do-it-yourself for us anyway.
* What are your plans guys after the album release party? Any plans for tours and festivals soon?
Tom: We will certainly be playing some more gigs around the New York City area in the coming months. The details of which we will share with everyone on our social media pages.
Jesse: Invite us out! We’d love to come play over there!
