On A Wing And A Prayer With MIKE EDWARDS From JESUS JONES

Interview by Kris Peters
What do you do as you near the twilight of an illustrious music
career?
Set course for Australia, apparently!
After pushing 40 years in the music industry, English alternative
rock outfit Pop Will Eat Itself have finally decided to bring their
pasty white legs Down Under for the first show of their careers on
our shores in February and March of next year. The loveable poms
have promised to treat their neglected fans to a set of Greatest
Hits, and, just to soften the blow, have invited UK
indie/dance/rock outfit Jesus Jones to share in the fun with
them.
It is an upbeat and lively union of bands, with Jesus Jones
frontman Mike Edwards stopping in for a chat with HEAVY to get us
acquainted.
We start by asking what delights Jesus Jones have in store for
their Australian fans.
"You've put me on the spot there," he laughed. "Delights? Don't
know if it's delights. It makes it sound like we should be bringing
Frankincense and Myrrh (laughs). I was gonna say the same thing
that we normally do, but it's not quite right… My strapline for
this tour is 'all of the energy you're used to seeing, all the
songs you wanna hear, but this time played better than they were in
the past. How's that?"
In reality, either band could have come over here by themselves and
pulled decent crowds around the country, so we quiz Mike as to why
they chose to come together.
"They're a band that we have a lot of affinity with," he replied.
"We've played with them in various guises before and done tours
with them. Great bunch of guys, easy to get on with, plus, more
than anything else, do you want to go to Australia? Hell
yes!"
In the full interview, Mike tells us what we can expect from Jesus
Jones' shows, being aware of your limitations as you grow older,
the early days of the band and where they fit in, coming up with
their eclectic sound, being part of a musical movement that changed
the musical landscape, future plans and more.