Sonic mischief

Winter’s ‘Jett Brando’ at Uncle Joe’s Jan. 31Jeremy Winter is making a name for himself. Jett Brando is the pseudonymous “solo” project of Winter and even though the moniker didn’t come about until December 1994, Winter had begun writing songs and developing his style at 14.

Growing up in the North Jersey suburb of Oakland, absorbing the sounds of “American Popular Standards” and the Beatles, he began toying with the acoustic guitar at 10 and then took up the bass at 11, playing in garage bands throughout his mid teens. Michael Nesmith’s songwriting contributions to The Monkees’ repertoire had already become a significant influence on Winter’s songwriting sensibility, along with the music of Les Paul & Mary Ford. Growing frustrated as an unused singer and tired of playing bass in bands that seemed only to want to perform covers, Winter said he began retreating to his bedroom with his acoustic guitar where he began to craft songs which blended the styles of Hurdy Gurdy Man-era Donovan with early Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath.

It soon became apparent that it was more gratifying strumming his open-stringed somber ballads alone than to play bass in a band without a singer that was going nowhere. At that time, his current band was practicing in his parents’ garage, which gave him ample opportunity to experiment on his own with the drums and his guitar player’s Marshall half-stack. This led to the recording of numerous collage/noise cassettes which included everything from TV excerpts to manipulated AM radio static to delayed guitar feedback, dinner conversations and messages left on answering machines.

In late 1990, he decided to buy an electric guitar and start a band as singer and songwriter. These plans were put on hold when he was called to play bass in a local band which eventually became the shoegaze-influenced outfit, All Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors, or “L&L”, as they came to be referred to. Throughout the first half of 1993, Jeremy had spent a lot of time working on a bizarre collage tape which he gave to friends. All of this material was of found sounds either from his music collection or his own personal archives of primitive self-samples, which were put together in a creative and entertaining way, with all of the editing done on a boom box. The first of its kind to be circulated had no title or artist name attached to it, but featured a zig zag line on the label. It was then referred to as “The Zig Zag Tape,” in homage to Led Zeppelin’s fourth album, and in addition to friends receiving this piece of sonic mischief, copies of it were anonymously slipped into random mailboxes in Jer’s hometown.

Pranked the taxi service


In 1994, a tape copy of a prank call Jeremy had made to a taxi service backed by a break beat began circulating among friends. Pete Murphy, longtime friend of Winter and the band, decided to have L&L as guests on his “Off The Charts” radio program at William Paterson College.

Murphy expressed interest in playing this tape on the air and asked Winter what he should call it. Without much thought, Winter blurted, “Jett Brando,” and later explained that he had created the Jett Brando persona as a scapegoat for his sonic mischief, thinking that the name had a nice Vegas lounge singer-meets-lonesome-cowboy ring to it.

Brando eventually began putting out songs and recording with musicians. On Jan. 31, Winter as Brando will perform at Jersey City’s Uncle Joe’s at 9 p.m. We recently caught up with Winter.

EM – Where are you from?

JW – A quiet little suburban town about a half hour northwest of Manhattan where not much really happens. I don’t think we’ve really unleashed any famous except for Mark Price, who played Skippy on Family Ties. Mt father grew up there and told me that it looked just like the town depicted in the film Stand By Me in the ’50s. Now it has the gross little strip malls and everything.

EM – Who are your influences?

JW – The Beatles; Frank Sinatra, My Bloody Valentine, Pavement, The Pixies, Beck, Radiohead, The Monkees, Ella Fitzgerald, The Velvet Underground, Public Enemy, Bjork, Hendrix, Astrud Gilberto, Howlin’ Wolf, Hard Bop, Memphis Soul, The Left Banke, The Ventures, John Barry, Henry Mancini, Ennio Marricone, Donovan, Syd Barrett, Edith Frost, and Bobby Darin.

EM – Why did you become a musician?

JW – I don’t ever remember not wanting to be a musician. I think hearing Wings albums during the late ’70s had something to do with it, and seeing Sha Na Na on television, but it was probably hearing the songs in

the Disney Films of the ’50s, like Lady and the Tramp.

EM – Where have you performed?

JW – In the New York City area, I’ve performed at Lit, Lolita, Brownies, North 6th, South Paw, The Knitting Factory, and Maxwell’s and Uncle Joe’s in Jersey.

EM – What is your favorite day of the week?

JW – I think Friday night through Sunday afternoon as kind of blending together into one “day,” and that is my favorite time.

EM – What are the last three CDs you bought?

JW – Finger Poppin’ with the Horace Silver Quintet, by the Horace Silver Quintet; Time for Love: The Best of Julie London, by Julie London; and Satch Plays Fats, by Louis Armstrong.

EM – How would you describe your music?

JW – Eclectic eccentric pop that pays homage to the great American songbook, while couching a slightly subversive twist on it all by incorporating some unlikely influences. I basically stick to the pop genre, but I try to throw things in there to keep it interesting.

EM – Are you looking for mainstream exposure?

JW – This is kind of a strange time right now and it seems that while most of the interesting things were being done on independent labels years ago, now a lot of interesting things are coming out of a certain segment of the major label industry. There is Jessica Simpson mainstream and there is Sigor Ros mainstream. If the Pixies started now instead of in the late ’80s, they may or may not have gotten the deal they got. Two of my biggest influences, Radiohead and Beck, have been putting out great records on major labels. I’d rather have the freedom to make the kinds of records that I want to make, but if I had the chance to record with someone like Nigel Godrich, that would be a no-brainer for me. The thing is that it seems every two years or so this huge record label is bought by that bigger label, and if you sell less than like 250, 000 records, then you’re dropped, so I think people are either a little more cautious, or they just wanna take whatever chance they can and grab it.

EM – What professional plans do you have for the future?

JW – I want to release an album at least every two years, tour the whole world, play bit parts in off-beat films, co-produce other artists, put out re-mixes of other artists, release an album of standards, age gracefully in the artistic sense, and eventually become an elder-statesman of sorts.

EM – What is the best part about your job?

JW – At my telephone customer service job, trying not to laugh when answering questions that women ask me about bras. At my substitute teaching job, talking about music with the kids.

Jett Brando will perform at Uncle Joe’s at 154 First St. in Jersey City on Jan. 31 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5. For information visit www.unclejoesbar.com or call (201) 659-6999. q

Pullout:

“I think Friday night through Sunday afternoon as kind of blending together into one “day,” and that is my favorite time.” – Jeremy Winter