Imagine two best friends, an ultra-cool dad, a rock band, an island on the Thames richly steeped in musical history, skirmishes with the locals, and the band leaving the island to carve out a successful musical career for themselves. It could be something from an Enid Blyton story. Ok, so no Uncle Dick or Aunt Fanny, but you know what I mean.
The two friends, Blaine Harrison and Will Rees of the MYSTERY JETS, knew each other from nursery, and were separated when Blain moved to France and Will went to boarding school. The two rocksters-in-the-making then became pen pals, and it was through their letters that they realised they were destined to form a band together.
Fast forward a number of years and we now have Blaine Harrison (vocals, Keyboards, percussion), Will Rees (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Henry Harrison (guitar, keyboards, vocals, mellotron [yes folks, I repeat, a mellotron!]), Kai Fish (bass, vocals), and Kapil Trivedi (drums), who seem to be taking the UK by storm with their eccentric mix of psychedelic and progressive rock, and their electrifying Eel Pie Review Tour.
Originally, on the island, the band would rehearse, gig, and throw legendary parties in a boat yard, owned by Henry, who is also an architect. After a number of run-ins with the locals - including an incident where one of the band members was punched during a rehearsal - and an abatement order from the council preventing them from playing on the island, the Mystery Jets decided to take the party to the mainland.
Eel Pie Island and the Mystery Jets are intrinsically linked to one another. Their isolation from mainstream pop during the band's evolution has allowed them to develop their own distinctive style.
Although they've only been on the island for the past 5 years, Will explained that: "We didn't grow up there but we would definitely be a different band if it wasn't for Eel Pie. No cars, or people or distractions, it was the perfect place to concentrate."
"It certainly stands for who we are because it's an island. We're doing our own little thing on this place and we've taken it to heart. We spend endless amounts of time concentrating on the music... You can manipulate the space and record the music in different ways. We grew up oblivious to bands like Oasis and Blur, so we weren't contaminated by Britpop."
Not paying attention to the trends of the time, probably because it didn't really affect them much, they listened to pretty much whatever they wanted. Which, on listening to their music is fairly obvious to discern - swirling, harmony-driven, psychedelic and progressive rock from the 1960's and 70's.
"Pink Floyd was a band we all loved," Will said, "Sid Barrett was a figure we were all drawn to, his music is bizarre and intuitive. And King Crimson as well. Actually, it's psychedelic bands in general," he reflected, "There was something more free about them."
All well and good, but the advantage of nurturing their musical development in such an idyllic location hasn't been without it's obstacles. While half of Eel Pie Island seems to comprise of residual hippy throwbacks, eccentrics, and wealthy bohemians (interesting fact, Trevor Baylis, inventor of the Clockwork radio, currently lives there), the other half is typically middle class people who want to escape the city. So it's easy to see why they would resent any attempts to resurrect the raucous musical ghosts of the past.
"After we got banned from playing 'cause the sound police put an abatement on us, we thought 'what can we do if we can't do gigs on the island?' so we took what we did across the country."
True to their word, the Mystery Jets really have brought the circus to town with their current tour, with reports of electrifying performances and and eclectic group of support bands including the Noisettes, Larrikin Love, and Moullettes.
"The tour's been great," Will enthused, "Everyone has been going for it in the gigs... The bands on the tour are a mixture of people whose music we love, and people we love. It's a nice group who all know each other and like each other's music."
"We'd actually love to put on a festival on Eel Pie Island with all our mates, and some big bands, you know, bring the music back to the island..." That would be really something, "Yeah, but it doesn't look like it will happen...yet." You heard it here first folks...
Another talking point, to say the least, is the father/son combo in the band. Does it get like Absolutely Fabulous, with the child looking after the parent? Or would it be the other way round, where the rock star can't really let his hair down because his dad is there. I mean, how does this affect the band dynamics? It's certainly an unusual set up.
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"Its actually really cool!" he said, laughing, " It would be great if it was like Ad Fab, but Henry is really laid back. He normally stays in and reads, but he does come out sometimes."
Ah, so going on my shoddy pop-psychology, Henry is a bit like the 'father figure' for the entire band then? Preferring not to know about the Rock n Roll bits?
"Well, we've been together for such a long time, when you know them, and love them, then you don't really see them as 'roles' as such. But no, the father and son' thing doesn't affect the band, or the song writing."
And their music is, like everything else about this band, a bit bonkers. For example, in their live sets they use a make-shift drum kit made from bin lids, pots and pans and Lord knows what else. Looking like it was made on Scrap Heap Challenge, some may say it's a bit on the gimmicky side perhaps? Will begged to differ. "It's not gimmicky at all! The idea didn't come in a flash of lightening or anything. "
"Blaine was originally a drummer - he's got a great sense of rhythm - you can't sing behind a drum-kit, but you can with percussion. So we originally got some percussive instruments, the cymbals got smashed up, and we liked the sound of it. Things gradually got added to it and the drum kit kind of grew organically."
I'd like to note at this point that it takes a LOT of bashing for a cymbal to get smashed up. The abatement order is starting to make a lot more sense...
However, that aside, the songs are equally as far out as their organically grown instruments. Their new single, "Alas Agnes" is a love story about a man who falls in love with a transvestite who has lesbian tendencies. He has a sex change, and then finds out the transvestite has found someone else. Interesting. Is this based on bitter experience?
"No, not really," he laughed, "It's more about when you love someone who doesn't love you." Yep, we've all been there. "Yeah, and no matter what you do they'll never love you back!"
So nice and hopeful then? "Well, it's that concept dressed up more colourfully. It comes strongly from the cabaret act, things you'd see in a live show. This person falls in love with an enigma, which has an evil side, and he'll do anything to gain love."
I mentioned that the intro sounded very much like "Road to Nowhere" (Talking Heads). "Yeah, yeah definitely, I can see that!" clearly pleased by the comparison, "I'm a big Talking Heads fan so that's great."
The idea of having cheerful tunes with dark lyrics is an ongoing theme in many of the Mystery Jets songs. Their previous single, "You Can't Fool Me Dennis" is actually about a man called John "...although it didn't have the same ring to it", who was a friend of Henry's.
"He developed a nervous disease which slowly eats you from the toes upwards. He wouldn't admit that he was dying and he'd never talk about it. The lyrics reflect John's personality, 'You always played with a straight bat', the cricket reference is very English, and straight-laced."
I would never have thought that song was about something so sad. "Yeah, it's much like 'This Charming Man' by the Smiths, light music, but about a seedy encounter. That's what we like, light music, dark lyrics." Evidently.
During the interview, it became clear very quickly that the Mystery Jets are far more than your average rock band. They grew up far removed from the current trends, but rather than be elitist, they want the World and its Mother to join in the party.
In fact, I went so far to ask if I could go to their next shin-dig on Eel Pie Island, "Yes of course!" Will said. I think I'm going to hold him to that.
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