JJ72

DirtyLeeds · 04-10-2011 09:37PM #1

Any fans?

Miguel_Sanchez · 04-10-2011 09:43PM

Were you one?

Come on DirtyLeeds give us something to discuss!

Tubsandtiles · 04-10-2011 10:17PM

They were a few years before I was born or started listening to music really, but any songs I have heard from them I really enjoyed. They definitely would have been massive worldwide today if they were still together, doesn't Mark have a different band now ?

SilverScreen · 04-10-2011 10:45PM

Yep he's in Concerto For Constantine and he has his own solo stuff as well. I saw Concerto For Constantine open for The Smashing Pumpkins at the RDS gig a few years ago and they were good enough I guess.

JJ72 were a great band though and I still listen to them. Their self-titled debut was a cracker and the follow up I To Sky was a good album as well but perhaps not as good as the debut. I've heard some of the songs from their unreleased third album and they are excellent, I'd really love to know what the whole album would have sounded like.

Mr E · 04-10-2011 10:50PM

Marks voice was like nails on a blackboard to me.
What everyone really wants to know is where is Hilary Woods now?

Paparazzo · 04-10-2011 10:51PM

Mr E wrote: »

Marks voice was like nails on a blackboard to me.
What everyone really wants to know is where is Hilary Woods now?

The real star of the band!

Hunchback · 04-10-2011 10:54PM

i'd love to hear a few songs from their unreleased third album , hint hint

:pac: i saw them live twice, they were really good live i thought

SilverScreen · 04-10-2011 10:55PM

Nah preferred Sarah Fox, she lives up to her name

EDIT: A few "third album" songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv0uBRYuLks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpN-7XkF9vU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SslJLDD5cwc

This was actually released as a single complete with promo video prior to the supposed album release.

There's a couple of other ones as well such as 'Take From Me' which I can't seem to find on Youtube.

Xavi6 · 05-10-2011 02:35PM

The third album material was very good with 'Coming Home' probably the standout.

First album is fantastic imo, not bad on it. 'I To Sky' is not bad, 'Formulae' and 'Brother Sleep' would be at home on a lot of albums.

Deserved better success than had.

jungleland86 · 06-10-2011 06:32PM

I To Sky is a lost classic. It would have done a lot better in today's musical landscape with songs like "I saw a prayer", Sinking and Half Three - they sort of predated the whole shoegaze/MBV revival. I remember that album sounding nothing like the music that was out at the time.

seachto7 · 06-10-2011 07:06PM

Yer man's voice did my head in. Best thing about them was managing to replace one seriously hot bassist with another seriously hot bassist.

SilverScreen · 06-10-2011 09:43PM

The first time I heard JJ72 I thought it was The Cranberries. No joke.

homerun_homer · 07-10-2011 10:54PM

Mark disbanded Concerto for Constantine didn't he and he had a solo gig a while back which had a lot of JJ72 material. Heard it was a good gig. I saw them on pre-3rd album tour and the new stuff sounded good. I was a big fan back in the day and the 2nd album was under-appreciated. I loved this track from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNguK7C2gPg

Hilary left to have a kid.

seachto7 · 08-10-2011 06:06PM

homerun_homer wrote: »

Hilary left to have a kid.

damn, so she's spoken for

:(:)

Whatever happened Sarah Fox?

Chairman Meow · 11-10-2011 04:34PM

I played a gig with them once when i was 16. They were a bunch of twats

homerun_homer · 12-10-2011 02:14PM

Chairman Meow wrote: »

I played a gig with them once when i was 16. They were a bunch of twats

Gossip - go on.

pickarooney · 12-10-2011 03:54PM

Isn't everyone a bunch of twats when you're/they're 16 though?

Chairman Meow · 13-10-2011 03:09PM

haha yes, we were all twats really, but they were twattier than the rest of us. Just kids really, age 16-17, playing a battle of the bands thing in town us, them and one other band i cant remember, no real gossip about it, they jsut had this completely stuck up air of 'were better than everyone here' even at that age. They came across as incredibly pretentious, especially the singer.
Even tho our band wasnt amazing (we were a metal band doing mostly covers haha..so didnt really gel to well alongside JJ72..) i still took great pride in that we were much more technically accomplished musicians than they were

homerun_homer · 13-10-2011 04:45PM

Chairman Meow wrote: »

i still took great pride in that we were much more technically accomplished musicians than they were

Most metal musicians are in fairness.

ctrl-alt-delete · 13-10-2011 06:45PM

Liked a good few of their songs, saw them in Rock Am Ring in 2001 and cheered from the front row for them all gig. We had our Irish flags, as you do - and we were on the big screen a good few times, we acted like their No.1 fans and even got a telling off from the TV guys when we tried to take a break from cheering/flag waving.

Anyways at the end of the gig, Mark smashed his guitar, as he was fond of doing back then, came down with it and handed it to a group of people beside us. It would have been fook all use to us, but I thought he was a bit of an arse for doing that, just getting his own back for us trying to upstage him I'd say

.

He mentions us in an after show Interview . . .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRvYRp1vqvU

PaulBrewer · 18-10-2011 03:06PM

Their inability to play left them no where to go musically.

me-skywalker · 18-10-2011 03:42PM

Was a huge fan of these.. learned some songs onthe geetar in about 3 mins! seriously simplistic, raw, nerve tingly music! Could've made a better chance of if they were a 'new' band in the last 2 years I'ld say.

SilverScreen · 18-10-2011 03:46PM

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Their inability to play left them no where to go musically.

B.S. JJ72 weren't exactly trying to **** off like Dream Theater, they were about expressing their feelings through songwriting. They maintained a consistant level of songwriting throughout their existence right up until their shelved 3rd album. It was record label problems that left them with nowhere to go.

neilthefunkeone · 18-10-2011 03:57PM

Ah jj72.. Nice little blast from the past.. Saw them twice.. once at slane in 2001(holy sh1t.. 10 years ago!!) And again at what is now the Hub in temple bar.. prob about 8 years back..

Loved the albums.. Must drag them out!!

GoldenTickets · 18-10-2011 06:41PM

ctrl-alt-delete wrote: »

He mentions us in an after show Interview . . .

His sense of humour really comes across in that interview:

"There was a few Irish people over aswell, which was kinda good to see. Cost us a bit of money to get them over... that's a joke."

Hilarious Mark, tell us another!

sparkthatbled · 26-09-2012 01:57PM

Thought i'd drag this one up from the archives rather than start a new thread...

Just been listening to a lot of JJ72 recently. They were emerging just when i was exploring music properly and I remember their gigs very fondly, was even at the (Witnness related, if i remember and invite-only) I To Sky preview gig.

Funniest thing i remember was waiting outside the Olympia for Muse/JJ72 and suddenly there was a big scramble over a short skinny guy walking around the corner. When it turned ou to be Matt Bellamy someone shouted "Ah no, it's grand, lads! It's only Muse!" and we all sat back down. My one regret is not skipping school with my friends to go to the Virgin Megastores gig in town.

But what i'll remember most is the music... The music and leaving my limited edition promo 7" of "She's Gone" on a table at their gig in The Village.

Anyone else got any good JJ72 stories?

Edit: thought i'd change my signature to the statement released on the break-up because it's a pretty good one!

pastorbarrett · 26-09-2012 03:53PM

Can't say I was a fan, but I was familiar with both LP's and I think it's a fair assessment to say they came in for a lot of schtick that wasn't warranted.

I think the second LP showed progression in terms of its sound (more interesting production, instrumentation, overall dynamic) but was less forthright with 'hits.' I also suspect they fell foul of label disinterest.

PaulBrewer wrote: »

Their inability to play left them no where to go musically.

I don't see any basis in this ^^^^^ Quite often I think the inverse is true. Hell, we all know of plenty of acts that are/were very successful from trotting out the same stuff using their same limited capabilities.

seachto7 · 26-09-2012 06:47PM

Whatever happened both hot bass players?

notnumber · 26-09-2012 10:24PM

Their debut album had me repeat playing for weeks...cant really remember the second album at all!
Never got to see them live..I imagine if they reformed now they would pack somewhere out and raise the roof.
This song still sounds great..