In the Portacabin with Mystery Jets

The Bubble gets to grips with Mystery Jets backstage

After a short and sweet set on RockNess’s main stage we (Melissa and I) pace it like there’s no tomorrow backstage to snag Mystery Jets for a quick interview.

The boys released their fourth album Radlands in April with immediately gripping lyrics (I heard there’s a place where we go to die/ It’s a terribly overrated horse-shit shaped hole in the sky). Bassist Fish left the group just before its release to be replaced by Pete Cochrane but speaking to them in their ‘cosy’ portcabin leaves us with optimism for the band’s future!

What brought you all the way to Inverness? And RockNess is not an appropriate answer…

Oh, ok…Well we heard it was quite beautiful up here, heard there was this festival up here. And Nessy of course!

Have you ever seen a monster?

William (to Blaine): I have to look at one every day

What do you do when you get writer’s block?

Smash it with a sledgehammer. Break it down into smaller manageable chunks and deal with each one at a time.

If Mystery Jets were a colour what would it be?

A lighter shade of pale.

Where do you think the future of popular music is going?

If I knew that I’d be a very rich man. Maybe you should ask Simon Cowell.

Do you like Simon Cowell?

I’ve never met him…He tried to sign us once and we said no!

If you could go back to one era of time anywhere, where would it be?

Kapil: The 50s might be nice.  (To William) Oh you’re thinking much more prehistoric, like Stone Age. You wana ride on a brontosaurus.

William: Or maybe before dinosaurs and we’d just be nutrients…

But you wouldn’t have the brain to know what was going on!

Maybe that’s a good thing.

What do you think the meaning of life is…?

I’ve got a great quote for this, a Henry Miller quote. He’s a surrealist writer. His quote is ‘Obviously life has no meaning ‘cos it’s your job to give it a meaning’.

--------------------------------------------------------
Interview with Mystery Jets by Sophie Ellis & Melissa Layton at RockNess Festival, 8th June 2012.


Article previously seen on The Bubble: http://www.thebubble.org.uk/music/in-the-portacabin-with-mystery-jets