Ah the life of an apprentice. Young idealism united with relentless work, little money and often, a white van. So not much has changed for plumber turned singer/songwriter Jersey Budd in the past couple of years. Wrench has been traded for guitar and the kitchens of Leicester housewives have been traded for pubs and clubs across the country. Forget the X Factor, Jersey’s D.I.Y through and through.
“This is my apprenticeship”, is the way Jersey himself describes his current placement in rock and roll’s hierarchy. “It’s how it should be done. You play the clubs and pubs and work your way up. You do every gig you can and who cares if it’s just to one bloke in a pub who tells you you’re shit? That’s all part of it.
Jersey’s working man mentality is befitting of the venue he finds himself in for tonight’s show. The Hard Rock Café in Manchester is customarily adorned with the memorabilia of a pantheon of rock and roll greats. From a John Lennonesque suit worn by Liam Gallagher to a rather garish fluorescent green number worn by Queen’s Roger Taylor. “I’m having that green jacket” grins Jersey when I point it out to him, “imagine going on stage in that, people will wonder what the fuck’s going on!”
It’s these rock and roll predecessors that serve as inspiration to Jersey and his band. Not musically, but in their devotion to their craft. There was no X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent for The Beatles or Oasis or Jersey’s idol Bruce Springsteen, so why go down that route himself?
“I’ve watched the X Factor and seen these people come on who are about 21 or 22 and they bang on about how it’s been their life long dream to become a popstar or whatever. You’ve barely had a life yet! What have you done to get yourself noticed? Sung in front of your family and friends? It’s always the same thing. Or they’ve got a sob story, so then it doesn’t matter how good they are cos people feel sorry for them.
Then people wonder why they go mental or disappear so soon after they’ve been on these shows. They’ve barely performed in front of a hundred people and now they’re singing live in front of about ten million watching it on TV? How are you supposed to cope with all that fame so soon? Hardly any of them deserve it anyway. Ok you’ve got a great voice, but so have tons of people. All they end up being is a quick fix for record companies. Life long dream, fuck off!”
This rant defines Jersey to a tee. Over the course of the interview there’s a few people who are branded a ‘wanker’, but it’s not simply a brash lack of intellect, but rather the sign of a man who isn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve, something which is personified in Jersey’s song writing and performances. He’s a traditionalist who knows what he likes. Not steadfastly old fashioned, but charmingly nostalgic and appreciative of those who have gone before him.
It’s with this traditionalist mindset in mind that I broached the subject of file sharing. In recent weeks everyone from Lily Allen to Business Secretary Lord Mandelson have spoken out on the issue as more musicians have begun taking exception to their work being pilfered online. For a budding (no pun intended) artist such as Jersey, it’s even more of an immediate issue.
“The way I see it is, if you download a U2 album illegally, I doubt Bono is gonna be too bothered about that because he’s already made his millions. But for someone like me, it might not be about just making money, but when you need that money just to go on tour or to book studio time, it’s a huge deal.
I mean it’s about eight quid to buy my album, but then you’ve got Paul Mcartney giving away his latest album for free. It’s brilliant that he’s doing that, but I don’t think some of these bigger artists are getting the point across properly. They need to send a message that just because they can afford to give records away it doesn’t mean people should just download whatever they want. Because if you can get a legend like Paul Mcartney’s album for free, why would you pay for mine?”
The file sharing phenomena hits home for Jersey more than most, as through his Bandstocks record deal, he is invested in by family, friends and fans, all of whom purchase ‘stocks’ in him with the hope that their investment will reap them dividends down the line based on his success. Although with £50,000 of investment currently sitting on his shoulders, he insists he’s not feeling the pressure.
“It’s flattering more than anything. Obviously you don’t want to let people down, but it’s more an incentive than pressure. When you’ve got Kasabian, The Music, The Rifles and The Twang all investing in you, you know you’re doing something right. Even Leicester City poured some money into me, which was unbelievable!”
But even with these rockstar luminaries listed as friends, Jersey isn’t having ideas above his station, even though he could be forgiven for doing so. After all, he can tick off the Royal Albert Hall from his ‘to do’ list after he supported Serge and co there for the Teenage Cancer Trust in March. And when you read this he and his troops will be firmly entrenched in a two week European assault in support of both The Rifles and Kasabian across Germany, Amsterdam and Paris. Yet tonight, he freely wanders the unusually deserted Tuesday night streets of Manchester, looking to entice punters in free of charge, whilst freely mocking his bass player for looking like Orville and rhyming off Alan Partridge quotes with the ease of his own lyrics.
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If any of that sounds vaguely Spinal Tap, it would be remiss, nay sacrilegious of me not to finish with the story of the most rock and roll arrest in recent history. What started with a routine trip to The Sun towers to record a few acoustic tracks descended into one written off vehicle, a missed recording session and a grilling from anti terrorism.
“Fuckin’ hell!” Jersey laughs in between gulps of his can of Fosters, “I was in me Dad’s car heading to The Sun and just crashed the fuckin’ thing! So we’re sat there waiting for the help to arrive and this copper knocks on. He asks us what we’re doing, which I thought was pretty obvious with the front end of the car caved in! So then he tells us we’ve been monitored for 45 minutes. Apparently this big building across the road is MI-5 Head Quarters and we’ve got to go in for an anti – terrorism grilling!
Now, we must have been the most laid back terrorists in history. I was led across the front two seats with a brew and a fag and we all had sarnies from Pret A Manger! We were hardly Al Quada! How many terrorists come from Leicester anyway?”
Luckily, the police discovered Jersey and his band had no ulterior motives, and based off tonight’s showing, it’s something both the Ministry of Defence and British music fans should be more than grateful for.
*Jersey's debut album 'Wonderlands' is out to buy now.
By Joe Baiamonte
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