The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

The Student News Site of Westfield High School

Hi's Eye

The Static Jacks Q&A

By Ally Faktor
​The Static Jacks, a band originally formed in Westfield in 2009, recently signed with Fearless Recods. The band, composed of Ian Devaney (Vocals), Henry Kaye (Guitar), Michael Sue-Pol (Guitar) and Nick Brennan (Drums), is releasing their debut album “If You’re Young” on 30. The Static Jacks are also going on tour with White Denim starting June 21. WHS graduates Devaney, Kaye and Brennan responded to their latest successes.
HE: What was it like signing with Fearless Records?
Devaney: It feels pretty amazing. We worked hard, we played shows and we did everything in- house until the right people came along with whom we felt we could share responsibilities. The team built slowly over time, and I always felt a record label should be the last piece to fall into place, and that’s exactly how it happened.

HE: What is it like going on tour?
Brennan: I have a love/hate relationship with touring. Love, because I get to drive all over the country with my best friends in a crappy van and play music in a new city every night. Hate, because have you ever driven from Chicago back to New Jersey with five sweaty gentlemen? Just joking. Touring really is the best, playing live music to people who love music truly is an honor and privilege. I love every second of it, from the long overnight drives to the random awful bathrooms.

HE: What is the label Fearless Records like?
Kaye: Fearless Records has been around since 1994 and is responsible for the bands At The Drive-In, Sugarcult and Plain White T’s. They’re independently run in California but have a huge following across the globe. We fit in with the label’s overall attitude towards art and business more than we relate to the stylings of the other bands on their current roster, but we wouldn’t be doing this if we were not comfortable with it. They’re great people and have allowed us to keep handling every aspect of our band the exact same way as it was handled before. We still write the same music. We still update our own website. I still made the artwork for the album. They are just fans of the songs we write and want to help them reach the largest audience possible.

HE: Looking back to when you were in school, did you ever imagine making it this far?
Brennan: No. I personally never thought we’d get signed and be touring    I know we all really hoped and dreamed. The reason we decided to leave college was to really give it a fair shot and see how far we could take it. I think in High School people thought we took the band really seriously. Now our album is coming out on a real record label. I guess the moral of the story is, sell a lot of t-shirts to your friends with your band name on them and maybe a record company will offer you a contract!

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