Jerseyband
4 horns + Guitar + Bass + Drums = Lungcore
Jerseyband1 is a 7-piece (two tenor saxes, baritone sax, trumpet, bass, guitar, and drums) Jazz-Metal band from Brooklyn. Or was at one point, now its members are scattered around the country, if I remember correctly (keep reading, you’ll see why). They originally met and started playing together at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY back in 1999… which obviously isn’t New Jersey. So, what about their name? I don’t know. I thought I knew, but then I asked them and what they said was different from what I thought, and now I can’t remember what they actually said… but, the over all gist is that it was kind of a joke that stuck.
Their sound — dubbed “Lungcore” — has been described as “a head-on collision of the tour buses carrying Dillinger Escape Plan and the Count Basie Orchestra”… which, I gotta say… pretty accurate, except for that Christmas album early on. Needless to say, their sound evolved a bit, but by 2003’s “Little Bag Of Feet For Shoes” they kinda found their niche and for the next 3 releases focused on exploring Jazz-Metal fusion.
They haven’t put out any new material since 2011, but I honestly thought Clown Core getting and holding the internet’s attention (to one degree or another) for the entire decade since then would maybe benefit Jerseyband in some way… doesn’t seem like it did. Which sucks, but also kinda makes sense.
As mentioned in “Is Jazz Having a Moment”, Jerseyband was an immediate favorite after seeing them for the first time… but I always wondered if their “wackiness” was maybe holding them back from getting a wider audience. Ironically, wackiness is what I think helped Clown Core — who gained massive exposure through their Adult Swim appearance in 2018, and dialed the wackiness right up to the line where it’s difficult to take the music (which is actually really good) seriously because they’re literally talking about poop & farts… but it seems to have worked. So, maybe Jerseyband’s issue is just that they were in a kind of “wacky limbo” — taking it too far, while simultaneously not taking it too far enough. Who knows?
Anyway…
I've been trying to write this article since July of 2023. Jerseyband had been one of my favorite bands for about 16 years at that point but I still didn't really know much about the band itself and seeing as there isn’t much info about them online, I thought I would just reach out and see if they would do an interview. To my total surprise they replied, and once we nailed down a date, Alex Hamlin (Baritone Sax) and Ed Rosenberg (Tenor Sax) joined me on a 40+ minute Zoom call.
This is where things started to fall apart.
Even though I recorded the Zoom call, it was only for reference while writing this. I hate seeing myself on video, so it was never going to see the light of day anyway, but… turns out that wouldn't be much of an issue.
Due to conflicting schedules, I had to do the interview in the middle of the day while still “at” work (WFH). So, on top of talking to one of my favorite bands and trying to seem normal, I also had to keep looking over at my work Slack to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Other than that, it was actually really cool speaking with them.
Once the interview was over, I closed Zoom, checked the recording — which I saved locally for security — and went back to work. Due to my aforementioned dislike of seeing myself on video, I procrastinated on watching the interview to extract the useful information for over 2 weeks before I decided that I really needed to get this thing done.
So, as I prepared for 40 minutes of hating myself, I opened the Jerseyband folder and... there was nothing in it except the first (very) rough draft of topics I was going to cover. So, I log into Zoom thinking I'd just download it again. WRONG! You saved it locally, dummy… and not only locally, but on your desktop… while you were in the middle of work.
While I'm working, I use my desktop… like a desktop. At the end of the day it's filled with mostly junk files I can throw away — and that's exactly what I did. Even though I checked the recording right after the interview, I didn't realize it was saved on my desktop and at the end of the day I just deleted it… and didn't think about it for weeks.
After having a minor panic attack, I tried reaching back out to the band but got no response. I emailed multiple times over the next week or so, but never heard back. At that point, anything I did remember from the interview was vaporized after all the drama of discovering that I deleted the interview and then not being able to get in touch with either Ed or Alex.
This article has been on indefinite hiatus since then, so I decided to make it one of the first articles of 2024. It's obviously a little light on details, but even though they're not a band I listen to as obsessively as I once did, it's now going on 17 years that I include them near the top of my list of favorite bands, and even after interviewing them I still don't really feel like I know anything about them — and maybe that's the point. Despite what marketing execs say, you don't need to… just listen to the music.
If Alex or Ed happen to see this: Sorry! I’m an idiot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Glad Hand - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Strong Like Bull - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Pipemaster (Child of Horse & Man) - Beast-Wedding, 2009
The Travelogues of Mr Milk (Journal Entry 1) - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Prelude To Beast Wedding - Beast-Wedding, 2009
The Queen's Laser - Beast-Wedding, 2009
(March to Dawn) - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Shit Sandwich - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Private Parts - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Rats In Boxes (Pigeons In Boxes) - Beast-Wedding, 2009
Tosm - Forever Hammer, 2011
The Battle: Pirate vs. Cylops - Forever Hammer, 2011
Together Forever - Forever Hammer, 2011
Not Hammer - Forever Hammer, 2011
Sheffield's Law - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Titan - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Feminem - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Sangwich - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Mischief - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Lord Magnificient - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
French Parade - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Shave Your Shelf - Lung Punch Fantasy, 2006
Robak - Little Bag of Feet For Shoes, 2003
F.E.T. Dogtron - Little Bag of Feet For Shoes, 2003
not to be confused with Jersey (band)