In Conversation With #179 - Salvation Jayne
Kent rockers Salvation Jayne have just released their debut album ‘A Mouthful of Magnificent Spite’ - which is filled with emotive choruses fueled with dark synth and pop hooks.
An expression of dark matter exploring narcissism, toxic relationships, and the struggles of mental illness, Salvation Jayne infiltrate the alternative scene with this fresh cut of white-hot noise. Riffy and anthemic with equal waves of melodic splendor, Salvation Jayne’s unruly display blends classic pop-punk tendencies with a brazen exhibit of unique flare.
While in the middle of their UK tour, the band took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Salvation Jayne - so your debut album is out now, how does it feel to have it out there?
We are all very proud and so happy to have it out in the world, literally our blood sweat and tears have gone in to the album, and to have such a great reaction from those who have heard has been incredibly touching. It has been a bit bizarre as we recorded this album over a year ago to have something that was ours for such a long time now being by heard by people all over the world.
It’s a bizarre feeling to create something which is entirely and uniquely yours only for it to then become someone else’s. You often hear people say ‘this is my song’ or connect music to a memory, and it’s an amazing thought that our music might one day transform into that. And then equally bizarrely, it stops being yours and it becomes theirs.
It is called ‘A Mouthful Of Magnificent Spite’ - what is the meaning behind that?
It’s one of our singles and it’s a line in that. It's basically about us standing up for ourselves against numerous negative aspects of life and people that have sharp tongues.
Where was the album recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
The album was recorded in the iconic Rockfield studios out in Monmouth, Wales - which was truly spectacular. There was an aura that surrounded the place, an atmosphere that legends like Queen, Coldplay and Oasis had left echoed in its walls. The studio owner, Kingsley told us all about the massive hits like Bohemian Rhapsody, Yellow and Wonderwall that had been written there and the fights Oasis had. As for Salvation Jayne, we aren’t quite as rock and roll as Oasis, so no baseball bats had to be used to settle any disputes. However, we do have a few interesting stories that came from our time there; perhaps the most noteworthy one was what we managed to capture in a photo one night.
Whilst recording, the engineer (Josh….) told us about a kitchen area and attic space above the studio where apparently strange things had been seen and heard. After a few beers, we felt brave enough to venture upstairs - and coming across a pool table decided it would be fun to have a game. We took a few photos that night and one of our drummer playing pool caught our attention…there’s a face in the table. At first I thought it could be a reflection, but well, pool tables aren’t particularly reflective. After watching the Rockfield documentary, we have a feeling that the face is a particular person who sadly died there. Whatever or whoever it was, it was spooky. As I said, there was certainly an aura that hung over Rockfield, so it wouldn’t surprise us if it were haunted.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
There’s a few themes that the album covers; for example, No Antidote is about the recent pandemic, and Poveglia is about two lost souls finding happiness in each other on the haunted island of Poveglia.
However, I would say the majority of the album is about people, people being inauthentic, people being judgemental, and people just acting in destructive and toxic ways. I think we all come across people like this and I guess this is our big middle finger that we all need collectively give to them.
If your album could be the soundtrack to any film - which one and why?
Oooh goodness now that is a hard one, I mean I would love to have our album playing over Harry Potter or something, but that’s more because the band love those films haahaa. But with a bit of consideration I would actually say Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. As mentioned in the previous section, a lot of this album is around negative people. The film is about a break-up and wanting to forget all the hurt that came with it. In the story, the protagonist has his memories erased which the ‘engineers’ do backwards. So it starts off with the couple at breaking point, all the bad memories, but the deeper they go, the nicer the memories become. It eventually leads to the main character no longer wanting to break up with their partner. It may seem a strange link, but I really think it encapsulates the topics we cover lyrically in our songs. Although we might have never wanted to deal with toxic people, it’s actually one of things that makes us who we are, who we become. Dealing with challenges and hard times help to shape our morals and provides us with experiences we can learn from and hopefully use to become better. So in the end maybe these people who have been vile, cruel, dishonest and have hurt us have actually led to a better us.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the album? If so, which one and why?
"Nobody knows anyone, ever" from Diadem, just because it is so true. In fact, and by total coincidence, the book I’m currently reading (No time for Goodbye by Lindwood Barclay) even refers to this idea. This particular passage really resonated with me and I think really captures what this song is about: “Dear Anyone: This is a letter from one anyone to another anyone, no names required, because nobody really knows anybody anyway”. The more you think about it, the more you realise how true this is.
Now that the album is out - what's next for you?
Well currently we are midway through our UK tour and have played some really amazing shows with some great audiences. We can’t describe how elated we are to be on our first headline tour around the UK and also the amazing reaction we had from people hearing the album. It is truly great to have people at our shows shouting the lyrics back at us. I think once we have finished the tour, we will need to look at some summer dates, we would love to get on some festivals and in front of some new crowds. We may also release one of our tracks from the album as a single, we have a few ideas in mind how to make this a bit special/ unique - so something to look forward to. Other than that, I guess we need to get back in the studio and start writing our next batch of songs, we have already made huge progress on one and we are all liking the sound of it.
