The band met at Barnsley College studying music. They were all united in one goal this goal was to make good, honest music, with no pretensions and no exclusions. Matt, Martyn and Ian started the band, then called The Shakes, in 2002 and gigged reluctantly and extensively around the working men's clubs in the North of England playing covers of early Beatles stuff, Elvis, Little Richard and other Rock n Roll acts. Desperate to play the songs of their own to an audience and no strangers to a sence of humour, they also used to slip in a song or two of their own under the pretence that they were obscure B-sides by little-known bands with ridiculous names. (ficticious obviously!) This and other unorthadox practices for a 'clubland' act ensured that within 18 months, The Shakes had been sacked and blacklisted by most of the agents in Northern England! When an agent said to Matt, 'Change your name and we may be able to get you some work!' Matt says, 'We knew we we're fucked!'
Hardly scathed by the unanimous sacking they'd recieved in Clubland and with a huge back catalogue of over 120 original compositions building up, including tracks, "I'll Be Fine" and "I Wont Wait", the lads decided they wanted to start playing songs of their own and nothing else (if they could help it!). They did a number of local gigs, burgularys and muggings and came across a little money, entirely by chance, in someones house. They used it to record a few of their songs in a proper studio and everything. But after recording the lads soon realised that a three piece was fine in the studio where any amount of vocal and instrumental overdubs were possible, but live........the sound needed that little extra something. Namely a keyboard player and a Scouse.
Around this time, the lads bumped into Phil, a local lad that played piano and keyboards at Barnsley College and asked him to join the band regardless of some music he composed and recorded for former Pop Idol, Sam Nixon. As a four piece they continued to play local gigs and continued to fund the recording of their own compositions, still under the name Henry Winkler's Trumpet, or sometimes and other times, The Shakes. It was during one of these and other times in Yorkshire's worst music shop, Utopia Music, that Matt bumped into Mike, a guitarist, vocalist and Scouse. And after talking asked him if he'd like to come to the band's next practice. After the first rehearsal, the four lads asked Mike to join and he agreed to make them five and rename them 'Jive!'. The lads compromised and called the new five piece line up - The Jives. They were now ready to get a set of upbeat classics and hit the road. Firstly, they just had to learn to play and sing. Oh, and buy a van.
To this day, The Jives have gigged up and down the country and have supported legendary Indie band members such as Mani (Stone Roses, Primal Scream), Bez (Happy Mondays), Andy Rourke (The Smiths), Tom Hingley (Inspiral Carpets) and some good musicians sometimes too. The lads now have a respectable following of fans thanks to promotional assistance through My Space and involvement in several high profile UK armed robberies. They were also approached by MTV producers to use one of their tracks, to be aired on the reality TV program "Totally Jodie Marsh". The guys, desperate for a bit of exposure, agreed. - Jodie, low on cash, paid them no fees.
Being the selfless heroes that they are, The Jives have also attended and played at a number of charity fund raising events, including headlining a bash for Picnic Rocks with support from Nick Knowles and Pop Duo, Ryandan. They have, i must again point out, played with good musicians too. Honest.
In 2007 The Jives had generated enough of a buzz that a couple of the major record labels and a few independant labels had made the venture to watch them live at some local gigs. (As anyone in a band will know, this is no small feat!) With positive responses from all the labels and contact with the labels strong, The Jives opted to sign with 'Total Impact', a small independant 'label' from Sheffield. They quickly recorded their debut album - Back To Mono and set about polishing their live sound. After a year plus of virtual 'Total' inactivity, sporadic contact and 'Total' failure on the part of the 'record company, The Jives informed 'Total Bollocks Records' as they affectionally called them, that they were leaving and demanded freeing from the contract they signed all that time ago. 'Total', aware of their own ineptitude, incompetence and Matt's temper agreed.
Never beaten and undetured by this kick in the balls, The Jives are currently gigging the UK and looking for management and/or a new label. If you can help please email any information to the.jives@hotmail.co.uk
The Jives music is unashamedly pop, but not pop as in some of the modern rubbish that's unfortunately around today. This is more like pop from an era when a 'Pop Idol' would have been someone such as John Lennon, Arethta Franklin or Wee Willie Harris. An era when the song and performance was key, not the tits in the video or the fucking Christmas karaoke competion. Listen to The Jives and you can hear that their influences are driven by the 60's style of melody, harmony and upbeat rhythms, fused with a real modern day twist and chocolate that tastes like chocolate never tasted before.