When you're a jet, you're a Jet to Brazil

By james casey Catalyst

Send comments to: catalyst@wildcat.arizona.edu

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat James Casey's friends start kissing serious ass after the show. They'll treasure this photo forever.

Living without a car is shit, borrowing one is even worse. In order for my cohorts and I to reach Phoenix in time to interview Jets to Brazil and catch the dreamy sounds of The Promise Ring and Phoenix locals Jimmy Eat World and Reuben's Accomplice, we had to borrow a trusty '84 Jeep Cherokee from a friend. All was going well, we hit I-10 and cruised a whopping 20 miles until the hoopty-ride died. Naturally, being illegal/naive/stupid drivers, we figured a healthy dose of oil would be sufficient to pull us back en route. Here lay the first flaw. Too much oil - 3 quarts too much to be precise. Nothing could stop us, not even a 50-foot gaseous trail of noxious fumes and carcinogenic smoke.

Several miles down the line the smoke was yet to subside. It filtered its way through the steering column directly through our mouths, down our throats and into our lungs, forming a close bond with the already present cigarette tar deposits obtained during the past hour or so. Paying no attention to our health we prevailed on, trudging slowly, but surely toward Phoenix. On approach to the booming metropolis of Casa Grande the car was pronounced well and truly fucked. We ended up having to dodge interstate police and traffic in order to reach the closest gas station, a meager three miles away, so as to get to the closest phone. We were running out of time; we had two hours to reach the show and it would have taken at least that long for someone to reach us and deliver us to the event. Life had lost its shine, even the Promise Ring's "meaningful" lyrics couldn't help us now.

Four hours later we were greeted by a modern car and copious amounts of booze, and we were on our way finally assured of reaching our destination. It was already two hours into the show when we arrived, catching three quarters of Jets to Brazil's set. Blake Schwarzenbach, lead singer of Jets to Brazil and ex-front-man of Jawbreaker, was kind enough to conduct a somewhat ghetto-style interview and spill his brains into our broken tape recorder after their set.

After the breakup of Jawbreaker, Schwarzenbach devoted most of his time to lounging around in his Brooklyn apartment. "I was mostly renting videos and drinking. I wasn't doing shit ... I was at the end of my rope," he said. During this time he formed an alliance with drummer Chris Daly, formerly of Texas is the Reason, and bassist Jeremy Chatelain, formerly of Handsome. After a hit and miss attempt with a second guitar player, Jets to Brazil found someone to suitably fulfill this position in ex-Van Pelt guitarist Brian Maryansky. The current lineup of Jets to Brazil was born.

When the eminent question arose, why did Jawbreaker break up? Schwarzenbach replied, "It was well past time to quit."

Jets to Brazil has amassed a fairly large following since its conception. This fan base is largely due to the musical reputation of its members and the circulation of bootleg videos and cassettes of its live shows. Schwarzenbach finds the phenomenon of Jawbreaker, Handsome and Van Pelt fans at their shows a fortunate one. However he also acknowledges that "it can be somewhat problematic in that a certain amount of those people only want to hear Jawbreaker, or Handsome, or Texas (is the Reason) or Van Pelt." Due to the understated success of Jawbreaker, several "dedicated" fans have popped up on the scene. When asked about his views on such types, Schwarzenbach replied, "I don't know what their expectations are ... I admire that type of abandon." He also stated, "I'm fucking crazy and they should know that. They're deeply offended by the fact that I can't handle that kind of energy. It's just really weird."

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Daily Wildcat Whoa ... I've never seen a camera before. Blake Schwarzenbach "poses" for this dynamic photo.

"This was the only time I liked it. There was no expectations which was really cool. No one really knew Jawbreaker when they were there."

One problem though, according to Schwarzenbach, was the lack of public amenities in the UK.

"The hardest place to tour is Britain. It's difficult because there's no bathrooms, there's no showers." That said, he rated the London gig as their best show on the tour. "It was really cool. It was a good show."

Jets to Brazil, supposedly an "emo" band, obviously has a great range of influences and according to Schwarzenbach, Gary Numan and Herbie Hancock can be found within this melange. "I love Gary Numan," he said. Jets to Brazil's unique keyboard sound, added by Schwarzenbach, can be found on a third of the tracks and is supposedly not spawned from any influences.

"I'm not good enough to have influences yet," he claims. That said, he admits to having wanted to cover Hancock's 'Rockit' a while back. Schwarzenbach claims that reading Burt Bacharach interviews have opened him to this new realm. "The range is really broad when you write a vocal melody on a keyboard."

In Schwarzenbach's words, Jets to Brazil's goals are for "people to understand that it's a real band," adding, "I think its a really good band." A sentiment echoed by all present. Jets to Brazil's debut album, Orange Rhyming Dictionary is now available on Jade Tree records. Check it out. Jets to Brazil will continue to tour thousands of miles across the world. We could even make the journey to Phoenix. If we were a band I guess we would be called Trucks to Phoenix, or maybe not.

james casey was assisted in this interview by fellow non-mechanics, matt skjerping and cameron mcCusker.