International Jetsetters - Interview

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 11 / 1 / 2009

intro

Oxford-based band International Jetsetters includes in its line-up Mark Crozer and Loz Colbert, who are members of the reformed Jesus and Mary Chain. Mark Crozer speaks to Anthony Strutt about International Jetsettsers debut EP 'Heart is Black' and his involvement with the Mary Chain

International Jetsetters is an Oxford-based five-piece group, which, formed in March 2007, features Mark Crozer on vocals and guitar, Bert Audebert on bass, Loz Colbert on drums, Paul Crozer on guitar and Fi McFall on vocals. Mark Crozer and Loz Colbert, who is the former drummer with Ride, are also members of the current line-up of the reformed Jesus and Mary Chain. International Jetsetters has just released it debut EP, 'Heart is Black', on American label Planting Seeds Records. Some of its tracks, especially the songs the ethereal-voiced McFall sings on, have a classic shoegazing sound, while others have a more raw indie guitar edge. Pennyblackmusic spoke to Mark Crozer about both International Jetsetters and his involvement with the Jesus and Mary Chain. PB : How did you come up with the name of International Jetsetters ? MC : It was supposed to be ironic as at that time I was living a rather sedentary life in my village. For a long time I never went anywhere much except the local pub. PB : How did International Jetsetters evolve ? Did you all know each other from before ? Are you all based in Oxford ? MC : Well, Paul's my brother so I've known him since 1973. Bert and I have been friends for five or six years. The band evolved from a studio thing Bert and I were doing together. We'd been writing together for a while and then I was offered a gig but they wanted me to do it with a band so I said I'd get one together. Bert and I asked Loz if he wanted to play drums and he said he'd do it. It was just the three of us at first. Paul joined later on and after that came Fi who was a friend of Bert's. When we discovered what a great singer she is she had to be in the band. Most of us live in Oxford although Paul's based in Suffolk and I'm all over the place! I'm in New York City at the moment. I've ben spending quite a bit of time out here in the last 12 months. PB : Both you and Loz are members of the current Jesus and Mary Chain. Loz was also in the Jim Reid Band. How did you become involved with the Jesus and Mary Chain ? What other bands had you been in before ? MC : Actually I was in Jim's band too on the bass though rather than guitar so when the Mary Chain reformed I was asked to be a part of it along with Loz and Phil King (who was Jim's guitar player and had been in the Mary Chain back in 1998.) Phil and I switched roles. I've been in a number of bands over the years but none quite as illustrious as the Mary Chain. I played bass with a great Canadian band called Ox for their 2005 European tour. That was a lot of fun. Really grass roots. We slept on a lot of floors. The night I remember most fondly was after a pretty rough gig in Leighton Buzzard. We actually slept in the pub itself. The landlord locked us in and his parting words were "don't drink me dry." Ha ha! We did. PB : Fi McFall was the last to join International Jetsetters. How did you discover her ? Is it true that she had never played live before she joined International Jetsetters and ended up making her debut performance with the Jesus and Mary Chain at a gig at the Brixton Academy ? MC : Yes it's true. Fi was Bert's friend (and still is.) Bert told me she was a great singer and I overheard her one day and realised he was right. I asked her if she wanted to join the Mary Chain at a London show as we needed a singer for 'Just Like Honey' and she said yes. I didn't realise until afterwards that it was her first time singing live. She was very nervous and I tried to calm her down by saying she wouldn't be able to see anyone in the audience so it'd be fine. But because we were lit from behind she could see every single person in the venue! She coped very well though and did a great job. PB : What future plans does the Jesus and Mary Chain have ? Jim Reid said the recent gig at the London Forum could be the last. Is that true ? Will there as promised be another Jesus and Mary Chain album ? MC : You know, I have no clue at all. That's the first I've heard about Jim saying that. It's not really my place to comment as I'm just the rhythm guitarist. As far as I know there's nothing planned at the moment. I've not spoken to Jim or William since the Jesus and Mary Chain's tour of South America last November. PB : You and Fi share the vocals and often sing on different songs. Is there a criteria for deciding who is going to sing what song ? MC : Not really. I guess the idea is that Fi will take over most of the vocal duties eventually. She's a better singer than me and I'd rather focus on writing and playing the guitar. There are some songs I really like singing though such as 'Inside Out'. So I'll probably continue to sing the odd song here and there. PB : How easy is it to balance your commitments between International Jetsetters and the Jesus and Mary Chain ? MC : Very easy! International Jetsetters are pretty lazy so we hardly ever do anything. Ha ha. Seriously it hasn't been that hard as neither band has been that busy yet. I'm hoping that the Jetsetters will do a lot more in the near future but it is dependent on trying to juggle it with our personal lives. We nearly all have families and lots of other stuff going on. PB : Why have you put out your first International Jetsetters release, the 'Heart is Black EP', on an American label, Planting Seed Records, rather than a label closer to home ? Is it going to be your regular label from now on ? MC : Yes. We hope so. Planting Seeds is very much a part of the Jetsetter family. It all came together naturally. We never really set out to get a deal with a label. The guys at Planting Seeds heard about us because of the Jim Reid/Mary Chain connection and have been very enthusiastic about what we're doing. We just got to a point where we realised we wanted to release something and they wanted to be the ones to do it. We've been very happy with the whole process so far. PB : What do you plan to do next ? Are you hoping to tour a lot ? Do you have any plans to release any more material ? Will you do another EP or are you planning to do an album next ? MC : Well, we've already begun working on a follow up EP which will come out in the next few months. We're not in a rush to release it as 'Heart is Black' is still out there and gathering steam. At some point we'll probably do an album and of course we'll do some more live dates very soon. We're really just taking it as it comes. Our priority is to have fun being in a band and so far we are. We're all friends so it's been a lot of fun. PB : Thank you.

Picture Gallery:-