00:04Hi, I'm Jordan from NMA and we're here with the brilliant Jalen O'Gonda. How are you doing?
00:09Good, how are you?
00:10I'm very good. So you're playing on the main stage here at Mad Cool later on today. I think I'm
00:16a big fan of your music and I first got into you last year.
00:19I maybe should have been on board earlier but I'm gonna fess up. It was last year and it was
00:22at a festival in the UK and it was sort of like late afternoon, early evening kind of thing and
00:28it was very chill and lovely.
00:29And I was just like, what is this beautiful music? And I looked up and it was your name on
00:34there. Is that part of the mission of these festivals to kind of recruit people to the cause?
00:40No, this is not a recruitment really. This is just, you know, I'm just like another, I'm among many other
00:45artists that, you know, it's a passion, you know.
00:49It's just the guy playing next to me, you know, it's just, I just like playing and I like writing,
00:54I like performing.
00:55And, you know, I'm just glad that I, it's just, it's a grateful feeling but it's not a mission, no.
01:00Right, yeah, music is not a competitive sport.
01:02No, no, it's not like football or anything like that, no.
01:07You famously are channeling classic soul labels, making beautiful soul music, channeling labels like Motown and Stax.
01:17I think it would be fair to say that this is a pretty tumultuous period of history and that soul
01:21music often flourishes in these times.
01:25Do we need soul music at this time as a kind of balm?
01:29Well, you know, soul music is, you know, I think any music that's based off of feeling and reflective of
01:36real life situations or real life emotions is always going to be important, you know.
01:42It's, I think, you know, from the, since the 50s up until now, soul music's always been around, you know.
01:50Before it was jazz and people felt music through jazz in a soulful way or they did with the blues.
01:55So, I think it will, as long as people have feeling, I think, you know, what we call soul music
02:02will be, I guess, important, you know, human expression and all that.
02:07Beautiful sentiment. You grew up in Maryland but have a strong relationship with the UK. Do you still live in
02:13the UK, in London?
02:14Yeah, yeah.
02:14So, you moved to Liverpool to study at university, which, I mean, probably not that many people have moved from
02:22Maryland to Liverpool, I would have thought.
02:24That seems like quite a unique trajectory.
02:26Yeah, it's not every day, I guess, but I did meet some Marylanders at my university as well.
02:31No way! Oh, wow, okay, it was meant to be.
02:33Well, just me.
02:35Can you talk about what drew you to Liverpool specifically in the first place?
02:40Well, I mean, the school was in Liverpool, so I was very drawn to the school.
02:44Right.
02:44So, it was very, kind of, very plain like that.
02:48You know, I was aware of Liverpool as a city because, you know, I've been a Beatles fan since I
02:53was 15 and, you know, I know all about the Mersey beat sound and all that stuff.
02:59So, but Liverpool wasn't a destination, you know, I kind of had my eyes on New York.
03:04But the school sounded right and I just went with it and, you know, just thought I'd take the chance,
03:09go somewhere else, you know.
03:11But if the school was in Leeds, I would have moved to Leeds.
03:13Well, I mean, weirdly, Liverpool and New York are kind of similar cities.
03:15I think they're kind of like port towns, you know?
03:17Yeah, yeah.
03:19I also, people obviously associate you with your soul influences, but interestingly, I saw you mention in a previous interview
03:28that Arctic Monkeys AM came out around the time that you moved to Leeds.
03:33Around the time, yeah.
03:34It was everywhere, yeah.
03:35Now, that's a big album for NME and NME readers.
03:39Great album.
03:40NME writers, including myself.
03:41Can you talk a little bit about that record and whether that influenced you or all?
03:46It did, yeah.
03:47I mean, you know, I hadn't heard about the Arctic Monkeys at all growing up in Maryland.
03:53You know, so when I moved over to the UK, you know, I just, I got instantly seat myself into
04:02the sort of what was going on musically.
04:04Cause it spent a while.
04:04I was going to a music school, so I couldn't get away from it.
04:07But yeah, I mean, cause you know, I was in cover bands and we were all 19 or 20 or
04:14some say 18.
04:15And we're all like, you know, it was just like, oh, we've got, you know, music night.
04:20We got to come up with some material.
04:21I would, I'll be like, we could play.
04:22You can't hurry.
04:23Love.
04:24And someone would be like, let's play.
04:25Are you mine?
04:26You know?
04:26Wow.
04:27But as I got to know Alex Turner as a musician, when I deep into his music, especially via Last
04:34Shadow Puppets,
04:35that's when I really got turned on to his music.
04:37And, you know, I love the stuff he worked on in Submarine.
04:41It was very influential in the songs I was writing at the time.
04:44It's like my, like, I Need You was very influenced by that sort of period, that AM sort of sound
04:50and everything,
04:51even if you don't hear it or anything like that.
04:54But, you know, Tranquility based hotels, man, that's a, that's the album I like.
05:00That's my favorite.
05:01Yeah.
05:01I love that one.
05:02Anyway.
05:03You toured with Olivia Dean earlier this year.
05:06You guys knew each other beforehand.
05:08Is that right?
05:09Yeah.
05:09Yeah.
05:09I've supported her a few years prior to the tour that I did with her recently.
05:15It would have been like, I don't know, early 23.
05:18And then, yeah, we were neighbors at one point in South London.
05:22So I, we were very, we're friends, you know.
05:25I know her.
05:25I know her.
05:26Wow.
05:26What do you think you've got in common besides, like, besides the music?
05:29Are you kind of similar personalities?
05:30What's that friendship with a band?
05:31I couldn't say that.
05:32I mean, you know, I don't know her that well to say we have similar personalities.
05:35But, you know, I both like similar styles of music.
05:39You know, we're both into soul, into all sorts of music, really.
05:43And, you know, we're both on the road, you know.
05:45Sure.
05:45Yeah, of course.
05:46We've got that in common.
05:47There's a story about your bands jamming to Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On.
05:53No.
05:53Oh, no.
05:53It's What's Going On, actually.
05:55Yeah.
05:55Well, that was, you know, I just, it's a memory.
05:57I remember, I think it was like around, I think it was the last show I did with them
06:02in 23, and I think it was in Berlin, or I can't remember, it's all blurred, but I just
06:07remember soundcheck.
06:08I showed up to the soundcheck, and then they were just finishing up their soundcheck, and
06:12by then I've been acquainted with the band, and I was like, what's up, guys?
06:16You know, I just got on the drums, all of them.
06:18I was just playing drums, and then like, I can't remember much else, but I think Olivia
06:23just started singing What's Going On, and you know, I think her keyboardist Desh just
06:28started playing the chords to it.
06:29So, but, it's very, very faint of memory, I mean, you know.
06:33Well, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that.
06:37Your latest album, Doctrine of Love, is an amazing record, and you're touring it this
06:42year, and that tour is going to end at Brixton Academy.
06:45That is a big old room.
06:47It's a big ass room, yeah.
06:48How are you feeling about that?
06:50Well, you know, I'm looking forward to it, you know.
06:53I grew up, what am I saying?
06:56I've lived in Brixton, or around Brixton, since I've been in London, you know.
07:02So, I've always walked past the place, but I've never been in it, so I'm excited to see
07:06what it looks like inside.
07:07This is going to be the first time you've been in Brixton Academy?
07:10Yeah.
07:10That's amazing.
07:11You know, I've only just walked past it when I was walking to, like, Stockwell or something,
07:15you know.
07:15That's so cool.
07:16Okay, my last question is that, you get asked a lot about Motown, everyone loves Motown.
07:23Yeah.
07:23I feel like in the UK, like, Stax doesn't have quite the same reputation.
07:29Maybe over in the US, I feel like it's just not as present in the UK.
07:33I mean, it's like, I think because Motown is the sound of Northern Soul as well.
07:40Right, right.
07:40Like, you know, Northern Soul and the UK are, like, best friends.
07:44And Motown is sort of the, in a way, not intentionally, but invented that sound.
07:49Like, if you listen to, like, Holland, Doja Holland's records from this, like, You Keep
07:53Me Hanging On, Four Tops, you know, Shake Me, Wake Me.
07:56That's, like, just, that's Northern Soul, really.
07:59And, well, it's soul music, but it's considered, Northern Soul's based a lot of the tempos
08:04and the styles from that.
08:06Whereas Stax is Southern Soul, and that has a more grittier sound.
08:10Yes.
08:12You know, I think it's like, if you took out Otis Redding, and maybe Sam and Dave,
08:18Stax is not very that known, you know.
08:20Yeah, yeah.
08:20They know Hold On, I'm Coming and Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.
08:23But those are, like, probably the two biggest Stax singles.
08:26But, you know, if you say Rufus Thomas or, you know, Wendy Rean, everyone's like,
08:30Who are they, you know?
08:31Right.
08:31Okay.
08:32So, I think it's just the styles.
08:34Stax was never into the whole .
08:37Right.
08:38Stax was more of the funkier, grittier sound.
08:40And I think it's just more celebrated back in the States, you know,
08:44and especially in, like, in the African American community, unless you've got some
08:49serious soul fans in the UK, you know.
08:51Right.
08:52Yeah.
08:53Don't get me wrong, you know.
08:54I mean, there's a lot of Stax records up in record stores all across the UK.
08:57Yeah, for sure.
08:57Well, okay.
08:58So, if people want to get into Stax, what's one track or album they should check out?
09:02Any of them, really.
09:03I mean, it's just great.
09:05You can't go wrong, but I wouldn't, you know.
09:07I mean, Knock On Wood, I don't know, Mr. Pitiful, you know.
09:12It's just such a great sound, you know.
09:14Awesome.
09:14Well, Jalen, thank you very much.
09:16Can't wait to see your show later on.
09:17Yeah, thank you.
09:18Thank you very much.
09:23Thanks.
09:23So, here we go.
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