STACK NZ Jan-Feb #59

EXTRAS

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Jeff Boyle

mountain only to keep on falling back down.

much time we can commit to the band. But we’re still just as passionate about the band and our music as we ever were, it’s just our approach that’s changed. On top of that we all have full time jobs so it’s definitely a juggling act. Considering that it’s been eight years between albums, was is it gratifying to see how well Sines was received? Extremely. It was a long and arduous process, much harder than any of the others had been by a long way. After you’ve been working on something for so long, you can lose perspective on whether it’s any good or not. All you can do is release it to the world and see what happens. It’s always a scary thing to do but the reviews have been amazing. Has the long gap between albums yielded any unexpected benefits or has it all been negative? It was a bit of both really. It was very, very frustrating a lot of the time but there were some positives that came out of it. These seven songs were written over a span of eight years so they ended up coming out very eclectic, which is a big positive for me. But it was a struggle to hang in there with all the injuries we’ve had. I was off for a year and a half which was really hard to deal with since I’ve been playing guitar since I was six. And then the other guys both had hand-related injuries, which kept putting us back further and further. But the positive results that came out of it were definitely worth it. Was there ever a time when you didn’t think that Sines was going to see the light of day? If I was to be brutally honest, there was. It does get to a point when you have one cataclysmic injury after another you start thinking really, is this how it’s going to be from now on? It just seems like you’ve climbed this

Jeff Boyle is guitarist with sonic titans Jakob, who released their fourth album Sines last October. Formed in Napier in 1998 with Jason Johnston and Maurice Beckett, the instrumental three piece released their debut album Subsets Of Sets in 2002, and followed that with Cale: Drew (2005) and Solace (2006), which received international acclaim. Unfortunately, a freakish run of debilitating hand injuries suffered by all three members of the band meant a frustrating eight year wait for their latest LP. However, now they are back firing on all cylinders and looking forward to playing this year’s Laneway Festival in Auckland.

On this album you had contributions from former Isis drummer Aaron Harris and Wellington-based composer Rhian Sheehan. How did these collaborations come about? Aaron’s been a very good friend and a big fan of ours for a long time. He’s been producing and engineering ever since Isis broke up and we found his input essential. Because of all the hiccups we had along the way we ran out of money and I ended up having to mix most of the album myself but [Harris] was a huge help. And I’ve been working with Rhian for quite a few years now on a few of his albums. Musically, him and I think in a very similar way. After working with him on his stuff I really wanted to introduce the way he thinks about string arrangements into Jakob just like how he wanted to introduce my way of doing guitar into his music. Do you think that being an instrumental group is freeing or limiting creatively, as opposed to having a vocalist? I feel as though we have exponentially more freedom not being confined to a standard way of doing things. We have so much more freedom it isn’t even funny and that was the whole plan behind Jakob in the first place. How does it feel to be a part of this year’s Laneway Festival? It’s really good, a great opportunity and the line-up is amazing! I’ve been blown

It’s been eight years since the release of your last album, Solace .What has changed for the band in that time?

It’s all changed so dramatically. To start with I’ve had two children and your life changes after you have kids, particularly with the career side of things. Your children and your family have to become your top priority and music takes a bit of a back seat but it’s still a close second. Jason [Johnston, drummer] has four kids as well so we’ve all had to make some changes in how

away by many of the acts over recent years like Little Dragon and Jon Hopkins, and so many more. We were surprised to be asked to join in, to be honest. But we’re stoked.  

Jakob’s Sines is available now; for more on Laneways see pages 6-7 of STACK Music

SUMMER EDITION 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.co.nz

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