Stealing Love Jones ( Esjay )

They are South Africa’s most promising pop-rock act since forever, and with sales climbing fast, a ubiquitous radio presence and a lead singer possessed of a cracking voice, good looks and the business savvy of a CEO, Love Jones are poised to become enormous. It’s time to meet the Joneses. They are South Africa’s most promising pop-rock act since forever, and with sales climbing fast, a ubiquitous radio presence and a lead singer possessed of a cracking voice, good looks and the business savvy of a CEO, Love Jones are poised to become enormous. It’s time to meet the Joneses. “We want to build an empire,” says Esjay Jones, aka ‘Miss Jones’, Love Jones’ 23-year-old lead singer. “It’s a lot of hard work. I have absolutely no life aside from Love Jones. And the honest truth is that Love Jones is my love. Everything goes into it.”

She’s not a bit arrogant, but one wouldn’t describe Love Jones’ lead singer as modest. Esjay has mentioned in interviews before that she sees Love Jones selling as many albums as The Foo Fighters and Britney Spears in five years time. She doesn’t know it, but before we met I had seen her walk into the editorial office of one of the country’s top youth magazines to suggest that she appear on the cover of the next issue. She walked out with a feature guaranteed and a handful of new fans. The nonchalance with which she delivers such lofty quotes is disarming; after a few seconds waiting for a wry chuckle that never comes, you begin to see that she means every word. Love Jones can rest in the knowledge that their lead singer has already proven her saleability in the most competitive market on the planet. Shortly before starting Love Jones, Esjay was offered a record deal in the USA as a solo artist, but had to turn it down after her visa was denied. “For the past six years, I’ve been preparing, saving every cent,” she says. “We don’t want to be another plod along South African band that never gets anywhere because we can’t make anything happen ourselves. The truth of the matter is that it takes money to make money.” Esjay still has her sights set on America.

The Joneses were invited by Sarah Bettens (former lead-singer of K’s Choice) to support her at the world famous Viper Room in LA. A lack of timing to sort out the necessary paperwork did however cause for them not to make the trip. They will return Stateside for a full tour from mid-June to mid-August.

Esjay has always known she would be a musician, but even she has had her wobbles. She briefly considered throwing in the towel after hearing that she had lost the US deal, but a conversation with Peter Jones at a Squeal gig in Durban changed her mind. The pair founded Love Jones in January 2005 and performed their first show to rapturous approval at Kwazulu-Natal’s Splashy Fen Festival months later. Not interested in waiting to be signed, Esjay and Peter started their own record label, WE LOVE JONES FORESHORE! Records, with Esjay taking on the role of Label Manager. She visited radio stations herself and charmed them into slipping a single or two onto their playlist. By the time Love Jones was signed by Sheer in early 2006, they already had a single in the charts and a complete, professionally recorded album on shelves. Sheer then re-released the album and, suddenly, Love Jones was everywhere.

The first single "Kicks" peaked at No. 2 on the ‘High 5 at 5’ on 5Fm and quickly barged its way into the Top 10 on Highveld Stereo’s HomeBru chart, Tuks Fm and Radio Puk SA, where it went to No.1. A coveted place among the internationally overrun Highveld ‘Hot 30’ was the icing on the cake. The music video for "Kicks" is also on the highest rotation on MK89, the country’s most popular local music channel. As the single climbed the charts, Love Jones toured the country tirelessly, playing one week to rock lovers at a dingy bar in Potchefstroom and the next in front of thousands at Oppikoppi, Aardklop and the Levi’s Rage for the Revolution concert, alongside the country’s top acts. When they drove from one venue to the next and “Kicks’ came on the radio, Esjay would lean out of the window and scream “We’re on the radio!” at passers by. For Esjay, one sniff at success was enough. She was hooked.

“It’s been amazing to see radio stations get behind us,” says Esjay. “Success is a package deal. We know that we need the radio in order to get where we’re going. If they don’t get alongside us we’re fucked.” With her band mates listening like devoted employees, she dominates the conversation, using words like “marketability” and terms like “package deal”. She talks of how many “units” the album might sell. Throughout the interview it’s obvious that Miss Jones is as much the sexy lead singer as she is the shrewd and formidable businesswoman. Esjay’s attitude is shared by her band mates. It’s refreshing that Love Jones are under no illusions as to how their success might come about. Instead of gathering in a smelly garage smoking weed and bitching about the industry, Esjay and the original members financed the first album themselves, having asked for – and bizarrely been awarded – a substantial bank loan. It wasn’t as easy as walking into a bank in knackered converse and tights and asking for a lump of cash, but it was close. These days, they’re setting their sights decidedly higher. “We are the first band that could compete on the international market,” says Esjay. “We need a million rand. Someone needs to give us that.” That someone is likely to do more than okay from the investment.

There have been three changes to the line-up in less than two years. Antony Jones was replaced by former Perez drummer Mike Goddard (now Mike Jones, naturally), whose brief stint ended at the beginning of 2007. Isaac Jones, who earned his stripes with the fleeting but acclaimed Jozi band Airship Orange, is the latest substitution. Isaac, 24, describes his fellow Joneses as “no bullshit, simple, organised people”. He says he was stunned when he discovered that “Kicks”, Love Jones’ first hit single, belonged to a local band. “When first heard the band on radio I though this is definitely an international band…I was very impressed.” Needless to say, Isaac needed little convincing. The most significant change to the line-up has been the departure of co-founder Peter Jones, who left in November 2006. He made way for Jason Jones, 26, whose inclusion Esjay insists has been one of the highlights of the band’s short career. “Every time we needed to make a change your heart stops and you think ‘That’s it’, but every time it’s been better,” says Esjay. Bassist Steve, who behind Esjay is the longest serving Jones, nods vigorously at this observation.

Here’s something you’ve heard seventeen thousand times: This band has its own sound. But nothing comes from nothing, and Love Jones’ first album is not without roots. Growing up, Esjay was subjected to “really Christian, happy-clappy stuff, like Cliff Richard and Michael W Smith” but when she was on her own she preferred the classic rock of the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and the The Foo Fighters. “But I also love Britney Spears – pop, commercial radio stuff. The last album I bought was Roxette’s greatest hits. We’ve been busting that in the car lately.” Bass guitarist Steve was raised on a diet of Kool and the Gang, Yellow Jacket, George Benson and Billy Cassidy, which perhaps rebelliously steered him towards the off-beat indie of Gomez, The Shins and Islands.

Early on, Love Jones were described as a band that “combined the power of the Foo Fighters with the pop sensibility of Britney Spears”. This was apparently too complicated for most local reviewers and Esjay was furious to read reviews complaining that the music was nothing like Britney’s. “It wasn’t like we said ‘I sound exactly like Dave Grohl and look exactly like Britney Spears’”, says Esjay. South African reviewers have kept trying. SA Music tabloid did a better job than most: “The sound of celebrity, scandal, glamour and sophistication…Esjay’s voice burns leftfield rock hardness into their ingeniously arranged, super stadium-rock ballads.” But sooner or later you will have more than enough opportunities to decide for yourself; Love Jones have almost as many potential hit singles on their album as they do tracks. To discover what makes Love Jones different, it helps to ask the band members themselves. So, what makes Love Lones love Love Jones?

Steve: I’m not sure really. There’s a chemistry between us. It just works.
Esjay: We’re likeable. And quirky.
Isaac: We’re international standard.

Love Jones is so hot right now, and soon they will be inescapable. But they’re also just getting warmed up. They have an empire to build, remember.