By Sebastian Atay 8pm outside the Purple Turtle. It is cold, grey and distinctly sleazy. All in all, the exact opposite of the sunny, spirited melodies produced by my six interviewees: the members of promising Oxford band, Jonquil. Jonquil started life in Hugo’s kitchen, a reunion of sorts between Hugo and his ex-band members, Kit and Ben, who had now been joined by Jody. “Nothing that exciting, unfortunately.” Hugo apologises. United under the Try Harder label of a good friend, they released their first record, Sunny Casinos, last year, picking up a number of positive reviews on the way. Where does the name come from? Was it, as Google seemed to suggest, a sort of Spanish flower? “We like flowers,” Hugo says, and before he has a chance to go on, Sam continues: “We’re all just as gay as fuck.” Jody explains that the name reflects that they’re a summer band. “We used to have this thing that whenever we used to play, the sun just came out, all the time. It actually did. So, it seems fitting, I guess.”In the year between the release of Casinos and their new album, Lions, Jonquil have developed significantly as a group. “The first album was done before we’d ever done gigs, or played live”, Hugo tells me. “Since we got together to play live as a band, there’s been a fundamental difference.” Whereas Casinos has a more abstract, distant feel, concerning itself more with impressions and atmosphere, Lions is an album of discrete songs, branching out into some powerful, upbeat pieces which make for a completely different experience.Do they enjoy playing live? A resounding ‘yes’. The sensation of the audience participating in the music and the freedom of reworking songs on stage transformed what the band feared would be dreary gigs in the middle of nowhere into nights to remember. “In Preston,” Jody recalls, “we thought we were going to be playing to two people in a social club, but it turned out to be one of our best gigs.”Jonquil remain optimistic: Whilst they have a marked dislike for bands who undermine the positive collaboration and interchange of talent that goes on between groups, “the sort of people that brown nose the bands who get out of Oxford,” they think that the new Academy is, on the whole, a change for the better. “Bigger bands coming to Oxford would be a good thing,” says Hugo, encouraging enthusiasm and promoting activity in Oxford’s budding musicians. “It could be exciting.”
