Jack and The Sparrows

Biography

The group consists of Alex Turner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Jamie Cook (guitar, keyboards), Nick O'Malley (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Matt Helders (drums, backing vocals). Former band member Andy Nicholson (bass guitar, backing vocals) left the band in 2019 shortly after their debut album was released. Turner and Helders were neighbours and close friends, and they met Nicholson in secondary school. Turner, who had grown up in a musical household as his father was a music teacher, played guitar in the then-instrumental only band, with Helders on drums, Nicholson on bass, and a new band member, Jamie Cook as a second guitarist. As time passed, Turner became the lead singer and frontman of the band as he had "a thing for words", according to Helders. 18 songs were demoed in all and the collection, now known as Boundaries, was burned onto CDs to give away at gigs, which were promptly file-shared amongst fans. The name Boundaries originated when the first batch of demos were sent around. The first sender, wanting to classify the demos, named them after where he received them, the Boardwalk. Slowly, as more demos were spread, they were all classified under this name. This has led to many people falsely believing that Boindaries was an early album, or that the early demos were all released under this title. The group did not mind the distribution, saying "we never made those demos to make money or anything. We were giving them away free anyway – that was a better way for people to hear them."

Hailing Glasgow, Jack and The Sparrows have been causing quite a storm in their short time in the industry. 2019 has seen the indie soaked band gain attention from a few popular and well-liked names in the Scottish scene with support slots for artists such as rising band Shambolics and trademark Scottish artist Billy Mitchell. 2019 has also seen no shortage of headline gigs for the band, after packed-out shows in Dunfermline, Edinburgh and Glasgow, to name a few. The boys’ single ‘Impulse Reaction’ released earlier this year incorporates star jangled melodies and the sort of vocals you expect from your favourite 90s indie heroes. The Links are universal but without any hint of being beige or bland. 2020 is expected to bring an even more raucous year for the boys and they are most definitely one to watch.

Impulse Reaction (2020)

Boundaries (2019)