interview with Jig-Ai
What is the name of your band? Jig-Ai
What does the name "Jig-Ai" stand for? Jig-ai is a Japan word for woman's ritual suicide.
What made you call the band "Jig-Ai"? Brain: I was reading the book called History of suicide and there I found out about Jig-ai.
How was the band formed? Buraak: I contacted some of my friends from other bands who wanted to play grind too. Originally it was just a project and we didn´t even plan to play concerts, but we were so successful that we started playing as a real band.
What made you form the band? Buraak: My old band fell apart and I wanted a new one.
Can you briefly introduce your band and who you are? A bunch of ordinary Czech guys with a passion for grindcore.
Where are all band members from?/Who does what in the band?
Originally we are all from Czech Republic, but Kaspy lives in Vienna (Austria) now.
Brain: Guitar, backing vocals
Buraak: Bass, main vocal
Kaspy: DRums
What were the ambitions of the band when you started? Brain: There were no ambitions at all. We just did that as a side project only for fun.
Could you explain your music to someone that haven't heard you?
Buraak: Beer-pork-smoke-gore.
Brain: The most brutal band in this fucking world J
Where was your first gig? Brain: With Jig-Ai it was in České Budějovice, and we also baptised our first album there, but all of us had already played plenty of shows before with our other bands.
Where was the latest gig? Brain: Obscene Extreme Australia show in Melbourne 2014.
Who writes your songs?/Who writes the music who writes lyrics? Brain: All of us. It is team work. Usually me or Buraak bring some riffs to the rehearsal room and than we put them together with Kaspy. Sometimes we write it at home like a whole song but at the end we usually change something during the rehearsal process.
Who has the best sence of humor in the band?
Brain: My vote goes to Buraak, but sometimes he gripeS as an old man also.
Buraak: The biggest jokester is Kaspy, he says he´s vegeterian but he eats fish. And Brain is a very old man…
What's good/bad with the band?/What genre do you feel you are? Buraak: I am satisfied with the band I would just like we play faster in the future. We play gore grind metal with ska and reggae influence.
Why did you pick that particular style?/What are your songs about? Buraak: Because we need to vent our anger. Our songs are about violence and other nice things.
Do you write your own material or mainly covers? Mainly Jig-Ai songs, but we still keep at least one cover in our playlist.
Have you made any albums?/If yes what are they?
2006: Jig-Ai
2008: Katana Orgy
2011: split with Ass To Mouth
2014: Rising Sun Carnage
Do you have any clips on YouTube? Mostly live shows and unofficial videos made by our fans. Some of them are really funny but we can´t use them like an official videos because they are usually made from some movies etc. We are planning to make some videos for Rising Sun Carnage album in 2014, but who knows J.
How old are you?/What got you started in music?
Brain: 66. I was big fan of music so that was a natural progress that I started with guitar.
Buraak: 20. I wanted to show off before girls.
At what age did you start playing?
Brain: I think it was around 15 with guitar. Before I used to play piano when I was small child but that was nothing serious.
Buraak: 15.
How old were you guys when you first stood on stage?
Brain: It was with Flying Brains and I was 16 or 17 in that time I guess.
Buraak: When I was 5, but on a grind gig when I was 18.
What year was the band started? 2005
How old were you the first time you saw a live band play?
Brain: I saw some local rock bands play like a child, do not remember exactly.
Buraak: 4. I was with my parents on a concert of a band called Turbo.
What places will you be playing in the immediate future? South Pole.
Where have you played from then till now? Big part of Europe, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Russsia, Japan, Australia
What songs are in your live set's? We are trying to combine songs from all our releases.
Is it always the same set's live? Depends how much time we have for the show.
Have you had any bigger tours from start till now? USA, Mexico, Russia, Poland, Germany, Japan, Australia, European gigs we are usually trying to sort out during weekends because of our jobs.
How big crowds do you usually play for? From fifty to few thousand people. It depends where you play.
Where do you usually play? Where are we asked to.
How do you get psyched up for a gig? Brain: Few beers and a secret vociferation.
When did you decide to go all in for the music? Buraak: When I was 15 and I saw a video of Carcass.
Is it easier to get your inspiration from older bands or from bands more modern?
Buraak: I prefer older bands.
Brain: I am open to both.
What's the first step when making a new song? A riff.
How do you feel about the downloading of music instead of buying albums?
Brain: It is the way how it is now. We live in 2013. You can´t change that. That’s a simple progress. The more people know our music the better. We do not have distribution in whole world and in some places s in the world CD for 10 EUR is so expensive for people that they simply can´t afford that. So better if they download Jig-Ai (there is still option that you can legally pay for mp3 through http://jig-ai.bandcamp.com/ site) and later they can come for the show, buy some merchandise from us or original CD.
Buraak: I am a collector and an original CD makes me happy but not everyone has money to buy original stuff.
What would be your dreams for the band? Buraak: To go on tour with the band Him.
Besides your own music, what genres and bands do you listen to?
Buraak: From AC/DC to The Last Days of Humanity.
Brain: I think you can find good and bad music in each style. Just to pick it up. I am a big fan of hardcore and grindcore, but I also like jazz, DnB, horrorcore etc…
When you are on stage, what do you fear most then?
Brain: I would not call it fear but technical problems are still chasing me. We play quite rough shows with a lot of movement so it is hard to avoid them.
Buraak: Haemorrhoids.
Have you been part of any other bands or projects?
Brain: Of course. Flying Brains, Negligent Collateral Collapse, Psychotic Despair, Eardelete, Allumage Du Vulcain, Jig-Ai.
Buraak: Zvratky v autě, CBDS, Negligent Collateral Collapse, Fecalized, Eardelete, Ahumado Granujo, and now apart of Jig-Ai: Desreuctive Explosion of Anal Garland and Brutally Deceased.
Kaspy:
What do you work with outside of the band and the music? Buraak: I help Satan pick people for Hell. And so far we picked up just Pop stars and no Metalheads.
What would you do if there was no music? Brain: Probably the same things I do now. Work for living, travelling the world as much as possible, smoking cigars and pipes, snowboarding, rollerblading, hanging with friends, spending time with family...
How important are your fans? The most importat. Without them you can play just for yourselves in your living room.
What's the funniest/most memorable thing a fan has done for you? Buraak: When I was for the second time in Mexico a fan came to me with all my bands albums that I have signed a few years ago and let me sign all of them for the second time, because my autographs were fading out.
How often do you rehearse? Usually before each show and than it varies. There is no patter in this for us.
Where do you rehearse? In Prague.
Name 2 of your own songs you like at the moment?
Buraak: I like the most the covers we play.
Brain: Whole Rising Sun Carnage CD.
What do you feel is the best live band you've seen?
Brain: Hard to say. I saw so many shows during my life but probably Biohazard in original line up in Prague. That was something.
Buraak: Carcass.
What drives a band that isn't all that famous and renowned to try to make a living on their music and to keep playing? Buraak: Money.
Do you have any webpages?
http://www.jig-ai.com
http://www.facebook.com/jigaigore
https://twitter.com/jigaigore
Describe your show, visually and musically Kaspy: You Tube and Xvideos.
How do you view the music industry of today? Buraak: It´s all about money.
What are the biggest obstacles for a band? Brain: Time. In case you do it like a hobby.
What is best/worst with playing the clubs? Buraak: Good atmosphere but not enough of oxygen.
How would you describe your sound in one sentence.
Brain: Tsunami.
Buraak: Diarrhhoea.
What is your favourite crappy instrument? Brain: Any half a litre beer glass for vocals.