JW Paris are having the time of their lives this year. From being played on national radio stations, fierce acclaim from the indie zines and magazines to playing well received, sold out gigs. Everything they managed to accomplish however is done the old fashioned way: through hard work, DIY promotion without backing of any major label, touring around the country, creating their own social media content. This is a very demanding life but Aaron Forde, Daniel Collins and Gemma Clarke put their hearts and souls into their work. They are now back with their debut EP titled “Stuck In A Video”. Watch and learn kids, with releases such as this, this is how a band makes the rock and roll history.
Daniel, Aaron and Gemma AKA JW Paris
“Stuck In A Video” has been cooking for a while but now it is here, dinner is served and we are ready to eat. There is a lot of juicy stuff to sink your teeth into – 6 songs, more than 20 minutes of excellent grunge and Britpop inspired rock to digest. 3 songs were previously released as singles, three are brand new but the EP doesn’t feel like a collection of randomly chosen songs. It is a coherent and wisely picked up selection of tracks that not only go well together as a whole but also show the band’s abilities to compose radio friendly and diverse material.
The EP opens up with a brand-new composition named “New Era” that indicates that a new chapter has truly opened up in the history of JW Paris. What I really love about the song is the layered chorus, percussion that sounds like a clock ticking in the background and the dirty beat in the middle of the song that reminds me of Blur and Pulp’s singles from the early 90’s.
“New Era” is followed by “Sober”, a song that was originally released as a digital single in April 2021. It gave the band its first play on BBC6 Music and in my opinion, it is probably one of the best songs in the trio’s back catalogue. It comes with a very addictive dirty beat and memorable lyrics (“These people, are they your friends?/These people that follow trends/Will they be here at the end?)
EP cover
Next is the well-known “Electric Candle Light” – a BBC Radio 1 and Radio X’s favourite, released as a single in March this year. Described as having memorable “strutting rhythm section and wailing guitars” by American magazine Rock At Night, the track is slightly psychedelic, Beatles-esque in places and entirely charming. ECL’s soft ending allows the music to gently roll into another new song called “She” that is my absolute favourite on this release. Half ballad, half mid-tempo composition, “She” has a beautiful guitar riff that is often repeated creating a unique sound. The warm tone of the country/Americana influenced guitar is contrasted with a cold wave of distorted bass making this track a waltzing sonic storm.
The two last songs are again a mixture of one older single and a debuting track: “Runaway” and the titular “Stuck In A Video”. “Runaway” was the last digital release published before the EP came out so I’m sure a lot of listeners will remember it the best. “Stuck In A Video” is a perfect finishing number – monumental, addictive and very pop. It is also a bit of a surprise – JW Paris are dual fronted and the singing duties are usually equally shared between Aaron and Daniel, however it has only one vocalist. It was hard to get used to it at first, but after few go’s, I really came to appreciate this experiment. It’s a really great song, probably my second favourite after “She”.
We have been following JW Paris for a couple of years now and we know that the band is fantastic live, great fun to talk to after a gig and some of the nicest people we have ever encountered in the music business. This EP also proves that they are also fantastic songwriters and have a very clear idea what music they want to make.
It’s all 5 stars from us at Vanadian Avenue.
Well done to the band.
Follow JW Paris on the social media:
https://www.facebook.com/jwparismusic/
https://www.instagram.com/jwparismusic/
https://twitter.com/jwparismusic
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Eh8L6V40D5B70XCOucwE3?si=1MIGFhuiSBaQ_NSthZiLiw&nd=1
https://www.youtube.com/c/JWPARIS/videos
https://www.tiktok.com/@jwparismusic?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/jw-paris/1119337660
Linktree:
https://linktr.ee/jwparismusic
Streaming:
https://ditto.fm/stuck-in-a-video
Record label:
https://www.blaggersrecords.co.uk/
https://www.instagram.com/blaggersrecords/
https://twitter.com/BlaggersR
“Stuck In A Video” is out today on Blaggers Records
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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