May you live in interesting times – says an old saying, apparently the first of three ancient Chinese curses. The other two are even more scary: may you come to the attention of authorities and may the Gods make your wishes come true. Terrifying staff I tell you. Recently, I feel like we have been living in the Upside Down or somewhere in the Twilight Zone. After the US elections, last week seems like a distant past, and we suddenly find ourselves in a new era with assholes, oligarchs and extremists leading the way. If it wasn’t for the music, it would have been truly bleak. I can always rely on our independent musicians to shine a little light in the dark.
Something Going On single cover
JW Paris, Luton sweethearts, are probably the best local band I know. They are not only great people, hard working and genuinely nice, but also fantastic songwriters, storytellers and can rock crowds of different sizes like few bands really can. Those who have attended their gigs know they are loud, energetic and engaging, creating shows one can not easily forget. It’s not a brag, but some of their fans have seen them so many times they have lost count!
The trio has a new single out called “Something Going On” and today they also released their official video to the song. I don’t think we could ask for a better soundtrack, and a better visualization of what’s been going on in my head. Since the 5th of November, I also have a great urge to smash up the walls and simply run away, but we will get to that point in a moment.
“Something Going On” is “a heartbreaking insight into how we’ve come so fractured from being genuine good human beings and are now plugged into false rhetoric that we consume across our social timelines” writes the band in their PR release. Social media that was supposed to get us closer, seems to be working only to divide and radicalize people. Some users closed themselves in real echo chambers alongside similar minded people and stopped caring about or listening to others. This resulted in a society that no longer can speak to each other, exchanging monologues and not even listening to what others have to say.
The band has a proposition on how to escape from that jail that we locked ourselves in. We need to unplug ourselves from the cyber landscape and come back to what they refer to as “the analogue mindset”, or the real world. That would mean less doom scrolling on Instagram or less arguing with bluetick accounts on Twitter, and spending more time with friends, relatives, or just away from the computers.
Is quitting social media cold turkey an easy thing to do? Not really. Facebook and other socials are designed to appeal to us, addict us and keep us scrolling. Humans are social animals, we crave contact, approval, we want to keep in touch and see what others are doing. Social media is not entirely bad: it helps us reconnect with friends, see concerts online, watch programs, and participate in events we can’t personally attend. Instagram is a great tool for promotion for young bands – you can reach your fans, interact with them, give them links to your music. Yet, too much of a good thing is not beneficial. Also, the algorithm is created to provide those with more resources (money, fame, bigger fanbase) better visibility over everyone else. It’s another tool in a capitalistic world that is hell bent on turning anything artistic, inspiring into selling opportunity.
JW Paris by C24 Photography
Take a look at the video to “Something Going On”. The band consisting of drummer Gemma Clark, bassist Aaron Forde and guitarist Daniel Collins seem to be stuck in some sort of an industrialized maze, more likely a futuristic prison. The building is empty, sterile, devoid of any furniture or decorations. It is made out of many similar rooms, long corridors and barred doors. CCTV cameras are observing those who are locked inside. There is no privacy under the purple neon lights and the subjects are being monitored through the use of one-way mirrors. Calm and cautious, they get more and more animated as the video progresses, throwing themselves at the doors, walls and trying to break free. The viewers are not sure if this is a nightmare, real situation, failed experiment or a vision from some distant authoritarian future. We all have to make up our own opinion – the band doesn’t provide any answer, the video cuts and fades while three individuals are still fighting for what seems like their sanity or even life. Quite terrifying, but I think there is a hope in this struggle. If we keep on fighting, breaking down barriers, kicking down closed doors, we will finally be free. It might be hard, take a long time but it is achievable.
JW Paris are never giving you simple answers on a silver platter – you have to watch their videos a couple of times to notice more details. For example, Gemma only appears in close takes that shows her face and upper body. She is exclusively shown near the closed doors, or behind the glass and is never filmed in the corridor or inside the rooms with the wall mirrors. Her face is half obscured, hidden in the shadows, or hazed by the steam on the glass panel while Danny and Aaron are shown as having more space and ability to move. In my interpretation, the already claustrophobic set up is further highlighting women’s invisible struggle on social media – where males are far more dominant and where women are routinely pushed into the background.The overwhelming misogyny, criticism and concentrating on women’s looks are creating very toxic environment that few female can succeed in. Pay attention to the clothes the band are wearing – Danny is seen in a trench coat, looking like some sort of a spy, while Aaron wears trendy beanie and even sunglasses. Again, I can only speculate but I like to think Danny’s character represents all the conspiracy theorists and Aaron is playing a hipster – two popular online personas we see being active on Twitter (X) and Instagram respectively.
Wherever the role, whatever the side (left or right), gender or interests – we all seem to struggle and we all want to break out of what’s keeping us in the www. Somehow we do not notice that the prison is the Internet itself – and the walls we built, are built by our own choices.
So, this is what I’m going to do right now: I will publish this review on our blog, post links on social media and I will take the rest of the evening off. I will have a walk, the laptop will be turned off and I will be back online tomorrow.
I don’t know why, but after seeing the video, I now have a huge urge to go fully “analogue”, and I wholeheartedly encourage you all to do the same.
JW Paris will play a Christmas show on the 14th of December. Keep your eyes open as the location and line up will be revealed soon.
You can follow the band on socials:
https://www.facebook.com/jwparismusic
https://www.instagram.com/jwparismusic
https://www.tiktok.com/@jwparismusic
https://www.youtube.com/@JWPARIS
https://twitter.com/jwparismusic
https://soundcloud.com/jwparis-music
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7Eh8L6V40D5B70XCOucwE3
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 
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