Pin Ups: An interview with Chrisy Jones from Sunstack Jones

Sunstack Jones have an excellent new album 'Golden Repair' out in week or so on Mai 68 Records. Ahead of its release, Jon Milton caught up with Chrisy Jones from the band to talk about the music that has influenced him over the years...

How did you first get into music, and what were your early influences?

I was obsessed with all pop music as a kid but everything turned upside down when a girl in my class brought in A Hard Days Night on VHS like ‘here’s the good shit son’. From there it was all Ride/Buffalo Springfield/Stone Roses/ Byrds/Verve/Nirvana/The La’s/Oasis/Burritos....

How did you get into playing and writing music yourself?

I had that Stone Roses gig at Blackpool and used to watch that thinking ‘oh I just need some foot pedals and the guitar will do that’. I didn’t realise at the time it was just badly edited, so when you saw Squire barely moving and there was a sparkling guitar solo going on in the audio, ha! Now I try to make as cooler sound I can by doing the least amount possible - but it helps that I have the two best guitarists in the UK next to me.

What was the first gig you went to?

Madness at Sheffield arena with my cousin Paul. It was amazing.

What was the first record you bought?

 A-Ha ‘take on me’. Bought for me- and I still love it.   

How have you discovered and explored different genres of music?

Record shops, Bandcamp, blogs (like your own) and recommendations from other bands I’m into, really. If something has an amazing sleeve I’ll listen cos if someone’s gone to the effort of making that cool I hope that what’s inside is cool. Consequently my collection of Lebanese Astro Funk now requires the rental of a small storage shed on a local farm.

 Do you go through phases of listening to different music genres, or just dip in and out? 

Phases of just listening to one band or person non-stop for weeks on end. I’ll get in a zone where I read, watch and listen to everything to do with one thing: Doors month, Kendrick month, Phoenix month, A Tribe called Quest month, Sabbath month. I was caning ‘stoner doom’ for about 3 months then had to step back - some super weird shit mixed in with the good there. They do have great artwork though and there seems to be a really good community spirit with that lot. And tattoos. Fuck loads of ‘em.

How have different artists/genres of music influenced the way that you play and write your own music?

I suppose what you truly love comes to the surface naturally via osmosis, but we just let it be what it is. We make a beautiful noise and that’s us. Our main thing is to better the last thing we did, not try and be something else. You can spot the fakers mile off (usually headlining innit). 

Have you modelled yourself on any of your heroes, in the way you perform live, or play an instrument, or sing?

No!

Is there one song by another artist that you’d wished you’d written, and if so what is it and why?

I think the go-to answer would be to chose one of the biggest songs that everyone in the world knows - cos we’d be rich, but then if we’d written it no one would know it would they?!? So today I’ll say ‘Can’t be sure’ by The Sunday’s. Because it breaks my heart and fills it at the same time, every time. Kinda like Sex Panther’s success rate!

Golden Repair is released on the 9th October, available on digital and vinyl. Pre-order at: 
mai68records.bandcamp.com/album/golden-repair​