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There’s a loud scream coming out from the Northern part of Greece, Jane Doe’s unidentified alternative rock! Emerging from Thessaloniki, the band established their value within a ten years course. And if it was back in 2008 (‘Heaven For Frogs’, LP) when they blasted their first saucy musings, it all became clear in 2014 when they released both ‘Revolution Diaries’ and ‘Recipes For Refugees’ LP’s. We are witnessing  the evolution of an extremely talented band, dedicated in their own alternative music, without having any problems or second thoughts in blending their style with various “recommendations”. Jane Doe cannot fit in any narrow type of music, why? Read our chat and listen to their music, it will all become clear, why!

Hello guys, welcome to Last Day Deaf! Let’s start with the latest, hot news. On 31st March, 1st April and a week later on 7th April you are on the road for a mini-tour in three Greek cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina), in which the headline act changes accordingly. How come you got involved on that “journey”, and what are the audiences going to experience by you, Blame Canada and NORMA?!

Hello Last Day Deaf. We accidentally met some of the folks from both of these bands and fell in love instantly. We like their music, their morality as bands and people individually, so we said why not? As for, what the audiences are going to experience? Well, all of us we are well known for our passion on stage. They will taste some of this passion.

Are you going to extend that touring project, where else can we catch Jane Doe on stage, according to confirmed dates?

We added another gig in Goumenissa, Kilkis at Oionos bar on April 8th.

And then? A new release maybe?

If everything goes by the book we are going to record a new album this summer. We have more than 20 songs but we have to see which ones we are keeping, which ones are going to be revisited and which ones will be dropped. But, anyhow, what goes by the book?

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Your FB page says JD are an indie/alternative band, true! But having attended your performances twice in Athens before, I surely listened and felt that JD are not strict connected to these two styles, gaining a rather punk sound over me with a little shoegaze involved. What are the facts that make you mostly a live band, ready to explore and load other elements in your songs?

We don’t care about genres and keywords. These things are for the record stores and YouTube. We want the freedom to play whatever kind of music we’d like the moment we want to play it. No taboos, no rules. Songs with one guitar, songs with a symphonic orchestra. Punk and jazz, rock and blues, shoegaze and prog… freedom and freedom.

Your first LP ‘Heaven For Dogs’ was allowed to be digitally distributed for free, you also state on your page that “I was made of this thing that the loveless and fascists can’t see”. Furthermore, you include social/political views in your lyrics and titles such as ‘Revolution Diaries’ or ‘Recipes For Refugees’. I’d like a few words on that please, the band’s manifest, and relating the question to the lyrics in one of your songs, asking…what pain is real, after all?

The awareness that the life is real (as Queen said). It’s our life and we have to take it in our hands. We believe in very basic meanings: freedom, justice, happiness etc etc. But everyone seems to have their point of view for these meanings. Our music circulates around our point of view.

How is the name Jane Doe related to the band, regarding that it is literally used for identities unknown or held with legal action?

We hate identities 🙂

Where are you artistically emerging from in both musical and lyrical terms?

From a pack of dogs which chasing each other during a funeral to the way a woman brushes her hair, from the story of a father who kills the murderer of his son to a family man who’s waiting from the bank to evict him from his own house, from the last hours of Jean Paul Marat to the rise of neo-nazis in Greece, everything can move us emotionally.

What other bands/artists are you keen on these days, or being influenced by (by all means)?

Every one of us has a very different answer on that. I’ll just drop random names as Bob Dylan, Arcade Fire, Sigur Rós, Foo Fighters, Rush, Radiohead and many many maaany more.

Your latest ‘B612 Revisited’ EP features contributions by Ledge Fortcher, Zak Stefanou and Maria Zlatani. Why did you choose them, are we going to enjoy more collaborations in time?

To be honest, there are so many great voices out there. It’s so pity to be stacked with only one singer 🙂

All the boys and the one girl singing in this EP were meant to sing these songs from day one. But we didn’t know them. With this EP we fix this injustice. And yes, we want to make an album entirely with female vocals.

Thank you for your time guys, please close this interview as you like!

Come and see us in our gigs. And then come to talk and drink together and then let the morning come.

Mike Dimitriou