ONE thing Jubilee haven't been short of in their short existence is drummers – they've had 12 of them.
It's not that the outfit – comprising former members of Nine Inch Nails and Queens Of The Stone Age – are difficult to get on with, they just happen to know a lot of famous skin-beaters. And few more famous than Dave Grohl.
The drummer traffic through their studio Shabby Road was no record breaking attempt, says Jubilee singer Aaron North.
"It started off with a few people and ended up as 'Let's see how many we can get in'," says the former NIN and Icarus Line man, reeling off names such as Julian Gross, from Liars, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Nick Jago, Joey Castillo (QOTSA), Josh Freese (Devo, A Perfect Circle, NIN), Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus), QOTSA leader Josh Homme, Foo's Taylor Hawkins and Trent Reznor.
"It kept it fresh and exciting," says Aaron, who hired former Icarus Line band mate Troy Petrey for the full-time role.
"We got people to play on songs they might not expect. We would throw them a curve ball and take them out of their comfort zone. Things will make a lot more sense when the album comes out."
For now there's cracking single In With The Out Crowd, which takes the LA outfit to The Leadmill on Monday, still not quite the finished product.
"This is jumping in head first, trial by fire. On the last tour I was writing lyrics on the plane and we flew by the seat of our pants. We have all been in tons of bands yet almost in a weird way we have under-rehearsed on purpose.
"We've all been in the position where we've learned songs forward, backwards, blindfolded so by the time you play them live you're almost bored with them.
"So if people get to hear the songs across the course of this tour they will hear them change.
"Will we fall flat on our faces? There's the threat of crashing and burning."
Jubilee emerged when fellow vocalist/bass player Michael Shuman (Wires On Fire) began writing. "We never said let's start a band. It was for fun – a 'let's play some music that's different to all the other bands we've played in'."
And then Aaron quit NIN. "I thought it would last six months, I never set out to be a hired hand. No disrespect to Trent, we are still friends, but I never intended to spend my life playing other people's songs, so when there was a definite window..."
Having got 80 per cent of the music ready in January they had a tour booked but no name.
"To English people it is almost like a British band calling themselves Apple Pie.
"But Jubilee conveys the feeling and vibe: positive and uplifting and a gathering of friends making music.
"It's still a baby band – we've barely played into double figures yet – so this feels like the beginning to us. Before was a test or a trial."
And Aaron – who grew up listening to the likes of the Bee Gees and Nirvana, the Beatles and Credence Clearwater – reckons he's a lot happier.
"A reaction was to make music the opposite of that. But this is more what I wanted to play; I'm more comfortable playing this.
"To me, being in all those bands wearing black and singing songs about angst and drugs, that's cool and that's how I spent my early to mid 20s.
"But if I was going to keep doing music I'd got to figure out a way.
"There was a black cloud hanging over me. With all the other bands I would go on with a negative mindset releasing these demons.
"So people think I'm this lunatic smack addict who breaks stuff.
"What's the point of doing that forever."
READ MOREMain news indexYour letters.
FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 684 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
