Bliss Itch by Jones

Bliss Itch & Let 'Em Believe What They Wanna Believe welcomed drummer Greg Williamson of Tupelo Honey. The band has worked with many bass players most notably well-known bassist and luthier Laurence Mollerup.

An entertainer and classically trained musician since the age of four, prairie-born Salem Jones is the creative force behind Jones. She is unlike many other rock singers in that she checks her motives daily and doesn't take her image too seriously, enjoying her roles as songwriter and producer as much as that of lead vocalist. However, the drive and intent when she delivers a song is about as serious as a heart attack. Seeing her live, or hearing her on record, its easy to see why she was voted the #2 Favourite Performing Artist in See Magazine's Best Of Edmonton.

Highly talented and extremely introverted, Jag Mollerup is indeed an enigma. His abilities as engineer/producer/technician are amazingly as great as his guitar playing. He has studied music formally his whole life, but like Salem, tries to get away from theory to hear the notes within. He was at GMCC in the early 90's with Brandon and is brother to well-known luthier/classical and jazz bassist, Laurence Mollerup. A self-professed "gear junkie" he's always on the hunt for something to augment his tone, but seems to have settled for being in love with Line 6, Marshall and Fender as well as a couple of million other toys, eh Jag?

Read what these journalists have to say about Jones, the new CD and a live show:

Jones - Bliss Itch

Salem Jones (vocalist) and Jag Mollerup (guitar) are half of the powerful band Jones. Their new album Bliss Itch is a superb example of how chemistry between two people can work, there are other contributing members of the band, but this woman and man are what make this unit cook, and I mean to a full overflowing boil. The importance of Jones is obvious as the band carries her name and her beautiful face adorns the cover of this CD.

Jones is a passionate and heartrending singer while Mollerup can match up with anyone on guitar, his innovative licks setup the rest of the band and Jones completes the musical loop with her incredible set of pipes. She sounds like a combination of Maria McKee (Lone Justice), Martha Davis (The Motels) and Christina Amphlet (The Divinyls). Now if you look at each band and are familiar with what style of music each plays, you will find that mixture in the music of Jones.

I heard rock with an alternative slant on the opening track "Invisible Man," startling potent and forceful hard rock on "Kaivalya," which is the best cut on the album, it got me all excited and gave me chills up and down my spine, then "Dog Nose Woman," which sounds like a bluesy alt-country-pop tune. It all formulates an interesting mixture of styles. This is primarily a rock-oriented band that gets your attention with potent vocals and a big clean guitar sound. There are obvious influences from other genres but this band rocks-sometimes hard and fast or with a more polished lighter (easier on the guitar) pop injected sound, however that is what makes listening to them so interesting, the diverse blend of influences that they employ.

This was one of Canada's best-kept secrets, well not anymore, the genie is out of the bottle, watch out all of you other bands vying for the brass ring...this band is going to give you a run for your money. This is a major band with all the savvy and professionalism to measure up with anyone making the same kind of music. They have a great guitar player, a sexy woman lead singer that would be able to keep up with Janis Joplin on a good day, and a killer rhythm section to keep the blood pumping.

Got an itch that feels like bliss? Scratch it then let it spread like wildfire!

© Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

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Jones Plays Benefit

by Gwen Riis-Howard

Recently, Edmonton rock band Jones, played a World Peace benefit concert. Their forty-five minute set in the Centennial Library Theatre brightened the summer doldrums for the audience who had cleared their schedules to experience the latest offering of these well-known players.

Though this four-piece band has been playing together less than a year, their affection for each other and their music was obvious and infectious. Salem Jones, singer, songwriter and guitarist, fronts a focused ensemble made up of long-time lead guitarist Doug "Jaguar" Mollerup, bass-player and vocalist Kory Burns, and drummer Dean Langenberger. They play a tightly woven blend of rock and R&B, with the occasional country inflection, but it is Jones' lyrics that are given priority throughout the set. Her love of wordplay and soaring, complex melodies are apparent in every song.

The set opened with two driving rockers "One Knight" and "Another Chance". Jones' lead vocals show controlled power here, opening to a wide, heavy metal vibrato in sync with the hard driving rhythm and thematic anger of the songs. As with all of this band's work, surprising and complex chord changes and vocal harmonies form the melodic structure for these tunes; no phrase, no lyric takes the stereotypical rock path in these songs.

The mood shifted to the slow, sliding melody of "I Don't Know Why", a raga-esque expression of the acceptance of doubt in the world. The excellent support given by the rhythm section is obvious here; the floating melody hangs on the percussion line, gracefully punctuated by Jag's understated, bell-like guitar accents. It is an intimate piece, an appropriate segue into the 2/4 country song "Father James", '...a true story', as Jones declared before swinging into the conversational tale of the unrequited lovers Father James and Sister Marie. The characteristic Jones wordplay concisely portrays the wistfulness of missed opportunities, of having to 'live on' after a long struggle with the self, while celebrating the ways that we all use language to frame our feelings. Several audience members were heard singing, "I know you know I know I love you" on their way out of the theatre.

Jag's guitar skills came to the forefront on "Devil On My Mind". Here the symbiosis between Jag's guitar and Salem's lyric is most obvious, as though the lead guitar was a character commenting on the action of the lead singer's persona. This was the first of many 'theme duets' between Jag and Salem, voice and guitar expressing the same idea in perfect sync. Jag's style is varied, each time the bands focus turns to him his contribution is different, and each time the listener is treated to a rare experience. Jag is not another show-off guitarist, but a master at matching his work to the tone of the material, surely an uncommon trait among lead players! His virtuosity is assured and confident so he doesn't need to draw undue attention to himself. This professional polish is perhaps the unifying trait of each member of the band, they work to the service of the material, and ensemble playing is the key to their effectiveness.

The set continued with a change of pace. "Angels" showed the acuity of Salem's lyrics, which are filled with epigrammatic phrases that stay stuck in the mind long after the concert ends. Here, "If you truly want what you can't get/You aren't supposed to have it yet" stands out in a lilting, light vocal duet with Jag.

One of the highlights of this set was the guitar duet "Invitational", a 'celebration of men' Salem told us. Here the wistful, meandering melody takes surprising twists and turns, and Salem's voice reaches its highest highs and lowest lows, like love itself in this context. Again, Jag's guitar supports the vocal, but presents its own challenges, typical of the band's work.

The rest of the band returned for the apex of the evening, the rhythmically powerful "Deja Vu" and the passionate, polished "Gypsy Song", surely a great candidate for release as a single. Kory and Dean shine here, forging a tight unit whose impact is never taken for granted, and Jag, as always, complements rather than overpowers the unity of the tunes.

The set cooled again with "The Veils of Ignorance", another Eastern-influenced melody layered over a base of sheer rhythmic energy. This tune starts quietly, uncertainly, as if the song's persona needs to gain courage before imploring us to put aside 'dissatisfying satisfactions' and 'rise above the veils of ignorance'. The music purposely gains momentum and power, drawing the listener into the content of Salem's reflection. Needless to say, Jag's solo reflects the 'rising' rather than the 'ignorance' here.

The set ended with "Keep the City Out", perhaps the best demonstration of the tightness of the band. There are complex harmonies here, with every band member singing and playing to weave a web of sound. Kory's gorgeous bass line is the clothesline the tune hangs on, while Jag's solo epitomizes the escape from chaos to peace. Salem sings 'honour me with silence', but she has honoured us with her sound.

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