Jack Jones (born 14 February 1992) is a Welsh musician, songwriter and poet. He is the lead singer and guitarist in the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

band Trampolene, and lead guitarist in

Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres are a British band, formed by Pete Doherty (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and is his third musical project after the Libertines and Babyshambles. The band's first album, the self titled ''Peter Doherty and The Put ...

. He also performs music and spoken word poetry as a solo artist, being the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary titled "Another Swansea Poet" broadcast in 2019. He was born in

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

and currently lives between London, Berlin and Swansea.

Career

Music

Jones is songwriter, guitarist and lead singer in the band Trampolene. During May 2016, Jones supported Peter Doherty on his UK "Eudaimonia" tour and played guitar for him. Venues included Glasgow

Barrowland Ballroom The Barrowland Ballroom (also known as Barrowlands) is a dance hall and music venue in Glasgow, Scotland. History The original building opened in 1934 in a mercantile area east of Glasgow's city centre, built by Maggie McIver, the "Barras Queen ...

and two nights at

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in Lon ...

in London. He also performed at The Libertines secret show at The Boogaloo, London in July 2016. In 2016 he performed solo at

Latitude Festival The Latitude Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Henham Park, near Southwold, Suffolk, England. It was first held in July 2006 and has been held every year since, apart from 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 ...

, whose website describes him as a "music icon". In November 2016, the day after Trampolene headlined at

The Water Rats The Water Rats is a live music venue at 328 Grays Inn Road, Kings Cross, London, England. Until 1992, it was known as The Pindar of Wakefield and was famous for its regular old time music hall entertainment. Bob Dylan played his first UK gig ...

in London, Jones flew to Argentina to become Doherty's lead guitarist in his band the Puta Madres, for a November/December 2016 tour of Argentina, France and UK. They played two shows for the reopening of

Le Bataclan The Bataclan () is a theatre located at 50 Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, France. Designed in 1864 by the architect Charles Duval, its name refers to ''Ba-ta-clan'', an operetta by Jacques Offenbach. Since the early 19 ...

in Paris, followed by a week's tour across France and then Kentish Town Forum in London and Manchester Albert Hall. Jones opened the shows with a solo music and spoken word set, before rejoining the stage as Peter's lead guitarist. He was described in a five star review in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' as "Swansea's finest" and "sickeningly talented". Jones played two solo shows at the end of 2016, Kazoopa Festival, Leeds in November and This Feeling's New Year's Eve night at Nambucca, London. He played two solo shows at

Russell Brand Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...

's charity

Trew Era Cafe The Trew Era Café is a non-profit coffeehouse established in March 2015 in London Borough of Hackney, Hackney, East London. The café, opened by comedian and activist Russell Brand, was funded by profits from his 2014 book, ''Revolution (book), R ...

, toured European and South American festivals across Europe in the summer as Doherty's guitarist and a performed a solo acoustic and spoken word set and a DJ set at Glastonbury festival. In November 2017 Jones was interviewed by Janice Long and played acoustic songs live on her BBC Radio Wales show. He was also featured on the promotional video for Swansea's bid for City of Culture. Jones was featured on "Red Stripe Presents: This Feeling TV" in May 2018. To commemorate Trampolene's appearance at BBC Music's Biggest Weekend in Swansea in May 2018, Jones was featured in a "Wonder Wall" mural of Welsh musicians, by street artist Pure Evil. His debut solo single, the AA side "Swim Up"/"It's Not My Thing" was released on 7 September 2018 and was played regularly on BBC Radio 1, Radio 6 and Radio X. The single was written with and features Mike Moore, who also plays guitar for

Liam Gallagher William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...

. "It's Not My Thing" contains the riff from the track "DUST" by Lions of Dissent who are credited as the track's composers. In October 2018 he played instore gigs and signing sessions on a short tour of Japan. In 2019 Jones toured the UK with

, followed by a European tour and several festival appearances with them. He played guitar and sang with Doherty on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's " Loose Ends", broadcast on 13 April and on John Kennedy's Xposure show on Radio X, broadcast 30 April 2019. Jones supported Peter Doherty at PowerHaus (formally

Dingwalls Dingwalls was a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, ...

) in Camden, London on 24 and 25 July 2021. In November 2021 he completed his first solo tour, playing in Cardiff, London, Manchester and Glasgow with a set of music, spoken word poetry and anecdotes. In 2022 Jones played solo shows in Swansea, Manchester, London and Basingstoke, plus the Love Trails festival in Gower, Wales. In December 2022 he returned to play The Bunkhouse in Swansea and ended the year with a New Year's Eve show at the Albion Rooms, Margate.

Spoken word

In addition to his poems being an integral part of Trampolene as a band, Jack Jones also performs spoken word poetry as a solo artist. Dr John Cooper Clarke has described his writing as "...exceptional poetry, funny and depressing at the same time and how often can you say that." The video for ''Health & Wellbeing (at Wood Green Job Centre)'' was premiered on

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

website, ''Ketamine'' was premiered on Vice Noisey on 21 October 2015, ''Pound Land'' was premiered on Gigwise on 18 December 2015. Gigwise said of Jack Jones "indie has a new poster boy" in their article "Artists who are going to own 2016". Music business legend and

1965 Records 1965 Records is a London-based subsidiary record label of SonyBMG. Formed in 2006 in British music, 2006, the label was founded by James Endeacott (formerly of Rough Trade Records), who first signed The Libertines. The label features bands who ...

owner James Endeacott described Trampolene as a "great band and their singer Jack is a wonder" when sharing the video for ''Artwork of Youth'' on his blog. In 2015, Jones performed his poetry at

The Great Escape Festival The Great Escape Festival is a three-day music festival held in Brighton and Hove, England every year in May. It is operated by MAMA Festivals and showcases new music from a variety of genres. The festival was founded in 2006 and roughly hosts ...

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, Stoke Newington Literary Festival and "Bring the Ruckus" at The Albany in London. In January 2016 he was personally invited by Peter Doherty and

Carl Barât Carl Ashley Raphael Barât (; born 6 June 1978) is a British musician and actor, best known for being the co-frontman with Pete Doherty of the garage rock band The Libertines. He was the frontman and lead guitarist of Dirty Pretty Things, and ...

The Libertines The Libertines are an English rock band, formed in London in 1997 by frontmen Carl Barât (vocals/guitar) and Pete Doherty (vocals/guitar). The band, centred on the songwriting partnership of Barât and Doherty, has also included John Hassall ...

to perform on their sell-out arena tour. He performed two poems and then welcomed the band to the stage in front of 20,000 fans. In his first feature in the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

he is introduced as "Jack Jones, singer in Welsh indie rockers Trampolene, plucked from life living in the back of his broken-down van to follow in the proud pre-Libs poetry footsteps of none other than

." On 7 September 2016 he reprised this role to perform his "To Be A Libertine" poem and introduce

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...

for their Unity Rocks charity show. Jack Jones was the subject of a

documentary called "Another Swansea Poet", broadcast on 31 March 2019. He performed a spoken word and solo music set at the Mother Wolf Club night in London on 24 June 2021. His first solo tour in November 2021 included his spoken word poetry, songs and anecdotes.

Writing and other media

Jones' first fashion shoot was for OutThere Style magazine, published February 2016 and was featured wearing jewellery for Pirate Treasures "Stage Style" collection also in February 2016. Jones wrote an article for

which was published on 18 March 2016. On 15 June 2016 the

published a poem Jones wrote for them about the UK's EU Referendum, based on

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

song "Should I Stay or Should I Go?". In July 2022 he was a guest on the Gig Stories podcast recorded live at Kendal Calling festival, where he was performing with Trampolene.

Influences

Jones' writing influences include

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

and

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

and according to The Musical Manual his spoken word poem ''Ketamine'' "shares stark resemblance to workings of punk-poet legend,

John Cooper Clarke John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with sev ...

.". Even the Stars music blog described ''"Ketamine"'' as "laced with wit and humour and the other '"Pound Land"''a droll comical observation of modern life based around a visit to

Poundland Poundland is a British variety store chain founded in 1990. It once sold most items at the single price of £1, including Closeout (sale), clearance items and proprietary brands. The first Pilot (experiment), pilot store opened in December 19 ...

". Jones has been described as a "singer, guitarist and full-on enigma", a "fine poet...With a John Cooper Clarke-esque delivery of his sideways glance into the uglier corners of modern society...wistful and witty poems" and as having "extraordinary stage presence".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Jack 1992 births Living people Welsh rock singers Welsh rock guitarists Welsh songwriters 21st-century Welsh musicians 21st-century Welsh poets 21st-century British male writers