Jape are an Irish
electronic–rock band from
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. Formed as a side project by Richie Egan whilst part of
The Redneck Manifesto, they have released five albums to date; ''
Cosmosphere'' (2003), ''
The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me'' (2004), ''
Ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
'' (2008), ''Ocean of Frequency'' (2011), and ''
This Chemical Sea'' (2015). Jape's wider discography includes the
EP, ''Jape is Grape'' (2007), as well as a number of singles, including "
Floating" and "
Phil Lynott". The band have performed at festivals and events such as
Glastonbury,
Electric Picnic,
Lovebox and
Hard Working Class Heroes and provided support for
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
at
Belsonic in
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
in August 2008.
The first and second albums received airplay on
alternative national radio in Ireland. ''The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Mes opening track, "
Floating", became a popular single on late night alternative music radio shows and attracted the attention of
Brendan Benson during a visit to Dublin. Benson now covers the track whilst performing live with his band
The Raconteurs, as do the Belgian
bastard pop duo
Soulwax during their DJ sets.
Jape's third album, ''Ritual'', was released in June 2008, later winning the
Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year 2008. The album features the singles "I Was a Man", "Strike Me Down" and "
Phil Lynott", the latter of which was subject to an unsuccessful petition by fans to have it named Ireland's Christmas number one single in December 2008.
The album ''Ocean of Frequency'' was released in 2011 and won Jape their second Choice Music Prize in March 2012.
Background
Richie Egan is the principal songwriter but refers to the overall band as Jape.
This came about following his first few solo performances when he realised he did not wish people to consider him a singer-songwriter but as part of a band.
Egan has been part of many bands from a young age, and spent his youth experimenting with four-track
tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...
s and sounds.
He was previously a member of the bands Black Belt Jones and Sir Killalot.
After leaving Black Belt Jones he went on to become the bassist in the
instrumental rock band
The Redneck Manifesto of which he is still a member.
He has occasionally toured as part of
David Kitt’s live band, as well as in Conor J. O'Brien's band
Villagers as a bass player and with his bandmates in The Redneck Manifesto.
By 2003 Egan had developed Jape after spending a week at the family home of fellow Redneck, Niall Byrne, in
Avoca, County Wicklow.
[ ]
"I’ve been playing in bands since I was really young but I’ve always been messing around on the side with four-track tape recorders, experimenting with sounds".
"The chance to turn this “messing around" into something concrete came about when he was given the opportunity to decamp to Avoca, where fellow Redneck, Niall's family own a house. Richie used it as a studio for a week."
"I listen to a lot of different styles of music, so I try to keep my finger in as many pies as possible. It keeps me interested," he laughs."
Style
Egan has said that he started listening to music during
puberty. He was initially influenced by 1960s melodic pop such as
Simon & Garfunkel, later listened to American
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...
such as the
Dead Kennedys,
Minor Threat,
Black Flag but listens to many styles of music overall.
The single "Strike Me Down" has been compared to
MSTRKRFT and the French
synthpop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...
quartet
Phoenix.
Memories of a childhood show by
heavy metal band
Mastodon led him to write the song "
Phil Lynott".
He also enjoys newer Irish acts such as
Villagers.
Career
Jape's debut album, ''
Cosmosphere'', was released on the Volta Sounds label in 2003.
National broadcaster
RTÉ suggested in its review that Jape was not a "convincing electronic producer" and that Egan did not have the voice of a singer-songwriter, indicating its desire to see him remain with The Redneck Manifesto and refrain from any further activities under the pseudonym Jape.
However, the album received airplay on national radio on shows such as
Donal Dineen's ''
Here Comes the Night'' on
Today FM.
Jape's second album, ''
The Monkeys in the Zoo Have More Fun Than Me'' was released by Trust Me I'm A Thief Records in 2004. It enjoyed much more success than its predecessor and contains the well-known single "
Floating" which was given much airplay on late night alternative radio shows.
The lead single "Floating" was famously overheard being played in
Whelan's in Dublin by the musician
Brendan Benson. Benson immediately requested a copy of the album
and then praised Jape in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' – however, the newspaper spelt it "Jabe".
He also rang Egan personally to inform him he would be covering "Floating" with his band
The Raconteurs.
However, Egan has stated that he did not give Benson personal permission to cover the song.
He did witness the cover live at the
Olympia Theatre and was later to describe it as "a great moment". The single is also covered by
Soulwax during their DJ sets.
Jape participated in two nationwide tours with both David Kitt and The Redneck Manifesto to promote the album's release.
Kitt was co-producer of "Floating".
The band went on to perform at prominent Irish festivals such as
Electric Picnic and
Hard Working Class Heroes.
A collection of remixes of the "Floating" single were released in June 2007.
A performance at the
Lovebox festival in Dublin followed on 21 July that year.
Jape recorded the EP ''Jape is Grape'', due for release by
V2 Records on 19 November 2007.
["JAPE Floating by DADDY and M&E"](_blank)
Dailymotion. Accessed 8 March 2009. Despite V2 folding in October 2007,
the EP release went ahead and a nationwide tour of Ireland followed to promote what was the band's major label debut. The band re-signed to The Co-Op.
''
Ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
'', Jape's first album in four years,
was released under the Co-op label on 4 June 2008. It entered the Irish album charts at number fifteen, while the ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
''s John Meagher named it his twentieth best Irish album of the 2000s. ''Ritual'' featured ten tracks, including "Streetwise", "Graveyard" and "Strike Me Down", all of which had previously been performed live.
The album was preceded by the single "I Was a Man",
whilst a video for the song "Graveyard", which was filmed in an actual graveyard in Dublin, was also released. There was a host of Irish and European dates and festival appearances to promote the album in June 2008, including performances at the
Róisín Dubh in
Galway
Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...
and
Vicar Street and the
Road Records music store in
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
. Appearances alongside
CSS,
Battles and
MGMT on the Park Stage and Dance Stage at
Glastonbury in England on 28–29 June and an appearance at the
Ola Festival in Spain followed.
Jape then opened for
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...
at
Belsonic in
Belfast
Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...
on 11 August 2008
and performed a free show as part of
Heineken Green Spheres in
Cork alongside
Donal Dineen on 19 November 2008. Supporting
Friendly Fires led to the English band remixing Jape's "Strike Me Down" single.
There was also an appearance at
Electric Picnic 2008 to follow the appearance
Electric Picnic 2006. Tony Clayton-Lea, writing in ''
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...
'' beforehand, said: "Suffice to say that if this whippet-thin geezer isn't one of the highlights of this year's Picnic then that's it—we give up".
In December 2008, Jape fans were behind an unsuccessful petition to have the single "
Phil Lynott" become the Christmas number one single in Ireland.
As of March 2009, Jape had six songs written for a fourth album.
An appearance at
Electric Picnic 2009 occurred,
however, a performance at
Pohoda in Slovakia did not occur, with Jape narrowly escaping a stage collapse which killed one person and injured more than 90 others.
On 19 March 2010 Jape were announced as one of the first acts expected to perform at that year's
Indie-pendence.
Jape released the album ''Ocean of Frequency'' in 2011. Jape performed at the
Eurosonic Festival in 2012 when Ireland was the "Spotlight Country". Richie Egan has since left Ireland and moved to Sweden.
In January 2015 Jape returned with their fifth studio album ''
This Chemical Sea''. The record was preceded by the single 'The Heart's Desire' and reached number 8 in Irish album charts. Following the album's release Jape toured Europe, playing live shows across the continent.
Discography
Studio albums
Extended plays
Awards
Choice Music Prize
The nomination of Jape's third album, ''Ritual'', for Ireland's
Choice Music Prize was announced on 14 January 2009.
''Rituals victory was announced at a live ceremony held at
Vicar Street, Dublin on 4 March 2009. The prize included a cheque for €10,000, jointly provided by the
Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the
Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA), and a specially commissioned award. Frontman Richie Egan joked about a rival nominee by saying: "They all deserve the award – sure my mother even told me that
Mick Flannery (nominated for his album ''
White Lies'') was going to win, she said you're good, Richie, but he's gorgeous". The award was decided by a secret ballot after the twelve judges, who included
Today FM presenter
Ian Dempsey, decided that the decision was proving difficult due to a closeness in voting. Jape was amongst six of the nominees who performed at the event, with a three-song set featuring earlier in proceedings.
When
Lisa Hannigan was nominated for the
Mercury Prize, Ed Power, writing in the ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper
A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...
'', wondered how close Jape had come to receiving a Mercury nomination—"Or, for that matter, how many of the judges had even heard of him".
''Ocean of Frequency'' was nominated for the Choice Music Prize in January 2012 and was announced as winner on 8 March 2012, making Jape the first act to have won the award more than once.
, -
, 2009 , , ''
Ritual
A ritual is a repeated, structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. Traditionally ...
'' , , Irish Album of the Year 2008 , ,
, -
, 2012 , , ''Ocean of Frequency'' , , Irish Album of the Year 2011 , ,
, -
Meteor Music Awards
Richie Egan received one nomination at the
2009 Meteor Awards for his band Jape.
He lost to
Mick Flannery in the Best Irish Male category at the awards ceremony held on 17 March 2009.
, -
, 2009 , , Jape/Richie Egan , , Best Irish Male , ,
, -
UK Music Video Awards
"Floating" was nominated for Best Budget Video at the UK Music Video Awards in 2008.
Autamata, another Irish band, were also nominated for their video "Need You Sunshine" as were
Example
Example may refer to:
* ''exempli gratia'' (e.g.), usually read out in English as "for example"
* .example, reserved as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain of the Internet
** example.com, example.net, example.org, an ...
’s video for "Me and Mandy", Lise Westzynthius's video for "Childlike Curves" and
These New Puritans's video for "Elvis".
The awards ceremony took place on 14 October 2008 in the
Odeon West End in
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
, London.
, -
, 2008 , , "
Floating" , , Best Budget Video , ,
, -
References
External links
{{Authority control
Irish electronic rock musical groups
Musical groups from Dublin (city)
Musical groups established in 2003
Irish pop music groups
2000s in Irish music
2010s in Irish music
2020s in Irish music