Ending the week with a set from Jools at this years Freak Valley Festival in Natphen, Germany – recorded on June 19th by West German Radio.
Jools are a relatively new band, having been formed in 2019 and releasing with their debut album only this past month. The excellent Website/Magazine Kerrang! ran a cover story on the band at the beginning of July this year. Here’s a excerpt written by Emma Wilkes which should give you some idea as to why you should know about them and why grabbing their initial offering is important, not only to you but to them.
July 2, 2025
Words: Emma Wilkes
There’s more to Jools than meets the eye. Often decked out in leather and leopard print, they’re sometimes told by people who stumble across their music that they didn’t expect them to have the sound that they do – deeply rooted in punk, but with glimmers of genres as varied as rap, metal and shoegaze, and a vocal style compared to spoken word.
“Whatever preconceptions you may have about us from how we look or sound, we’re so much more than that,” asserts co-vocalist Kate Price. “Quite often, people try to put us into a box, whether that be a genre or attitude or comparison. We’re kind of a genreless band, and we’re quite surprising, I would say.”
Though they formed in 2019, it was only two years ago that Jools settled into the current iteration of their line-up. After several members departed, they scrambled to assemble Jools 2.0 with just five weeks to prepare to open for Hot Milk at London venue KOKO. Their relationships are a constellation of uncanny encounters. Kate and co-vocalist Mitch Gordon met on a flight to Budapest that Mitch was only on because his dad had a windfall that allowed him to take his son on holiday for the first time. Drummer Chelsea Wrones is guitarist Chris Johnston’s line manager at work. Mitch spontaneously reunited with guitarist Callum Connachie, who he met seven years prior, at a pub before a Fontaines D.C. gig – a pub Callum only ended up at after his friend missed his train. “We make a point of reminding each other constantly that the way we met is fucking mental,” Mitch grins.
“We kind of feel like we’re meant to be with each other,” adds Kate. “We all found each other at a point where we really needed something, and that something has evolved into Jools.” Several members of the band, including Chris and bassist Joe Dodd, had made music previously and quit, and Jools has been their gateway back in. For Chelsea, picking up her sticks again was her father’s dying wish. As for Kate and Mitch, Jools was always their creative vessel, and they had to hang onto it. “We didn’t want to be faced with not doing it anymore. We had ideas and something to say that we really believed in.”
Grab the rest of the article here and bookmark Kerrang! while you’re at it, if you haven’t already done it years ago. It’s a keeper and a must-read if you want to know anything about what’s going on.
Okay – settle in and crank it up.
