JAGWAR MA plays Coachella Apr. 14 and 21, Fox Theater Apr 18 and Pappy & Harriet’s Apr 19; photo Maclay Heriot
Jagwar Ma return to Coachella this year and they will also be playing a couple of club dates at The Fox Theater Apr. 18 as well as Pappy & Harriett’s Apr. 19. Having played Coachella three years ago, that incredible memory is one they will never forget.
“It was a life-changing experience I think for all of us so we’re just very, very excited and very honored to be playing the shows,” Gabriel Winterfield (guitar / vocals) said. “And we’re really excited to be playing with Glass Animals”.
The Australian natives who play shimmering psychedelic dance-pop, had a modest California radio hit with “Come Save Me” during their previous run, and also toured with Tame Impala.
On the road with Glass Animals this time around, Jagwar Ma will be performing both to an endless sea of people in a festival setting or in front of an up-close and personal audience in a club setting. However, with a bit of tongue-in-cheek, Winterfield said, “a festival is as intimate as a club show and a club show is as festive as a festival”.
Conceptually, the group is also interested in the visuals displayed while they play. Jono Ma (synth / guitar /vocals) has been working with visual artist Jim Warrier on their current live stage show, which they’ve aired out a few times in Europe and the UK.
Every Now & Then their recently released second album sees the band evolving but still keeping their recognizable sound. It’s more of a sequel than a departure from their first album.
“We tried to keep a lot of the process similar to how we did the first one,” Winterfield mused. “Maybe we were superstitious of wanting to change things”.
But their day to day lives had changed which added a natural influence on the writing process while the frequent use of a different synthesizer also contributed to changing things up a little bit.
JAGWAR MA; photo Maclay Heriot
However, playing live is a whole other animal as some of the songs have parts that aren’t on the records. They were sort of designed for a live atmosphere.
“And sometimes even musically we reference artists that are heroes of ours and are influences,” Winterfield said. “It’s nice to be able to pay homage to them in a live setting”.
Songs such as Michael Jackson’s “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and Nirvana’s “All Apologies” have occasionally appeared in the encore to freshen things up.
“It’s nice to play other people’s music, especially great artists as those.”
While interviewing the band over the phone during their final Coachella set rehearsal in the UK, the night before their departure for Atlanta, Winterfield’s clothes were clean but not packed.
“I may just bring a bag of wet clothes,” he laughed. “And my Pikachu camera”.
Wet clothes or not, the future looks bright with shows taking them on short jaunts back and forth between the States and Europe over the next few months.