Glasgow’s We Were Promised Jetpacks has one of the best band names we’ve come across in a while—luckily the group has a sound to match. Fresh off a stint opening shows for Frightened Rabbits, the Jetpacks share the dark, angular sound of that band but has a more driving, caffeinated side as well. Rebecca Huval spoke with singer and guitarist Adam Thompson in anticipation of tonight’s show at Bowery Ballroom. I have to know—how did you come up with that band name?
Uncle Michael suggested it and we added it to the list of about 10 other possibilities. We chose it because we needed a name! If we'd known we were ever going to have to use that as our band name for releasing CDs and touring we probably wouldn't have chosen it!
You guys are my younger brother's age, and he still watches Saturday morning cartoons. How did you achieve such a mature sound?
Listening to great bands and realizing we don't want to be a kid’s band. We want to right songs that are fun but have some sort of meaning and maturity that will mean we can last as a group.
You seem to have a bouncier, more anthemic quality to your songs than some of the other bands on the Fat Cat label. Did you start out blazing power chords, or how did you find your groove?
We started out doing covers of loads of shit songs like most youths do. Then over time we kept writing more and more songs. We really like making good use of rhythm in all our instruments.
Now that's you're deep into your tour, how do American audiences measure up to the Brits? And what do we have to do to impress you at The Bowery?
American audiences are generally really polite and enthusiastic. We’ve had quite a lot of people come up to us after concerts and say the nicest things. I think if Americans want to see us and we play in their town they seem to really appreciate the fact that we are over here playing. Maybe someone topless (female or male I suppose) or some stage divers would be cool.
