Muddled up in a time where you physically and mentally feel out of place can be distorientating. Your soul yearns for a different time that you want to call your own, but you can only merely imagine how it would really be. Knowing within himself that he was born into the wrong era, Jazz Pope at Models 1 expresses ardently his cravings to be a part of the northern British music scene that dominated the 90s, which runs so vivdely throughout his heritage and upbringing. With a name like that, we'd be dissappointed if he wasn't connected to music somehow.
At 17 years old, Jazz has had his fair share of the city life, migrated to a seaside town and now resides in a quaint village - a place he doesn't plan on switching up any time soon. He's an open book, divulging personal chapters in his life that lead you to forget just how young he really is. Intricate understanding of the people that surround him and his nonchalent perspective on social expectations is something we could do with in this day in age. We ponder upon the pressures of social media and the connectivity it brings, and get his thoughts on the difference of growing up in the city versus a smaller town.
A life saturated in musical talent, Jazz is hungry for the future, itching to begin his time as a musician. From a young age the very essence of his being was translated into music, learning to love such a variety of musical talents that have shaped him to have a great apprecation for anything that produces a beat. Jazz describes everything with a fervent manner, lining up side by side a range of exciting dreams and prospects.
How would you describe the generation that you are growing up within?
Interesting, to start with. It’s different to how other generations have grown up with social media and all of that, there are more social pressures, but it’s not all negative. It’s pretty cool how technology is advancing. Personally, I would have rather have been a teenager in the 90s, just ‘cause I prefer the music back then with The Stone Roses and Oasis and all that - I love all that Manchester/Northern stuff. It’s where my heritage all is, most of my family are from up north. Yeah, I would have preferred to have grown up then, but I’m here, and I’m doing alright.
What are the challenges you guys face?
Social media holds a lot of expectations that sometimes don't necessarily need to be met, but kind of are forced onto us. We are forced into uploading pictures to Instagram and all that, a lot of people feel pressured into doing that. As a whole, I feel it’s better in terms racial abuse and feminism and all that, it seems to have all gotten a lot better than how it used to be.
What are the best things?
Going back to social media, everyone is better connected. I keep friends with all my mates in Brighton and London from when I was younger, and you wouldn’t be able to have that opportunity 20 years ago. Even my uncle lives Abu Dhabi, I couldn’t really have spoken to him 20 years ago, would have been near impossible.
You’ve hopped around a few different places, and now you’re in a small village. How do you think growing up in a city like London compares to growing up in a village like where you are now?
Where I live is so chilled out. I love coming to London, but I also love leaving it and relaxing down in the countryside. I reckon it would be too full on living in a city now, especially London - it’s so overpopulated and everyone is bloody angry all the time. In the countryside everyone’s lovely. I’m only a 50 minute train journey from London, so it’s not even too far out, and Brighton is 20 minutes away. I feel like I live in the perfect place. I will probably live here one day when I have kids and a wife, but I don’t really like how it is at the moment. There’s a lot of stuff happening here obviously, compared to Henfield, where there’s like a village hall meeting once a week.
How do you think living in Brighton affected your upbringing? Everyone I speak to about Brighton absolutely adores it.
Brighton is such a creative, buzzing place. It’s probably my favourite place in the world. Everyone there are artists and doing their own thing, it’s such a great place to grow up in for that reason alone. It’s one of the things that got me into my music, the whole Brighton scene. It’s just awesome, just where you want to be as an artist. It really pushed me into it. It’s a beautiful place, and in the summer it’s great as well - a bit like heaven on earth. In the winter it can be a bit of a bleak seaside town though. The nightlife is great though.
What are you passionate about?
Music. Full stop.
What do you play?
I play keyboard and piano in my band. There’s five of us, but that’s like all we do. It’s the only way you can make it in the industry, just work your fucking socks off. So many people think you can sit back and then it’ll all happen, but we’re emailing people every day when we aren’t writing music. We’re practicing getting tighter, I have such a passion. I know every bloody musician says that, but it’s just what I want to do.
When did you realise this was what you wanted?
I would say since I was a baby, but I just never knew being a musician was an actual job as such. I never said that I wanted to be a musician, because I thought that everyone would just laugh at me, so I used to say I wanted to be a car designer, but in the back of my head I was always saying that I just want to be in a band and play music. I kind of awkwardly said to my dad one day; ‘is being a musician a real job?’ and he just laughed and said; ‘yes, course it is’. Since then I just pushed myself and really just acing that.
When did you begin learning the piano/keyboard?
I first started when I was four years old, living in London. I learnt classical for about two years and I absolutely hated it, it was horrible. I quit and stopped for about five years, but then I started getting more piano lessons, playing around on the piano in my house. When I started to play again, I was still playing classical, but I asked my teacher if there was anything else I could do with it, and then we started with blues and jazz. I made a little band when I lived in Brighton, and ever since that I’ve just had an infinite love for it. It’s the best feeling, playing - you release all your emotions into it. Whether you’re angry, happy or sad - it is just the most tranquil thing to do.
Full interview available here.
Image taken from Boys by Girls, shot by Cecilie Harris.
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