"We generally don't get on well together at all" (From The Bolton News)

"We generally don't get on well together at all"

11:04am Wednesday 30th May 2007

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HEAR JESUS IN INDIA'S DON'T LOOK BACK ON OUR PODCAST, ABOVE.

MOST bands will tell you that they have been friends since before they were in the womb, and communicate through a special bond, forged through years of falling out of trees.

Not so Jesus In India, who were thrown together by circumstance. The circumstance, that is, of Dan Moores and Rob Derbyshire being late to music class and left with no choice but to pair up together.

Recognising a fellow talented musician, the pair decided to form a band. But things did not go as smoothly as they might have hoped.

"Unfortunately we absolutely detested each other's musical tastes, so the result was always me trying to be kinda cool, like Morrissey and David Bowie, and him all hip-hop and God knows what," says Dan. "So it actually just sounded like Gareth Gates."

But kinks ironed out, Jesus In India came into being. And it seems that the name was caused as much by divine providence as any conscientious decision.

"It's very dumb really," says Dan. "Rob and I were preparing for this acoustic gig once and we were asked to do a load of covers. Anyway, we were looking at doing Nothing Compares To You by Sinead O'Connor, but Rob couldn't remember the lyrics. So I printed them off for him, and at the bottom of the page it just said Jesus In India.' "I had no idea what it meant, it was just a banner add, and apparently it's an idea that Jesus spent a lot of his life and died in India.

"We're not remotely religious, we don't care about that, but it just sounded cool. Previous suggestions were more embarrassing. Rob's suggestions were Men In Armour and Dr Nice, for some reason."

Together they played various venues around Bolton and Manchester, before deciding that they should expand from a duo to a full band.

Dan says: "The idea was that we just wanted to get together a bunch of people who were just good at their instruments, because I've been in loads of bands before with mates and it isn't a good idea. I take it so seriously and I don't think my mates ever did.

"One thing I like about working with Rob is that we generally don't get on well together at all, and as a result we can say nasty things to each other for the benefit of what we're trying to do."

"There's a real dichotomy between myself and Rob that sets it off quite a lot. One thing people have always said to us whenever we've played live is that they don't really know what it is in terms of a genre. It's just rock music if you ask me.

"The other thing is that live we are very powerful, I never thought that I'd be in a band that was such pure heavy power, the idea makes me sick really. We are incredibly good live. And I'm really not being boastful.

"I think we write stuff that's quite catchy, that's the main thing I'm trying to do, I try and write music that sticks in people's heads. And just do stuff that we enjoy."

Jesus In India play the Whitworth Park Student Fest in Manchester on June 8 and the Dry Bar in Manchester on July 11.

For more information, visit www.myspace.com/jesusinindia2007.

HEAR JESUS IN INDIA'S SOLD ON 107.4 TOWER FM, THIS SUNDAY AT 3.30PM.

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