"It feels triumphant": Newcastle's Jango Flash Dive into Their Supercharged Debut EP

Jango Flash’s frontman Jack Golightly chats with Atwood Magazine about the Newcastle indie rock band’s stunning debut EP – an uncompromising, unfiltered, and utterly invigorating introduction full of fire and fury, passion and purpose.

for fans of Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, The Wombats

Stream: ‘Jango Flash’ – Jango Flash

There’s hunger in Jango Flash’s hearts.

You can feel it in the way they sling their guitars; how the drums hit the beat; how the bass pulsates its rhythms; how their vocals hold absolutely nothing back. The Newcastle indie rock band won’t settle for “good”; everything they make has to be great, and perhaps that’s one of the reasons it’s taken them six years to released a debut EP: It had to be just right.

Jango Flash EP — ‘Jango Flash’ EP – Jango Flash

Time makes diamonds out of sand, and Jango Flash’s self-titled was well worth the wait: The four-track Jango Flash is an uncompromising, invigorating introduction full of fire and fury, passion and purpose. The North East five-piece burn bright with soaring energy and raw, rousing emotion on songs that capture their humanity, their drive, and their desire to connect with something greater.

“This self-titled EP is our first step into the world of Jango Flash and what we stand for,” frontman Jack Golightly tells Atwood Magazine. Formed initially as his “space cadet alter ego” in 2018, Jango Flash is today a full band outfit comprised of Golightly, drummer Ed Smith, guitarists Jake Waugh and Sam Frame, and bass guitarist Louis Gomes.

And this EP is a long time coming, for all of them.

“These four singles tackle topics of love, loss and addiction from an honest place of reflection,” Golightly shares. “We write to lift our spirits to a state of empowerment through catharsis, and we want this EP to be the soundtrack to anyone seeking to overcome struggles and find themselves again.”

Already a presence on Atwood‘s radar for three years now (their 2021 single “My Mercedes” is unapologetically loud, and beautifully so), Jango Flash are ready to take the world by storm. The songs on their first EP – the sweltering, spirited “Tired Eyes,” the churning fever dream “Perseid 45,” the relentlessly roaring barnstormer “Killing Time,” and the dramatic upheaval “Just a Game” – are bold, brash, and utterly irresistible, making for a truly engaging listening experience with plenty of replay value.

Atwood Magazine recently caught up with frontman Jack Golightly on the precipice of Jango Flash‘s release. Dive into the band’s debut EP in our interview below, and stay tuned for more to come: Easily one of the best indie rock groups coming out of North East England today, Jango Flash have that magic it factor that keeps us forever exhilarated, on our feet and hungry for more.

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:: stream/purchase Jango Flash EP here ::

:: connect with Jango Flash here ::

Stream: “Tired Eyes” – Jango Flash

A CONVERSATION WITH JANGO FLASH

To the reader who’s just discovering you today via this EP and interview, what do you want them to know about who Jango Flash is and what your music is all about?

Jango Flash: Jango Flash for us is all about being honest and expressive. Whether we’re hanging out day to day, creating artwork or making music, we try to bring the best out in one another, dispute where needed, be good listeners and laugh as much as we can. This band is an endless outlet for us all.

You know what, I never asked this the first time so I might as well ask it now. What inspired your band name? Is there a story behind it?

Jango Flash: The name is comprised of two nicknames I was given by a few close friends of mine about 9 years ago. Jango is made up of the first two letters of my first, second and last name “Jack Angus Golightly.” I have also worked as a chef from the age of 17 right up until today, so “Flash” was a name I was given in the kitchen because I could chop onions really fast.

I discovered you three years ago with your fifth lifetime single “My Mercedes,” and now here we are, finally at the precipice of your debut EP! What’s that journey been like for you, and how does it feel to finally be putting out your first multitrack release?

Jango Flash: It’s mad to look back at where I’ve come personally since 2018, writing music in my bedroom for no one but my friends to hear. I used to have a lot of fear about being at the front of a band, and considering I believed I would always play drums, Jango Flash has come a long way from being an idea in my head. Now after many lineup iterations, we’re a complete group and have rendered our collective efforts down to the best work we have produced to date, flowing like it’s intended to and being represented by a label. We’re buzzing for people to hear the EP in its entirety.

JANGO FLASH’S “MY MERCEDES” IS LOUD, FEVERISH, & RAW INDIE ROCK

:: TODAY'S SONG ::

You’re from Newcastle, which is a part of the North East’s bustling DIY music scene! What can you tell us about being a part of that scene from the inside; what has your experience been like over these first couple of years?

Jango Flash: Yeah, I mean we have all played in and been involved with various artists around Newcastle. Though, the one thing that has always tied the North East’s tight knit underground scene together is its tenacity to pursue artistry. There are a good handful of Newcastle’s artists who seem to carry a different weight to them that comes with the territory. This town is brimming with some seriously determined musicians ready to make a name for themselves, it’s just that nobody has heard them yet.

What, if any, impact has living in Newcastle had on your artistry and the music you make? Do you feel like your environment affects your sound?

Jango Flash: Yes, absolutely. This town comes with its own unique landscape. You can be at the beach, then a park, right through a concrete jungle back down to a fishing dock all within 15 minutes. And, along that distance there are so many places rich in history to stop at, many of which we all do on a regular basis. It’s a small town and more often than not, everyone is within two degrees of separation from one another. I will say there is a sobering urgency that is unique to the North East sound, dictated largely by the environment and its culture. I’ve noticed that people are cottoning on to it further afield, I can hear its nuances trickling down the country.

“Killing Time” is one of the oldest tracks on this record, having originally been released in 2022. What’s the significance of this song for you - what is its story?

Jango Flash: “Killing Time” is a track that marked a transitional period in a few of our lives in the band at that particular time. There were issues kicking around and a lot of unresolved trauma that we hadn’t individually dealt with. So, I believe it was an honest reflection of the time and very cathartic.

What does it mean to “kill time” for you, and do you feel like that song’s message still resonates with you?

Jango Flash: Just getting messed up too often to cover up something much deeper. I try not to do that anymore, there’s not enough time and there’s too much to do.

You led with the opening track “Tired Eyes” last autumn. Why introduce this special first collection with that song, and what does it mean to you?

Jango Flash: “Tired Eyes” is a track that had its place in a time of turbulence. There were a few things going on around my personal life and it just felt like the right kind of track to be writing and releasing. The rhythm felt right and the melody was there so it kind of came together as we developed it from scratch in the studio. It’s been a good way to mark the current direction of our sound.

You then have “Just a Game,” the visceral, raw single released last February. What do you love most about this song?

Jango Flash: The track was written after my brother passed away. The song was written as if I was reporting all of the things that were happening around me back to him in his absence. I was also just fascinated by the thought that all we will be left with are memories of this fleeting life, despite our constant fixation on the finite.

Musically, it made sense to finish on a song that pulls the rug from under your feet at the final minute.

“Perseid 45” is so incredibly hard hitting – Jack when you wail, it really sends shivers down the spine! How did this song come about?

Jango Flash: “Perseid 45” is one of the first songs I ever wrote back in 2018 when I started Jango Flash. The track was meant as an apology song to my previous partner. It references a night where we both sat out on deckchairs in a field up in Scotland and starwatched the Perseid meteor shower.

For whatever reason I decided to Frankenstein an apology song with a northern wartime story from 1940, where a young boy was accosted by a pack of extraterrestrials in a back lane and experimented on before one of them was killed with a coal shovel. Not really your classic thematic pairing, but I was listening to a lot of Daft Punk and Empire of the Sun at the time, so it was all offset by a really strong disco beat and roaring guitars.

I have to say, I really love how you structure this EP - I think the order makes it a perfect listen; you continuously ramp up to this cinematic finale that aches in all the right ways. What was your experience like, structuring it - how much conscious effort goes into something like that?

Jango Flash: To be honest, there was no definitive blueprint to how it was going to pan out structurally. I wrote a handful of songs that we all chiseled away at as a group and the order you will hear them was something we addressed afterwards. It was refreshing to hear them separately and pick a flow for them to follow on this EP, it kind of made its own sides up with the pacing and pairing of each track.

What might someone be surprised to learn about you? What is one of Jango Flash’s “fun facts”?

Jango Flash: Here’s a few – Sam can fall down flights of stairs like a stuntman, I have cooked South Korean food for six years, and Ed saw Amy Winehouse using a small stepladder to put coins in a jukebox.

What do you hope listeners take away from your debut EP, and what have you yourselves taken away from making it and now putting it out?

Jango Flash: We just hope that, like all of us, people can feed off the energy of our recordings. Ultimately the feeling this EP gives off to us is one of finding meaning in life again through acceptance of the present and persistence in the face of adversity. It feels triumphant, and we stand by what the songs mean to each of us.

In the spirit of paying it forward, who are you listening to these days that you would recommend to our readers?

Jango Flash: I’ve been listening to Alex G’s beautiful but heartbreaking 2022 album God Save The Animals, Brian Eno and Fred Again’s collaborative album Secret Life, and Radiohead’s timeless In Rainbows Basement Session a lot.

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