The band JIP is Jim Gwynn (Vocals / Guitar), Spencer Watson (Guitar / Vocals), Mike Charbonneau (Drums / Percussion) and Bruce Smith ( Bass ). Last Call was brewed in Chicago Illinois at Million Yen Studios with Producer Andy Gerber (Local H / Tossers). Last Call is the third studio album from the band since 2010 (Year X in 2010 / Sparks, Flames & Names in 2012). JIP has established a sound and place in the Chicago Music Scene while playing some of the greatest Chicago music venues including: Metro Chicago, Double Door, Cubby Bear, Hard Rock Chicago, Subterranean, and many others.
RA: RA Beattie here with Breedlove Stringed Instruments. Today we are fortunate to chat with Jim Gwynn of the band JIP. Thank you so much for chatting with us.
Jim: Hey, thanks for having me. I'm a proud Breedlove artist.
RA: Thanks for playing our instruments. We definitely appreciate it. How long have you been playing acoustic guitar or guitar in general?
Jim: I started out when I was 15 years old with an electric guitar. As my songwriting progressed I found out that things sound prettier though an acoustic. This is the 15th year of my band JIP and we normally start our songwriting with the acoustic guitar. Some of it goes into electric for a little more power but the good songs always end up being on an acoustic. My last few records, use my Breedlove proudly.
RA: You play the acoustic plugged in the majority of the time when playing live? What's your set up?
Jim: We have a four-piece band within JIP. Sometimes we'll have it where I plug in my Breedlove and we'll do the few acoustic songs we have on our record. If I'm doing a solo show, for sure I've always done just Breedlove in hand with an amp, always plugged in and going that way.
RA: Tell me, what does your band name JIP stand for? Does it have any special meaning behind it?
Jim: I was in a band originally that was like Tenacious D with my best friend. As I progressed, I wanted to write more serious songs. Things that could be easier to consume and also I've been writing since I was a kid. I wanted to be more professional. JIP itself stands for Jim's Intimate Perspective. It was a solo project for a really long time and then it morphed into a four-piece band. I guess it still makes sense that it's Jim's Intimate Perspective but it's not that anymore. It's just JIP.
RA: You’re celebrating 15 years with JIP now and so you have a special project that corresponds to celebrating that 15-year mark, right?
Jim: Yeah, absolutely. In 2015 we released a deluxe version of what is probably our signature album, Last Call. After that happened I was on just a writing frenzy and it didn't stop. I ended up writing probably a good 15 new songs. I really wanted to do something special with the 15 year so what I did was, I did some JIP standard songs that we normally played during our sets. Then I released seven new tracks and it's all for free. Just put it on the SoundCloud and just delivering it to the public.
RA: That's awesome, so people can find it on SoundCloud. Are there any other ways that people can connect with you if they want to hear more of your music and check out what you're doing?
Jim: Yeah, absolutely. Everything's at getjip.com. That's G-E-T-J-I-P.com. You'll see some videos. During Last Call, again that's our signature rock album. We had 15 artists do cover songs of our own music. You can find links to all those too. Then this new 15 track album, As it Begins. Again, all songs start with an acoustic guitar with me. It's me in the studio we normally record in with just mics on and me playing an acoustic and singing.
This 15 track thing for the 15 year, it sounds as good as I could expect. I'm singing better now, which is great. My Breedlove sounds great too. Really happy about that.
RA: Tell me a little bit about this album from a song writing perspective. Common themes in this collection or is it just representative of a bunch of different things happening in your life? What's the story behind some of the songwriting?
Jim: I feel like this is an extension of that record, Last Call, that we released. I’ve really been focusing on finding bright parts of your life and exposing those more instead of getting stuck in the dirt. You'll hear a lot of that in these songs too. You'll also hear that I encapsulate every record as being what is my final. I always end up having a bookend to it. There's a lot that going on as it begins. The record that I just released for free. It's really about overcoming adversity and enjoying your life and having a good time. That was really the premises of JIP in the first place.
Music's always been it for me. I'm a fan first before even being an artist. I wanted to have people enjoy what they were listening to and then also trying to find the little nuggets in there to make you feel good.
RA: Looking back over 15 years, how has song writing or your music career changed? What are the noticeable things, the big differences that you've seen over a 15-year period.
Jim: I've been fortunate to have some really good partnerships. Spencer Watson, he and I write music together for 20 years. I normally start out writing the songs and then we finagle it and make it sound better. My drummer Mike Charbonneau has been around, just the growth of it being a band more than a solo project was a great transition.
We've played some of the greatest clubs in Chicago. Got to open up for my favorite band Local H, just a few months back. You could see the ramp up. As long as you do the work and as long as you make yourself available things just pan out to what they're supposed to be. I couldn't be prouder of what JIP has accomplished and how far we've come.
The song writing is very similar. In 15 years I've been listening to the old songs. They sound terrible but the song writing structures all the same. You could see I was a fan of the 90s. Nirvana was the verse, course, verse business. You can hear a lot of that in JIP's songs.
RA: Congratulations. I know it's a tremendous undertaking to not only write all the songs and put them together, but complete an album – get it recorded and take it to market. I know that you're just finishing this giant project, but is there something next on the horizon that you're already working towards? Or, are you just going to celebrate the completion of this project for now?
Jim: Yeah, I'm going to celebrate it for now. You'll be happy to hear from a Breedlove perspective. I played that whole 15 track record and 14 of the songs I played with my Breedlove. The last one was one I did with an electric and it was a song called Not as Sweet. For the first time I was able to do my Pete Townshend moment and smash a guitar. I haven't picked one up since expect for fiddling around with my Breedlove. At this point I think we're just going to settle in the moment, enjoy it.
There's lots of things that we play around with. The collaboration has been a lot of fun. I've been working with other artist. I look forward to doing that some more. I'll be writing songs with Spencer until I'm dead. That's for sure.
RA: That's wonderful. We really appreciate you’re playing Breedlove guitars, and for taking some time to chat with us. For anyone who's interesting in learning more, we encourage you to check out the links at the bottom of this post. We can't wait to hear what's next and just thanks so much for playing our instruments.
Jim: Yeah, thank you so much. It took a lot of trial and error before I was able to find Breedlove. It's the perfect sound for me as far as the little bass notes and the highs. I couldn't have been happier. I've been through a lot of guitars. If you’re a friend of mine, you know that. I slipped a lot in this Atlas that I've had has been with me for seven years now and I love it. I absolutely love this guitar.
RA: Nice, well we really appreciate it. That's awesome to hear and again just thank you so much for chatting with us and we really appreciate your time.
