For a lot of people, the punk rock attitude lives on in the music that they make even if the music itself isn't constructed in stereotypical punk format.
Bassist Matt Turner and guitarist Sean Williamson of Jimmy At The Prom are two guys that clearly haven't lost their attitude when it comes to music, which helps to create a nice sound around the vocals James Dahmann Jr. provides and Dave Schoepke's drum playing.
Matt Turner and Sean Williamson of Jimmy At The Prom were more than happy to step up to the plate to let people know what Jimmy At The Prom is about - and, just as importantly, what they aren't about - before they play their next hometown gig at the Mad Planet on Sept. 17.
OnMilwaukee.com: You said that your music is influenced by punk, but what you've composed isn't the prototypical style of punk - one could even say that you've leaned harder towards prog rock - so what about your music maintains that punk attitude to you?
Jimmy At The Prom: Nothing. I think our music reflects the sign of the times. In today's day and age, de-categorization is key. A genre is just another meta tag in someone's web browser. A time signature, a sex scandal, a grinding rhythm section, which one of those define the genre these days?
OMC: If Jimmy At The Prom was building upon the legacy of another band, what band would that be and why?
JATP: We don't want to ride coat-tails. Building a legacy on someone else's foundation is a bad formula for originality. We don't want to build a "legacy" on another band, we don't want to be compared, we would like to stand on our own as an original rock band.
OMC: What is the most important thing for you to express through your music and this album?
JATP: That there is hope for intelligent and genre-bending music beyond the scope of today's talent search-driven "American Idol" format. JATP is strictly on a mission to fuse intricate, well-crafted music with mass appeal.
OMC: Were the songs on the new album born out of jam sessions or were they constructed one piece at a time?
JATP: The songs were done a few different ways, but in no way born from "jam" sessions. A collective bargaining of sorts, structures were brought to the table via GarageBand and iPhone platforms, and then crafted as a band.
OMC: What's next? Gigs? More recording?
JATP: With our first in-town show after the release of the debut CD being Sept. 17 at the Mad Planet, we are looking forward to some short road stints and working with a few national acts such as Elixir on Mute in November. As far as recording, we still have some songs in the can from our sessions at the Riverside Theater with Simon Bundy. We hope to pair this along with working with some additional national producers like Randy Emata who mixed and mastered "Skin Deep." With the passion we all share for this band and the people were are blessed to have worked with on this album, only good things are in store for Jimmy At The Prom.
As an added bonus, here's the music video that Jimmy At The Prom released for their song "Made of Wax." The video was shot and edited by Bryan Mir, with the animation by Dave Kiehl and artwork by Steven Bossler.
Born in Milwaukee and raised in the Milwaukee suburb of Brown Deer, Concordia University Wisconsin alumnus Poppe has spent the majority of his life in or around the city and county of Milwaukee.
As an advocate of Milwaukee's hip-hop community Poppe began popular local music blog Milwaukee UP in March 2010. Check out the archived entries here.
Though heavy on the hip-hop, Poppe writes about other genres of music and occasionally about food, culture or sports, and is always ready to show his pride in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.
