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Liverpool City Region Band, GUISE, Share Some Of Their Funniest Moments As A Band, Building An Inclusive Community & How They Set Their Sights On Eurovision
Editor's Note: Since conducting the interview and publishing the article, the Eurovision results have been released and GUISE were sadly not selected, however, this piece still stands as a testament to them as a band reaching for their dreams and striving to make things happen. Plus there are plenty of brilliant band anecdotes that we think you will love.
GUISE is a Liverpool City Region band that are striving to achieve their goals in possibly some of the most stylish ways.
Peter sat down with Jassy and Louie from the band in the bustling Jacaranda Club and chatted about a whole host of topics that we can't wait to get into; from their wide range of influences and how no one label particularly fits, writing songs they feel people can relate to, as well fantastic stories of filming their music videos, and their conscientious approach to creating their multimedia music.
The band is comprising of Jassy xX.G.Xx on the Lead Guitar, Louie James as the Lead Vocals and Michael Berry on the Bass Guitar.
Originating from Liverpool, GUISE is a three piece band presenting some of the City's finest offers in musicianship. Guise is a melodically driven rock band with plenty of 'pop-factor', featuring massive hooks in choruses. Combining the sounds from the raw riffs of the 70's to the melodically laced overtones of the 80's, topped off with a striking, yet glamorous image.
'I feel like when you start doing that [being defined by a genre], you start boxing yourself in and it wanes on your creativity.' - Jassy, Lead Guitarist of GUISE.
GUISE took the time to sit down with Peter from The Liverpudlian and have a good chat about some of the exciting things they are up to. You can listen to the conversation by clicking the play button on the audio bar further up the article and listen to it whilst reading the article.
They amalgamate a whole range of influences combined with their own flare to bring their unique GUISE style together. From hints of the Glam Rock music of the 1970's and 80's, however, their lyrical approach is very much aware of today's society and culture. With an awareness of mental health - topics that they feel many people will be able to relate to that are often overlooked or not spoken about.
Jassy: 'I feel like when you start doing that [being defined by a genre], you start boxing yourself in and it wanes on your creativity. Some of our songs they are just full-on outright pop songs and some of them' - [Louie: 'are like a lot heavier'] - 'yeah, borderline something Judas Priest would do but I think Louie's vocals help bring it down so it's not too heavy.'
Jassy: 'It just depends what the song calls for. I don't pick up my guitar and go I'm writing a pop song or writing a rock song or a metal song. I just bash it out and whatever happens, happens.'
Louie: 'We have our influences but obviously we take that but do it in our own way so that it's GUISE.'
Jassy and Louie furthered their point after mentioning Kiss as an example a few times, Jassy went on to say:
Jassy: 'We both listen to a lot of music, I mean, I go on about Kiss and everything but what about a bit of ABBA or Duran Duran, everyone? That's all I'm saying.
Louie: 'Love a bit of ABBA. Love a bit of ABBA!'
Jassy: 'I mean, what about a bit of Robert De Niro's Waiting though - Bananarama.'
Something that GUISE is passionate about is building a community of people who love music and don't want anyone to feel left out or unable to be involved.
'We got three singles recorded, we done a photoshoot and we got a music video recorded before we even went public so straight away it was just like "Here we are. Here's GUISE. Here's some naughty images. This is what we look like."' - Jassy, Lead Guitarist of GUISE.
Before GUISE went public as a band, they wanted to have something to show so that their potential audiences could naturally gravitate towards them, be it through their lyrics, music videos, visual style, or their personalities. They felt this route best suited them as people would be able to immediately find out if the band resonated with them.
Jassy: 'We got three singles recorded, we done a photoshoot and we got a music video recorded before we even went public so straight away it was just like "Here we are. Here's GUISE. Here's some naughty images. This is what we look like. We're a bit on the crazy side of things and here's a cheeky little single."
And it kinda says a bit about us. Really that's all we've been tryna do, just record as much as possible. I mean we've released seven tracks up to now. Is it five music videos? - [Louie: 'yeah five I think'] - 'five or six music videos. Around that number. And we've got another four tracks fully recorded, ready to release. We're just keeping them in the oven, getting them nice and baked ready for everyone.'
Louie: 'Getting them nice and crispy. And that's not including the demos. We've got a load of demos.'
Jassy: 'Aw, too many demos. It's disgusting [shared laughter].'
Something that is visible for all to see is their undeniable work ethic and their desire to create something that is full of their character and fun.
'We wanted to represent Ireland [In Eurovision] because my Dad's side of the family originate from Ireland and my Dad was an Irish and Country musician [Nicky James].' - Louie James.
The band had applied to Eurovision which is taking place in Liverpool Arena this coming May, this was spurred on by many family, friends, fans and news outlets finding that GUISE would be a perfect match for the competition, especially as a Scouse band with Irish heritage, which many in the Liverpool City Region can relate to. Not to mention that Ireland has exceptionally close ties with Liverpool, so much so that Liverpool is nicknamed 'The Second Capital of Ireland' and 'East Dublin'.
Unfortunately, GUISE were not selected to represent Ireland in Liverpool for Eurovision, and may we add, they've missed a perfect opportunity! However, this kind of mindset and approach to their career is still a chapter worth remembering as a 'We have nothing to lose, let's go for it' attitude is putting them in good stead for the career ahead of them.
Their Eurovision application was spurred on due to how Louie's Dad's side of the family originate from Ireland:
Louie: 'We've actually applied, we've submitted a song and we've applied to hopefully represent Ireland in Eurovision next year [interview recorded December 2022]. We wanted to represent Ireland because my Dad's side of the family originate from Ireland and my Dad was an Irish and Country musician. So it was really me Dad that got me into music and that's where I get my love for music from. So I think it would be a really nice thing for us to do, to represent Ireland. I think it would be a nice thing to do in his memory as well.'
Louie's Dad was the renowned Irish singer, Nicky James, who gave a lot of his time and effort to the local music scene, as well as various charities. In April 2022, they held a special Charity Concert at the Liverpool Irish Centre in memory of Louie's Dad, Nicky James, and the work that he did for music and the local communities. The money from that night was being raised for the Liverpool Alder Hey Children's Hospital. You can watch the video of Louie being interviewed for television about the event on the TV channel, The Irish In The UK.
Nicky was also a mentor & close friend to the Liverpool-born Irish Folk & Country Singer, Nathan Carter, who is possibly Ireland's most successful singer of the genre. The sold-out Charity Concert at the Liverpool Irish Centre was put on by Nathan in memory of Nicky James and raised more than £7,000 for Alder Hey.
Jassy: 'And your Dad, Nicky James, he also helped out with the Irish scene, didn't he?'
Louie: 'My Dad, he, he was a mentor to Nathan Carter during the early stages of his career so he helped him out when he was first starting, and you know, he was a good friend of his.'
Jassy: 'Yeah, we done the charity gig opening for Nathan. And Nathan, he obviously really respected your Dad by doing that.'
Jassy: 'We wanna build a family. I think that's a big part of not boxing ourselves into a certain musical category. We don't want it to be like, "Oh only people that like this certain type of music can like us. We want it to be where anyone can feel part of it. Anyone can join us.'
There's something about GUISE, they can't help but make you laugh with their quick wit and infectious laughter. They're comfortable in who they are, and their fully realised sense of style, and they are inviting everyone to come along, get comfortable too, and enjoy the ride.
Through this interview, we hope you have got to know GUISE some more and in our next interview I'm sure we'll be able to chat about all of the great things they have got coming up, meet their Bass Guitarist, Michael Berry, and hear about all of the shenanigans they've been up to since we last met up.
You can listen to all of the fantastic music GUISE is producing with love, great levels of detail and sheer passion on their Spotify which hosts their whole collection of music.
Make sure to also follow GUISE on Facebook, and through their GUISE Instagram account page to see plenty of group photographs, sneak peaks of their upcoming work, as well as a really positive place for them to share all of the content that they have been working really hard on.
Our Interview Took Place At:
The Jacaranda Club,
21 - 23 Slater Street,
Ropewalks,
Liverpool City Centre,
City of Liverpool, L1 4BW,
Liverpool City Region, UK.
We will be covering all of the brilliant things that GUISE are up to in the future so stay tuned for all of our coverage.