Sixteen songs fill up their demo, which is a nice chunk of songs for a demo (or a full-length album.) The one thing that distinguishes this as a demo, rather than a full-length album is the quality and maturity of the songs on the tape. The vocals are rather high in the mix, giving them scary control over the rest of the band. The musicians themselves are a bit careless and loose. That's not to say this is a horrible demo. The music may be a bit on the rough side, but on the demo that plays into a lot of the fun. The music is humorous and fun, letting you have a lot of fun. The music is up tempo and fun to dance too, and each song will not finish without putting a smile on your face. Even their cover of "Walking On Sunshine" is fun. Although nowhere close to as good as the original, this cover builds on the bands enthusiasm and fun they had when they recorded it and takes everything from there, eventually rubbing off onto the listener.

One strong side to the band is their horn section. Very powerful, it's able to belt out the horn lines, or gently ooze in the background when called for. The rest of the musicians are good, but they're very musically immature and need to concentrate and practice a bit. A few more years, more live shows and practices, and this demo says the band could have something very special in their hands.

I'll give this demo a C. Musically it wasn't the best, but fun wise it had a lot going for it. When a band is enthusiastic about their own music, it will rub off onto the listener. And that's what happens here. They don't have anything original or overly powerful, but they do have enthusiasm for their own music, and it gives them a strong building block for the future.

Jesters, The: ...Which Is Nice

Jesus Philbin: Subterranean Electronic Blasphemy

[Issue Seven // April 1998]