The Jacks

When it comes to playing rock & roll, The Jacks simply don’t have a choice. “It’s what we listen to, it’s what we play,” bassist Scott Stone says, “and when you stick four guys like us in a garage with instruments, it’s just the kind of music we are going to make.”

You can hear a primal energy coursing through vocalist-guitarist Jonny Stanback’s gritty howl on “Walk Away,” the lead single from their debut self-titled EP and the rest of the guys match his excitement with driving riffs and infectious melodies. It’s an electric charge that surges through each of the record’s five tracks, guiding Stanback, Stone, lead guitarist Thomas Hunter and drummer Josh Roossin when they play together.

“We’re trying to push the boundaries of the rock & roll genre by incorporating modern elements, but still keeping the core structure of a four-piece band,” Stanback says. “We are creating a sound you’ve never heard before, but feels familiar.”

The way they see it, playing rock at a time when pop and hip-hop are dominating the charts is an act of defiance. If any band is poised to help bring authenticity back to rock & roll, it’s The Jacks. The quartet has been making a steady ascent since forming in Los Angeles in the summer of 2016, selling out gigs at legendary hometown venues like the Troubadour, Roxy and Viper Room, supporting legends like the Doors’ Robby Krieger (who told them personally that he liked their music) and playing major rock festivals like Aftershock and Sonic Temple. At one gig, they ran into John Fogerty who told them, “It’s cool to see some rock & roll again.”

Now the group has recorded their first EP with producer Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More) at Los Angeles’ famed Sunset Sound Recorders. But even though they’ve been playing together for only a couple of years, rock has been The Jacks’ lifeblood for as long as they can remember.

As Wallace declares, “The Jacks deliver up lean, rugged rock & roll with songs that feel like instant classics that make you want to move, with earworm hooks and melodies that will have you kinda upset when you find yourself unintentionally and inappropriately humming their songs at work, in church, in court, or at wakes. If the Strokes, Cage the Elephant, and the Stones had an equally talented, but more handsome baby, it would be named The Jacks!”

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