Jem
A Jem in the Rough
Iota - Arlington, VA
June 15, 2004
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The RMC Crew headed out to Iota on Tuesday night to check out the up and coming artist, Jem.
Louque opened up for Jem, and I have to say, it was definitely. . . groovy! I’d describe them as a lounge type band; though I’m sure they have a different designation for themselves. While it made for pretty good background music, there were times when the keyboard player got a bit creative and it reminded me of Ross Geller’s eclectic sounds. The band, hailing from Brooklyn, is the brain child of Dustan Louque(vocals, guitar, Wurlitzer). Although from Louisiana, he’s pulled together fellow Brooklyn neighbors Josh Werner(bass), Gintas Janusonis(drums) and Borahm Lee(keyboards) for a great relaxing yet moving sound.
In between bands, we had a chance to watch Iota’s finest (patrons) in action. The Crew had positioned themselves in the back of the club, strategically next to the bar and the posters and listings of upcoming shows. Unfortunately this is also where the bathrooms were, so there were inevitably people milling about, trying not to squirm while they waited their turn. One such person (or so we thought) happened to be milling about our area a bit too long, looking at the posters. Finally, the individual (an older man, say, in his 40’s, balding, a bit overweight), shuffled up to the wall, and slowly, methodically, removed the taped poster of Jem’s gig announcement, rolled it up, and walked away. Now, I’m no lawyer, but isn’t that stealing??? Needless to say it provided us with some entertainment while we waited for the headliner to appear. . . When Jem finally did start the show, we weren’t disappointed. The best thing about her is her incredibly sexy voice. Her wonderful Wales accent doesn’t hurt either! The bands setup is fairly simple and easy enough to hide a few sampled tracks you hear in her songs.
Jem started her night on the dimly lit stage with her light filled, popish, convertible top down, “Just a Ride.” Some mic and balance problems were worked out easily between Jem and her stage manager Chuck through some basic hand signals and the night continued into the seductive “Come on Closer.” The RMC crew didn’t notice any grinding, but the crowd was definitely nodding their heads along. Just through the first two songs, you could tell that Jem’s band has done an amazing job at converting samples into live music. Pete McNeal on drums was able to recreate multiple drum machine sounds on his kit while keyboardist Danny Chaimson(also on guitar and whom some RMC staff members think looks 18 when he’s really 28) completes the digital to live conversion. Ross Grant on guitar and Ethan Philips on bass round out the rest of this highly talented and compatible group. One would think the five have been together for years instead of weeks.
Moving through tracks from her current album, “Missing You”, Jem’s song dealing with the passing of family friend PJ Matthews, saw the audience support the artist through an emotional song. The crowd easily recovered through the Stevie Wonder’s Master Blaster cover, one of two covers for the evening. The song seemed to shake some things on stage up as Ethan spilt some water switching to an upright bass and shorted some equipment. After some quick adjustments, the band was right into “Wish I” followed by the first track on Finally Woken, “They.” Unfortunately, the keyboards were too loud and drowned out all of the chorus, making a wonderful song a little unbearable. Following quickly with their second cover, Stone Roses’ “Fools Gold”, Jem and the band had hit their pace and were winding up the night ending with the guitar heavy(and RMC favorite) “24.”
The band left the stage to heavy applause and after a three minute clap-fest, the band re-emerged with “Flying High” as their encore before thanking the audience and leaving the stage for the night. It also left the audience with a great impression of all the good things to come from Jem.
The performance overall is nothing to be amazed about. Jem stands fairly stationary but almost with a Michael Stipe/Eddie Vedder energy. It’s a treat to see a true artist that can convey their emotions to the audience without needing the flash of lights and a huge stage to run around. When you see Jem on this tour, you’re definitely there for the music, not the experience. Even though she stands about 5’5” and skinny as a bean pole, you get the idea that Jem is too large to be playing small venues, but the intimacy is something you’ll never find in a larger club. Hard to believe that a few years ago this woman was sleeping on couches in friend’s apartments throughout London and now she’s in a little club in Arlington, VA to perform what’s in her heart to about 80 people. Most of which have probably never visited Jem’s home country of Wales.
Kat K. & Mike J.
Staff Writers
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