Jyrojets

Jyrojets are a 5-piece indie-rock band from Scotland who made history by becoming the first band from Inverness ever to sign a major 4-album record deal.

Band members

• Colin Fraser (lead vox, guitar, songwriter)
• Martin Stewart (keys/vox, songwriter)
• Chris Bain (guitar/vox)
• Veeb (drums)
• Dougie Edwards (bass/vox)

History

It all started when Colin and Martin were 14. While sheltering from the rain in a bus stop, drinking a bottle of Buckfast and listening to Nirvana with one earphone each, they were inspired to start their own band. The two set AbOUT writing songs and, after a few years of trying out various line-ups they finally hooked up with three like-minded musicians and named themselves Jyrojets. After just a month of rehearsing together they recorded a demo and entered a competition for a chance to play at T in the Park. They were chosen to appear at King Tuts for the T-break heats – not bad for their first gig! They didn’t know the T-break organisers had sent their demo to Radio 1, so it was a bit of a shock to hear it on air.

2006 was a great year for JYROJETS. They released their debut EP, with rave reviews from the likes of The Guardian (“a sublime anthem”) and opened for Richard Ashcroft at Glasgow’s SECC in front of 10,000 people. Richard personally chose them as support, and called them “a great young band” during his encore. The band are Verve fans and had already bought tickets to the show, never dreaming they would be supporting him! An interview and performance went out on the Scottish TV News.

The band had already headlined the BBC Radio Scotland stage at the Belladrum Festival, supported Dirty Pretty Things, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Ordinary Boys, played festivals in Spain and Moscow with a live radio broadcast across Russia

In 2007 they were chosen from 7,000 applicants to perform at the SXSW festival in Texas and were hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “the best kept secret at this year’s South By Southwest”. They returned to the US in April for a 2-month tour with BBC Britbus, and The Sun featured a full page story about their antics on the road. Dates in Berlin, Moscow and a UK headline tour followed. The singles ‘Favourite Thing About Jane’ (‘Hottest download’ in The Sunday Times) and ‘Hollywood Hold On’ were released, both reaching the UK Indie charts and played on Radio 1, Radio 2, Capital Radio, XFM, and indie stations across Europe and the US. They are currently recording their debut album, set for release early in 2008.

Discography

• JYROJETS EP (2006). Tracks: Dead on Arrival/All The Rage/I Had Something Wonderful
• FAVOURITE THING ABOUT JANE (2007) Single
• HOLLYWOOD HOLD ON (2007) Single
• JYROJETS (2008) Debut album due in February

All releases on Songphonic Records. All songs written by Colin Fraser and Martin Stewart and published by Songphonic Music.