Seeking a creative outlet outside of work in a steel factory, the Strawberry Jam knows life is better with a little sweetness. The band also boasts an impressive claim: each bandmate is better than the last. Well, that’s what they would say.
Wayne: I can tell you why I’m a better musician than me bandmate Nathan, for one, but that might take a bit more than the time we’ve got.
Madison: How many members of the band are there?
Wayne: Well, we’ve got me most importantly, my name is Wayne. Wayne Roach. And, the other, I can’t remember. Ah, Nathan. Yes. He plays the guitar and he sings some songs, you know? We like to sing together sometimes. There is Jerry, he plays the drums. He’s a nice fellow. And then my cousin John, John Elizabeth, he plays the bass and, yeah, he’s a nice guy too.
Madison: How did you guys all come together to form a band?
Wayne: Nathan and my cousin John were working in a steel factory and I don’t know how, but we got together and we played some songs about jam. We realized we all like jam. Nathan knew a bloke named Jerry. Jerry Pudding. Strange chap but he played the drums and we needed someone who played the drums – we sounded better with the drums. You know, just like jam. You, you can’t make jam unless you mash it up. Right? And the drums, you know, mash things together. So that’s how we became the Strawberry Jam.
Madison: Wow. Was that name decided on pretty quickly?
Wayne: Of course. Our first or second song was called “Strawberry Jam,” so we just went along with it.
Madison: How long have you guys been making music together?
Wayne: Too bloody long. We all met in 2005, 6, or 7, around that time. [At this point, Wayne took a personal interest in my own history] And where are you working? It’s a horrible thing to do, you know?
Madison: Oh, God, yes. I work at a Dairy Queen in Kentucky. An ice cream store.
Wayne: Oh, ice cream. Well, that’s nice.
Madison: It’s not bad. It could be a lot worse. I think. I like working with the ice cream.
Wayne: Right. Do you make the ice cream there? You’ve got a farm in the back?
Madison: No, it’s technically not enough fat in the product to be legally called ice cream. It’s low fat vanilla soft serve product. And we get it in bags and serve it soft served from the machines.
Wayne: Product? It doesn’t sound so nice.
Madison: It’s not delicious. Especially if you’re the one making it.
Wayne: Well, you know, I’m sure it keeps you in business. We’ve got a place here, I heard- I didn’t go, of course- but a place in London, and it sells ice cream made from human milk, women who was breastfeeding, and it’s very expensive.
Madison: Well, have you tried it?
Wayne: No. No.
Madison: I definitely think that’s something everyone should try just because that’s so wild.
Wayne: Well, if I want breast milk, I’ll go to my cousin John because his wife is pregnant half the time.
Madison: But they made it into the ice cream for you. Is she gonna do that?
Wayne: Probably better, yes. They’ve got a whole farm and field. They can mix it with goat milk and fresh honey, from the bees they’ve got. You can make a nice natural ice cream from John’s wife’s milk and honey.
Madison: Have you ever played at the farm? What venues do you guys usually play? Do you play shows?
Wayne: Yes, yes. Basements and garages. We do the pubs, you know, not too much lately. We’ve been busy with other things. Drinking. John is having lots of children. Nathan is being a prick and, I’m, you know, I don’t know what I’m doing half the time. But yes, we do like to perform, yes.
Madison: What’s your favorite part about the whole experience? Is it performing and meeting new people? Is it the actual lyrics? Is it what you specifically do for the band?
Wayne: Yes! Me, specifically. I like when people look at me. So that’s why I like to be on stage, you know.
Madison: Have you always liked being looked at? Is this your first band?
Wayne: Ah, this is the only one that counts. You know, rock and roll is something you’re born with. Yeah. So, it’s all been there, right? But, yeah, this is, this [Strawberry Jam] is the main thing. I hear this from my cousin John; He says, once you find that right woman, you don’t remember all the ones from before. So, it’s kind of like that when you find the right rock and roll band, I don’t even remember the names of the other bands I was in before.
Madison: What makes Strawberry Jam the right band for you?
Wayne: Always at our rehearsals, when we get together, even when we just go out and drink, we always have a bit of jam with us. And if I’m a little short, you know, I say, oh bloody hell, I forgot me jam. So, me band mates always got a little bit in their pockets in their trousers and stuffed in their shoes. John keeps some in his bass. He’s got this acoustic bass with a little pocket and tape, with a full bag of jam underneath.
Madison: What are the band’s musical influences?
Wayne: I like rock and roll music. Sometimes I’ve even listened to some jazz music. I like this song called “Lazy Sunday Afternoon” by The Small Faces. It’s a good inspiration for when we get together. We put it on, we give it a listen, sometimes we sing along, we smoke a few cigarettes and it’s a good time. I like that song. Nathan, he’s been on this kick lately about Doctor Hook‘s “Sharing the Night Together.” It seems every bloody time I’m over at his place, he’s got the bloody song on. It’s not like it’s that easy, not like your phone where you click backwards and you play it again. No, he’s got it on the spinner and he walks over and the disk is not done and he puts it on, he picks up the needle, he puts it back, starts it over. Don’t know how many bloody times I’ve heard the song. I like the song! But he, he’s been playing it a bit too much lately.
Madison: Sounds like a good friendship. You let him play his song.
Wayne: Yeah. He’s a bugger. You know, it’s good he wasn’t here today because, you know, it’s better when I speak. He talks about strange things. I don’t know, he talks about, you know, playing guitar and how it’s important.
Madison: Are you something of a spokesman for the band?
Wayne: No, I’m a spokesman for the whole bloody generation, you know?
Madison: Snaps for that one.
Wayne: Yes.
Madison: David Bixby is something of a spokesman himself. How did you guys come into contact?
Wayne: Mr. Bixby. I wish that one day I can meet the bloke. The latest reissue of our first album, “JAM,” we needed the artwork a bit revised. We reached out to our label which reached out to, Mr. Jackley who does art for rock and roll and things. He had a connection with Mr. Bixby and, and said, hey, are you guys interested in recording a song [for the Harbinger Orchestra]? We said, of course! We’re the Strawberry Jam. We like playing rock and roll.
Madison: Could you tell me how the first album came together and then how you guys signed to a label? What was the process of the production, releasing things officially?
Wayne: We got together about a year after we did our first recording of “Strawberry Jam.” It was our first song, so we did the pubs and we played “Strawberry Jam” and we played some Who songs, you know, “My Generation” and what not, but we needed some more material. Nathan and I sat down, and he started writing all these tunes: “A Girl like Donovan,” “Dragon Seed,” “Tea and Scones.” Songs that people can relate to, you know? There’s one about a gnome who was depressed. And we wrote them all quite quickly. Within the week we recorded. We all got together in this old house. We flew up to Canada, to the coast, and we had this house right by the ocean. It reminded me of England a little bit; It was always miserable, you know, the weather, the rain coming down, but it was nice. There was a lighthouse in the distance. We all just lived in this house and recorded these songs. We had lots of trouble. We had a manager at the time named Yuri, he was a Russian. He was a bloody buffoon but he was there with us. He was good for getting us good vodka. Don’t know where he found them all, but he always had good cigarettes too. We recorded this album all in a week. It was quite nice because we could walk outside and smell the ocean, then go back inside and record a little lick.
Madison: Is music something that you do full time?
Wayne: All the time, yes.
Madison: Is that your main source of income?
Wayne: You mean, does it make money?
Madison: That is what I’m asking.
Wayne: No. Music very seldom makes money. But, you know, it’s enough for cheap liquor and, you know, my cousin John, he’s got the farm. So, we’ve got tomatoes and whatnot. You don’t need that much to live, you know?
Madison: I was wondering if you were ever discouraged by that?
Wayne: Why would I be discouraged?
Madison: I don’t know. I guess it’s an interesting place I’m in as well. I’m 20. I am really interested in making my passion, my creative passion, the source of my income. But I’m wondering if that’s possible and I’m also wondering how other creative people feel if they don’t make their passion their source of income.
Wayne: I’m not one to give advice… except when I want to… right now. If you ever get a little bit of feeling like you want to cry, or you just don’t want to do anything, you know what you’ve got to do? You go to the fridge. If you’ve got a latch, you go on and open that. You grab for that jar, you take a little spoonful. Oh, and the world is a better place, you know? Without fail.
Madison: What do you like to eat jam on? Toast?
Wayne: Bloody anything. “I like toast. I like jam. I like roast and I like ham.” It’s a line from one of me songs. It may not be traditional, but you put a little bit in your tea and you stir it around and you take a little sip. It’s nice. Jam is good on everything. Women. All things wonderful, you know.
Madison: Have you met a lot of women through the Strawberry Jam experience?
Wayne: Yes. Unfortunately.
Madison: Oh, unfortunately. Well, so have some turned south then?
Wayne: Yes. But women who like jam are usually the best.
Madison: Would you say that you and your band mates lead a rock and roll lifestyle?
Wayne: I don’t know what you mean. But if you mean that we like to, you know, have a good time then yes. I don’t quite know when I woke up today, right? I had strange things around me when I woke up today. No people just, you know, bottles and whatnot. I burnt a hole in my sheet, bloody cigarette, you know. But, I’ll get up after I have that first spoon of jam. The day is ready to go. And today, you know what I’m going to do?
Madison: What are you going to do?
[Wayne begins counting his cigarettes]
Wayne: Well, I’ve got 11, 12 cigarettes. Right. I’m going to smoke these, then I’m going to take a little walk. I’ve got some nice property here in Kent and I take a walk. It’s a little bit, you know, wet on the grass but the sun will go down quite soon. Then I’ll go about to the local towns and the pubs and chat up a few birds. I might sing a few songs. You know what I feel like doing today?
Madison: What?
Wayne: I feel like singing “Sharing the Night Together.”
– Madison McLean, Harbinger Journalist
‘Jam‘, ‘John’s Children‘, and ‘The Sleepy Grooms‘ are all available on vinyl through Psych9 Records and Herby Records !
Dave Bixby 