Jungle on returning to live shows: “We thought it was gonna go t*ts up”
"You sometimes expect London shows to be a bit reserved, but these were just amazing"
Jungle have revealed how they feared returning to live shows after the pandemic.
The London duo released their third record ‘Loving In Stereo’ earlier this year, and followed it with four shows at Brixton Academy. They also joined the Ted Baker Street Party Sessions – five bespoke live events , in which five artists worked with the fashion brand to design their ideal performance setting, designing the set to reflect their own inimitable style.
Speaking in the first issue of Rolling Stone UK, Jungle‘s Josh Lloyd-Watson said the duo weren’t immediately prepared for success at their live return.
“Throughout the whole pandemic, we’ve had this fear notched up in us that things are gonna go tits up all the time, so I think we were expecting the worst,” he said.
“But to do four [O2 Academy] Brixtons within weeks of dropping our third album was just monumental. You sometimes expect London shows to be a bit reserved, but these were just amazing.”
Their third album, meanwhile, is described by Lloyd-Watson as their “most upbeat, carefree, euphoric and liberating” record to date.
“That was always the intent before the pandemic. In some ways, there is a parallel; we were making that record to be hopeful.”
In the same interview, Lloyd Watson-opened up on how the band have managed to maintain a sense of anonymity and mystique through their career. The duo have steered clear of photoshoots and to date have failed to make a single appearance in their music videos.
“For us, it’s part of what we wanted to achieve with it. It’s about the art and us escaping into it. We’ve always been directors and creators and writers and producers more than we were lead singers and artists,” he said.
“It was like creating something that we could watch, we could enjoy and escape into it. We got so much joy from that. I’m an Aquarius and quite hermit-y anyway, so it’s a balance between [that] and performing and it becomes a little bit egotistical. Jungle was an escape from that for us.”
Watch the performances here.
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