England’s Jesus Jones Transcends Its Acid-House Beginnings

Iconoclasm ain’t what it used to be.

At least it’s not where you used to expect it to be. Ten years or so ago, a band that called itself Jesus Jones probably would have been iconoclastic to the max, its stated aim to blast apart rock culture, if not the whole of Western culture.

Today, the English acid-house-based band that does call itself Jesus Jones is anything but. Its stated aim: to bring together the disparate elements of rock culture, if not the whole of Western culture.

“Ten years ago there was the nihilism of punk, but any social trend is cyclical,” said the group’s Mike Edwards, a.k.a. Jesus H. Jones, a tall, thoughtful 26-year-old, sitting in a West Hollywood hotel room.

“Now the house scene is tied in with the hippie thing,” he said. “It’s got far more positive attitudes which ultimately are more human than nihilism. No one likes to smash and destroy things rather than create, or smash and re-create.”

The latter activity is a good description of Jesus Jones’ musical approach. The group’s aptly named debut album “Liquidizer” combined elements of rock, rap and dance music for one of the more arresting efforts of last year.

The follow-up, “Doubt” (see review in Record Rack, Page 64), goes even further, as Edwards expands beyond acid-house with an acid wit and sentimental eye in the tradition of the Kinks’ Ray Davies. But there’s still a vibrant melting-pot quality to the songs that reflects the heady environment in which it began.

“We’re very much the result of the music scene in London in the summer of ‘88,” Edwards said. “(American bands) Sonic Youth and Big Black played there. Rap was at its height. And acid house really exploded. It hadn’t hit the tabloids yet, but it was massively influential, like punk--its own clothing, its own drugs and sounds, all the elements of youth culture. . . . It was an exhilarating time when it was important to be young and important to be there . These things happen only every 10 years or so.”

But Edwards is also careful to separate Jesus Jones from that scene.

“We want to be the missing link filling the parts between the best bands,” he said. “So we feel that in attitude, yes, the acid-house scene is something we’re part of. But not musically.”

But what about that irreverent band name and Edwards’ related nom de plume? For his un-iconoclastic coup de grace, Edwards sheepishly confessed that he’s quite embarrassed about the latter.

“The reason that came about was we came to release the first single and the head of our record company said I should come up with this great writing credit, but I only had about 30 seconds. So I came up with Jesus H. Jones. I didn’t realize I’d be saddled with it for months.”