Next month popular local band Noble Jacks take to the stage at the Assembly Hall with The Orange Circus as their support. SO’s resident music guru Paul Dunton talks to the Noble Jack’s frontman Will Page to discover all about this special gig which will be both bands’ biggest to date…
HOW DID NOBLE JACKS COME ABOUT?
It all started with my passion for performing live. As a young fan of the likes of The Waterboys, Mumford & Sons and The Levellers, I experimented with alternative styles and sounds, and then when I began writing my own songs, Noble Jacks was born to take these songs to the stage.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE NOBLE JACKS STYLE AND SOUND?
I would describe Noble Jacks as a high energy British-Americana band – with the fiddle leading the charge!! Expect good-times and foot stomping when you come to see Noble Jacks live!
HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BAND HAS EVOLVED SINCE YOU STARTED?
Noble Jacks has evolved in many ways since the beginning. I feel very fortunate to have achieved some of the big dream moments and to have cherished every step in between. Big moments include sold out headline shows, performing on major festival main stages including Black Deer and Beautiful Days (the Levellers’ festival!) as well as touring with The Dead South and performing at a sold out O2 Brixton Academy in London. On a local level, we’re very excited for our upcoming show at The Assembly Hall in Tunbridge Wells next month as we’ve grown all the way up from fond memories of performing at The Grey Lady Music Lounge, The Forum, Local & Live Festival.
IS THIS YOUR BIGGEST HEADLINE SHOW TO DATE?
Yes and I’m as excited now with 1,000 tickets on sale as I was all those years ago for our first show at The Grey Lady. I really have enjoyed every step of our evolution and will continue to do so! The band has enjoyed having a variety of members over the years with a rich blend of personalities which has always kept it fresh. I liken Noble Jacks to being a wagon on a journey for its members, past, present and new. They are free to hop on and off as it suits our broader life situations. We will be joined by one of our special original members for our show at The Assembly Hall on April 22!
HOW DID IT FEEL TO HEADLINE LOCAL & LIVE LAST YEAR IN CALVERLEY GROUNDS?
The Local & Live headline gig in Calverley Grounds was definitely one of our highlights of the summer. There was a huge turnout and the atmosphere was electric! We really enjoyed ourselves and felt the audience really responded to our show. The event organisation and the sound and lighting provided by Local & Live was absolutely first class.
WOULD YOU SAY NOBLE JACKS ARE A TUNBRIDGE WELLS BAND?
I was born in Tunbridge Wells, have always lived locally, and Noble Jacks has always been incredibly well supported in Tunbridge Wells by music fans. Most of the other members of the band live in Brighton so that’s usually the pick up and drop off point for gigs, and is why when people ask where we’re from we do often say Brighton. It is an important city for Noble Jacks with a great track record for sold out shows including our album launch one at Concorde2 in 2019. However, I would say it is Tunbridge Wells which incubated the fledgling Noble Jacks in the beginning and is still offering us big moments such as Black Deer Festival, Local & Live Festival and now a headline show at The Assembly Hall!
WHAT DOES THE LOCAL MUSIC SCENE MEAN TO YOU?
It’s so important and I think very impressive that there is so much talent from a fairly rural town! The enthusiasm from every member of the local music scene in Tunbridge Wells is incredible and produces very special events for local music fans to enjoy. The support from this vibrant community is very important for keeping the venues running too, which seems to be a growing challenge every year as the arts seem to be less and less supported by our government…
TELL US ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING SHOW AT ASSEMBLY HALL?
It will be our biggest ever indoor headline show, and we can’t bloomin’ wait! We’ll be performing as a six-piece line up and will be playing a mix of all our favourite songs across all three of our studio albums.
We’ve had requests to add The Devil Went Down To Georgia back into our set too, so we’ll see what we can do! There are a mix of standing and seating tickets available and we anticipate the energy to be and all time high!
WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR 2023?
This year feels like we’re finally cooking on gas again, with our UK tour and festivals booking in thick and fast. I am also releasing my debut single as a solo artist and will be touring solo as well as with the band. It’s looking to be a busy year!
Orange Crush: A quick word with The Orange Circus:
How did The Orange Circus come about and where did the name originate from?
Back in 2008, I travelled to America with a couple of bands where we did a range of shows and also lots of hiking in the Appalachian mountains. During my time there I learned a great deal of old American folk and Bluegrass songs and felt incredibly inspired. When I returned to England I teamed up with my uncle Shep and we began gigging in local pubs. This was the very beginning of what was to become The Orange Circus. The name is very much connected to my grandmother. She grew up in a town called Orange in Virginia, USA. The Circus part of the name was almost a reflection on the early days as back then there were many band members coming and going, it was a bit chaotic, so in some ways it was a bit of a circus!
How do you feel the band has evolved since those early days?
A great deal in the ten years we have been together! We started out more as an Irish flavoured session band with various people involved but at this stage there was no structure or set plan in place – we were just going with the flow! We were performing a mix of old American folk, Irish folk and Appalachian- inspired music and would often just turn up in pubs and start playing. You could say they were guerrilla gigs! After a few years of these pop-up style shows – which we enjoyed immensely – we realised that to take things forward we needed to join the Association of Americana Music with a view to attaining more official and prestigious gigs. This transpired to be a very positive move for the band and really helped us develop our profile and opportunities to perform. We went on to play at The Cambridge Folk Festival, Black Deer Festival, The Long Road Festival and we really enjoyed headlining the Local & Live Music Festival a few years ago.
Can you tell us about your upcoming show at The Assembly Hall?
We are so excited for this! We feel honoured to have been invited to support our good friends Noble Jacks and our styles of music really fit well together. This will be our largest indoor show to date, and for it to be in Tunbridge Wells means a great deal to us as a band as we have deep roots in the town and lots of friends and family. The Orange Circus started out in the Tunbridge Wells area, so for us it is definitely a home town show! Please come along for a great night of local music!
To find out more visit www.theorangecircus.com or check out at @theorangecircusband
