Jam Merchants

Who are Jam Merchants? Where you’re from, how you met, how long have you been playing together etc

We are a rock duo made of two brothers, Sam on guitar and vocals and Joe on drums and sometimes vocals if you’re lucky. We met in the hospital when Joe was born in 2003 and we’ve been playing together ever since, although it was mainly crying for the first few years. It wasn’t until lockdown in 2020 when we decided to start writing our own songs.

Who came up with the band name and does it have a story or any meaning behind it?

It all started with jam; It’s our names jammed together, all we do together is jam with drums and a guitar, we love eating jam and we’ve always said that we are stupidly jammy all the time… did I mention jam? We just ran with the theme and landed on Jam Merchants.

If you had to describe the band using just five words, what would they be?

Heavy, Energetic, Fun, Upbeat, Jam

Who are your biggest influences musically?

Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys

What’s the band’s biggest claim to fame so far?

Our song ‘RENT FREE’ has been used on multiple TikToks by a massive football account (f00tball.nerd) clocking up over 1 million views.

What’s your songwriting process?

It all starts with a riff from Sam, then Joe smacks the drums and then we both shout out a load of stuff until something sticks. Our first single is a prime example of that!

If you could go on tour with any current band or artist, who would it be and why?

Cleopatrick because they’re f***ing awesome.

If you could put your dream team band together consisting of any musicians from the past or present who would the band members be?

Matt Helders on drums, Mike Kerr on bass, Jack White on guitar, Tom Fletcher on keys and vocals.

How would you describe your live show to someone who has never seen you perform before?

It will live rent free in your heads for at least a year… maybe two.

Do any of you have any pre-gig or post gig rituals? If so, what and why?

One beer before, four afterwards. That’s the rules.

What would your ultimate rider be if you could have anything without being accused of being a diva?

Perform in a slowly rising tank of jam that spills onto the audience at the end.

If we were to browse your music library what is the most embarrassing song we might find? Or who is your guilty pleasure artist?

Joe is always secretly listening to chart music and Sam is not averse to a questionable musical soundtrack

Tell us one thing your fans would be really shocked or surprised to hear or learn about the band

We both speak German.

If people want to check you out online where is the best place to go?

Probably our Instagram @jammerchants as we are constantly putting out updates of what we’re up to, what songs we have out and where we are playing live next.

Finally, What does the future hold for the band?

The dream is to create a professionally mixed album or EP and to play it live all around the country, hopefully supporting an artist we love!