Words by Jasmine Bourgeois
Photos by Tui
‘s Favorite Friend is the most recent release from Stove. What initially started as one of Steve Hartlett’s solo projects has more recently blossomed into a full band, with Mike Hammond on guitar, Alex Molini on bass, and Jordyn Blakely on vocals and drums. Stove’s identity as a full band project is still fledgling, and Jordyn’s myriad roles in ‘s Favorite Friend play a huge part in establishing the four as a unit. Her drumming is impeccably tight and her vocal harmonies are sharp. Her parts center the album, keeping a cool balance between fuzzy garage rock and melodic indie pop. While her drumming and vocal skills are impressive enough, Jordyn also played a big part in the songwriting process this album — she wrote and had lead vocals on “Duckling Fantasy,” one of the most popular tracks off the release.
Jordyn is a powerhouse of a musician. When she’s not shredding in Stove, Jordan can be found playing in any other number of projects she’s involved in, including Maneka, Sharkmuffin, and Kino Kimino. Tom Tom talked to Jordyn about Stove’s recent release and got a glimpse into her songwriting process.
How did you get drumming for Stove?
I met Steve years ago when my band Butter The Children played a few shows with his band Ovlov, then I played drums with them for a few months while their drummer Theo was finishing college. When Steve recorded the first Stove album Is Stupider, it was more of a solo project and he had Washer playing live as his backing band and some other people who would fill in too. I played a few shows on drums and eventually some tours, and we often played with our friend Alex Molini on bass and Boner from Ovlov on lead guitar. Steve started bringing in new songs to demo on Alex’s computer, and invited us to play on them and help flesh out the songs live together. We sort of developed into a collaborative band where we wrote together and recorded ideas for fun, and went with it.
This new album is so thoughtful. Each song seems really carefully crafted. I love all of your drum tracks — they all hit that sweet spot of being really clean and straight forward with a lot of cool complex fills thrown in. How do you go about writing your parts?
Thank you! Usually Steve will have an idea for what he wants the drum part or feel to sound like, but we mess around with songs live and over time I try different ideas until something feels right. I like to embellish around transitions or certain accents of the song when it comes to fills, or emphasize specific lyrics. I try to not overthink and just play what we’re all feeling in the moment while trying to avoid repeating the same grooves, that way the songs and parts won’t sound too similar.
I know you were really involved in writing “Duckling Fantasy.” Were there any other tracks that you wrote? Could you tell me more about any of them?
Yeah! I started writing Duckling around the time we were recording, and Steve suggested the chord I use in the chorus, Boner wrote a guitar solo, and we finished it and put it on the album. Before that song I wrote “Blank” and recorded it with Alex; he added bass, keys, and helped me structure the drum machine part. I hadn’t really planned on doing anything with it but Steve wanted to include it on an EP; I’ll always appreciate their support and encouragement. I felt pretty shy about writing songs and hadn’t done it much before except for writing vocal parts and lyrics at times.
What’s coming up next for Stove?
We’re going on a little U.S. tour with Maneka, and then working on new music. We recorded the songs for ‘s Favorite Friend back in January 2017, so are definitely ready to try new things.
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