Artist description sparkle*jets uk have happy, fun songs with hooks upon hooks, loud crunchy guitars, melodies, harmonies, and all the assorted bits of wacky merriment you expect & deserve.

Music Style pop (power pop)

Musical Influences Beatles, Beach boys, Elo, Pixies, Squeeze

Similar Artists The Knack if they had a girl singer too.

Artist History The formation of sparkle*jets uk was indeed unique. In the beginning, there were three bands with five songwriters, but each band at the time was missing crucial members. They decided to form an aggregation, taking turns backing each other up to form a complete band. They booked clubs for entire evenings & playing four different sets of material. Over time, three of the four songwriters spun off into new projects, leaving the remaining members to become a solid band who cristen themselves Happy Birthday. The name proved a bit confusing, and after another lineup change or two, they called themselves sparkle*jets uk. Now there are four, or sometimes five. They are happy now. They made some albums, and they'll make more. Dig it.

Group Members Michael Simmons - Lead Vocal, Lead Guitar, Keyboards Susan West - Lead Vocal, Guitar Jamie Knight - Bass Jeff Marino - Drums

Instruments Lots

Albums In, Through, and Beyond, I Love sparkle*jets uk (another tribute record), Bamboo Lounge

Press Reviews lots of em! www.crabapplerecords.com/sparklejetsuk/press.html 04/05/02 - REVIEW of Bamboo Lounge from Pop Matters by Jason Damas One of the most important, yet one of the most oft-forgotten, details of being a pop band is that pop music is essentially fun. This is especially lost on the myriad guitar-pop revivalists who try to recreate every note of their favorite Badfinger and Raspberries records. They know craft, but they sometimes forget why they do it. Why pop music is free of the weight and seriousness of much of its rocking kin. Los Angeles-based Sparkle*jets u.k. (get it? They're not really from the UK) is one of the most talked-about, best, and most innovative guitar pop bands on the L.A. scene at the moment, and one of the main reasons why is their sense of sheer, unadulterated fun. The Sparkle*jets vocalists Michael Simmons and Susan West are two drastically different front persons. Simmons' vocals are plain, clean, more typical power-pop fodder, and provide an ideal centerpiece for some of the band's more traditional moments. By contrast, West is somewhat of a loose cannon, channeling the ghosts of Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson (which is not an easy task, since they're not dead) to scream and shreik through every track. And just when you think you've got her pinned down, at the end of the disc she tosses out the cutesy "A Nice One", a song more precious and adorable than Hello Kitty. And once the Sparkle*jets even organized a tribute album to themselves and invited their friends to cover their songs, just for the hell of it. This all makes Bamboo Lounge, the band's second album proper (not counting the tribute), a wildly disparate listen, careening in a bunch of musical directions but always maintaining a cheeky sense of humor and fun. Over the course of fourteen tracks, the Sparkle*jets pull bits and pieces of '70s junk culture-from the tiki lounge-inspired cover art and album title to musical lifts from the gaudier side of '70s hard rock-into one single, coherent rock 'n' roll album. They don't shy away from a few blatant musical lifts: "She May Be Nice" and "Beautiful Girl" each take large bits of melody from Kiss's "Rock and Roll All Nite" and Elvis Costello's "Alison", respectively. But that's part of the charm: while they incorporate bits of hard rock inspired by Kiss and Heart and pop from sources as far and wide as Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne, the Sparkle*jets create an alternate take of the '70s where there was no cool and uncool, no prog-rock or hard rock or punk. There was just rock. So the Susan West songs-raging rockers like "Real Nice Time" and the hilarious, sneering "They Shoot Square Dancers, Don't They?" are the meat, potatoes, and gimmick: because her voice and her attitude are what distinguish the Sparkle*jets from their peers. But Mike Simmons's tracks, from the straightforward rock of "She May Be Nice" to the power-ballad "Sorry", manage to inject some life into power-pop cliches without abandoning that good old catchy chorus. Bamboo Lounge is geek rock at its finest, because it's (us) geeks who'll get the musical references and get the jokes. This is an album for everyone who grew up in a house with fake wood paneling and orange shag carpeting, for everyone who sat around and played Atari in a finished suburban basement. In short, for everyone who experienced some degree of '70s culture but who never knew or cared what about it was cool. 02/11/02 - REVIEW of Bamboo Lounge from Fufkin.com by Mike Bennett California quartet's second disc shows the band continuing to explore what they can do - and there is plenty of stuff to explore, since The 'Jets are blessed with two compelling frontpersons. Susan West has a great voice, but more importantly, she has a strong personality, and so it makes sense that she can try out some different styles. The same goes for Mike Simmons, but for different reasons. Simmons seems to be a walking rock encyclopaedia, as his songwriting reflects a broad knowledge of rock genres, while managing not to sound like some guy recreating his record collection. His voice isn't as distinctive, yet Simmons can effortlessly pull off whatever vocal a song requires. In fact, in contrast to their often frenzied shows, Sparkle * Jets U.K. is as cool as a cucumber on record - this disc is an intriguing listen because the songs are so instantly likable and have such palatable surfaces, it takes multiple spins to hear all that's going on. Another contrast to the live experience is that the band doesn't rock out a whole lot - Simmons, in particular, is showing off his mellow side. Like on the lovely Beach Boys inspired intro to "Sorry", a pretty ballad with a guest flute solo by Lisa Jenio of Candypants that will remind you of a similar solo in The Beatles' "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", but rather than triumphant, Jenio's work adds to the blue tones. Meanwhile, "Beautiful Girl" has a slight tropical lilt and a tunefulness that Chewy Marble fans will dig. And "Nobody's Girl" is a slice of '70s blue eyed soul with Simmons' best vocal - Stevie Wonder would be proud to claim this melody as his own. This doesn't mean that Simmons has forgotten how to rock. "So Gone" storms into your speakers, throwing in a '70s hard rock guitar bit (Rush, perhaps?), but juxtaposes some sweet melodies and bitter words ("I don't get to choose, I know I'll lose/but she says that's just what losers do" - ouch!) in the verses - the way the band stitches together the hard rock with the soft rock is ingenious. "Hate Your Hair" is a punky basher, and a video of the track is included on the ultra-enhanced CD (which includes Mp3s of live tracks and much more). West provides the spice - "Consult Your Physician" is a (as Johnny Otis would say) crazy country hop, Larry Doran snapping out a loping rhythm, while West tries to cheer up a friend: "You can agonize/till your agony/is your heaviest load/come on, get happy." West shows a flirty, girlie side without sounding cutsie - she unleashes enough of her vocal power to remind you she's woman and don't you forget it. This song also has cool chunka-chunka guitars that make it extra catchy. "Monster" is a chugging mid-tempo rocker (that would segue well into Heart's "Barracuda") with West again totally in charge. When the horns kick in on the middle eight, victory is hers. Some may already be familiar with "Real Nice Time" from the third International Pop Overthrow compilation, but it's too good not to make a Sparkle * Jets U.K. album - another West composition that is definitely guitar pop, but hard to define, it is a rollicking song that is celebratory and withering, as West chastises her lover for trying to two-time her: "Did you have a good time?/did you have one with lime?/did someone say l'chaim?/Did you tell her you're mine?" The album flags just a bit towards the end, but there are plenty of strong songs until that point. They have a definitive great pop album in them (and perhaps more) and they are very close to getting there. 02/11/02 - REVIEW of Bamboo Lounge from The Phoenix (loyola university, Chicago) The great unknowns: the year's best music you probably haven't heard of by Ben Collins With all due respect to Weezer, Sparklejets U.K. is the best nerd rock band on the planet. From its blatantly incorrect moniker (the members are from California), to its overt worship of '60s and '70s pop, Sparklejets U.K. is simply a group of music geeks making music that is endlessly sunny and enjoyable. The band features two songwriters, the pop traditionalist Simmons, who splits his songs between ballads like "Sorry" and rockers like "She May Be Nice," and the bubbly Susan West, responsible for the album's most energetic tracks like the opener "Monster" and "They Shoot Square Dancers." 02/11/02 - REVIEW of Bamboo Lounge from Fufkin.com by Gary Glauber Release Date: February 26, 2002 Bamboo is a fast-growing plant that offers strength and flexibility, much in the same way as the sparkle*jets u.k. Bamboo Lounge provides musical muscle and range. Before one even gets to spin this one, you get the treat of the CD packaging (graphic design courtesy of the talented Susan West and Michael Simmons), which includes a little cocktail umbrella encased within your plastic jewel box. As you pull the CD booklet out of its sleeve, you are treated to the exotic drink menu of this fictional cocktail lounge, and you won’t find more cordial hosts than the four members of sparkle*jets u.k. Every song is a mixed concoction on this lyric sheet menu, the song times presented as prices. If you think that’s fun, just wait until you give the music a whirl - according to this bartender, it’s four parts fun, four parts chutzpah, mixed with sly rock and pop references from the sixties through the nineties, stirred well with energy and talent and topped with a maraschino cherry. This heady mix packs a wallop, but leaves you wanting more. Okay, so you put your CD into your computer’s disk drive to give it a spin…but wait…something else pops onto your screen. It’s a little cell phone that reads “SJUK”. Talk about value for your CD dollar. Not only do you get 14 tracks of exciting studio music, you get welcomed into a multimedia bonus room of the Bamboo Lounge. Here you get the choice of looking at the lyrics to each song on your screen, or perhaps you’d like a whole extra CD’s worth of live song performances (12 songs) from this past year’s IPO. Additionally, there are photos, fonts, even a video of “Hate Your Hair”, plus another 15 bonus tracks (demos and the like). All in all, probably the most music you’ve ever gotten from any one CD. This is just the kind of wacky happy surprise you can expect from the likes of sparkle*jets u.k., a band named for the Gretsch guitars they envisioned for themselves post-fame. The “u.k.” merely is a humorous tag added to garner attention, provide some continental cache and distinguish them from the long list of bands with sparkle or jet in their names (they’re from Orange County, California). Since the release of their first CD, 1998’s In, Through, and Beyond, the group has logged in extensive touring time, entertaining crowds from coast-to-coast with their rollicking musical antics. In between original CDs came an unusual marketing idea, as sparkle*jets u.k. enlisted 20 bands from the Los Angeles area to cover their tunes on a self-produced tribute CD (to themselves) I Love The Sparkle*jets U.K.. This was a bold move, to say the least, and somewhat unprecedented in the annals of rock history. Still, the tribute CD met with favorable reviews. How dare a band be so audacious? The answer can be found in the music, obviously. The sparkle*jets u.k. are a talented quartet, and can sport a number of different powerpop styles (3 of the 4 are songwriters). The majority of the songs are penned by guitarist/vocalist Michael Simmons, resident computer geek of the band. Still, many other of the songs are written and sung by the charmingly quirky Susan West (who also plays guitar and sports a voice that demands your attention). Jamie Knight co-writes a few here as well, playing bass while on leave from his high school librarian duties. Larry Doran pounds the drums when not manning the counter of your favorite cool record shop. “Monster” leads off the proceedings, with Susan West serving up an Ann Wilson-ish vocal that will get your Heart thumping, with a lyric that reminds you that monsters can be girls too (convincingly presented). Probyn Gregory adds some nice horns as well. We get a similar Wilson-ish vocal on the rocking “They Shoot Square Dancers, Don’t They?” “She May Be Nice” gives us the other sparkle*jets u.k., with Michael Simmons pleasant voice harmonizing nicely with Susan’s, in a catchy romantic ditty that steals a wee hook from Kiss (heaven forfend) and still manages to win you over. How could one not love simple-yet-true lyrics like: “She may have eyes of blue/ Killer thighs and a boss tattoo / The toast of every guy in town / A whole wardrobe that oozes style / Breaking hearts with just her smile / She may be nice, but she ain’t you”. Sweet harmonies lead into the slower-tempo ballad “Sorry”, serving up a sort of David Gates/Bread feel to this lover’s apology (with a nice touch of flute from Lisa Jenio). In “Consult Your Physician”, Dr. Susan West uses her lovely voice to play both speaker channels to the hilt, reminding us things are not as bad as they seem: “You can agonize till your agony is your heaviest load / Come on, get happy!” The thing is, sparkle*jets u.k. can make even the bad times seem fun. “So Gone” is a catchy soft rock anthem from Michael Simmons and Jamie Knight exploring bitter memories of a relationship gone horribly bad. “Real Nice Time” is the Susan West answer to similar subject material. Again, how can one not warm to such lyrics as this: “Did you have a good time? / Did you have one with lime? / Did someone say l’chaim? / Did you tell her you’re mine? / Well I hope you had a real nice time without me”. “Beautiful Girl” lets Simmons show his lounge lizard chops as he romances said beautiful girl with “the only song that’s true”. No stranger to jazzy lounge music, he also impresses with the intriguing and exotic title instrumental “Bamboo Lounge”(complete with wild monkeys screeching). Fans of loud punk rock will enjoy “Hate Your Hair” (but fleetingly, since it clocks in at only 42 seconds). “It’s Gotta Happen” is an infectiously wonderful hand-clapping piece of pop that reminds all of us striving for greater things that “it’s gotta happen” even if “it sure ain’t happening now”. “Nobody’s Girl” reminds you of all those wonderful songs from the seventies (back when radio still had promise - ah, nostalgia). “A Nice One” wins as the song that made me smile the most. Here Susan West explains why she wants to write a nice pretty song, rather than another mean one, telling us how one is necessary to appreciate the other: “It’s smog that makes the sky look pretty / It’s hunger that makes your food taste good / And you don’t know you’re happy until you’re sad”. There’s a full and varied menu of songs and styles presented here, and you’ll want to drink of these libations liberally (I haven’t even touched upon any of the extra music) in order to best digest it all. Fun and talent meet up at the Bamboo Lounge and you get a great musical bang for the buck. Drink up and sing along with sparkle*jets u.k., but always watch out for the wild monkeys.

Additional Info All sorts! Just ask.

Location Orange, CA - USA

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