Off The Wall: A Look Inside White Jagg

White Jagg is one of the young bands that incorporate a thrilling mix of hard rock and punky tunes. The band is made up of five members. Beau Azuma (drums), Ray Wilson (Vocals/Guitar), Alex Cardenas (Bass), Logan Fischer (Synth/Drum tech), and Zach Blair (Guitar). I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Ray and Zach about their band.

Interviewer: So, you recently joined the band?

Ray: I moved back to California a few months back. I had been living out in Colorado just doing solo stuff after and my first band kind of fizzled with COVID. I ran up around like Santa Barbara and San Diego and pumped out to a couple of good shows around there. So, I was kind of like trying to get back into doing that flow again. And then my lease was coming up and Zach had an opening. So, I moved in, we were just roommates.

Zach: The singer in the band had been in for a couple of years but we had some issues. We parted ways and it kind of came right before we had a bunch of gigs lined up and Ray hopped in last minute and it's been good ever since. I think this was early December?

Ray: Yeah, the first week of December.

White Jagg has their roots in punk rock. Before White Jagg, some of the members had another band called “The Illegals”.

Zach: We originally were called The Illegals. Would have been like five months before COVID we started the band. And then when we got like our first gig, I think the week or a month after what happened, we just kind of fell apart. And then, me and my friend, we reformed it. We changed them to white Jagg, I guess it would have been around a year ago, roughly. We started by Janet technically. Yeah. We’ve had a lot of different band members, but we finally have a good crew going. But It's been hard, but we finally have a crew. Things have been nice and stable.

White Jagg has been making their way playing multiple shows around Southern California, including an independent event called “Juicefest”, a festival that featured many local, young bands in the LA area. The band recently played in the bustling college town of Isla Vista.

Interviewer: I saw that y’all recently played a show in Isla Vista. How was that one?

Zach: Crazy. It’s cool up there cause the whole town is just filled with kids. Like thousands of kids just walking the streets. So, they just hear music and walk in but it was hectic too because we showed up and we brought the PA and everything but there was a car on fire on the way up so everyone was super late. It (the venue) was just an apartment complex. There was no outlet, nothing. No one was answering the doors.

We’re like calling the guy like, “Hey, you sure we can play here. Like, are you sure?” and the guy (who booked us) was like “It's cool. It's fine.” So, we didn’t know what was going to happen but it ended up being a great show.

When I was able to see White Jagg live at “Juicefest”, I witnessed how much energy and charisma the band had with each other. Ray, the lead singer, became like a man possessed with his frantic dance moves and jumping around into the crowd. It was quite a show.

Zach: We were there (Juicefest) for like six hours. All the bands ran late and it was just a whole bunch of shit. And we were just laying around with all this pent-up caffeinated energy. And we’re like, “We’re just going to go out there and be really loud cause it’s been six hours and half of the people have already left”. We make a point to put everything into each show.

Interviewer: And I know y’all are roommates but how did you meet before that?

Zach: Ray recorded an EP with the old band, it never got released, but this was maybe three years ago.

Ray: The old singer saw my then band performing one night where I broke three strings on two guitars. I was chain-smoking that one off outside and the singer bummed a cigarette off of me and we got to talking. That led me to record with their band and now we’re here.

Zach comes from a background of music. His parents were musicians and were involved in the religious music scene.

Zach: My parents were musicians. They were in like a Christian alternative folk band growing up, so we used to go to churches and stuff when I was a kid, did a lot of Jesus music. I learned from my dad through that, that’s how I got into guitar and stuff. Taught myself a bit when I was a kid and started my first band, The Illegals, when I was 19. Been obsessed ever since.

Ray also comes from a childhood interlaced with music.

Ray: My mom directs a kid’s choir, still does to this day, that I was involved with. And from there, I did musical theater and at a certain point I started writing my own music and I got picked up for a show as myself at the Chain Reaction in Anaheim. And I did that with a band I set up and became the band I played with. Did that for a year and a half, the bug bit me, and then played all the way out in Colorado. Was playing at random bars anywhere I could.

I taught myself guitar because my dad always wanted me to learn piano and I was like “No” so very informally taught with that. But the voice is fun because I did have a good background and I learned from operatic teachers and stuff like that.

Zach: That’s why he can jump and sing at the same time.

Ray’s skilled vocals mixed with the thrashy hard rock White Jagg emulates creates a rarity in music that is often laced with punk rock. A good singer.

Ray: Ultimately, it’s the instrument that matters. Like, can you connect with your audience or what music you’re playing. Cause everyone has their own (voice) and it’s fun learning how to use it, but it’s an interesting experience, finding what works.

White Jagg’s music has an array of different types of musical styles and sounds. From psychedelic to punk, the band has no boundaries.

Ray: The old bio on the band used to be Polymath, jazz surf rock. When we ultimately met, we played surf rock with jazz chords. We tried to mix it up as much as we could like playing weird sections. But it was a very different experience than what I do now.

Zach: Whenever we send a bio, I just say “Genre-bending rock band”. We try to dive into the heavy psych stuff but we defiantly have the punk stuff. It’s just hard rock.

Interviewer: If you were stuck on an island, what records would you want if you could only listen to those two or three?

Ray: I would do “Ants From Up There” by Black Country, New Road their new release. Then, Childish Gambino’s “Awaken My Love!”. No, “3005” change that. And then Radiohead’s “Kid A”.

Zach: I have no idea. Fuck. Okay, “Fill Your Lungs” by King Gizzard. “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band”, cause I love that album. And oh, I need something. That radio special one. It was just this CD that my dad used to play when I was a kid. It’s like this one off 1986 Columbia Records one, it’s on Spotify. It’s hard to find that but it’s just such a soothing album for me.

White Jagg currently has a 2 song single out called “Sid Winder”. The band is currently working on a new EP.

Zach: We’re working on another EP right now. We’re in the middle of it and then we have another we’re planning and trying to do after that one. Our synth player has this family friend who is a musician, has this incredibly nice studio and he’s just letting us use it. We’re getting to use it for free in exchange for use doing labor around his place, like shoveling stuff and tearing out drywall. And then coming back the next day to do some drum tracks.

Interviewer: That’s a fair trade.

Zach: Yeah, it is. Especially how much they charge for fucking recording. It’s a good space to be working in.

Interviewer: And what’s the goal of this next EP? What are y’all envisioning?

Zach: We write songs all over a lot of different genres and we have a couple of softer songs we’d written. You just want to get out there. Just trying to go with intensity, you have to have some range. And right after a softer song, we will have some heavier songs, just like our set lists.

White Jagg hits a nice balance of soft and hard rock songs during their shows. When I saw them, I was impressed by their range to attack a vicious punk-mosh tune and following with a low-tempo indie tune.

Interviewer: Is there a certain structure or person that writes the material for the band? How do y’all go about the creative process of it all?

Zach: It’s a hodgepodge. Someone comes with an idea, but it can be either very piece to piece or already fully written. And sometimes someone comes with an idea and would jam on it and see where it goes. We’ve had a couple of really good songs come out recently that were just baselines that Alex threw together. I had like five parts per song and just couldn’t string it into an idea for the life of me. And I will bring it into practice but most of us aren’t formally trained in music so we won’t know have an idea what’s going on. But our keyboardist is a blessing and actually a genius professional almost. And he will just be in the corner of the room, like rolling his eyes when we’re trying to figure out how to do something with a song.

Both Zach and Ray are California natives, hailing from the southern part of the state.

Ray: He’s from South OC. I’m from the South Bay, right by Hermosa beach. I really dig the South Bay. It’s kinda like this bubble from the rest of LA. The only hard part of the bubble is I’ve always wanted a more emerging scene in the area. But there are some cool scenes in the South Bay. There are some good shows in LA, actually UCLA shows. I just wish sometimes it wasn’t such a bubble because we’ve wanted to throw shows in the South Bay.

White Jagg has started to attack the college scene around the state, being frequent players at colleges like UCLA and UCSB.

Interviewer: What’s been your favorite or most memorable venue you’ve played at?

Zach: There’s this one space at UCLA called the boiler room. My buddy doesn’t have an actual name for it but it’s really cool. It’s like this abandoned frat, housing now but there’s like this basement and then a second basement. And you just go down there and play. So, you’re in there, getting in the mosh and it’s just like hot and sweaty and loud and very dark. But it’s like very intimate spot, which us really cool for us.

Ray: There was a couple that fell in love at our last show, they started just making out during the set. They were obnoxiously making out in front of everyone.

Zach: And we were like “Damn, someone like #IfellinloveataWhiteJaggshow.

Interviewer: Talking about gigs, what’s your dream gig?

Ray: I want to play in The Round in France, somewhere really cool. I mean, I just like the enthusiasm with the crowd there and the idea of playing like on a lifted stage in The Round where the bands can interact with each other, I think that’s so cool.

Zach: I would just love to play a festival. That’s the dream. Like play three, four hours throughout the day so I can watch the bands, enjoy the time, and play a really nice set

White Jagg is currently working on a new EP. Check them out their show this Saturday (3/19) at 511 N Mill St, Santa Paula CA.  Their two-song single “Sid Wonder” is available on all streaming platforms.

Follow them on Instagram @white_jagg