For Jo. x
When I think of Jo Rose, it’s sometime around 2004 as I was starting to make my way in the circuit around Manchester, with my first solo recordings. Jo was maybe still in high school and already making waves with his band Fear of Music - all so, so young and writing music way beyond their years. I first saw them in the weekend entertainment pullout of the Evening News, looking every part a band of superstars in waiting. We shared stages at club nights around town, most notably Blowout at the Bierkeller on Piccadilly. Graham Thomas, who ran Blowout with a few friends had put out Fear Of Music's first mini album and gave me a vinyl copy around the time that Blowout were courting doing the same with me.
Fast forward and it’s 2006, I had signed my first deal with Sony Music and Fear of Music had signed their own deal with the same label. We spent a lot of time together, he would come over to my flat in town, and we’d wax lyrical about the Saddle Creek label, Charles Bukowski - all of those early influences on my first work and what would become Jo’s amazing solo output. By this point, Jo was around 17 or 18 and I had taken him under my wing, knowing how the major label world could be a difficult place to navigate for anybody, let alone somebody of Jo’s age. In some ways, he most likely had a wiser head on his shoulders than I did, especially around that time. Fear Of Music joined us, opening up on what turned out to be our last tour as The Slowdown Family. I recall that amazing band tearing up the stage, leaving us something special to follow. The band made some great music in a short space of time.
We eventually both found ourselves in the position of having our bands end, and Jo had started to put together his own solo songs. Insanely well-read and with a brilliant turn of phrase, inflected with just the right amount of the influence of Jason Molina, Alex Chilton, Gram Parsons, Elliott Smith, and Conor Oberst, but every bit his own. That first batch of music set a fire under me in the way that only friendly rivalry can - each lyric reading like the most brilliant poetry.
Now it's 2013, and I'm watching him play in the back room of The Castle in Manchester, his then-girlfriend Klara Söderberg joining him beautifully on backing vocals. The songs had developed a life of their own, evolving as Jo was becoming more and more assured in his performances. I was such a big fan.
On Monday night, I heard that we lost Jo. Although we hadn’t spoken as much as we did when we were younger, we would check in from time to time and talk music, life, and dogs. We’d snap right back into talking as we did. He was a formidable intellect, with a distinct ability to make me laugh in such creative, and often filthy, ways.
I keep coming back to that picture of Fear Of Music in the paper way back when, and how quickly time passes us all by.
Love to Jo’s family, the Fear Of Music boys, and everybody who knew him. If you haven’t heard his songs, I urge you to go out and listen to Fear Of Music, as well as his solo record Spurs and the following work with Pit Pony. More people should have known about him.
Sick guitarist. Wordsmith. Sweetheart. We lost a good one. Safe travels, Jo - everybody loves you. x