Jimmy Diamond's debut album Common Sense // Commotion will be released on September 3rd. Common Sense was recorded at Mailmen studio in Utrecht with Martijn Groeneveld and Arjan Miranda (Black Mountain) did the mixing. Commotion was recorded and mixed by Jimmy Diamond themselves with befriended engineer Sipke Woudstra in their studio at the foot of the Lemelerberg (NL). Wessel van Oltheten (DeWolff, Anne Soldaat, Blaudzun) did the mastering of the album. The new single Elephants is out now.
The members of Jimmy Diamond are the European left and right hands of Tim Showalter's Strand Of Oaks. As Jimmy Diamond they stand on their own two feet, but a similar DNA flows through their musical bloodstreams. Jimmy Diamond transports us to the americana and roots rock of the seventies, infused with contemporary indie rock.
The men of Jimmy Diamond originally come from a riff/rock oriented background. After spending a few tours with Strand Of Oaks on the bus, and his accompanying playlists, new influences emerged. The No Show Tour in August 2020 was the ideal start for a new direction. Seven days of driving through Europe, writing new music in the back of a van while Germany, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic flashed by. The pandemic didn't seem to exist for a while, it felt like a normal tour again. After a week the band came back with a handful of new songs and a fresh look at the future. The passion and hunger to be on the road and the adventures that go with it are reflected in the songs.
For Common Sense // Commotion, the choice was made to give each side (of the LP) its own zeitgeist. In the middle of the pandemic, a ticket to the US was not an option, so the band recorded the first 5 songs of Common Sense in the Netherlands and had them mixed by Arjan Miranda in New York. In the beginning of 2021, the band decided to convert their rehearsal room at the foot of the Lemelerberg into a studio, a place where you can lose yourself in the music. That is why total anarchy was sought for the 5 songs on Commotion, which is entirely self-produced.
The lyrics are the common denominator on both sides, written from specific personal situations, covering topics such as achievement, courage, doubt, restlessness and achievements. What is striking is the contrast. How Dreams happily talks about love, and Commotion about wanting to run away from the disorder in society. Contrasts in subjects are reinforced by contrasts in sound.
Elephants is the new single and was created in a camper van on the road to the Czech Republic: "We had decided to plan a No Show Tour, to get away from the pandemic rut in the Netherlands, because that routine was killing us. In the first weeks, we found it hard to adapt and to deal with the fact that we could no longer do what we liked doing best. But we are bad at sitting still. We threw ourselves into other things with the aim of learning from them. It was difficult at first, but later it 'came naturally' and we found out that it is mainly down to your mindset, and that applies to many other situations as well. Don't make a mountain out of a molehill, it's not as bad as you think." - Says frontman Jim Zwinselman. Listen to Elephants below.
Shows:
5 sept - Bruis Festival, Maastricht (NL)
24 sept - Willem Twee, Den Bosch (NL)
8 okt - Little Devil, Tilburg (NL)
14 okt - Left Of The Dial festival, Rotterdam (NL)
16 okt - Burgerweeshuis, Deventer (NL)
21 okt - Merleyn, Nijmegen (NL)