Jacob's Mouse

Biography

At the tender age of 11 no one expected the Boothby twins and their mate Sam to make anything other than a big noise at home. They’d met Sam at a swimming competition, and made friends because they all were wearing heavy metal t-shirts. Over the years, they stopped playing Status Quo covers and started writing their own songs, with the aim of making no two alike. Their influences were everything on Peel and what they scavenged from parents record collections. Naming themselves after their cousi...

At the tender age of 11 no one expected the Boothby twins and their mate Sam to make anything other than a big noise at home. They’d met Sam at a swimming competition, and made friends because they all were wearing heavy metal t-shirts. Over the years, they stopped playing Status Quo covers and started writing their own songs, with the aim of making no two alike. Their influences were everything on Peel and what they scavenged from parents record collections.

Naming themselves after their cousin’s pet (yep, really!), they put out a single with a friend, and it promptly got Sounds Single of the Week. This opened the doors to tons of gigs as first on to people like Nirvana, Carter, Senseless Things et al. They shopped their new demos to the labels they liked, but to no avail. So, they put it out on their own Blithering Idiot label, run by Sam’s dad, who also managed the band. The press totally loved it, and Peel gave them a session literally hours after hearing it. They played live from Norwich on the Mark Goodier show, and toured with Captain America and Midway Still.

In the meantime Gary Wiiija was kicking himself for turning down No Fish Shop, and they turned down lots of labels to go with Wiiija. The Mice had found their hole, where they could do what they liked, and in their own time. The Ton Up e.p. came out and they toured with Babes in Toyland, and then Moonshake, building up a strong, loyal and young following. Frontier put the album out in the States and they wrote and recorded a new album, I’m Scared, which didn’t get a bad review any where that we’ve found! It was one of the finest low fi youthcore albums released, combining Beefheart, dub, feedback and riffs that stay in the brain.

In Autumn 93, the band went to America, playing with the likes of Poster Children and Alice Donut, and the band recorded three new singles, experimenting with their sound and songwriting. “Group of Seven” was Single of the Week on the Evening Session and in Melody Maker.

When “Fandango Widewheels E.P.” was released in early 94, Peel played all the tracks he loved it so much, and MTV play listed the video on 120 Minutes. Fanzines rave about the band, and despite the lack of mainstream press, the band proved a big draw on the Wiiija / Too Pure / Clawfist tours, and on tours with Understand and Bivouac. The band also supported noisy kindred spirits such as Gallon Drunk, The Boredoms and Th’ Faith Healers.

Jacob’s Mouse released their last album“Rubber Room” in 1995. Although the band split later that year when the twins went to college in London, Sam carried on with his own project, Machismo’s and Wiiija put out two seven inch singles in 1996. He then went on to form hardcore band Volunteers.

Jacobs Mouse were:
SAM MARSH DRUMS & VOCALS
HUGO BOOTHBY GUITAR
JEBB BOOTHBY BASS Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.