We sent Dan from up and coming rockers CodeJAK some questions via E-mail to see how the band are getting on and their plans for the future with tour's, plans for an album and much more.

Hello and thank you for taking time out to answer these questions

First of all can you give us a bit of history about CodeJAK such as how you came together as a band and came up with the name CodeJAK?
I (Dan) have been a drummer for most of my life, did the Music Uni thing, played in some decent bands, then decided to return back to Cumbria after around 5 years. I was asked to join a local indie band called “The Origin” which is where I met Dave Fisher (bass), the band didn’t last long but did get a good Northwest following especially Manchester and Liverpool. The band broke up and I decided to get back to my roots which has always been Rock, so while I was looking for a singer and a guitarist I asked my little bro, who was making a good name for himself as a drummer also, to come down and practise with myself and Dave to see if the 20 or so songs I had wrote over the years would work in a band/rock environment, most of them did. The only problem I then had was to find the other members who were right for the sound to join us, and then I would return to the drum stool. We found JR to play lead, who was awesome, but really struggled to find a singer who would do the songs justice, the word was getting around that a band was developing and they were getting anxious, so we played a gig with the four of us with around 11 songs done. They loved it, so codeJAK was born!!!

Who would you say your main musical influences are?
The main influence’s which run through all members of the band, are all rock bands, Foo’s, Biffy, Led Zep, Metallica, Muse, and so on. Me personally like songs that are different and weird, out of box songs e.g. Queens of the Stone Age, Black Tide, Rage. I think some bands really need to play out of the mainstream of whatever genre they are in to be completely successful.

You are due to release your debut EP ‘Hell Yeah’ on the 25th January, are you happy with the response the EP has got so far running up to the release date?
The response has been awesome from all aspects, music industry, music fans, reviewers, we have been really lucky that the music crosses over into different Rock pigeon holes, and that people are lovin’ it.

Even though your EP is still days from being released have you thought about working on a full length album yet?
Yeah, we have around 25 songs wrote and are being played live at the moment, with more added all the time. We practise and write constantly, some songs work and some don’t, if one member of the band is not feeling it, we will work with it for a bit, but ultimately all 4 of us have to agree for it to be a codeJAK song. We were lucky enough to work with “The Animal Farm” on the producing of “Hell Yeah”, and would love to work with them again on the album, which we are looking at releasing later in 2010.

I understand you have recorded a video for ‘Hell Yeah’ what was it like to record and when will it be available to watch?
The filming was AWESOME, we took over a huge car bodyshop for the weekend, filled it with around 50 fans, and just went mental. It took our management around 6 hours to clean up, but was well worth it, the video came out looking really good. It is, as we speak, at the music TV companies (Scuzz, Kerrang, MTV) and will also be on our website (www.codejak.co.uk) soon.

You played the London International Tattoo Convention back in September how was that for you?
It was probably the highlight of 2009 for us, Friday was so good the organisers asked us to play again on the Sunday, which has never happened before. I just think the people that would attend a “Tattoo Convention” really connected with us and vice versa, we met some people who will remain friends for life and fans that we will love for life, it was quite simply AWESOME!!!!!!

I understand you become friends with The Rocket Dolls at the tattoo convention how did this come about?
Yeah, The Rocket Dolls headlined the Sunday and we shared a nightliner tour bus together for the weekend. We just really connected personally and musically, respecting each other music even though it is different, just getting pretty fucked on jaegermeister for 3 days does that!!! Alphawave management, who were there with another of their bands, seen the connection, signed us both up and are sticking us on tour together for 20 dates in March. Nutters, it is going to be messy!!!

You are due to take part in a 20 date co-headline tour with The Rocket Dolls in February and March have the shows all been booked now and how much are you looking forward to getting out on the road?
I think most of the shows have been booked, we are just waiting conformation from the management. We cannot wait for it to start really, the problem we have is our base, which is in the Lake District, miles from anywhere, so to be able to get to those further locations to let people listen to the music, is exciting for us.

What can someone who has never seen you live before expect from your live show?
High energy Rock ‘n’ Roll baby, with a twist of the dark side!!!

You have supported a wide variety of bands such as The Futureheads, Buzzcocks, The Holloways and The Sugababes, how did these support slots come about? And what’s the story behind The Sugababes support slot?
Big bands rarely venture into our neck of the woods but when they do we always get asked to play with them, which is an honour for us. The Sugababes story is quite funny really! An organiser of the Ashfield Festival in Nottingham is a fan of ours and asked us to play there, but told his bosses we were a mainstream band in the charts!!! So I few eyebrows were raised when we got on stage and kicked of with “Hell yeah” and 10,000 people were thinking “Who the Fuck are these??” but at the end of our set we won over a few fans, and most of them were jumping around knocking the Sugababe fans, who were waiting at the front to see them, out of the way. Very surreal.

If you could tour with any band past and present who would it be and why?
Just to experience the rock life style it would have to either Ozzy in his wild years or Motley Crue, so we could get some ass!!! But Nirvana would be a good one to see how hype works, 10 people at 1 gig, then 10,000 at the next, to experience the power of the press to make you a celebrity one day when you were no-one the day before is interesting in itself!

One random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra or a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
A Zebra, only cause I could be hung like a horse!!!!

Thanks for your time is there any message you would like to leave for your fans reading this?
codeJAK would just like to say to fans who have supported us from day 1, THANKYOU so much we love you all, and to the fans who are waiting to join us “Jump on the codeJAK machine and get ready to ROCK!!!!”

Interview By Trigger