JOOLS - Violent Delights JOOLS

Violent Delights is an anthology of stories that meanders through themes of grief, rage, desire, and identity. There are stories of the toxicity of addiction and growing up around religion; stories of overwhelming obsession, isolating abandonment, empowering anthems of identity, and stark laments about sexual violence. They are each lived experiences, laid bare and reclaimed with every syllable, whether dripping in spite or swagger, anger or anxiety.

"Loss is a central theme of the album," explains vocalist Kate Price. "For us, we have our own specific version of what that is in these songs, but for anyone listening, it could be the loss of something else – a loved one, a relationship. But we're never mourning loss. We're celebrating it. Loss is almost universally looked at as a negative, but we're finding the positives in those moments. We had to go through hell to get to heaven. Violent Delights is about looking back with gratitude, and even fondness, the closing of one chapter and beginning of another."

Jools – comprised of Kate Price, Mitch Gordon, Chris Johnston, Callum Connachie, Joe Dodd, and Chelsea Wrones – has been a name on the lips of clued-up fans and tastemakers since its collective of musicians found each other in the earliest days of 2023. Quickly gaining a reputation for their cathartic, unpredictable, and spectacular live performances.

Violent Delights was recorded across two week-long stints at Southampton's The Ranch studio in August and December 2024, with Lewis Johns helming production and mixing duties.

When pressed, Jools may identify as a punk band – in its truest sense that punk is a mentality rather than a sound – but Violent Delights equally draws from the worlds of metal, rap, post-hardcore, and hip-hop as much as it does the post-punk of its surface layer. Gordon and Price are as likely to point to Turnstile, Mannequin Pussy, and Amyl and the Sniffers as influences on the record as they are to Little Simz and Mike Skinner of The Streets. "We don't necessarily look at music in sounds or structures," nods Gordon. "Instead we look for attitudes."