Introducing: Jools

When JOOLS say Violent Delights is about beginnings and endings, they’re not speaking in riddles—they’re drawing blood. The debut album from the incendiary UK punk collective doesn’t just kick down doors, it leaves them swinging in its wake. With raw, lived truths wrapped in riotous riffs and spitfire poetry, JOOLS aren’t here to play nice—they’re here to burn bright, burn fast, and burn true. We sat down with co-vocalists Kate Price and Mitch Gordon to talk grief, identity, defiance, and why their chaos always comes with intent.

1.“These violent delights have violent ends” is a line that opens and closes the album—why was that repetition so essential to the story you’re telling, and what does it represent for the band personally? 

“These violent delights have violent ends” is a line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and I’ve always thought it was such a beautiful phrase. It is the album’s name, it appears in both the opening and closing track and also in our track Cardinal.  Violent Delights felt like the perfect title for an album that works through some of the darkest and most violent emotions like grief and rage but also some of the most euphoric and delightful emotions like desire or self-assurance. For me though, the lyric that follows this one is more important- “and violently you’ll see, nobody decides it’s over for me, but me.” Much of this album is a reflection loss and grief- loss of relationships, loss of control, loss of identity but ultimately the overarching message is that we are the masters of our own destiny, no matter how violent or out of control that can seem at times. 

2.The album feels like a tug-of-war between catharsis and chaos—what was it like emotionally to record such raw, personal material, and how did Lewis Johns help shape that process in the studio?

Every song we write comes from our own personal lived experiences and 97% and Dunoon are perhaps the most raw on the album. The experiences associated with those songs were and are difficult to live through, they were difficult to write, difficult to record and are still now difficult to perform, but with that pain comes catharsis and release. It was an absolute pleasure to work with Lewis Johns. His recording space in Southampton feels tucked away from the entire world and he has created such a calm, safe environment there. His producing style brought the absolute best out of us as performers and we’re so grateful for his input on this album. He also has the most beautiful Boston Terrier named Olive who was always there to play with or cuddle when things felt heavy.

3.JOOLS draws influence from such a wide range of genres—from post-punk to hip-hop to hardcore. How do you decide what feels like JOOLS when there are so many sounds and styles in play?

In all honestly, it kind of just happens. The six of us in the band have such broad music tastes and I think those influences and preferences just naturally flow into our sound. We’re not afraid to push each other into new places when songwriting. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but being experimental is key to our process. We’re often told after shows that we don’t sound like anyone else which to us is the greatest compliment.

4.Several tracks tackle incredibly difficult subjects—addiction, sexual violence, obsession—through a confrontational lens. How do you balance that intensity with a sense of empowerment or healing?

As I mentioned earlier, some of the songs on this album are extremely heavy for us but it was absolutely vital for them to be included on the album. It’s really cathartic to perform these songs live and have people resonate with them because of their own experiences. There’s also something about screaming your heart out in a sweaty, crowded room that is so freeing. 

5.You’ve described Violent Delights as a celebration of loss. How did reframing grief and pain as a kind of liberation influence the tone of the album and the way you perform it live?

Violent Delights is very much a celebration of loss but it’s also a reflection on desire, on lust, on envy, on rage, on self, on destiny and how these things intertwine during periods of great change in your life. We wanted the album to feel like a journey through all of that eventually culminating in a place of hope and joy, despite it all.

Our live performance is very intense but also dynamic.  Sometimes I perform 97% and I’m so filled with rage that I’m physically shaking. Other times I feel desperately sad. We just play how we feel and try to be as authentic as we possibly can. It’s also very important to mirror the darkest moments of the album with the lightest moments too and in that, we still have fun on stage. Someone once told us watching a Jools show was like not knowing if you’re about to be kicked in the face or kissed on the cheek. We like that.