by hollie griss, creator

Bonuru are a jazz collective rooted in Suffolk, whose sound is a triumphant surge of bold brass with an alt-rock undercurrent. We sat down with Jacob [bandleader] to chat about the band’s beginnings, local landscapes, the evolving Ipswich scene and their upcoming cover album.

So how long have you been making music as a collective?

Jacob: It started in 2021, just coming out of Covid. Like everyone I was quite bored, and started messing around with live electronics. And I found a trumpet player called Alfie Buckley, and then a bass player who’s a good friend of mine. And it was kind of like lo-fi electronic music. It was very different to what we’re making now. It was fine, but if I’m honest, I was kind of creatively unsure of myself. So it sort of fizzled out a bit after that. But then I went to We Out Here, the Gilles Peterson festival, which in my opinion is the best festival in the world. This was the first time I went in 2022 and I saw The Comet is Coming. They were just amazing, a sort of psychedelic jazz rock outfit. And it was just a light bulb moment where I was like, oh, I know what it is now. So after that gig I went home and enlisted my brother Fabian, who’s a great drummer, Alfie from the original trio, and then brought in Flo Redmonds on saxophone and Cameron Scott on trombone. And from then on, that’s been the outfit. And the first gig we did was an Emerge night at the John Peel Centre, in 2022. 

And where did the name come from?

Jacob: Yeah that’s a funny one. Do you know the video game, Ocarina of Time? It’s a Zelda one. Bonooru is a character in the game who teaches you, or rather invites you to improvise on your instrument, which is an ocarina. And it was just so cool that a video game invited you to play music. It’s quite rare that. And I think, subtly and subconsciously, it inspired a generation of kids to try out music. So yeah, it’s a little nod to that. 

And in terms of what you listen to, is that quite similar stuff to what you’re making?

Jacob: So I think we’d probably be classed as a nu jazz outfit. But me and Fabian are from more of a rock and pop background, so we bring a slightly heavier sound with us. And then the three horn players are more from the jazz world, but they’ve got very open ears as well. So yeah, I guess… The best way to put it is a quote from our mastering engineer, who said our sound is a bit like nu jazz meets Nirvana. Which I think is bang on. And until he said that, I didn’t realise how much the Nirvana, sort of alt rock 90s sound has influenced us. It’s just in my bones from way back when. Even though I’m deep into the jazz world, I don’t think that rock sensibility is ever going to leave. It was a big part of being a teenager.

It’s nice you can still bring that in then, in a different way.

Jacob: Yeah, and I think it’s quite unique actually. There’s a lot of jazz outfits that are blending heavier rock elements, but I don’t know about the sort of grungier sound. I think that’s something we can claim.

Yeah, definitely. Grunge jazz.

Jacob: Yeah! I like that. I haven’t heard that before.

And you mentioned before that Ipswich and Suffolk are quite big influences as well. Can you share a bit more about that?

Jacob: Yeah, definitely. As we were talking about earlier, for the longest time, Ipswich was not…it wasn’t that things weren’t happening, but it was just the potential of the town wasn’t being realised. And in recent years, with the advent of Brighten the Corners, and South Street Studios, and The Smokehouse, their vision has just transformed the town really. And we’ve been heavily reliant on them from the get-go. Our album launch was at The Smokehouse. We’ve played every Brighten the Corners festival for the last three years. And I think wherever we go, we’ll always come back to it. 

Yeah, when I was growing up here, it used to just feel like there was Music in the Park, and that was kind of it. So it’s really exciting.

Jacob: Yeah that was pretty much it. So, you know, a town-wide festival where all the venues get a look in, and you can sort of hop from one to the other and make an entire night of it, is really cool. 

Have you got a favourite local venue?

Jacob: I’ve got a real soft spot for The Smokehouse. Small but mighty. It sounds good in there as well, despite it being so small and boxy. There’s a good setup there and I just love the South Street Studio gang, I think they’re really cool. 

And you released your first album last year. What was the creative process like for that?

Jacob: Well, to go back to video games, and maybe film scores as well, there’s often a melody or a piece of music that gets tied to a specific place, or a specific time. And, the album concept is based on very specific places in Suffolk that mean something significant to me. So each track is a place in Suffolk, and I wrote melodies with those places in mind. And they tend to be places in nature. 

Oh wow, love that. Where’s Nightjar based on?

Jacob: That one is inspired by Rendlesham Forest. I’m very inspired by the landscapes you find in Suffolk. And then, if you look at the album cover, you might recognise that from the walk between Snape Maltings and Iken Church. It’s beautiful. There’s lots of dead trees rising out of the reed beds, and the tree on the cover is one of those. 

They’re really interesting names that you’ve chosen for the songs as well. Are they related to the video game?

Jacob: Yeah, some of them are. I like to keep them quite cryptic. I’m definitely a believer in ‘The Death of the Author’ concept where I might have my reasons for choosing those names, but I’m not gonna reveal all of it, because I don’t want to influence someone’s experience of the music too much. I want them to have their own associations that aren’t necessarily completely aligned with mine. So I like to sort of think of releasing them out into the world, like they’re not mine anymore.

I saw you played Matt & Phred’s in Manchester recently, which is quite an iconic venue. How was that?

Jacob: Yeah, we love the Manchester scene. And the two venues we really wanted to play were Matt and Phred’s and Band on the Wall. Which we’ve done now, which is really cool. It’s a city we want to play much more. The whole northern scene, actually – Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester. They’ve all got incredible jazz scenes. 

They have, yeah. You should definitely try play Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds.

Jacob: That’s on the list! I really want to play there. 

Does it feel quite different playing that sort of venue compared to the home gigs?

Jacob: Yeah, it does. When you’re playing at a jazz club, often you’re sitting down. And the people are also sitting down at a table, maybe having a meal or having a drink. And so we have to sort of tailor our sound a little bit to that and maybe not play as heavily as we sometimes do with the home gigs. Whereas, with something like Brighten the Corners, we play really loudly. And, I don’t prefer it actually, but it’s nice to get that energy out of you. We particularly enjoyed the last gig we did at Brighten the Corners, which was at The Church. It’s a big old venue, really big crowd. We’d like to play more gigs like that, I think, where you can get people dancing. We didn’t really know that we were a band that could get people dancing, but apparently we are. So yeah, maybe we’ll lean into that more. 

What have you got lined up in terms of releases and gigs?

Jacob: We are releasing a live album pretty soon, called Live at The Boathouse. It’s an album that was recorded in this beautiful studio called The Boathouse, which is just on the banks of the River Orwell. This guy called Adam Bowers runs it, and he films a live performance there. He mixes it and masters it all himself. He’s a real musical wizard, and it was brilliant to work with him. The first single came out on the 31st of August. And they’re all covers – we’re doing a Radiohead cover, a Nick Drake cover, a Police cover, and a Nirvana cover. So that will all be coming out soon!

Are there any other local artists that you’re listening to right now?

Jacob: Yeah, two discoveries from the Brighten the Corners festival. There’s a rapper called Ryski, a sort of R&B, hip hop, drill crossover artist, it’s really cool stuff. I thought he was amazing. And then The Fool’s Moon, they’re cool. Like sort of psychedelic folk rock, quite heavy. I like that a lot too. And I think they’re both Ipswich-based. And then there’s a bit of cross-pollination as well, like there’s bands that Fabian, my brother, is involved in too. He’s the drummer for Caswell. They’re a brilliant trio, dream pop, really cool stuff. And there’s an indie band that he’s in as well called Dream Houses, they’re really cool too. So yeah, there’s lots going on in the town. 

Final question. If you could score the soundtrack for a TV show or film, what would it be and why?

Jacob: A TV show or film that already exists, or one, theoretically, that could exist?

I didn’t really think that through to be honest. Probably one that already exists, but it’s open to interpretation.

Jacob: Well, I’m just so deep into Radiohead at the moment…I kind of missed the boat with them, I didn’t really listen to them at all growing up, so I’m making up for lost time. And I love Jonny Greenwood’s scores. He does Paul Thomas Anderson films, like There Will Be Blood, and I think he did One Battle After Another as well. So if I could ever score a Paul Thomas Anderson film, that’d be amazing. That’d be so cool. So yeah, watch this space.