At the tender age of twenty-three Cosmo Jarvis has already released three albums and over fifty short films (including one feature length movie).
Armed with an enormous back catalogue of over three hundred songs, Jarvis is adaptive yet refreshingly modest. He’s already been praised by the likes of John Barrowman, Stephen Fry and Brian Eno for his innovative approach to his music, and we think that Cosmo Jarvis is almost certainly destined for success. We caught up with Cosmo to chat about his films, touring and his plans for the future.
You’ve just finished The Happy Bus Tour – how’s was it?
It was brilliant, just a really good tour. I was touring with literally the best band – they’re called Mad Dog McRea, and they’re ace. They’re just so good to tour with – they’re just real people and proper musicians. They play well with no gimmickry and they’ve got some great stories!
What was the best bit of the tour?
The gig in Wales was awesome – the crowd were amazing and it was a really good night. Someone actually threw underwear at me at that show – it was some girl, but I’ve got no idea who she was. The underwear did have some kind of inscription on them (which I can’t remember at this point in time) – that was funny.
How would you describe your music for people who don’t know you?
Non-genre-specific recordings of songs.
You’ve been playing some new songs on this tour – any plans for a new album?
Definitely – the new songs (like Look at The Sky) have all been going down well so I’m definitely going to get them out on an album soon. The songs are all ready to go, but I just need to finish a few bits off before I get them on an album. Look at The Sky is actually my favourite song from all my albums – it’s just a nice, fun song.
You’re just about to start work on your new film Abandon Hope – what’s it about?
Well, briefly, Abandon Hope is a black comedy about this metal band and it explores freedom. There’s a focus on this guy who just really wants to make his dad proud, but his dad’s a bit of a d*ck, and they’re secretly in competition with each other. I have no idea exactly how we’re going to fund it – a guy I know wanted to invest £500 in it, but at the time I was touring and had really temperamental WiFi so I never got the chance to reply to his email. Long story short, I’m not getting that £500 anymore… That sucks, because there are a couple of expensive scenes in it. I’m planning to do a bus crash and an awards ceremony, which will cost a fair bit. All the people from The Naughty Room are gonna be in Abandon Hope.
Which song do you wish you’d written?
Aw man! That’s hard… I’d probably go with Blackbird by The Beatles.
You manage to juggle your filmmaking with your music, but if you had to pick one to carry on with which would you choose?
Filmmaking for sure. I could still write music if I wanted it to accompany a film.
Your film The Naughty Room was a huge success – what was the most challenging thing about the whole production?
I’d probably say the fact that all the cast are just my mates, so it was really difficult not to f*ck them off too much. In one scene where Dave (who plays Subaru) had to smash down a door he cut his hand up pretty badly, so we had to stop filming for a bit. I’d also say that trying to find women to play the mothers was a challenge; it was literally four days before we were due to start filming and I still hadn’t found anyone to fit their roles.