Interview: All for Jolly (Written)

All for Jolly are braced to skyrocket, loaded with their explosive sophomore self-titled album, which is set to be released on Friday 4th April. The fiery five piece have now dropped their absorbing new single and video, New Era. In this interview, we get to know them better.

1. Hello! Thank you for taking the time to chat to us. First things first, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got started.

Hello, thanks for having me. My name’s Jae and I am a vocalist and acoustic guitarist in All For Jolly. I started playing music around 4 years old and had lessons in primary school with Julyan Wallis (from BBC’s The Repair Shop). I haven’t had any lessons since then but I have continued playing and studying music. With the band, we started 6 years ago in 2019 and progressed from a pirate shanty-esk 3 piece into a 5 piece Celtic punk band. My musical journey has been as varied as the band’s genre change and I’m sure the changes won’t stop there. I am excited to find out where this journey takes us next.

2. Someone comes to you and asks you to sum up what kind of music you play – what do you tell them?

Where do I start? Well it’s more punk than folk punk and it’s more folk than punk folk. We sprinkle in influences from anything between 80’s rock metal and 00’s pop punk plus nautical pirate and Cornish Celtic influences. There’s a lot of heart in some of the songs and others are perfect for people that are drinking and those that want to feel like they are.

3. What’s currently keeping you busy? A new album/EP/single release? A new video? Playing live, or planning ahead?

We have lots of things on at the moment and it’s a very exciting time. Our new album is out on 4th April 2025. We have launched our Patreon page. Our new single NEW ERA is now out everywhere including a music video on YouTube. We also have a European and UK tour coming up. Check out our website for dates and tickets at www.allforjolly.com.

4. What is about this current period that is particularly exciting for you?

Playing our new songs with our fresh line up!

5. Tell me about the work that has gone into making it a reality and what it means to you.

Have you got all day? We all work very hard and have worked long long long long long long long hours for a long long long time. If we aren’t playing gigs (which we do every weekend) we are writing songs, booking gigs, managing the socials, ing videos, sorting out finances, applying for opportunities and constantly thinking of ways to further our career.

6. Making music and being creative can be a very positive experience and can be very good for the mind. In what way has making music had a positive impact on your mental health?

Making music is a cathartic creative outlet. I get a lot from connecting with our fan base and that sense of community we have built surrounding the band. It’s great playing on stage and having fun with some of my best friends (my band mates) and we all each other’s mental health needs.

7. It can also be incredibly challenging, more so in the modern times. What have been some challenging aspects of making music and how have you overcome them?

The main trouble we have had as a DIY is finding a way to make this financially sustainable for us to continue working on the band full time. We are lucky to have a fan base that has helped us with fundraising in the past and the album has cost a lot more than first anticipated so we have accumulated a lot of debt. We are hoping that all the hard work will pay off and we can’t continue to keep the faith and keep going!

8. How do you handle the online aspects of being in a band? Having to put out content constantly, promoting across several different social media platforms, and having your success measured in likes and follows?

Personally, I am not on social media platforms so it makes that separation of work and life a little easier. My sister Sammantha does the band’s social media work and I think she does a great job with it although it does appear to get overwhelming sometimes as it’s a constant job.

9. How do you make this part of things enjoyable, and fulfilling, for yourself?

It’s fun to be able to interact with fans and like minded people that I wouldn’t usually connect with. During lockdown we did a lot of live streams on our socials which was a really good way to continue building our sound and relationship with our followers. We do come up with some interesting and fun ways to promote our tours and releases and make fun videos for content.

10. Speaking directly to listeners – what would you ask they do to help you?

There’s a whole range of ways to your favourite DIY bands and most of that doesn’t cost a penny. Checking out our music, telling people about our band, liking and sharing our socials, ing us on Patreon where there’s also a free hip option or just being a part of the community. If you do have some money you’d like to use to us in that way, check out our merch store, tour dates and paid Patreon hip options (where you can find lots of exclusive content).

11. Outside of music, what do you like to do to relax?

Outside of the job (hahahaha!!!!) I don’t have much free time! But, when I do have some time off I like to go into nature and find cool things like crystals, rocks, driftwood and shells and making crafts out of them. I also like watching shows and movies (the last thing I watched was The Witcher, that I binged in 3 days) and I also like gaming.

12. Where can people find you?

Right now, I am about to go Aldi in Camborne to buy Lego flowers for £3. But if you mean the band then check out the links below thanks for talking with me. All For Jolly and Jolly For All!

Website | Bandcamp | Patreon | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok