Jack Saunders is Predicting the Future

I think it was the fact that you could have fun and get paid for it. I couldn’t really believe that the breakfast shows that I’d listened on the way into school or the special shows that I’d listen to when I got back and I was doing my homework – I just didn’t realise, it kind of blew my mind a little bit that you could get paid just to have a laugh on the radio and do it with hundreds of thousands, if not millions of other people listening alongside you. It seemed like a really special and unique thing to do. I don’t think I’ve ever been the kind of person that’s particularly followed the trend – I’ve always wanted to do something different and have my own identity and be who I want to be. It stuck from a pretty early age and I sought out to get it.

It was a friend of mine that was talking about it at a party ages ago. The pressure and the momentum of people talking about this need to change was just starting to pick up. I remember saying that as blokes, we don’t experience this at all, so what have you experienced? It was unimaginable to me that this would happen. Groping, constant pressure, being spoken to when she didn’t want to be spoken to, even darker near misses that almost happened. It was so shocking because for me and my friends, that’s obviously not something that we’d ever imagine doing – we have the utmost respect for women, whether it’s at a gig or in the workplace. So from there on out, I was like, this just flat out isn’t right, and the only way [to fix it] is to talk about it and to make sure that people know this is not ok. It’s a conversation that happens regularly across the show [Jack’s BBC Radio 1’s ‘Future Artists’ show] in terms of women are absolutely on a level playing field in all respects. We actively make sure that there is as close to a 50/50 split [of artists played] as humanly possible every single night on the show. All we can do is keep the pressure on and keep going and keep making the noise.

Well, to me, I think about it in a bit more of a linear way. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I wasn’t up to scratch on it. One of my big passions and reasons that I do what I do is because I love connecting with young people and engaging in the new ideas and creativity that they are bringing forward every single day. You just have to go on to an app like TikTok to find the new memes, ideas and trends. I enjoy it, whether it be TikTok or Twitch, or whatever the brand new thing is that’s going to come through next. It never really becomes a chore. I can understand how it would feel like that to other people, but to me, I love engaging with and meeting new people and hearing about new ideas and taking that away. Hopefully, it’s having an influence on me as well. I think it’s important to always know where the next thing’s coming from and what people are excited about.

I think it’s really important, first off, to make sure your mind and your mindset are in the right place. I don’t compare myself to people – I used to but I don’t anymore because that was the thing that was holding me back. As soon as I stopped comparing myself to other people and trying to be like them, that’s when things started to happen for me. I don’t really feel pressure now with social media, I just enjoy seeing how well people are doing. I enjoy hyping people up and commenting on stuff and liking stuff.  I do it with moderation as well because it can take hold of you. But I think I see it for its benefits more than its negatives. I can kind of see the signs when the negatives start to creep in and for me, that’s a stop, reset, go again type of thing. I have friends who are artists who have to be constantly active on [social]. Especially now when they can’t be playing shows or going out and doing the normal promo stuff. They’re being asked to do virtual gigs be on Instagram Live and it is sucking the soul out of some people, but there are some people out there who are so besotted with it because they know how important it is. So yeah, as you said, I definitely see both sides of it, but I think the important thing is to detach yourself a little bit, focus on you, don’t compare yourself to other people – however tempting it might be – and you will be better because of it, have an enjoyable experience and see the positive sides of social media.

My biggest tip would be – yes be active on as many platforms as you can, but if you’re going to be active over there, do it well. Fucking nail it because there’s no point downloading TikTok and then just regurgitating your music video on there for 25 seconds. It doesn’t work. Understand what you are engaging in and how to really maximise the platform you’re using. No one wants to see the music video on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik, Tok, and Snapchat… Each one does something different. Use those features to your advantage to bring your audience into a different world. For me, it works really well – the stream of consciousness out of my mind onto Twitter, the real highlights of my life on Instagram and then Stories is really nice for a personal behind the scenes type of thing. TikTok is an opportunity to get really creative and show a funny side to me. So you have all these opportunities to show your different strengths – use them. Don’t just regurgitate – be really intelligent and clever about how you use them.

I’d kind of reword it slightly and say an engaged social media following is really important. A social media following is kind of rule number one at the moment. Nice to have the money from the label, but that inevitably comes when they see you popping off on TikTok or Instagram or wherever. But at the same time, if you can do this all yourself to a certain level, you’re going to have all the power to dictate when that kind of thing [a record deal] comes around. You’ll know your worth. You can do whatever you want because the label wants the energy.

Yeah, pretty much. It was super, super gutting not being able to do any hopscotches last year. Because I’d built up such amazing momentum with it. We’d had Blossoms, The Vaccines, Circa Waves, Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes, Miles Kane… these huge bands and artists that would sell out Brixton Academy, maybe Alexandra Palace easily. That’s like 10,000, 15,000 people – that’s crazy! But I was putting them on in a 150 cap room secretly! We built up amazing momentum and it was disappointing not to be able to follow that through as we have a lot of plans to take it from Seabright to a brand new venue. That plan is still in place, and hopefully, happening this year. And you know what, at the end of the day, it’s given me a little bit more time to work out exactly how to do it as well. So arguably, the show that you’re going to get in September is going to be infinitely better than anything you would have got last year anyway.