VoyageLA
Today we’d like to introduce you to JEMS, Jessica Rotter, Emily Colombier, and Sarah Margaret Huff.
Jessica & Emily grew up together in LA as daughters of two classical musicians (flute & cello respectively). They collaborated and supported one another’s music for a few years before being introduced to Sarah Margaret. Each member of JEMS has released music on their own. When the three of them started playing shows for Jessica’s solo project, it was a unanimous resounding response that people wanted more three-part harmony!
They loved singing together and it only made sense to take their fun little show on the road. They planned a tour around the total solar eclipse in 2017 and put a show together. The shows became more and more frequent and their songs poured out of them. They started with individual ideas that branched out and have now found a cohesive group voice as musicians and songwriters. They have been immensely inspired by the musical history of Los Angeles, notably Laurel Canyon folk and the authentic voices of our spiritual grandparents.
Please tell us about your music.
We write and perform music that represents the true whole nature of being a woman; and most importantly a human. We want to give our fans, friends and listeners permission to feel. Not that anyone needs permission, but sometimes music helps you get there. Writing music has helped us navigate our feelings, allowing us to more deeply process our various circumstances; circumstances both tough and beautiful that probably wouldn’t have been easy to carry without the buoyancy of creating music. Usually, when we come together to write a song, one of us has an idea with a theme and maybe even a personal story, and the other two of draw on an experience that might be totally different but also expresses the theme of the song. It’s also what makes our songs so accessible to listeners and why people can relate to the raw honest emotion and stories that we share. That through-line of experience cuts right to the heart of the matter and makes things so much more universal.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Focus your efforts on creating, not on promoting. Yes, promoting is part of this absurd social media age and numbers “matter” but at the end of the day, if you’re making something of worth, people will connect with it. There are so many channels for expression and so many opportunities to be heard and transform the lives of others. Not only is there an opportunity to share a message, but the messages are also urgent. It is a time nearly akin to the 60s when the messages of freedom, understanding and enlightenment had to burst out of everyone chasing a muse. We are in another period of awakening and it is a heavy burden if an artist can’t express and create through it all. We are thankful for the ease of sharing music with the world and being able to watch our listener base grow in a meaningful way. Keep creating and the staggering weight of the world becomes lighter.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
We have our self-titled debut album that we released in May of 2019 out on all digital platforms and available for purchase on our website. It was truly a labor of love, produced by our dear friend Cazz Brindis and recorded at both The Village Studios and a small studio in Laurel Canyon. The sale of our hard copies and merch online help us fund the production of our second album so that’s really the best way to support and further our creative journey.
We mostly play shows in the LA area but will be doing some upcoming runs up the west coast and around the south in 2020, so you can be on the lookout to come hear us play live and meet us in person!
Our YouTube channel is also chock full of JEMS gems! Videos that will either make you laugh or cry… or cry laughing. One where Jonathan Taylor Thomas is the love interest, another that looks like a Hallmark Christmas movie where you give your family pot brownies, and another about the journey of finding yourself after years in the dark.
Contact Info:
Website: wearejems.com
Email: hello@wearejems.com
Instagram: @weare_JEMS
Facebook: facebook.com/JEMSmusic
Twitter: twitter.com/wearejems
Other: youtube.com/jemsmusic