Jesse Sykes

My life is going by at an insane speed — as lives tend to do. I've been here just long enough to have almost forgotten where it is I really came from, or maybe it's that I've been here long enough to have learned how to let go of "that" constant longing for where I came from. I've started to love people I once disliked or even thought I hated, and I have stopped loving some that I thought I could never be free of. All that said, there is still a long way to go and I am just so grateful to be here — and grateful to be creating music with the people I hold dearest to my heart. I met Phil Wandscher in 1998 in a dive bar back when Seattle still had dive bars (how I miss those times!). I think I knew instantly upon meeting him that my life would change forever — just a gut feeling I guess, but i was right! Together, he and I have been lucky enough to spend our musical partnership with a group of really great, talented people — some who have stayed, some who have left — but who will never really be "gone." In 2002 we christened our "collective" Jesse Sykes And The Sweet Hereafter. Since then, we have criss-crossed the country countless times, crossed the pond to Europe several times, had the honor of collaborating with bands such as SUNNO))), Boris, Mount Analog and avante-garde composer Eyvind Kang. I've had times that I'll remember for the rest of my life. The past has been magical, but all I've really been thinking about for the last year and a half is our latest record "Like, Love, Lust & The Open Halls of the Soul". We were trying to capture some pretty ephemeral stuff on this album — love and fragile human emotion, the 21st century's strange combination of swagger and vulnerability — and the feeling of a tight knit group of friends coming together and sharing music. We are very much looking forward to spending the next year on the road and seeing the people and places that we've been missing, and hoping that, at least for some people out there, this new album is (or becomes) a companion of sorts, just like it's been for me and the band for the last several months. Hope to see you soon! J.S.