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The Jive Aces

The Jive Aces are a swing band that originated when, as classmates, the band members discovered that they all shared a love for swing music. 

Ian Clarkson, lead singer for the Jive Aces, states: “The band has expanded since those early days. Our musicianship has evolved and has been greased, our shows now have all sort of guest performers and we have our own slick show called ‘The Big Jive Revue’”.

The band reached popularity around the UK when they performed on sixth season of Britain’s Got Talent, getting voted off in the semi-finals, after a fan suggested they should try it out.

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Clarkson says: “We decided that, even though we already had a good thing going on, we would go on and be ourselves and see if they liked it. We didn’t expect to get all the way to the semi finals and be seen by 25 million people – you can’t pay for exposure like that. And we made Simon Cowell smile! 

“As well as the great exposure, it introduced us to a lot of new areas and people and, of course, we played for Her Majesty, The Queen.”

Since then, the band’s success has only continued to increase, going from strength to strength.

Clarkson states with pride how: “We are passionate about our the music we make. We are dedicated to making people happy and all the band members share this same purpose and always have. This is the secret to how we have been so successful and how we are still performing together with the same line up after 20 years.

Our ‘Bring Me Sunshine’ video has over three million views and won awards, it went totally viral, I think because it has a great story. There is even a doctor in Seattle who prescribes the video to cheer up patients with depression. We enjoy making them and it is a way to use the modern internet medium to reach people all over the world who otherwise might never have heard our style of music.”

The Jive Aces not only create fun, toe-tapping music- they also use their success to spread awareness about drug abuse through their work with the Church of Scientology and the ‘Truth About Drugs’ campaign.

Ian explains, “When I was a teenager, I used to smoke grass and drink alcohol but that lead me to unhappiness. I gave it all up. But not before I saw my friends get into harder drugs and loose their way. I then realised that it was imperative, as a musician, to take action on this societal plague. People look up to musicians and see them taking drugs and think that they then have to use them to be a great artist and be cool”.

The Jive Aces have backed the campaign ‘Truth About Drugs’ for 20 years, performing free concerts and handing out educational booklets about the harmful effects of drugs.

Ian wishes to change the perception of drug use amongst members of the public, stating: “What people don’t realise is that without drugs they would be a lot happier, play a lot better and live a lot longer. These booklets and materials give the facts about different kinds of drugs so that kids (and their parents too) can find out for themselves what drugs will do to them and make their own well informed choice, hopefully to say no to them.” 

Currently, The Jive Aces are touring around America, the Caribbean and Barbados and are looking to come back to the UK to perform their ‘Big Beat Revue’ tour.

“I love all gigs, which is probably why I have been doing this so long. Small venues are fantastic as they are so intimate and the atmosphere is lovely but when we play a huge festival with thousands of people getting involved in our music that, obviously, has an amazing buzz and you can almost float of the enthusiasm of the crowd.”

The band are only looking to push their success further and further, Ian stating: “The plan for the beginning of this new decade is to complete the recording of a new album, filming our next music video, going to Casablanca for a jazz festival. We would love to go and perform in Australia and New Zeland as well as India. We would love to perform at Royal Variety Performance and perform at the Palladium.”

Ian had this to say about the upcoming UK tour: “I think the Jive Aces are in many way better musically and show-wise than they have ever been so now is a great time to come to a live show and let us entertain you and make you happy. That is what we live for, touring and making people in different cities and countries across the planet happy”.

To find out more about the Church of Scientology’s work, visit: scientology.org/truth-about-drugs.

To see Ian and The Jive Aces live at a venue near you, check out these upcoming tour dates:

  • 30 January- Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich
  • 31 January- The Winding Wheel, Chesterfield
  • 1 February- Civic Theatre, Chelmsford
  • 2 February- The Hideaway, London
  • 6 February- Rutherglen Town Hall, Glasgow
  • 7 February- Gladstone Theatre, Wirral
  • 8 February- Spa Pavilion, Felixstowe
  • 15 February- Queens Hall Arts Centre, Hexham
  • 16 February- Gala Theatre, Durham
  • 20 February- The Apex, Bury St Edmunds

For more information or to book visit www.jiveaces.com

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