First- and second-year law students James Struthers and Yvan Larocque, alongside Capilano university jazz student Jack Colish, will be playing their first gig as Jimmy and the Jets at Koerners on Thursday.
Struthers and Larocque were both professional musicians before entering UBC as law students. Struthers wrote and produced his own music, touring the country and performing alongside local band Hey Ocean! Larocque, who was in the Navy for a number of years and studied music in New York, was a musician for the military show band, performing for troops across the world.
Both Struthers and Larocque weren’t getting what they wanted out of the musician's life and each decided to try law school.
“I just started thinking about what I wanted out of the next X amount of years in my life and sleeping in my car and only being able to afford to eat ramen noodles was not what I wanted to do,” said Struthers.
“I just kind of got sick of being on the road all the time, living out of a suitcase and never seeing my friends and family, so I decided to come to law school so I could not see my friends and family,” said Larocque.
However, music still plays a large role in their day-to-day lives. Both Struthers and Larocque commented on the hardships that professional musicians face and the importance of doing something you love for fun.
“I originally wanted to [start a band] when I got out here just cause I didn’t want to stop doing what I cared about and that's obviously a huge part of it, but I realized pretty quickly that it's a huge part of my sanity at law school,” said Struthers.
Jimmy and the Jets will be playing a combination of original tunes and covers of popular songs. The band can play anything from R Kelly to Bruce Springsteen.
“Some of them are totally inappropriate as acoustic songs but I think that's what we like about it,” said Struthers.
Koerner’s has become a well-known venue for UBC-based musicians, continuing to support the arts and culture community on campus.
“I think it’s really great that they’re lending a helping hand to local musicians,” said Larocque. “It's a great venue, it’s a great place, good people, for us it’s a chance for us to have fun, get our friends out and share our music with some people. And for a first gig it’s pretty low-key.”
Jimmy and the Jets will be playing at 9 p.m. on Thursday February 26 at Koerner's Pub. Tickets are not required.
Correction: A previous version of the article said that Jimmy and the Jets will play on Thursday February 25 at Koerners, when in fact they play on Thursday February 26. The Ubyssey regrets this error.