Jim E Brown at The Grove

Jim E Brown at The Grove

Jim E Brown is one of those rare performers who perfectly blends comedy with music, creating catchy electronic tunes with hilariously absurd titles and lyrics. He stands out massively in the modern comedy scene, having created a bulletproof and unique persona entirely devoted to the ever-expanding world of Brown - his chaotic yet hilarious life story captured in various autobiographical books and songs.

I first discovered Jim E Brown when the music video for "I Deserve to Be Fat" popped up on my Instagram feed. It reminded me of legendary sketches by Vic and Bob or Alan Partridge, but with a unique Jim E Brown twist. I wasn't sure how well this would translate to the stage - it seemed like a potentially hard act to pull off - but I'm very glad to say that his show at The Grove was just as eye-wateringly funny and memorable as I'd hoped.

Jim E Brown at Withy Public Hall - Photo by Cal Moores

He took to the stage with his first announcement of the night: "Right, my name's Jim E Brown" - which somehow became a running joke throughout the show, along with asking "Should I fuck off?" after almost every tune. Opening with "I Can Hear the Mice Having Sex Behind the Walls," he bravely performed alone with just a microphone and backing track, quickly working the crowd into hysterics. He reeled off standout tunes including "I'm an Obese Alcoholic," "I Know I'm Gonna Die of a Stroke," and - possibly one of the best song titles I've ever heard - "Naked in My Room Huffing Nitrous Balloons," which had everyone belly laughing!

His comic delivery and timing were spot on, filling the spaces between songs with mind-blowing insights into his rollercoaster of a personal life. At one point, he revealed the story of his son's intense court battle before pouring himself a Guinness onstage to great applause, then casually explained how he needs to drink alcoholic beverages to prevent the inevitable delirium tremens from setting in once again!

Towards the end of the show, Jim E Brown picked up a Fender Strat and played chords along with the music, making me excited to see him in the future with a full band setup to really make his well-written, catchy tunes stand out even more. At times, the synthy instrumentals reminded me of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, or even '80s artists like Tears for Fears. Asking "Should I fuck off?" to the crowd for the last time, he ended the show with a bang, playing my favorite song of his, "I'm a Dirty Bitch" - which has to be one of the funniest performances I've ever seen!

I managed to sit down with Jim after the show to chat about his music, life, and future Jim E Brown plans...

How does it feel to be in Nottingham?

I’ve never been to Nottingham before, it feels alright. I’ve had some pints, I’m an alcoholic and long as I have that then I feel alright, so yeah Nottingham’s alright. As far as I’m concerned.

How has the tour been so far? Tell me about a town that stands out.

Well the whole tour’s been bangin, we’ve done London and that was alright, it was sold out. It was a bit weird but it was alright. I was signing like rugs and people gave me Frey Bento’s gifts.

Oh so you’re into the Steak Pies, the Frey Bentos!

Yeah they’re quite nice actually. If people would give me that, I’m not gonna say no.

What’s your favourite pie actually?

It’s the steak and kidney one, Frey Bentos.

So how do you make music?

Oh well you just pick up a guitar or a synthesizer and you just like, fuck around with the notes and then it kind of sounds like a song, you play some different things that come out. And then you sing on top of that, and then you can say whatever you want on top, for whatever music you’ve made. That recording technology is a bit weird cus it’s like, you can just make some weird music that just sounds like a bit shit, like most of my songs do. And then you just sing over it and it sounds like a song.

So do you just walk down the street and a song will pop into your head? What’s the creative process?

Yeah it just kind of pops into my head, like a little melody or something. The music comes first then I add the words usually. Sometimes I have full ideas for songs, like that one called “I find sex abhorrent”, that was an idea I had for so long, I thought well that should really be a song shouldn’t it. It shouldn’t just be a thought really, it should be a song, so why not just make a beat that’s a bit shit and just scream that on top of it and then it’s a song.

So where are you originally from?

East Didsbury in Manchester.

What was it like growing up there?

Oh, so you’ve not read Brown On Brown Volume 1?

Sadly not! I mean, not yet, I’m sure I will but not yet.

Yeah, it’s all written about in Brown on Brown Volume 1. I do feel a bit weird about like, stating the facts in a public interview. Only because, I do have the book for sale so I would like to use it as a promotional opportunity because why would we talk about the details when we can sell the books, which say the information.

So where can we buy these books?

The merch stand or the Jim E Brown bandcamp.

Ok so, you mentioned your son Tanno at the gig, what’s your relationship with him now – you said he’s the love of your life, is it good, or is it bad?

Well, he is the love of my life cus he’s my son Tanno, and as a parent of course you can’t help loving your offspring, it’s just natural really. But he’s been taken from me by the courts, so I’m legally barred with having any interaction with him.

You mentioned as well getting off with the Judge from the courtroom, what was that like?

Well it was a bit weird wasn’t it?

I mean how did that happen!! Was it in the courtroom during your son’s legal proceedings?

Well again this is another plug for the book, but to be perfectly clear I did not pursue her because I wanted my son back, I just really liked her. So, when I talk about that, I just want to make it clear that it was not to get my son back. It was pure romance and whatever she and I had was completely outside of the legal system and it’s totally separate.

But it’s not happening now right? Or are you still together.

Well she’s died, from syphilis, then she came back to life, but then she died of botulism. So yeah she’s properly dead now.

Could you just quickly describe botulism? It sounds like a medieval disease.

Well she was fermenting beaver tails in a bucket, and when you ferment beaver tails in a plastic bucket, you should really use a non-plastic bucket. That’s what happened and whatever she used to ferment the beaver tails was the problem.

Obviously you also mentioned onstage the whole thing about your partner Brittany, so what’s going on with that? It seems like you’ve been through some turmoil, is that correct?

Yes, that’s correct. I’m constantly in turmoil. Ok so Brittany is my girlfriend, we met on a sober dating app, and I’m an alcoholic and I lied to her and told her that I’m sober, but I’m absolutely not sober. I’m a crippling alcoholic in fact. But we’re still together. It’s a bit of a toxic relationship as she found out I’m not sober, then she relapsed and is also a bit of an alcoholic. She’s also smoking a bit of crack, but we’re still together, she’s pregnant.

Ok so is this your third child then?

It’ll be my second, I don’t have a plan to start a family really but I’m just excited to have another child cus Tanno’s a bit shit you know. I’ve been doing research on the internet and I do think Tanno has Narcissistic Personality Disorder. He is a little boy, but it’s always like, his needs come first, my needs mean nothing to him, it’s shit.

So how did you start Jim E Brown? When did you first get on the stage and perform?

You know it’s weird cus I can’t really remember because I’m a bit of an alcoholic and it causes holes in the brain, so you don’t remember where you first did things or second did things. I know that I’m in Leeds tomorrow, I don’t know where I was yesterday, I know that I’m in Nottingham today. So it’s a bit weird, I can’t really answer that.

So what’s your future musical plans, are there any new songs coming out?

I’ve got a new EP I’ve written, it’s not come out yet but it’s going to be entitled, “I urinated on a butterfly”. The inspiration for that was when I finished recording my last album “The Sky Is Ugly”, which came out just a few months ago, and the studio where we recorded it didn’t have a toilet, so we had to urinate outside, there weren’t even urinals. So I started pissing, and I looked down, and I saw the stream of my piss was directly hitting the butterfly...

Was it a Monarch? Was it endangered?

I don’t know. It was not my intention to urinate on the butterfly, but I did. So I wrote a song about it and an EP which is coming out soon.