Jimmy and the Hats

Spring is here (somewhere), summer is coming (allegedly), and everyone is getting the urge to get outside and enjoy some good weather. I don’t know about you, but my music selection changes with the mood I’m in, and the weather has a lot to do with that.

Rainy Days: I might find myself listening to some depressing or melancholy music.

Cold Days: Something that warms me up, or maybe something that gets my blood pumping.

Workout Music: Probably something hard or fast that I can smash something to.

Then of course, there is Summer Music: Reggae, rockabilly, country, oldies-but-goodies, pop music, maybe some good old shanty music, and one of my favorites… surf rock!  Luckily here in the South Coast area, we’ve got all those musical styles covered.

Jimmy and The Hats was a band I had never heard of until the other day when I happened to walk into the Pour Farm Tavern for an open mic night.  They made such an impression that as soon as they were finished playing I tracked them down and said, “You guys are awesome! You have to let me interview you for New Bedford Guide!” They had heard of NBG and immediately agreed, so with that said, let me introduce Jimmy and the Hats!!!

Noah: I just heard your music and I have 3 words to say: It. Was. AWESOME!  Where do you normally perform?
We started out by first playing at an open mic night at Mirasol’s Cafe in Dartmouth, which turned out to be an acoustic-only event… they should have told us that before-hand.

The promoters didn’t want us to play once they saw all of our equipment, so we considered playing in the parking lot.  We convinced them otherwise and Jimmy and the Hats played out for their first time. Since then, we’ve played at Pour Farm Tavern almost every Monday night, and it’s just snowballed from there.

There are not a lot of instrumental bands out there, never mind in this area.  What inspired you to become an instrumental band? Was it the lack of singing ability?
We’ve had a few stints with different singers, but no success yet.  Plus, none of us have gifted vocal chords so our status as an instrumental band is really due to not having someone who can sing.

How long have you guys been together? Is this the first time for many of your members being in a band?
The band consists of Keith Nadeau, Cody Grodzki, and Justin Alexandre. Cody and Keith have been in a few different bands together over the years, and this is Justin’s first band experience.  We’ve been jamming together over the past year or so, but we just recently formed Jimmy and the Hats about 4 months ago.

Do you guys have jobs outside of Jimmy & the Hats?
We all used to work at Carabiners indoor climbing in New Bedford. Keith and Cody still work there, but Justin doesn’t work there anymore. Justin and Cody go to Umass and Keith spends his days kicking ass and taking names:  Don’t get on his bad side!

Is there really a Jimmy in the band, or is it a stage name? You are obviously the front man.  Was any of the other members offended at being labeled as “hats”? Did anyone want to be a “vest” maybe a nice pair of “overalls” or “slacks?”

Haha. Well, I guess I ended up being the front guy because the mic happened to be closer to me when we first started playing out, but  there isn’t anyone in the band actually named Jimmy.  And I don’t think anyone would consider themselves to be “the hats.” It’s really just a funny band name that we stuck with.

However, we do all have stage names, but they’re more mostly just for fun.

Cody is Jim
Keith is Jimmy
Justin is Jimbo

For all the ladies out there: Are you single?
Sorry ladies…we’re all taken.

Have you ever been out on tour?
We haven’t yet, we hope to see a tour or two in our future.

Any big shows or events coming up?
We just started gigging out recently. We’ve mostly played at the Pour Farm’s open mic every Monday night.  We realized that we might be a little to loud for you average open mic act, so we are looking for venues that we could play at. We got a chance to play at the Music for Mutants Festival at the Black Watch Pub. We had a blast playing out…and we got our first encore!

Lastly, is there anything I didn’t ask that you would like to say?
We’re just a few guys who are looking to have a good time and play some good music. So far we have been well received by local people, and we are having a blast.

That’s awesome, and congrats your hard work is hopefully starting to pay off.
And to all the bar/restaurant/venues that are looking for some new music that everyone can enjoy, definitely check out Jimmy and the Hats.  They would be awesome for an outdoor bar or deck.

You can check out Jimmy and the Hats on Facebook, or contact the band directly at: jalexandre1@umassd.edu