Hiya Jeff, thanks for joining us in the virtual RGM lounge today. Grab a brew and take a seat.
Thanks for joining us today… Tell us bit about where you are from and how you got into music?
Hi I’m from Ireland, but left to find work when I was 18. I lived for many years in London, and now in France via Australia and Spain. I have been a music obsessive as long as I can remember, but my life changed forever when as a kid I found myself at the side of the stage at a Rolling Stones concert.
There was a Rock festival nearby in Ireland and a load of us local kids and friends were invited to witness the concert. I found myself a few metres away as Mick and Keith did their thing and thought “hmmmm I’d like to do that…” but had no idea how. The other artists were The J Geils Band and George Thorogood and The Destroyers… so a love of Blues Rock started there. I had a very short lived attempt at singing in a band in Dublin but back then my life was completely off the rails so I blew that and it wasn’t until I emigrated to London before I got into music properly.
I then went on to have several bands in the Acid Jazz era and ran a few independent labels when that was a thing. Of course I had to fund it all somehow so I was a fishmonger for 17 years while I waited for my big break and that’s where my nickname comes from.
What’s the live music scene like in Perpignan right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
The music scene In my town is quite varied and interesting, we are a small French town on the border with Spain and on the direct route through the Pyrenees from France to Spain so although we are small town we pick up a lot of American garage and independent bands touring Europe as we are a perfect stop off point en route about two hours away from any major city.
We do have a medium sized concert hall and that attracts big bands that are touring France as well. Locally we have a young Garage Rock band called the Avant Garde who sing in French that are starting to make waves, they have a few major labels eyeing them up but at the moment they are crowdfunding themselves, they are a good band with loads of energy. I recommend checking them out, also I co write songs with a Caribbean Soul artist called Sebah who is very popular and starting to make waves also well worth investigating, working with him is great as it allows me to explore other musical avenues other than my natural style.
Do you think its easy to become a victim of of our surrounds sometimes?
I’m not quite sure what you mean.. I tend to operate outside of the things that surround me as being from Ireland and having lived in London for many years my vision and culture is very different from my surroundings here in France, I just do my thing the way I feel it and enjoy it.
That said there is only so much you can do where I live as it is small and it doesn’t take long before everyone knows you and what you do. I will say however that my surroundings are very beautiful here and the way of life is slower and friendly which is very nice. I come from a family that moved around a lot and went to some horrific boarding schools as a kid so maybe that “surround” victimised me lol
What are your ambitions for the band?
Though I have a band, we don’t operate in the traditional sense, we all live in different countries and make our music via the internet. To be honest it’s more of a singer songwriter project (I write the songs and sing them – it’s all about ME! lolol) and I concentrate on writing and recording these days, and spread the music via the internet and radio. As far as ambitions go, it’s hard to have ambitions in today’s music world.
Of course I hope always that some break will come from somewhere that will provide me with an avenue to follow, but for the moment I’m just enjoying writing my music and trying to get it heard. For me the buzz is sitting down with my guitar, stringing a few chords together and then growing that into the songs they finally become. Doing this is what makes me happiest. I love it.
Whats your favourite social media platform to use and why?
I mainly use facebook and instagram as that is where I seem to have my biggest audience, but I am present to some degree on all the platforms. I’m struggling with Tik Tok though.. I don’t really think it’s for me.
We believe its essential to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram and X to introduce yourself to all the different types of audiences out there, what’s your thoughts on that?
As I say I’m present everywhere and extremely active on facebook and instagram, but I do think Social Media is slowly dying. It’s getting harder and harder to reach people as time goes on (even if you pay).
They are becoming advertising platforms and the original idea of connecting people seems to have fallen by the wayside and it’s all about locking you into algorithm bubbles you can’t escape from. I think it will continue for a while yet, but I get the sense that people are gradually disengaging largely due to toxic politics and depressing news and AI content, so I’m trying to think of a new way forward.
I have been trying to create my own personal mailing list so I can connect with my fans directly that way, and I’m returning to making CDs and Vinyl to sell via my Bandcamp site as streaming simply doesn’t cover a fraction of the costs of making the music in the first place, and is very hard to get noticed on streaming platforms. I think the future is to be small but perfectly formed! we’re back to DIY.
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
I think it’s in deep trouble, especially for low level musicians. It’s nigh on impossible to make a living out of it these days unless you are one of the few chosen artists at the top. Streaming doesn’t pay, very few people buy CDs or Vinyl these days, and concerts are paying less and less too.
Unless you have some big guns behind you, you’d better love doing what you do, because that’s all you’re gonna get. Music’s cultural importance is declining and what used to be an obsession for everyone in the past has become background music these days – people just whack on Spotify and let it run selecting whatever it feels like to provide background sounds, and more and more of it is AI generated…
Whats your thoughts on AI generated music?
I hate it and everything it stands for. My recent album is called “Real Music By Real People” precisely because everything is actually played and recorded by real musicians and put together in a real studio, and one of the tracks on it “The New Religion” is actually on this subject, inspired when I saw the supposedly perfect and infallible AI get something totally wrong.
I even leave in the odd fluff and mistake in my music to keep it real. The problem with AI music is that it is so easy to make that it is flooding the market and outnumbering real artists massively. Of course it’s cheap to do now but when the AI music companies start charging high subscription fees – which they will – that might slow things down a bit. It’s also great for the streaming platforms etc as they have no royalties to pay.
Of course, like everyone I’ve heard a few funny tracks or interesting different genre takes on classic songs, but ultimately I avoid it. For me music is the sound people make, not robots. I’m interested in the people that play the music and what they have to say and how they say it.
Whats the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
That you need to love what you do, and do it because you love it. Of course I dream that someday my big break will come and the world will hear my music, but you absolutely can’t count on that. I’m a one man band (lol) and I do everything myself apart from playing some of the instruments, and I put literally all my money into it.
Some people have hobbies, buy new cars, go on expensive holidays etc, but I go into the studio and record another song; that’s where I get my kicks. Also I have learnt I am only human. At one point I had the live band running so I was rehearsing, looking for and trying to negotiate gigs, travelling, promoting and trying to write and record at the same time.. it’s simply not possible without help.
I’m only one human so i had to boil it all down to the important bits I enjoyed the most and concentrate on that, which I do now. Hey, if there is anyone out there who wants to help out, get in touch!
What’s currently in your ears and on rotation at the moment?
I listen to a lot of Blues, Rock, Country and Soul music from the 60’s and 70’s generally, but recently I’ve been big into Charley Crockett, Marcus King, Joe Bonnamassa and Chris Stapleton… Also I’m a big fan of Mama’s Gun and looking forward to new stuff from them.
What was your worst experience on stage? Any funny stories to share?
My first gig with my first band. We got a great image together, we really looked great and on the basis of being so cool we secured a big gig at a crowded venue in London. We went on stage and I was so overwhelmed that I forgot the words. To ALL the songs. It was a terrifying disaster. It was a long time ago now but I still have nightmares about it, and still make sure I have crib notes on stage when I play live, just in case..
Got any fun, funny stories from life on the road?
Not in particular, but when I was in the Mod band “Long Tall Shorty” with the legendary Tony “Perfect” Morrison (who also played with the Angelic Upstarts and Sham 69) every road trip was like a cross between an episode of The Monkees and Led Zeppelin road stories. There have also been fire extinguisher battles in hotel corridors, leaving in the van with members running behind… all that kind of stuff. Not like that now though, it’s all very civilised these days. I’m a good boy, I promise!
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
I have just released my second solo album “Real Music By Real People”. Throughout the whole of 2025 I released a single every six weeks on the streaming platforms and I’ve just released them all as an album package on digital, CD and Vinyl.
All available on my Bandcamp – Jeff ‘The Fish’ Lefroy – and in the shops in France. My first album “Jeff ‘The Fish’ Lefroy & His Missadventures” which I have also just re-released on vinyl was mainly about my previous adventures with girls (hence the miss-spelt title) with a couple of more personal Social commentary songs but “Real Music By Real People” is exactly the opposite, it’s mainly social commentary with one love song… there’s “A Little Less Grey” which is a song about the death of a very close friend, “Don’t Blame The Politician” which is about not trusting politicians, “Emigrant Song (I’m long Gone)” which is about being the immigrant that I am, “It’s All About You (Valerie)” which is a love song to my wife, “Sunset” which is a duet with London Jazz Singer Sharon Jackson which is about watching a beautiful sunset but wondering with trepidation what tomorrow might hold, “The Search For Paradise” which is also about my nomadic life and what it is I might be subconciously searching for, “Feeling Real Good” a song I wrote many years ago when I first set off on my travels all excited and full of expectation and only got round to recording all these years later, “We Got To Work It Out (Everything’s Disconnected)” which is about me worrying at night about the state of the world and finding my refuge in music and “The New Religion” which is about AI not being the great hope everyone thinks it is, so a great little package…
I’m following the same process as last year with a new digital single every six weeks on the streaming platforms so by the time this interview comes out my new single “Down But Not Out” will have been released, a song seen through the eyes of a boxer who takes a beating but delivers a knockout blow at the last second.. hang on in there and see it through to the end is the message.
What was the recording process like?
The recording process is an interesting one, each musician records his parts at home and I am centralised at a recording studio in Perpignan where I live.. all the musicians are great lovely people and have projects in their own right, but they all fit perfectly into my vision and they all “get it” which is great, and as we are not in the same room together we can’t argue lololol. Also the studio engineer is a top bloke and goes out of his way to facilitate my bizarre way of doing things and mixes it all great..
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
You know what? I’ve been making music a long time and been in a lot of bands over the years, but for the first time it’s all exactly how I want it. I wouldn’t change a thing. For the first time I’m getting off on listening to my own music, which is a rare thing I can tell you!
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
Yes. If there is anybody out there who likes my music and thinks they can do something to help, feel free to get in touch. If you just like the music and can’t help physically, you can support me by visiting my Bandcamp page where you can listen to my music and buy vinyl or CDs if you want. Otherwise I just hope you like the music I’ve made so far and follow me – Jeff ‘The Fish’ Lefroy – on facebook or join my mailing list at https://eepurl.com/juibx-/
FOLLOW HIM HERE
CHECK OUT THE LATEST RGM TRENDING MUSIC INDUSTRY NEWS HERE