Cosmo Jarvis Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Feb 10th 2010 3:25PM by Dalia Colon
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Cosmo Jarvis is a guy -- not a band, not mixed drink, but a 20-year-old musician who writes songs about everything from gay pirates to his childhood crush on actress Jessica Alba. For the American-born Jarvis, who was raised and lives in Devon, England, SXSW marks his first major gig on this side of the pond. Signed to the label Wall of Sound and with two albums in his arsenal, Jarvis is ready to take on Austin. He recently called Spinner from a tour stop in Manchester, England.

You have the perfect musician name. Is that your real name?

Well, kind of, yeah. I've always been called Cosmo since I was born. My full name is Harrison Cosmo Krikoryan Jarvis. My parents called me Harrison after Harrison Ford. They call me Cosmo, but they put Harrison there just in case I got older and realized that Cosmo was stupid, so I could always change it to Harrison. But it seems okay, so I've kept it.

How did you come to use your name professionally? Did you think about going another route?

Yeah, kind of. I sit in my room in my boxer shorts, and I layer up all the instruments, and I play all the parts, and I write all the parts and blah, blah, blah. But people heard "Cosmo Jarvis," and they thought that was a band name, like Elliot Minor. That happened a lot. It still does.

How did you get into music?

I played piano when I was a kid. I started messing around, and then I got (lessons) with this old guy who really started to make me play this classical stuff. It was cool and everything. I liked classical music. But he was real old and he smelled weird, and he was annoying. So I stopped taking lessons from him, and then I started getting lessons with this other lady who taught me a little bit of jazz and blues, which I've always liked a lot more. Then I got to the age of 13, 14, and all my friends were playing guitar, and piano just really wasn't cool. So I got a guitar and started messing around with that. I started writing songs -- stupid songs, like Tenacious D kind of songs.

How would you describe your sound?

It depends on the song. I try and choose the genre of song that will suit the idea and feeling I'm trying to suggest. There's no set thing. It's always going to change, depending on what kind of song it is.

Who are some of your influences?

Everybody. Crash Test Dummies. Tom Waits. Less Than Jake a little bit. Dropkick Murphys a little bit. Rachmaninoff a little bit. Just anything that's good -- a little bit good.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Guilty pleasure? How do you mean?

Something that you like but you feel like, "Maybe I shouldn't really like this." Like Britney Spears or something.
Yeah! Exactly! I have 'Oops! ... I Did It Again,' and I have the first (album). I bought them both for like three pounds -- purely for the production of the records, because I really love the production. Everybody ribs me for liking it. But I do like it. I do like a lot of serious cheese. I like a lot of Hannah Montana stuff, too, like that 'Best of Both Worlds' song. (laughs) I bought that just because cheesy stuff's good sometimes.

Beatles or Rolling Stones?

Rolling Stones. Oh, no -- wait! No, I didn't mean that. Like to listen to for the rest of my life?

Sure.

[Sighs] Probably the Beatles, because I think I can learn a lot more from Paul McCartney's songwriting. I can hear him more in those records than I can anyone else. I do love the Rolling Stones, too, big-time. So it's hard.

What's the craziest thing you've experienced on a tour?

The coolest thing that I ever did: There was this place in this weird town. I don't even remember where it was. It was underground, and it was totally brick under the ground. It was like an after-party thing. There was a set of traffic lights behind the stage. On the stage there was a drum kit and saxophone and percussion stuff and guitar amps and bass amps and all different kinds of crap like that. Basically, everyone in the audience who could play an instrument puts their name into a hat. Then one person comes up, takes five names out of the hat, and then you have two minutes to decide out of those five names which instrument you're going to play. You get up on stage and you just jam. Then there's a little button at the front of the audience, and when they decide that the jam is getting tiresome or whatever, they press the button, and the little light turns amber. And then if it turns red you've got to get off stage, and then it's five other people's turn. It's called Traffic Jam. I'd never heard of it before. It was so good.

I was listening to 'Jessica Alba's Number.' Fun song. Why does Jessica Alba get to be in the title? You rattle off some other celebrities in there, so what is it about Jessica Alba?

When I was 13, nobody really liked me that much. So I had this big poster of Jessica Alba, and she pretty much was what I came home to after school.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

When I was really, really young, the girl from 'Matilda' (Mara Wilson). But a bunch of people. Rosario Dawson -- I think she's amazing.

Dalia Colon is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.