"The Doctor" Jules Livewire singer songwriter of the band Hey Zeus! And former bassist of Vegas notables such as GoldBoot and Marsana uses the sounds capes of all these different types of music to create his own unique sound. In 2013 he released his debut solo album “Native American Wasteland” (progressive jazz) and joined up with the newly reformed Astaires. The follow up album Native American Wasteland 2 is expected 2014; The Astaires have a highly anticipated EP coming in 2014 as well. Be on the look out for more great things from this exciting young artist.

Interview and Photography by Jorge Lara Santiago

VIM: Greetings Jules, how have you been? You have a long history here in Las Vegas. Your band The Astaires has a great dynamic sound. It was great watching you guys perform recently at Artifice. How would you describe it?

JULES MANNING: Thank You! I’m really glad you dug it! I believe I would describe The Astaires overall sound as Indie rock with Mod Rock and Psychedelic influences.

VIM:  I had the opportunity to see you perform at the Cosmopolitan with your previous band. What has been your take on all the bands you have been in and what do you think is the biggest lesson you have learned from the experience of being in a variety of bands?

JULES MANNING: My take on all the bands that I have been in and what I’ve learned goes hand and hand actually, without the mix of the right people, work ethic as a unit, and talent the band will usually fall apart. Those three are probably the most important things you can have in a band; even without one of them your band will usually fail.

VIM: Tell us about your musical history. Where did your love for music originate and what has changed since then?

JULES MANNING: My love for music actually originated from my mother and father, my father is a jazz musician and my mother was a singer, and early on they introduced me to jazz and soul music, and honestly not much has changed, I’m still heavily influenced by jazz and soul music I just try to blend them with the other genres that I play now.

VIM: Were you born and raised here? What local bands are you a fan of?

JULES MANNING: Nah I moved to Las Vegas when I was seven years old, Actually I was born in Calgary Alberta Canada, and I have a lot of favorites in town right now but just to name a few, I’m really big on Strange Mistress, The Pax Trend, and Wax Pig Melting at the moment.

VIM: You have a couple musical side projects. Can you tell us about them and what songs have stood out to you the most?

JULES MANNING: Aside from The Astaires I do have quite a few side projects. My solo project which is kind of like my baby its called “The Doctor” Jules Livewire, and that project is basically anything that comes to mind all my creative jones just comes out in that project and I think my favorite doctor song that I’ve ever written would have to be Native American Wasteland, that song/ album I still consider in a way to be my masterpiece. Also I also recently wrote an album with a local comedian/ musician named Kyle Jones and we were called Wantco. The song that really stuck with me the most off of our one off ep together would probably have to be our single NightBright, I really enjoyed and I still to this day enjoy the overall expression and emotion of that song. I’m currently working on an ep with William Davenport of The Bounty Hunter Brothers and that project is called Arch Enemies. All these songs and projects can be found on my soundcloud(http://www.soundcloud.com/doctorlivewire).

VIM: . As an artist I love to collaborate. Who have you collaborated in the past? Anyone that you would like to Collaborate with again?

JULES MANNING: I love collaborations as well, I believe they’re one of the most beautiful things about music, and in the past I’ve collaborated with Kyle Jones, Ang Kerfoot, and Willaim Davenport. I would love and jump at the chance to collab with any of these amazing artists again. In the future I will be doing more songs with a lot more local artists as well.

VIM: Pop culture has a big part in what music is and there is always the term "selling out." It's gotten a bad Connotation in the past, but do you think that in order for a band to succeed that a band has to "sell out" on some level?

JULES MANNING: Music is a business and depending on your genre and your ideology to the whole thing your going to do what’s best for you as an artist to make a living for yourself and to keep getting your records out there, I don’t fault a band or an artist for “selling out” and I don’t have any more respect for the ones that don’t sell out and never seem to make it. A wise man once said “ Different strokes for different folks.” Every artist goes their own way.

VIM: If you were able to create a rock super group with members from other local bands, who would they be and what would the band be called?

JULES MANNING: Oh gosh this one is a tough one, hmmmm well id probably first and foremost have to have A.J. Gerst (Rooftop Ridicule) on bass, Cromm Fallon (The Astaires) on guitar/vocals, Charlie Arnold (The Pax Trend) on guitar/vocals, Jules Pedregon (Strange Mistress) on drums, and lastly myself on lead vocals, kind of an eclectic bunch we would be but that would probably be my favorite locals to be all in a band with.

VIM: What next for The Doctor Jules Livewire?

JULES MANNING: Quite a bit actually, I’m apart of this new collective in town called Brain Jelly Music, and I’m released my first solo album through Brain Jelly in mid June. The album will be called “The Headcase Trapped In Outer Space” and it’ll be a Doctor Livewire release. The Arch Enemies EP will be finished soon as well, and also The Astaires are currently working on a new record and we also have a summer tour coming up so I have lots of good stuff upcoming.