Jasmine Miller-Sauchella
Words by Miss America Photographs by Georgia Wall
Jasmine Miller- Sauchella, Ugly’s trumpet player and all around it-girl, is one of the few people who has truly intimidated me from day one. I’ve religiously attended several
Ugly gigs, but somehow never had the courage to introduce myself to Jasmine. She was mystifying on stage. Possessing a comfortable, aloof energy that beautifully contrasted the chaotic nature of her riffs. Thus, when Groupie gave me the opportunity to write about her I was thrilled.
Jasmine “Jazz” Mauxhella grew up in a vibrant Italian family in Cambridge. Whether it was her grandfather humming Neapolitan songs or her mother blaring prog rock and The Doors, she was always surrounded by music. Jasmine found trumpet at age 8 after a school assembly starring, in her words, the “God Of Trumpet, Paul Stubbs”. She was immediately taken by its “sexy, brassy, sound” and spent the next 6 years obsessively practicing scales and arpeggios. As time passed she lost her initial fire for trumpet and delved into guitar and piano, eventually leading to the formation of her first band, General Waste, who she describes as, “the shittiest band out there, but for some reason people enjoyed it”.
General Waste would land on the same line-ups as Pete Um, Self Love, Lemondaze, and Ugly. Like most Cambridge teens at the time, she was a regular at the Portland Arms. The Cambridge music scene had a strong sense of community between bands, thus when Ugly’s bassist Harry was away on his gap year, Jazz seized the opportunity to step in as the substitute. As she practiced with Sam (frontman) and Harrison (lead guitar) in the studio, Sam told Jasmine about his hopes to elevate Ugly’s sound and inquired about any brass players. Half-jokingly, Jazz explained she played trumpet back in the day and offered her skills. The band were on board and there was no going back from there.
Having taken a break from trumpet for over 6 years, it was a battle making it work for Ugly. “I won’t lie that the whole process of re-learning the trumpet has been very frustrating and has definitely tested my patience and self-esteem,” she elaborates, “I completely lost touch with the instrument.” Though any minor flaws in her playing likely add to Ugly’s sleazy dissonance, she’s decided to shift her focus towards more vocal work for the band, and will be singing more often in Ugly’s upcoming tunes. Having just moved from Cambridge to London this September, her plans are to continue to create art and to foster creative connections. Back in April, she released home recordings for her solo project: Jimmy Means Smut, which possesses the effortless cool of Courtney Barnett and the quirky, lo-fi edge of early Moldy Peaches, Jasmine hopes to release more music this coming year.
I love that you refer to yourself as the Yoko Ono of Trumpet. Can you describe where that came from?
So, it’s basically because I’m so bad at trumpet... and I know it sounds like “C’mon, Jasmine, cut yourself some slack!” but it’s just hard to believe when people say it sounds good. I think because trumpet is such a novelty instrument now, especially in indie rock or whatever you’d call Ugly, it kind of stands out. People are like “Oh, wow it’s crazy!” when really I’m not playing well or to a classical standard. So, ‘Yoko Ono of Trumpet’ is because it’s me, like Yoko, just going *screeching noises*. Plus, it’s like the rest of [Ugly] guys are the Beatles and I’m Yoko.
Jimmy Means Smut is an interesting band name. How’d you come up with it? Honestly, I was just surfing the web, as you do-and I come across Jimmy Means, the racecar driver, and I was like, “Oh, that’s cool” and his nickname was Smut so I was like “Oh, that’s crazy, Jimmy Means.... Smut. WHAT??” *sarcastic wooing noise* so clever. Plus, JMS are my initials. Jasmine Miller Sauchella, so it’s kind of an alter-ego.
How would you describe your music taste now? What have you been listening to?
I love Scott Walker so much... like A LOT. His voice is just beautiful, something else. I also went back into PJ Harvey. I love her. Oh, and I watched Zodiac (a new film on Netflix about the Zodiac Killer) and there was this song called “Easy to Be Hard” by Three Dog Night. It’s so beautiful.
Who’s your biggest role model?
Probably my grandad, because he was just so lovely to people. He came from Italy and left everything to come to Cambridge with his family and built this whole business and community in Cambridge. And now, the connections my family’s made in Cambridge thanks to him is like... What? Like Grandad, you did that. He was so cute—well, he’s dead—but wow I have to be like that. Never overlook or underestimate people. I hate when people see someone and think, “oh, they can’t do that.” You just wait. One day that person’s gonna do something so great and you’ll be sorry. Just be kind.
Who were you in a past life?
I feel like I was a clairvoyant or a mindreader. But also, kind of like, an activist. Or a mountain person that does little rituals, I don’t know if there’s people like that who exist. I’m just there [on the mountain] like “WE NEED PEACE!” but from my mountain so they might not be able to hear me but I’m here doing my spells.
You’ve landed on an unknown planet and you have 5 songs to show aliens the best of Earth music. What’s your playlist?
Venus by Holst, Easy to Be Hard [by Three Dog Night], 50 Foot Queenie by PJ Harvey, L’hotel Particulier by Serge Gainsbourg and Isis and Osiris by Alice Coltrane