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The brother of singer Alison, Jim composes the Cranes songs in addition to playing drums, guitar, and occasionally singing (although he is too shy to sing live). The group has been Jim's primary vehicle for exploring his ongoing musical experiment for over the past decade.
When Alison left the University and moved back to Portsmouth, she found that Jim had gotten a guitar and a drum kit, and had been teaching himself how to play. This, combined with the siblings sharing of common musical tastes, allowed the two to form their own group - the Cranes. (Although Jim and Alison have both an older brother and an older sister but they are not involved in the group, as they "do grown-up proper jobs and things.") The brother-sister family dynamic often gets forgotten by people. According to Alison, when she and Jim argue, "people get a big shock," but, "it doesn't seem like a big deal to us to shout at each other for a couple of minutes then it is gone."
With regards to his musical influeces, Jim has said the following:
"I think for me it's in the same way your personality is shaped at an early age. Musically, I'm influenced from everything. I remember at age 5 or 6 going to the cinema and before the films they played classical music. The cinemas in England were quite grandiose, kind of spooky old buildings and I tied in immediately to certain textures and things with classical music. I think the instrumentation of an orchestra is pretty damn good. My mum used to play Mozart and later I was putting it on myself.
When I first started buying records and getting into music...it was punk rock.
Aside from influence, I think the most important thing is the inspiration. What gives me inspiration is very often, almost totally, when I see a band live and when I see them put so much into it, it inspires me to do the same."
Regarding Jim's writing style, Alison described it as, "I can't really say how Jim writes things. He's like a law unto himself. He just kind of disappears for a while, goes a bit odd, and turns up a few days later with some songs."
Of the songs resulting from this process, Adoration is singled out by Jim as one of his favorite to play live.
When not on tour, Jim is a prolific composer and producer. For example, he wrote over 75 individual pieces of music for Loved. Currently, he is working on arranging compositions for his unreleased classical music album. Jim is also involved in recording, mixing, and producing songs for (and with) up-and-coming bands in the local scene. In fact, Jim has stated that if he were not making music, he would have no clue about what to do with himself.
In person, Jim is a laid-back person who is very personable. When I accompanied the band during part of their 1997 U.S. tour, Jim was always willing to talk and hang-out — even offering to buy me a drink. However, when it comes to success, Jim is very clear and unwaivering. To him success is defined as continuing what you are doing with integrity.
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