The Estonian national final, Eesti Laul kicks off on 13th February with its first semi final.  Ahead of the show, we caught up with The Jingles, who will be opening the first semi-final with their song ‘Love A Little Bit’. Here is what they had to say about their song, and the competition…

Being an international site, many of our readers won’t know much about The Jingles (at least not yet!).  Can you tell us a little about the band, how long you have been together and what your career has been like up until now?

“Our band only got together in the end of August 2015, it was a duo before that ‘J&R’ Jonathan Flack (AUS)  and Rauno Vaher(EST) had just finished recording their debut release ‘Good Summertime’ when they got jamming with Hain Hoppe(guitar) and Tanel Liiberg(bass) everyone found it so good to play together so we decided to become ‘The Jingles’”

I understand your decision to enter for Eesti Laul was quite a late decision.  What made you decide to enter?, have you ever thought about entering before?

“Well the band came together just before the competition and we thought it would be great to enter a song so we quickly wrote one. Eurovision would be a great start for a new band wouldn’t it? So why the hell not go for it?”

Why not indeed!.  And the song itself, ‘Love a Little Bit’, hopefully the voters will love it a big bit!, how would you describe the song yourself?

“It’s actually still developing, because we wrote it so quickly we didn’t have the luxury of really smoothing it out so if you’re listening to the track that’s on youtube it’s still a bit raw and edgy but we will be doing a smooth version on the final. Ultimately the song is all about surrendering oneself to love for the greater good because in the end no one’s point of view is more important than the other, and besides it’s more fun making love than fighting.”

How are the preparations going, have you decided on the staging and how it might appear on stage?, is there anything you can tell us about that now or will we just have to wait and see?

“We have run around in circles trying to think about what to wear, how to behave and now getting closer to the event we realise that we got into this competition by being ourselves so why try to be anything else.  So we’re gonna dress comfortable, beautiful and enjoy the experience as much as we can and we hope everyone watching will feel that with us.”

Are you fans of Eurovision itself and if so do you have any favourite entries, either from Estonia or from any other country?

“Jonathan loves ‘Satellite’(2010), Rauno digs – Euphoria(2012), Hain really likes ‘Save all your kisses for me’(1976) and we are still wating for Tanel’s answer… I guess he’s still thinking about it.”

And outside of Eurovision, what sort of music do you each like to listen to?, are there any bands or artists that have inspired you or helped to shape your sound?

“One unlikely artist has been a major influence on us has been ‘The Mattoid’ he is an obscure comic musician but genius in is craft, but you might be shocked if you look him up on youtube. Right now we are all digging an amazing band called ‘My Baby’ from the Netherlands, really bluesy and soulful we’d love to jam with them one day.”

What would it mean to you to be able to represent Estonia in Stockholm? 

“It would be pure honey awesomeness for everyone. Estonia would be represented by some good honest soulful rock and for us it will be a totally new experience.”  

And finally, is there any other message you would have for our readers at escbubble?

“Please like our Facebook page and find yourself a copy of Good Summertime (spotify, itunes, deezer etc)  Thanks for being interested in us. Lots and lots of love! Jingles all the way!”

You can find more information about The Jingles via their social media pages: Facebook, Youtube and Instagram

And you can listen to their Eesti Laul entry ‘Love A Little Bit’ here:

If the Jingles are your favourite in this year’s Eesti Laul, you can vote for them in our poll here (click)