Jarman formed The Cribs in the early 2000s with his twin brotherGary and younger brother Ross. The band is known for their short, punchy tunes with pop riffs and a lo-fi sound – influenced by bands like Huggy Bear, Comet Gain and Beat Happening. The Cribs have released six albums on the Wichita label, the first two being The Cribs, and The New Fellas. The Cribs' third album, Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever was released on 21 May 2007; the record was produced by Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand. Their fourth studio albumIgnore the Ignorant, released on 7 September 2009 included ex The Smiths guitarist, Johnny Marr; Ignore the Ignorant was produced by Nick Launay in Los Angeles. The Cribs' fifth album, In the Belly of the Brazen Bull produced by Dave Fridmann and Steve Albini was released on 7 May 2012. The Cribs later released the compilation album Payola, which featured some of their greatest hits and rarities. Their sixth studio album, For All My Sisters, was released on 23 March 2015.
Playing style
Jarman is known primarily for his repetitive, high pitched and catchy guitar riffs. In a recent poll of The Cribs back catalogue, NME claimed that "Another Number" was an "early indication of Ryan's status as one of the best – and most underrated – guitarists of his generation" For Ignore The Ignorant, Jarman and Johnny Marr would refer to each other as "axe-bro's", as Marr told Total Guitar in October 2010: "We're very deliberate about being a twin guitar assault, Ryan is a busy player and I am too, so we both fizz and whoever comes to the top is backed up. Ryan is one of the best guitarists to come out of British pop culture. He's in an elite handful of people doing innovative, unexpected things".
Gear
Up until The Cribs' third album, Jarman played Fender Mustang guitars. He discovered the Gibson ES-335 in recording Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever, and took to using it almost exclusively live afterwards. He now uses a Squier Venus for his Cribs work, and an Epiphone Coronet for his side project. He has also been seen using a vintage Mosrite Ventures, and a Pawn Shop series Fender Mustang in 'Lake Placid' blue as well as a Sonic Blue Fender Mustang with a black hotrails pickup.
After using Fender guitars for many years, Jarman was given his own signature model in 2016, released through the Squier brand. The Squier Ryan Jarman Signature includes Duncan Designed single-coil Jaguar neck pickup and a 'high output' humbucking bridge pickup, blended with master volume and tone controls along with phase and on/off switches for each pickup, and a toggle killswitch. An adjust-o-matic bridge with Fender Jaguar tailpiece, large '60s-style headstock and metal control plate offer vintage looks and practical usage. Combining elements of the Fender Mustang and Jaguar guitars, the Squier Ryan Jarman Signature Guitar is more commonly referred to as the 'Mus-Uar', as it was influenced by, and almost resembles a reverse Jag-Stang.
Amps/Effects
Although sparingly spotted with Vox amplifiers in the early days of The Cribs, Jarman has almost always played through Orange amps. Jarman has been quoted as saying that, out of habit, he runs both an AD30 combo and head at the same time with the combo on top of an Orange cabinet and the head hidden out of view. In situations where taking both would be impractical, he uses just the AD30R Combo. As of 2012, Jarman has started using a Green Matamp head alongside the Orange head. For effects, his regular pedals are the Fulltone OCD and the Ibanez Tube Screamer, which was his pedal of choice until 2008. Primarily using just distortion, Jarman has however recently started using an Electro Harmonix Poly-Chorus regularly both live and in the studio. Jarman also claims to use the thickest possible strings, both for tonal reasons and to minimise any string bend, giving his playing a more robotic feel. Rotosound custom make his own gauge for him.
Production
As well as producing/co-producing many tracks with The Cribs, Jarman has also produced records by various other bands. From Springtime Studios, which Jarman set up with his brothers in Wakefield in 2002, he engineered and worked with various local bands as well as numerous records for Leeds-based noise label Squirrel Records. In 2010, he produced the Comet Gain album Howl of the Lonely Crowd. More recently, he has produced tracks for Frankie & The Heartstrings, Kate Nash and has produced the debut record by This Many Boyfriends.
Professional history
Jarman has made some memorable TV appearances, including music panel show Never Mind The Buzzcocks, where he took credit for inspiring Live 8, by texting Bob Geldof and suggesting a Live Aid 2. At the 2006 NME Awards, Jarman was seriously injured when he collected an award on behalf of Franz Ferdinand. In his haste to accept it, he jumped across the Kaiser Chiefs' table, breaking a large jar containing 'Flying Saucer' sweets and stabbing himself in the back on one of the shards. He spent 4 hours in hospital receiving 15 stitches before returning to party at the awards. He subsequently went missing and was found slumped in a hallway by Radio 1DJ Zane Lowe. Jarman was bleeding profusely and another ambulance was called to return him to hospital. He received both external and internal stitches to repair a rip to the membrane around the kidney that the first surgeon had missed. Jarman was discharged the next morning.
Personal life
Jarman was in a four-year relationship with Kate Nash, however it was announced in 2012 that the pair had split. In 2015, it was reported that Jarman had been in a two year relationship with musician Jen Turner. Jarman now resides in Brooklyn, New York, United States.
