Interview – Jebediah
on October 22nd, 2011Next month Jebediah hit the road for a run of city dates as they continue to support their ‘Kosciuszko‘ album which has been nominated for rock album of the year in this year’s ARIA Awards. Titled ‘The Battle For November‘ tour, the band will visit Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane with tickets for all shows on sale now. Cassie Walker recently caught up with Chris from the band for a chat to see how things are going in camp Jebs now they are well and truly back. See below to check it out, re-cap tour dates and grab ticket links.
Welcome back, we’ve missed you. How’s it been touring again?
It’s been rad, we’ve had a very successful tour this year putting out the record and the amazingly warm reception we’ve had to it. We’re a happy bunch of campers at the moment, we’ve managed to spend some time on the road which is what we do and haven’t done for a while, so it’s been a real buzz to be back playing to our fans and have a new record. I’ve been loving it!
And in that time that the band had a break the music industry has changed quite dramatically how have you noticed the change?
There’s a couple different ways to look at it, first of all in terms of technology making the music industry move forward and change effects of the industry, we’ve never done so much digital promotion and didn’t worry about online presence and that sort of stuff, that whole sphere of online marketing and social networking is a new thing for Jebediah on this record but I think anyone in today’s world has moved along with that anyway, since we put out our last record us in our personal lives use that sort of technology at this stage we’re aware of how things have changed in terms of promoting your record and we’re quite happy to move with that. We still made a record that we want to promote so whatever avenues have changed or haven’t, we’re still going to putting these tools to their best use. Not so much has changed on the touring front or playing live it’s still rock ‘n roll when it comes down to it. You still get out there you still drive yourselves around and make a hell of a racket but we’ve just noticed that the music scene has changed, but we’re lucky that the people that we work with in the past or bands that we’ve played with in the late 90s or 2000s we’ve stayed in contact with. We’ve been playing our last leg with Cola Wars who are a couple of the guys from Bodyjar and we’ve played plenty of shows with them 10-12 years ago. Theres been a lot of changes but I guess we’re lucky to have a fan base that we can afford to spend a bit of time away from and still feel loved by.
Your new album ‘Kosciuszko’ was 5 years in the making, being such a long process, longer than your previous albums did you ever think it’d never be released?
Not a serious point, because there wasn’t any pressure to record the album or for it to be released or not so whether it’d take 5 or 10 years to be released i still imagined it’d get a release because it’s self funded and with the band funding the recording you can put it out, even if it’s not a physical release you can still wack it out on the internet if you want to get people to listen to it which is kinda the reason you make a record. So for me there wasn’t any serious concern for it not getting released. I was looking forward to it getting released once it started taking shape and it’s a fun thing, it’s what bands do, it’s part of the fun of being in a band is to make a record and put it together and get artwork and all that sort of stuff and to me it’s the fun creative side of doing what we do. I’m a pretty relaxed person so I was pretty happy to wait, although it still does surprise me at how long it takes to get the machine rolling, because as a band we do what we do and then we handball it to someone else and once everyones done what they have to do with it another 12 months has gone by so it’s nice when it’s finally on the shelf. I’ve been working in a record store for the past 5 years, so I like to see a product sitting on the shelf for someone to grab and I was really happy when it finally happened. In K’osciuszko’ life it was a nice point to get to.
It’s like a pregancy.
Indeed. You know the baby’s healthy and growing along, you don’t have to get to drastic about pulling the pin so it is nice to see it fully formed and out there.
Now, one thing that i’ve always loved about Jebediah is that you’ve always captured that raw grunge sound and punk rock energy perfectly on an album, what is the experience in the studio like?
I don’t look at us being a studio band at all. Out of the time we spend together as a band 2% of it would be spent in a recording studio. We’re a live band. We’re a rock band and to me that’s what it’s about, the thrill of playing is the energy that comes with being a live band and i’ve just never really had a shine with the recording process. It’s long and laboured and for me it’s like sitting exams and I still have nightmares about doing my high school exams, that wasn’t a good time in my life and I find the pressure of recording to be a similar kind of pressure, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that I don’t spend a lot of time in the studio and I feel quite out of my depths when it comes to recording so I approach it as much as I can by just by doing stuff on the spot and improvise, because that’s how we work in a rehearsal room and on stage. I’d like to think we don’t over cook stuff and labour to much about getting it right but like you say there’s something we are trying to capture and that’s why we’ve brought someone in like Dave Parkin to steer the ship in the studio, because he knows what we’re trying to get and he’s got the skills to do it, so it’s much easier working with someone who you can have an unspoken understanding with where you’re all heading. You don’t have to sit down and say what we want, it’s that unspoken goal and for me it makes it a lot easier. As long as i’m feeling relaxed in the studio i’m having a good time, I think it’s something we will probably explore more in the future. I’m happy with what we’re doing, I guess, that’s a long winded way of saying i’m a lazy bastard. I think the magic and enjoyment of playing in a band is those moments when you’re playing together on stage and everything around that takes a lot more creative compromise so it’s never as much fun as when you’re rocking out to a crowd it’s part of what you’ve got to do and i try to enjoy it i just prefer just sweating my box off on the stage.
I’ve had the chance to catch you guys live a few times this year and the bands sound and appearance haven’t seen to changed since the 90s and even watching you live, i don’t have the energy to mosh like i use to back then but you still rock out and still appear to be the same band you were then, what’s your secret to staying so young and energetic?
It’s a bit of a secret I can’t say… No it’s very nice of you to say, but I don’t know. I have an adversion to stress. With my job i’m not a career orienated person or anything like that maybe if you think i haven’t aged it’s because I haven’t spent any time in any real jobs or weighed down by the pressures of the real world. I know what you mean when you say that if you’re looking at Vanessa, because she doesn’t look like she’s aged a day.
Do you think that it’s got to do with being back together, it takes you back?
We certainly are older and a different kind of band, but we’re still young in someways. There’s no babies yet, so we haven’t grown up that much that we’ve got families and stuff, so in a lot of ways we’re just 7 years down the track from doing what we were doing last time. I think we have to work a bit harder at not writing ourselves off and that sort of thing but it’s rock and roll, it’s kind of what you get into it for to party. Oh damn, I sound like a derro but we just love to party man!
You are about to head on the road again with Stonefield, who are half your age and half your fans age and it seems at the live shows lately there is a 50/50 mix of young fans and the old fans, are you surprised with the younger audience members in the crowd?
Honestly yes. I mean it’s really hard to put on all ages shows as part of your tour. Back in the late 90s as you’d probably remember it was much easier and there a lot more all ages shows, it was a bit more relaxed when it came to that sort of thing and I don’t know if it’s our booking agent, but we just don’t do as many all ages shows so it really did take me by surprise was when we played Splendour at the end of July and there was a couple of young dudes, maybe 11 or 12 in the front row singing along to songs off ‘Slightly Odway’ and ‘Of Someday Shambles’, and to see kids sing that stuff who wouldn’t even be born when they came out singing along you know you think maybe mum and dad are big Jebs fans or something like that but it is weird. I know we probaly don’t have the type of image to appeal to a much younger demographic, but who knows what people think when they hear a song on the radio if they’re hearing the Jebs on the radio and they have no idea who old we are or who we are or what we’ve done before without any of those influences it’s quite possible we can pick up a whole new bunch of fans. If they think we sound kind of good they might think it’s a cool new band none of their friends know and give us a go and they look up our website and are like “shit! They’re ancient”. I don’t know it’s been surprising and refreshing looking out there and seeing fans a third of your age, it’s good!
I saw you at Coaster Festival a few weeks ago, you always put on a fun show but to see the crowd and for me to see at this small town festival to see friends younger siblings and the new generation rocking out. I feel that the songs have a young sound. If i was a 15 year old today i’d relate to your songs just as much as i did back when they came out I feel the sound has a timeless, innocence with the sound and i feel you will continue to gain new fans.
Thanks and I totally agree. What appeals to us naturally and what comes out from us musically we like catchy music. On our records we play some down tempo stuff but our live sets are back to back high energy songs and that’s how we like it to roll, we like to keep the energy up when you put that out and it comes back to you it really amplifies itself. I really enjoyed the Coaster Festival it’s one of my favourite shows we’ve done in this period purely because it had that feel to it. There was people in the front really giving us that energy and you could see a lot of people having fun and even the people in the licensed area borders you just give people a wave and you get lots of waves back so you know people are watching and are into it and it’s been a real great thing which we’ve really been enjoying.
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Buy Kosciuszko on CD or Vinyl [Here]
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JEBEDIAH
NOVEMBER
10th – Metropolis, Fremantle [Buy Tickets]
17th – Billboard The Venue, Melbourne * Show will now take place at The Espy on December 31st, refunds available from point of purchase. Tickets not valid for new show.
18th – Fowlers Live, Adelaide [Buy Tickets]
19th – The Metro, Sydney [Buy Tickets]
25th – The Hi-Fi, Brisbane [Buy Tickets]
