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Jackson United have just released their new album 'Harmony & Dissidence', and it's a star-studded affair. You've got Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), brother Scott (Face To Face) and Doug Sangalang (Screw 32) joined in the studio by Dave Grohl & Taylor Hawkins on the drum stool. While in town with Foo Fighters, Chris and the rest of Jackson United will play 3 headline shows kicking off next Sunday in Melbourne. Mike Olivotto caught up with Chris for a chat about the band, the album and the tour. Read More to check it, and the dates out.

You’re about to bring Jackson United to Australia for the second time when you come out with Foo Fighters, is it going to be tough playing virtually every night for 2 weeks?
Nah I don’t think so, I think it will be fine filling in those gaps, fill in those days off with some bar shows. It’ll be fun. I wouldn’t say I prefer playing those [smaller] shows but it’s definitely nice to do both.

Harmony and Dissidence is your third release, it also marks the third time the band’s line-up has shuffled. Is this something you always expected with your own commitments putting the band on hold all the time?
It might be the tenth time the band has changed, we’re in a constant state of change. It would be nice to have a steady line-up but I don’t know how possible that is. Being in the Foo Fighters it’s like... y’know, I just don’t have a lot of time to do that Jackson stuff, so I gotta fit it in the cracks here and there or where it fits into my schedule and that doesn’t always work with other people.

Last time you were down in Australia you were stating how happy you were that the lineup had solidified with the addition of not only Doug, but Cary and Omen (who never recorded with JU but were made ‘official’ members shortly before the release of the debut album. They are no longer with the band). How difficult was it when you realised you would have to rebuild the band yet again?
The thing is that Doug, Cary and Omen all lived up in Oakland, six hours away from L.A. and it made it really difficult for us to just get together. So Omen decided he didn’t wanna do it anymore and I just felt like ‘you know, I gotta find some people down here in L.A. to do this with.’ Things got busy with Foo Fighters... the last few years in Foo Fighter land has been so crazy and we’ve been touring and recording a lot. There hasn’t been a lot of time to try and get my own thing together. So I found a drummer in L.A. and that didn’t really workout, then I got my brother to come back and then Dave [Grohl] and Taylor [Hawkins] played on the record and now we have Joe that used to be in the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. It’s just sorta whenever I can find the time to do it, I try and cobble together some people who can do it at that time...

Does this change the writing process for you?
With this record, the guy that used to play drums for us, after Cary but before Joe, I demoed everything just me and him. Then when we got into the studio it didn’t really workout with him so he left. I tend to just write a lot on my own when I’m on tour doing other things so I don’t think it really changes the process for me... but every time you play with different people they bring a different feel to it.

How did you convince Scott to come back to the band?
He’s my brother and he has no choice. I actually [told him he had that], we went down to Brazil a couple years ago and I got him to come down and one night I remember being in a bar with him and said ‘you know what? You just have to do this, you don’t have a choice, you’re my brother!’

Your Foo buddies Dave and Taylor drum on the album. Was this purely a convenience thing or was there an element of trying to add that all-star feel?
Well it was just a lucky turn of events where we tried to start tracking drums with this other guy and it didn’t really work. Dave dropped by the studio one day and I told him what was going on and he offered up his services... he also offered up Taylor’s services. It turned out better than it ever would have had they not. Now if I could just get them to come out and tour it, that’d be a whole other story.

Be honest, was it a good feeling to take charge of a band with Dave Grohl in it?
Well it’s funny, they both came in a couple days apart from each other and did all their tracks in a day. They’d listen to the songs and go out there and run through it a couple times and nail it. You know those guys are at that kind of elite level, it doesn’t take them too many takes in the studio to nail it down and there was a couple little tweaks I would make here and there... but you don’t have to tell ‘em what to do, they just do it.

Tell us a bit about the album...
We recorded it at Foo Fighters’ studio right before we started making the new Foo record. So we literally went from making the Jackson record to making Echoes [Silence Patience Grace – new Foo record] and so it took a while for me, it sat there for a little while then a couple months ago I got around to finishing mixing and mastering it, getting all that shit you gotta do to put the record out.

The new album sounds a lot more raw and ‘punk’ than Western Ballads...
That was a conscious thing. I’ve come out of playing with No Use For a Name, Gimme Gimmes and then Foo Fighters and all the shit I did before that for so long that I’d never done anything that was so layered and vibey and mellow like that and I wanted to do that... but I found it wasn’t fun to go out and play those songs live. Everything got faster and louder and more distorted so I wanted to make an album that we could really go out and play live, like it sounds on the record.

Interview by Mikezero

"Harmony & Dissidence" instores now through Liberation Music
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Catch Jackson United Live

Sunday 27 April - Melbourne, Ding Dong Lounge
Moshtix · 02 9209 4614
with Calling All Cars

Monday 28 April - Brisbane, Rosie's Tavern
Moshtix · 02 9209 4614
with Violent Soho

Thursday 1 May - Sydney, Annandale Hotel
Annandale Hotel Box Office · 02 9550 1078
with Fifty Sixx

For more information please visit www.frontiertouring.com