STACK Jun #128

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Jebediah are turning 20.
While a few of their mid-
’90s contemporaries remain
– Regurgitator and Spiderbait
are still treading boards and
making music for starters – it
remains a rare achievement
in the Australian music scene
(or indeed, any music scene)
to keep at it for two decades.
Hailing from Perth, Jebediah
rode the alternative rock wave
of the era, reaching a wide
audience with their solid fan
favourite Slightly Odway. The
band are playing that album
in its entirety on their national
tour at present, and will top
these dates off with the
release of Twenty, a special
two-decade retrospective
that spans from their debut
to 2011's Kosciuszko.
The Jedediah story started
in Perth in October 1995,
when the five piece –
containing brothers Kevin
and Brett Mitchell – won
the national campus band
competition with only their
13th show. Joining them
on tour are contemporaries
Front End Loader, Fur and
Screamfeeder (who have
reformed just for this tour),
along with Adalita and Bodyjar.
086 JUNE 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit NEWS MUSIC
Of Monsters and Men came to global attention in
2011 with their album My Head is an Animal and the
delightful Little Talks, a song that became a bona fide
anthem. The Icelandic act promptly became a global festival
draw, and had their music used in both The Hunger Games
and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Now the band are back
with a brand new album entitled Beneath the Skin; the
fresh release has been produced by Rich Costey (Muse and
Interpol). If the rather remarkable clip for new single Crystals
(see right) is a portent of the upcoming album, admirers of
the group are in for a treat.
Jamie xx (AKA Jamie Smith) is
one of the three brilliant minds
behind Mercury Prize-winning act
The xx, and his reputation as a
producer has bloomed in recent
times; not only his remix work
for Radiohead and Florence and
the Machine, but through his
comprehensive re-working of the
late Gil Scott-Heron’s I’m New
Here, has the young Londoner
effortlessly displayed his mastery
of a whole new musical palette.
His new album In Colour, three
years in the making and featuring
contributions from both his xx
bandmates as well as Four Tet
and Jamaican Popcaan, is a
perfectly rendered stroll through
soulfully exhilarating minimalism,
broken up beats and effortless
melody, “I was listening to a
lot of music; my musical tastes
were broadening throughout
and becoming more eclectic,”
says Jamie from London, talking
about In Colour’s long gestation
period.“I like the contrast –
melancholy and joy – those are
my favourite sorts of songs.” Did
the Gil Scott-Heron remix project
inform the creation of In Colour ?
"I gained some confidence in
doing stuff on my own, but the
way that I’ve made music that
I want to make... I’ve always
wanted to impart some sort of
soulfulness into it,“ he replies. It
was during The xx’s long touring
spell for the acclaimed Coexist
album that Jamie discovered
an unexpected turning point, in
the form of a short film by Mark
Leckey entitled Fiorucci Made
Me Hardcore. It chronicles the
visual style of UK dance culture
over several decades, and when
Jamie saw it, something clicked.
“It reminded me of the tinted
view of British culture and dance
music, and the history of it...the
greyness of it all but at the same
time, it’s hopeful.”But In Colour is
not just a departure for the young
producer, it’s a journey of casually
elastic diversity whose easy
maturity and authority will elevate
his standing around the world.
That said, he's broadly the same
person he was when he started.
Just see the beautiful clip for
single Loud Places, with Jamie
and xx bandmate (and vocal guest
on the track) Romy Madley-Croft
skating around London. "It’s how
Romy and I became friends,
before we made music together,"
Jamie explains. "We used to
skate in the city every weekend."
continued
Jamie xx in bloom
Jebediah's twenty candles!
Sitting down with
Justin Hawkins,
the darkness
Q1/ The clip for Open Fire looks like classic
MTV: were you going for that?
Those oceanic moments are instant. We drove
around Ireland looking for places. Simon Emmett,
who directed it, is a fashion photographer; he’s
more about capturing moments with stills. It’s a bit
different to other Darkness videos, it hasn’t got a
plot. [It's] a video done by a fashion photographer
who’s used to making things that aren’t beautiful,
look beautiful.
Q2/ Tell me about the speech on Barbarian,
that opens the album.
It was supposed to sound like somebody,
generations after the Viking Invasion, sitting on a
clifftop – that’s why you can hear all the wind.
It's like the beginning of The Fog, when he’s
addressing the children around the campfire.
But the guy was Dan’s gardener! He was cutting
the grass, into amateur dramatics, so we asked him
to come in. He’s a Norfolk bloke in his mid-60s!
Q3/ How did Rufus Taylor, son of Roger
Taylor from Queen, end up in the band?
We’re now on our fourth drummer. Not
bad! Four albums, four drummers! Emily Dolan
Davies did a great job on the album. We were
looking to make it permanent, but when it came
to negotiating, her and the band had different
expectations – it was personal. It got out that we
were looking for a drummer, and Brian May’s guitar
tech said "try Rufus." He’s a bit younger, but he
comes from a proud heritage of drummers. He’s
awesome in his own right. You can tell his father’s
a rock star, you know what I mean?
Q4/ You left the band in 2006, in well-
documented circumstances. Do you regret
anything?
Unless you’re prepared to take that journey,
you might as well stay home. Not an option if
you’re going to be in The Darkness. We had a
f***ing great time, literally living the dream! It got
unsustainable, damaging to my health, so I had to
make a change. It definitely
enriched my life.
In Colour by
Jamie xx is out
now on Remote
Control/Inertia.
The REturn of monsters and men
Twenty by Jebediah is out
via Sony Music.
Jebediah tour nationally from
June 4 - 28. Dates and venues at
www. .
Last of Our Kind
by The Darkness is out
now via Kobalt/Inertia.
Photo Laura Coulson
Photo Simon Emmett