From Perth's Sunday Times Newspaper, Sunday November 11 2001.
Jebediah, the princes of the Perth indie scene, have returned with their much-anticipated new single Fall Down. The four-piece first earned national attention with a series of hit singles including Leaving Home, Military Strongmen and Harpoon, which culminated in a double-platinum album Slightly Odway in 1997. In 1999 they released Of Someday Shambles before heading off on a gruelling tour of Australia and the US. This year they returned to Perth for a rest before again heading over to NSW to being recording a new album. ChillOut! Got on the couch with drummer Brett Mitchell and bassist Vanessa Thornton to discuss life on tour, the upcoming album and basing a rock group in Perth.
Q: Jebediah spent much of last year touring around the US. How was it?
Q: How did you two find the crowds?
Q: Was it weird getting off the road and returning to regular life?
Q: Are you ready to get back on the road again for your Australian tour?
Q: What did you do when you first arrived back in Perth?
Q: Tell me about your new single Fall Down.
Q: You’ve had a good mix of up-tempo and laid-back songs over the years.
Q: It’s not easy to get signed and your music recorded in Perth. Do you have advice for other young musicians?
Q: Is Perth an inspirational place for a songwriter?
Vanessa: That’s why we’ve spent so much time at home this year.
Brett: We needed that break. Touring was exhausting but we didn’t even have the time to be exhausted until near the end. Nights begin to blur into the one and that’s when we decided to come back,
B: They ranged from 2 to 2000. We played cafés and Christian Laundromats and then big theatres. Playing to 2 people can be disheartening but playing to 2000 is enormous. When we got back our bookkeeper was a bit shocked because merchandising ended up being our primary source of income – we sold so many shirts and CDs.
Both: Easy as pie.
B: If you’ve been off a while it can be a bit weird getting on the road at first. But we’ve done it so much over the past six years it is like a comfy pair of Ug boots, sometimes a bit mouldy or smelly but they still fit nicely.
V: We took a month off and didn’t do anything.
B: We collapsed for a little while but we were conscious of the need to get back into the writing again. For a long time there was no pressure or stress, but that’s too easy. Just before we began recording there was a little concern whether we had enough material or not but whether or not that was true is still to be seen.
V: It was one of the first songs we wrote after we got back from touring.
B: I don’t think too much about what the song means lyrically, the music always comes first for us. It’s an up-tempo high-energy summer song.
B: You can never please everybody, it’s hard enough to please yourself. Someday Shambles was a slightly troubled album generally – lyrically and personally nothing was easy. It was more difficult than it should have been.
V: Shambles led us to where we are. Shambles was written in the middle of touring when we would really just want some time off. The good thing about the new album is that we spent so much time at home writing it.
B: It is a very summery album.
V: No, I don’t even know how it happened to us.
B: Don’t break up, that’s the biggest piece of advice. It’s a tough question because in answering it implies we know what we’re talking about. We’ve been very lucky. There are ethical considerations. Need to think about what the band means to you and how you are portrayed, balanced with taking opportunities to make yourself bigger. There have been bands in Perth that have been on the brink of something big and they’ve dropped the ball because they’ve been unwilling to commit the time or quit their jobs.
B: there is something about being home. It would be hard to deny that Perth has one of the best lifestyles in the world and we think being comfortable is one of the most important things. We’re not a political band, so it’s easier to focus on the fun and positive things here.