JACKSON FIREBIRD
Not Today Gaga You know you’re onto something special when a venue turns down Lady Gaga for your band. That’s exactly what happened last week with two-piece rock’n’rollers Jackson Firebird. Guitarist/vocalist Brendan Harvey chats to MATTHEW HOGAN ahead the band’s shows at the X-Press Readers Party this Friday, July 13, at the Hyde Park Hotel; and the Railway Hotel on Saturday, July 14. Australian music and news websites were in disbelief last week as the news had filtered: “Melbourne venue turns away Lady Gaga”. Cherry Bar in Melbourne had been asked by Gaga’s people if they could drop everything and host a party for the pop queen and her hangerson, but the bar wasn’t about to cancel it’s already planned show: Jackson Firebird. Firebird frontman Brendan Harvey and drummer/bottle bin hitter Dale Hudak started making music together in 2006 in their native Mildura in regional Victoria, and they’re risen through the ranks since. Signed to Warner in Australia and P-Vine in Japan, they return to Perth this weekend with their debut album Cock Rockin’ in hand. The last time they were in our parts was for the One Movement Festival. “It was great,” says Harvey of the festival, which was made defunct last year. “I thought it was a very well run festival, and it was just a great thing to have in Australia. I know Big Sound in Brisbane is kind of a similar thing now, but I really like One Movement with the larger festival down on the lawned area. It was great. We did a make a few connections. I think we initially started talking to Shin [Fukuzumi] from P-Vine, which we’re signed
Jackson Firebird with now in Japan. I think that eventuated out of One Movement, so happy days from there on!” Back then they were handing out their five-track EP to anyone who would listen, but now Harvey says they’ve got a much better document of their explosive live sound with Cock Rockin’. “The thing with our band we’ve always found is how hard it is to capture our live sound onto a disc,” he offers.“I think the best thing about Jackson Firebird is the live show. Our main issue was trying to get that sound. We’d done an EP in 2008 and I don’t think that it captured it that well, and I still think it’s quite a hard thing to capture because there’s no visual presence on board. “We wanted to do it on tape, the old school way, and we sort of wanted to do it just for ourselves,” Harvey continues. “Just something to do in our lifetime; just put out an album, and we heard about Mick Wordley through the grapevine, and ended up meeting him at the Fuse Festival in Adelaide. We had a good chat and showed him the EP and he was keen to jump on board, so we made the trek to Adelaide.” The fiery two-piece has been on a road constantly of late with shows at Byron Bay Bluesfest and the UK’s Great Escape Festival, and it seems like now their national album tour just won’t end. “We did all through June and we ended up playing in Mildura on the 30th, and they were all great shows,” Harvey says. “We’re looking forward to bringing it over to Perth and give it a run, and we’re in Cherry Bar tonight in AC/DC Lane, so the album tour is just snowballing through.”
Brow Horn Orchestra
BROW HORN ORCHESTRA Firing On All Cylinders
With tunes that zip gleefully from genre to genre, the Brow Horn Orchestra have been keeping fans and critics alike on their toes since they exploded onto the scene in 2009. JENNIFER PETERSONWARD catches up with them ahead of the their launch shows this Friday, July 13, at the Rosemount Hotel; Saturday, July 14, at The Vault in Booragoon in the arvo, and Mojos Bar at night; and Sunday, July 15, at Clancy’s in Dunsborough. Brow Horn Orchestra, affectionately known as “The Brow”, burst on to the scene in 2009 with their genre-defying musical style and sensational live performance. Marrying the world-building possibilities of genre-mutating pop to funk, soul, world beats and even rap, the self-labeled “brass n’ beats” ensemble www.xpressmag.com.au
make music which sounds about as bold as mainstream music gets. Their recently release second EP Two Fires only continues to show off their eclectic stylings and versatile influences, this time flirting with more electronic sounds than heard on previous releases. “We all love electronic music and we always wanted to make an album with more of those elements,” Karri Harper-Meredith says.“We’re definitely more electronic these days.” Harper-Meredith acknowledges the pressure of producing an album in the shadow of last year’s wildly successful Can’t Afford This Way Of Life, however he claims extensive line-up changes (which have seen no less than six members leave their ranks over the last three years) made the whole creative process much easier this time around.“We had to force it not to be an issue,” he says. “Although it’s less fun with less people, it’s much easier to tour with less members.” With just five members, The Brow have managed to capitalise on their growing fame by making regular trips to the east coast, including, most recently, a seven-date tour of Melbourne and Sydney to showcase Two Fires. While Harper-Meredith says the band is grateful for the opportunity to reach new audiences, he says there’s one major thing he’s found east coast audiences lacking:“They seem to dance less.” With plans to head back to Brisbane in September to take part in music industry event Big Sound, it’s hardly surprising that rumours have begun to surface regarding a possible relocation for the promising young band. However Harper-Meredith is quick to quash them in the bud:“No way. I don’t wanna move to the cold east. It’s not my scene,” he says. For now, he says the Brow are happiest playing to a homegrown crowd. “We’re definitely looking forward to the local shows. Playing four shows in three days is gonna be pretty hectic but it should be a good run,” he says, adding that local audiences should be on the lookout for a special guest at their shows: “Definitely one of the highlights of the tour so far was finding this amazing paper-mâché camel on the side of the road… Hopefully it’ll make it back to Perth with us.” 11