The Jezebels

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Beer and Smoke BBQ Cooking Class – Centennial Park, Sydney

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Interview with The Jezebels

Sydney four-piece The Jezabels have moved to London as things heat up for them in the northern hemisphere. Fresh off from winning the 7th Australian Music Prize, their debut album ‘Prisoner’ released in 2011 won the Album of the Year at the Rolling Stone Awards and has since gone gold. Having just toured around Europe, they now have the USA and Canada in their eye-line, followed by an array of summer festivals in Europe and the USA, as well as Hop Farm Festival in Kent and Kinross’ T In The Park this July in the UK. BBM’s Hannah Kurzawski talks to guitarist Samuel Lockwood about leaving Australia, crazy music videos, Boris bikes and which festivals The Jezabels are getting excited about. Delve into our exclusive interview with The Jezebels.

How are you today and where are you right now?
I’m quite well and I am in Aldgate in London.

For the people out there who don’t know The Jezabels, what three words do you think best describe the band?
It’s always hard talking about yourself but I think: Intense, loud, musical.

And what about your music? How would you describe that? Some people have said it’s quite hard to pin down and put into a genre.
It’s hard to say, I don’t know. We’ve coined the word ‘Intense Indie’ which is something that we like to say. But because all four of us in the band are from different backgrounds we sort of came together and create music that doesn’t really sound like anything. It’s just like pop, post-rock pop I think, with a female vocalist who is very theatrical and it’s sort of weird, it’s like a hybrid I guess. It’s hard to explain it.

How did the name The Jezabels come about? Is there any meaning behind it or is it just a name?
Hayley I think wanted to be called The Jezabels, and we we’re like ‘yeah that’s pretty cool but we’ll try something else,’ because we thought it was a bit weird. But then we sort of came back to it and we thought it was really cool. You need a weird name to stick out so I think it’s actually done us really well.

We’ve heard that you’re now officially based in London for a bit, what was the main reason for choosing London and for swapping it with the sunny east coast of Australia?
Basically we’ve played in Australia for the last three or four years just non-stop, show after show, everywhere. We’re at the stage now where we can’t really keep doing that otherwise people will get quite sick of us. We had the alternative of northern hemisphere touring, so to America, Europe and the UK, and instead of flying from Australia repeatedly we thought it makes more sense to temporarily set up somewhere. So for the last six months we’ve just been coming back to an apartment in Aldgate, which is where we are now in between tours, and then we head out on the road again, but I think for the second half of the year we might actually find a house somewhere. We’re going to be doing festivals and long touring later in the year so that’s why. It’s a lot cheaper than flying from Australia, flying is so expensive these days.

Are there any home comforts that you miss being over here, any Australian things that we don’t have?
London is such a beautiful city and as it comes into summer there is nothing better. We were riding on those Boris bikes around London yesterday and they are just so great. I think there are enough good things to make you not think about home, at least at the start. I think maybe what people travel to Australia for is how clean the air is. We toured around Europe and it was just so hazy, I don’t know, you couldn’t really see the horizon. I just miss in Australia how beautifully clear the air is and how there’s not much litter anywhere and it’s just clean. I miss that, I miss the natural side of Australia.

You’ve just said that you’ve just been touring around Europe. Was there one city that you felt you really connected best with or any place that stood out for you?
I think anywhere in Germany. Hamburg is a beautiful city, I think that is somewhere I could spend a lot more time. I really like Hamburg. Copenhagen is pretty cool. They actually are quite close to each other so maybe that’s a little area to live. It would be Berlin, Hamburg or Copenhagen I think. They’re the best places we’ve been to.

From going to all these cities and experiencing all these different cultures, do you future music from The Jezabels will be influenced by that at all or do you think you’ll stick to what you’re doing now?
I think everyone’s a sponge, they soak up whatever they see, whenever they need to get a kick out of them they do. We’re being supported by cool bands and we’ve met some really nice people, and we’re seeing things that we wouldn’t have seen if we were in Australia, so maybe hopefully our music grows a bit. I think that’s the main thing, I think it’s more subtle, the differences. You might hear something this cool band does and try and do that, or hear a band that you wouldn’t have heard in Australia, who sound a lot less restrained and are doing weird things. So I think that will be the main effect on what we’re doing.

Some of your tracks have music videos to go along with them. What’s the best location that you’ve filmed a music video in?
We filmed a lot of them in my house in Sydney. ‘Easy to Love’ we filmed in my friend’s bedroom on the top level of our house in Sydney. I forgot to ask my flatmate, it’s my good friend Alex. We got there and were like ‘Oh man sorry we didn’t ask you, but can we use your room?’ And luckily he’s one of those people who lives without many objects. He had a bed and a bookshelf; he lives lightly so we could move it out pretty easily. I think that is actually my favourite film clip of ours because it’s so simple. It’s cool.

If you could film anywhere in the world, where would it be? In your friend’s bedroom again?
Yeah probably. It means I could hang out with him again. Anywhere. I think a film clip with the Northern Lights behind you would be pretty cool, I don’t think that’s ever been done before. So don’t tell anyone that idea, maybe we’ll do it next film clip. Something like really expensive, like on top of a cliff. Some people have done it skydiving, that’s pretty cool.

Some people have some pretty crazy ideas, but they’re the ones that get remembered.
Exactly. In space – that would be cool.

And obviously you won the 7th Australian Music Prize, how did that feel?
Great. I didn’t expect it obviously. We were going up against people like Gotye, who had a really successful and well received album. We we’re over here when we got the message in the middle of the night, I woke up to it. I think it’s probably the most important thing you can win in Australia so I can probably say we’re stoked. It means so much, you can’t really say much about it, it’s just really good.

You’ve played a lot of festivals both in Australia and abroad. Are there any that stand out above the rest or any that are your particular favourites?
We’ve done Electric Picnic in Ireland, that was amazing. In Australia there’s a small festival called Peats Ridge, which is really cool because it’s sustainable and has a really good ideology behind it. I like Falls Festival a lot, one of the ones we did in Australia, that was really nice.

And of the festivals that you’re playing this summer, which ones are you most looking forward to?
The Hop Farm Festival in Kent because that line up is pretty amazing. I actually posted that on Facebook because people don’t really know what I’m doing over here, back in Australia. I posted a photo of the line up and they just couldn’t believe it. We’re like quite high up as well, so that’s pretty cool. It’s just amazing.

Whilst you’re over here do you get a chance to keep up with the music from back home? Are there any bands we should look for?
A band called Sparkadia is really cool, but they are established. There is this band called Sleepy Hands that’s really cool. That’s a good recommendation.

What is next for The Jezabels?
Just touring. We’re going to be touring forever. We’re back recording sometime next year so we’re just sorting that out at the moment actually.

Watch the brilliant new video by The Jezabels for their track ‘Rosebud’:

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By Hannah Kurzawski

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