The Jezabels

Tue 25th Nov, 2008 in Features

“Weather? Actually, this is good weather for me because I have an assignment to do.” The torrential Sydney rain failed to dampen the mood of young Hayley, lead singer of Sydney band The Jezabels.

Whilst her band continues to climb up the ladder of the Australian music scene, she still has study to do for her Arts degree back home. She seems quaint with her life as a uni student and a musician, much of the hype created about her indie quartet failing to sweep her off the ground. Which makes it no shock that in between eyeballing her textbooks there’s the lingering though of playing some of the biggest gigs of her short career in the coming months, including Phillip Island’s Pyramid Rock Festival.

“For us it feels pretty incredible because the line-up is quite impressive this year. I guess for us it’s quite a privilege,” she says. Her eagerness does not stop at the chance to perform, however, with every new festival she plays bringing along some new experiences for her and the band.

“The Playground Weekender was an awesome location. To go on a ferry across a river into this sort-of world where you can’t really escape from the festival and it’s this massive camping session. I think it’s cool just to dedicate a lot of time and space to just living at a festival.

“As well, the [Bathurst] Village Fair was great for an artist because up there they’ve got such a good attitude to their artists and they treat you really well. It’s not like other festivals in that it has a – œsmall town’ kind of atmosphere where everyone’s so excited, even if you’re not a massive band. They’re really cool and really nice.”

Their upcoming dates also provides another key episode in the band’s rise – their first interstate tour dates. It’s a subject that brings Hayley to joke about her own lack of travel.

“I’ve never been to Melbourne. I don’t know how, it’s strange. Everyone tells me I’ll absolutely love it. So I’m scared to go there in case I absolutely love it and have to move there. I heard it happens a few times [laughs]. As a band, the farthest we’ve gone is Byron, with the Van She tour. We haven’t done much touring a part from than that and it only really went to Wollongong and Byron Bay.”

As more opportunities to tour and perform arise, as does the audience of The Jezabels. The reactions that their music draws is particularly special for Hayley.

“It just feels incredible. We do attempt, in a way, to appeal to a younger audience.” As well, Hayley adds, “Sometimes the best example of that are underage shows where the audience don’t see a lot of live music and they stand there gobsmacked because someone is on stage. You feel that you can relate to these people, because you were them a couple of years ago. I can remember exactly what it was like to be in their shoes and be dealing with what they’re dealing with.”

Memories of real life aside, what other musical inspirations reverberate through your music? “Kate Bush is pretty inspiring because there’s a sweetness and a darkness to her stuff that not many people can encapsulate. And to be honest, a lot of literature. A lot of romantic literature or modern literature deals with the darker side of humanity in a really dramatic way.”

Believing in the message behind the music is also important of the band. “It wasn’t intentional but eventually as a lyricist I realised I was in a band with three other people who weren’t going to play music they didn’t – œmean’. And there’s a real sentiment about staying honest and staying true to what we actually believe in as we go along. I suppose I found myself ditching the throwaway pop idea for lyrics I could actually justify.”

With that said, one could call Hayley’s choice for favourite local act slightly off-centre. “You’d probably be amazed because stylistically they’re not anything like us, but Bluejuice put on a show. Not many people put on a show anymore and I think that is something lacking in the local scene at the moment. Whilst I love indie, there also seems to be a fair bit of pretence and I think Bluejuice make a complete mockery of that.”

When someone goes to see the Jezabels, then, what can they expect? “Our newer songs really need a theatrical edge to them to be convincing. So, you might find that when you see us again we’ll be more theatrical than last time.”

The Jezabels play three festival dates in coming months, before joining Tegan and Sara at their headline shows in January.

13 Dec – Festival Of The Sun, Port Macquarie
29 Dec – Peats Ridge Festival, Glenworth Valley
30 Dec – Pyramid Rock Festival, Phillip Island, Victoria
31 Dec – Purple Sneakers NYE, Manning Bar, Sydney
8 Jan – The Enmore Theatre, Sydney (with Tegan and Sara)
9 Jan – The Palace Theatre, Melbourne (with Tegan and Sara)
10 Jan – The Northcote Social Club, Melbourne (with An Horse)
11 Jan – HQ, Adelaide (with Tegan and Sara)