The Jezabels

Thu 23rd Apr, 2009 in Features

For Sydney outfit The Jezabels, downtime is a rare luxury. When they’re not studying and working in day jobs, the four young musicians are busy making themselves known on the live circuit.

With an accomplished EP The Man Is Dead kicking off the year, The Jezabels have been handpicked to support Josh Pyke this May. This weekend they’ll play the Essential Festival in Sydney with a host of local talent. FL chats to lead lady Hayley.

With the Josh Pyke tour coming up in May, it seems like you guys will be pretty busy. Are any of you still studying? Is that hard to balance?
Yeah. Actually three quarters of us are still full-time studying, all working too. Plus Heather is supposed to have her major performance at the conservatorium at some point during all this. I think we get by on a day to day basis in a kind of dream-like state, but through wishful thinking all is well.

How did the Josh Pyke support come about? You guys fans?
That was somewhat surreal. I was in the dark that it was being talked about and quite surprised he would have us. I actually really like and respect what he does and we’re looking forward to getting to know his stuff like the back of our hands on the tour. Plus I think he’s a fellow Kate Bush fan, which always excites Heather and I.

Your ‘definite intentions’ on the MySpace page are admirable. Do you think there’s something lacking in a lot of music these days?
Haha, I suppose. Some might read those as a bit wankerish, but we do keep them there because at heart we believe in them. It’s not that the lack is something we personally pressume we could fill, and not that we don’t recognise that many people are trying, but there does seem to be a lack of that good old fashioned sincerity.

Sometimes I think that the widespread accesibility to music and music making has diluted the presence that – œart’ used to have in popular music for example. But it’s impossible to see what amazing things are happening in your own period without hind sight, and we try to keep our ears and minds relatively open, I think.

How long has The Man Is Dead been out? How have the songs been received live?
Since February this year. Live, the songs have been recieved amazingly well, often better than the CD. We are primarily a live band and so we have difficulty conveying our meaning on record, to be truthful. But we do notice now that more people know more songs and sing along when we play them, which is not something we’re used to.

How would you describe your live show in general? What can we expect on the new tour?
Self description is hard. I guess we attempt to be sincere and we do all care alot but also have alot of fun at the best of shows. I would say that the live show is much more raw and human than the recordings (since there are actually humans performing them) Some like that, some don’t.

Any plans to record soon?
We’ve started writing for our album and are starting some demos soon. I think by the end of the year something will be close to existence.

Are you guys a democratic band in the studio? How do you go about composing a song?
We’re actually highly democratic, its a necessary system for suppressing the potential dictator in all of us. But I guess when we focus on one person’s part, they get more say. Nobody ever seems game enough to tell me what to write lyrically; they just don’t play along if they don’t like it. But apart from that I think the music is come to by constant discussion with all four of us. We’re trying lately to expand in the ways we write.

Any bands you’re keen on seeing at The Essential Festival in Sydney this weekend?
All of them. Theredsunband, Cloud Control, Dappled Cities to name a few favourites.

The Jezabels play The Essential Festival this Saturday 25 April at Oxford Art Factory, Spectrum, Qbar and surrounds.