Bluejuice [Part One]

Mon 28th Sep, 2009 in Features

With new album Head Of The Hawk released this month, Bluejuice is doing its stretches in preparation for another joy-ride around the country. In part one of a typically freewheeling chat, FasterLouder’s Georgia Frances King picks the mind of Jake Stone.

Hey Jake, whazzup?
Just sitting outside Universal [Records] looking through our CD coz I just got a copy of it.

Ooh! Is this the first copy [of Bluejuice’s new release, Head of the Hawk ] that you’ve got to hold tangibly?
Yeah it is! It’s good, but weird. We didn’t make the whole thing from scratch. We didn’t put every single tiny little bit of it together this time. So it’s like – œHmm, look what we and err, everyone did’! Yeah, so I’m weirded out by it, but I think that’s because I would be weirded out by it anyway, you know what I mean?

Does it feel like you’ve just given birth, and you’re holding your newborn baby?
No, it feels like I was the surrogate parent. It feels like I was there through the insemination process. I definitely fucked whoever it was. But the birthing process was remarkably painless and seemed to happen through another womb.

So you’ve artificially inseminated Universal Records, and this is what is coming out?
I try. I try. That’s the transition between being an independent band and being on a label: I don’t have to stretch out my vagina anymore. Is that fucked?

Georgia is unable to answer due to fits of laughter.
So what you can expect from Bluejuice this time is a pristine vagina.

So there’s been no stretching or fisting this time?
Oh we’re up for it, if you want to, but let it be known that it will be a challenge, and we’re really going to have to work towards it. I hope that we can fist one another stupid.

Oh my god. I’m not sure if I can print this.
I’m not sure if you can either! May as well; it’s FasterLouder – they’ll print it! They want it. They love a bit of fisting.

Yes. Yes. Actually, I did your review for FasterLouder last time. I was the curly redhead backstage at The Espy [in Melbourne].
Oh yeah! That’s right.

But I think that I spoke to Jamie [Cibej – bassist] more than I spoke to you. I spoke to Stav [Yiannoukas – Stone’s other singing half] a bit as well.
Jamie’s a lot nicer than me.

Jamie also has more hair than you.
He does have a huge amount of hair. It’s been happening for a while, and now I’m like, I don’t know what would happen if he didn’t have that hair. Like, the idea that he might get a haircut or that we might drunkenly shave a patch… Like what happened on the last tour! Like Jerry (Craib – keys) got really drunk and was like [puts on a mad-professor’s voice] – œLet’s get a pair of clippers and shave Jaime’s head!’ And I was like, [tell tale student voice] – œThat’s a really fuckin’ stupid idea man. It’s going to ruin everything.’

Like, if you shaved a bit of Jamie’s hair, we would lose about 25% of our strength as a band, and beyond that, Jaime’s whole life would be ruined. He’d have to go back to being a peanut-headed weirdo, which is what he was when he had short hair. If you’ve ever seen him with short hair, the effect is like the exact opposite.

He’s like the coolest guy anyone knows now. But with short hair, he was like the least cool person that anyone’s ever met. Plus you would see how hairy his neck is. And that motherfucker is HAIRY. Like, there’s no stop between his chest hair and his beard. It just goes straight up. His back is the same.

It’s a little bit like the story of Samson – if you cut his hair, he loses all of his magical powers and stuff.
Well that’s what I think. Or it’s like that scene in [the cult classic movie] Dune where Sting gets this plug in his heart and he pulls it out and bleeds to death. You can’t touch Jaime’s hair coz it’s connected to something important. And then we’re all fucked basically. I really don’t want that to happen. So I’d prefer it if nobody touched his hair.

Sure thing, I’ll stay away. On to business. I have to ask, where the fuck did this whole skipping idea come from? It sounds like you guys were joking around when you were high or something, and then it actually eventuated.
I am high a lot. But that’s the only bit of what you said that was true. But it is sort of how it happened. Sam Bennet, our director that did all of the other clips [such as Vitriol, where they accosted punters in a shopping centre in full length religious gowns; or The Reductionist, which they filmed while sky diving, and still got the lyrics in time], and he came in one day and was like, – œLet’s have this thing where you’re all championship skippers!’

I personally was like, – œErr, that sounds like bullshit. I don’t really understand what that is and I think it’s retarded.’ And he was like, – œYou’re an idiot. I’m just going to tell everyone else then and get them to do it, and then you’ll have to do it.’ And I was like, – œOkay, fine’. So he did and everyone else was convinced. Then it turned out that Sam was right, and it worked! So I look a little bit like a cockhead now. But that’s fine.

So am I interviewing Jake today, or am I interviewing [his alter-skipping-ego] Venom?
Jake. I refuse to do that skipping character, because that character isn’t really a character. It’s just some voice that I had to work out in one second in the morning of doing that. Stav had prepared his so well and it was so perfect because he’s been doing that voice for his whole life.

Yeah, coz he’s a Cypriot, isn’t he?
Yeah he is. So basically he’s just ripping off his parents. I didn’t really have a character, so I was just pseudo-improvising. But it worked out all right.

But the big thing is that I really do want to get away from branding the band so heavily from costuming, because we’ve done it so much. I know that it’s part of our shtick and stuff, but like, it’s important that when we put this record out that they realise that we’re just a band, we do wear our street clothes on stage, and we just are normal guys that do this band thing. Some of these songs are important to us and not like [puts on a Duffman voice] – œHey hey! It’s crazy party time! All the time!’ Because that’s not the point. It has to satisfy a bit of both for it to be convincing.

Check back on FasterLouder soon for Part Two of this chat with Jake Stone of Bluejuice.