Sydney band Bluejuice have had quite the change in fortune over the last year or so. After slogging it out on the Sydney circuit for around 7 years, the band released their debut album Problems, which contained a little song called 'Vitriol'. An immediate, snappy single that somehow summed up the dualities of Bluejuice to that point; kind've pop, kind've fun, kind've serious, kind've smartarse. It was the summer pop jam that no one saw coming. It drew people to shows, where they found a band who could put on a firecracker of a show and with the lip and personality in interviews to back it up. Cue festival appearances, the AMP Award for 'Outstanding Potential', management, bookings and a major label deal. Presto.

We caught up with an ever garrulous Jake Stone (second from left), hyperactive frontman for the band (and owner of that now repaired 'Broken Leg' from the new album Head Of The Hawk) and had a long winded chat about identity, ambition, songwriting and encouraging the weirdness of it all.

How have the interviews been going, you've been doing them all morning right?

Well I just talked to this guy from commercial radio who was like (deep commercial radio voice) 'Mate good luck, so glad to hear everything's going well for you, there's been a lot of underground buzz and you know - Bluegrass, great band!' And I was like 'Ah I'm not going to say anything'.

Did he really say that?

Yeah. But it's weird cause they're such - commercial radio people are so friendly and nice.

That's their job.

I guess so. But those mild factual inaccuracies are a little offputting (laughs). But whatever - I find press pretty easy but the difficult parts of it are the shoots where I'm wearing skipping clothes. Because I'm starting to go 'Oh I don't want to do any more skipping pictures'. But that's alright. I think we're almost at the end of that cycle, so...

I was noticing that that schtick is pretty intense on your website.

Yeah. Pretty intense. (Laughs). I think that when the record comes out there'll be more straight dance stuff. And I relish that moment.

From speaking to you before, it seems that you oscillate between embracing the clown vibe but also being pretty serious about the songwriting and the music.

Trying to do both but not belabour either one, you know? It's a really tricky balance with this band to do that. But what I realised from watching [our] interviews is that they're the best when they're funny and I guess the band is best when it's entertaining. But in order for it to be a fulfilling experience it needs to have shades of genuine content. Or rather you have to feel the content under everything else. So that's really the challenge for us, to balance those two things. Because we do definitively want to be an entertaining band but we don't want to be a novelty band. We're writing songs about things important to us and hopefully people who don't form an instant opinion of us can see that. And hopefully that's why people come back, because there's a little bit of both in there.


Bluejuice - 'Vitriol'

Listening to the new record it definitely seems like the Blujuice sound is beginning to spread out to include more genres but at the same time affirm what the Bluejuice sound is.

I hope that's the case. It's hard for me to know and to look at those things objectively. After sitting in a recording studio doing the same thing for seven weeks, writing all those songs. And even though they're thematically linked, they've become quite different over times and periods and all that stuff - it is hard for us to see. But I guess the thing is with lots of keyboards and things like that, consistent vocal harmonies, you get the impression that the band is settling into a series of areas. And likewise in the writing I can see when something is going to work for us particularly. There's generally a feeling associated with it. For us as a band - well for me as a writer - it's mild spite disguised as an upbeat pop song. Like, generally there's a lot of spite. And then also like a nasty sense of humour. And then like real, sad, horrible depression. (Laughs). Both of those things disguised.

Why don't you then make Robert Smith, paint the windows black, sort of music?

I dunno, I think because I desperately want to be liked (laughs). And that drives a lot of what I do, and I also like to perform and...ok the reality is and the real story is, that when we started the band eight years ago, I was hanging out a lot with Holly Throsby and a lot of the indie singer songwriters and bands in Sydney. Who are all very good bands, but they were also very serious. There was no culture of entertainment and the audience seemed to be getting more self-conscious and the performers were getting more self-conscious. And everyone was kind've in a rush to market themselves as a serious artist or a culturally credible artist and they were just stripping the fun out of live gigs.

I just couldn't remember dancing. Dance culture wasn't as big then as it is now and you couldn't just go out - well you could probably go out to clubs - but for bands there was just this lack of fun. I felt like I could probably write a reasonable song in any genre but I wanted to perform! And I wanted people to have a colourful experience at gigs and not take themselves so seriously because I really felt that was missing. And then that kind've ethic and that egalitarian approach to writing, shows and performing has extended itself into the way the band works - loosely under the banner of 'pop'. We do have a rough modus operandi and that's to hopefully make everyone feel like they can be there (at our shows) from whatever social class, and feel comfortbale and have fun. And hopefully it's unselfconscious in that way.

That ties in to one of my favourite things that you once told me when I was at Mess+Noise (Australian music website and magazine). You wrote to me about the magazine talking of cliques and the idea that Mess+Noise championed 'outsider' indie bands and things like that. I've got a quote here, you said: "Band's that really don't get accepted into the indie music scene don't show up in your magazine. It's not like (band name withheld) are outsiders at all, that's completely erroneous. It kind've annoyed me because kids in their scene are so comepetitive and the magazine seems to toe the line, and I think it's embarrassing seeing all these cool kids trying desperately to be outsiders. It's not fair to the bands that actually are."

Yeah that's true.

Which I thought was fairly on point. Because bands that play stuff that isn't deemed 'cool' aren't ever afforded that outsider status.

Yeah I mean...look, this is something I think about a lot. The truth about music is, if you find yourself on the wrong side of that opinion, it's actually very very hard to get back on the other side - if it's possible at all. So I guess we have to be comfortable with the idea that we're kind've dags, you know? We're sort've a daggy band and there's a place for dags. And most people are dags, if it comes down to it. I think live and to some degree on record you can feel that sort've energy in [Bluejuice] and it's positive. I still struggle with that [idea] all the time. But I think the mark of something good is that you continue to struggle with elements of it. If there's worth to something it should raise questions and examine the things about it. 'What makes it difficult to be good? To be you?' And this band does do that [for me].

I remember thinking at the very first rehearsal that [Bluejuice] wasn't going to be all the things I imagined that you'd want out of a band, but somehow it's perfectly us, you know? And so I guess that to some degree you have to accept it and...the worst thing that can possibly happen for us when we're doing shows is to start thinking we're kind've cool or rockstars or something. That always results in bad shows you know. It's best when there's no attitude and I think that's just as true now as it's ever been. I also think you know, it's sad cause I love a lot of the bands that are considered 'cool' and I love them in the same way that everybody else in media and serious music fans do. And I struggle with our band for the same reasons that our critics struggle with [us]. When I read negative reviews I often agree but there's nothing I can do. I enjoy doing it and I really love doing the shows and when we write a good song I'm proud of it. So I have to go with that feeling overall I suppose. And then I do my other band The Break Up when I get frustrated I suppose, when I want to write something else.

As most people who try and write the perfect three minute pop song will tell you, it's so much harder to do that than write a noise jam or what have you.

I guess so, yes, but it's all horses for courses. I respect all those artists, in their case they just have to be playing together for years or you've got to be particularly intuitive lyrically or you have to be amazingly 'on' with new technology in the way that a lot of those sort've bands are doing now. And in a way I wish I could do all of those things. I was watching a video of INXS this morning thinking 'Wouldn't it be amazing to be in INXS!'. So many things you want to do in your life but you have to try and be happy doing what you're doing and be true to that. Not let everyone get you down too much.

Does it help in that sense having a bunch of shit hot musicians around you and sharing the songwriting in Bluejuice?

Yeah. It's funny like the band is its own world. The music is a big payoff the shows are a big payoff. But probably the things that keeps us going is that we spend a lot of time together and suprisingly it gets better as we go along. 'Cause for a long time we just fought (laughs). And now we don't fight so much anymore. And also the writing - Jerry's amazing and I'm trying to come along a bit as a songwriter and Stav's finding his teeth as a singer and a lyricist now and we've got a new drummer who's really solid and great - the band feels good. And it is nice to share responsibility in that way actually. Sometimes I get frustrated, but then as I said I just go do the other band and I feel alright.


Bluejuice - 'Broken Leg'

Obviously now it's stage two for the band. In that a lot of people are coming for the first time having heard a few singles and that sort've thing. It's almost like none of your past matters much anymore.

Oh I hope so, but I think it will cause we'll just do the same shit that we did before! (laughs). You know what I mean? We'll just repeat the same mistakes that we've done before, you just watch Marcus! It's not like we learned anything. (Laughs). No I think you do learn stuff but it is a group. The thing that used to drive me nuts is that I'd have this idea about how we could progress in a healthy way, from some perspective, I don't know what it was, and I kind've broached that idea [with the band] and everyone just ignored me. What I realise now - as they continue to just ignore me - that that's just what this band is about. It's basically about blundering our way along making millions of mistakes doing weird things, and no logical sense will change it. So you kind've just have to relax into it and think che sera sera, it's going to be like that.

But somehow that coalesced into recording a record for Universal...

Exactly! Like, obviously something works about that attitude. But it just means that I tear my hair out constantly, yet at the same time every time I get what I want within this format of this band it doesn't sound as good as when I'm not getting what I want and compromising with someone else. You can say the same for the other people in the band. There's some sort've failsafe between the players, particularly in songwriting, that renders seemingly cheesey ideas good and seemingly good ideas shit. (Laughs) So you just have to go with it.

Like even with 'Vitriol' I tried to force them to rewrite that song like four times before we put it out. All the different versions we had of it were crap, and it was the first one with that crazy tinny keyboard riff that worked. And it seemed to work for a lot of people. It defies logic to some degree.

Sometimes you think that stuff should be harder than it is so you don't allow yourself the pleasure.

Yeah. But also honestly at the time, I don't hear what's good about something. It's like you need someone around going 'No no no'...and in a lot of ways that's what's good about the band. And I have to say it's still a real challenge for me because I just wish I had that 'cool' gene. Because it just opens doors as well. And mostly it's not the actual 'being cool' that I'd like, it's more the advantage of playing the shows that you get to play and being on the bills that you get to be on, from that scene or whatever. But that's the nature of what we do.

But having said that you play in the middle of the afternoon at Splendour in the Grass to 8,000 people jumping up and down...

It could be way worse.

You could be getting handclaps from 20 of the illuminati at the local on a Tuesday night if you really want.

Yeah. I think if that was happening [I'd] have something else to complain about. I'm sure a lot of those bands, everybody loves them and they get 8 gazilllion blowjobs, but unless you are a hooker, blowjobs do not equal money. (Laughs) There's always some dirt in something, we just don't necessarily see it from this perspective.

Working with US producer Chris Shaw, was it weird to have someone drafted in to accept you as "musicians".

It was pretty weird. It was hard, I think anyone who gets a producer in that way finds it challenging. And for good reason you don't know the person and they come in and do this job and it's a job that generally a very close friend would do. But we had some points of comparison because we recorded one song with Berkfinger (Philadelphia Grand Jury) whose probably one of our closest band friends, in terms of production. Doing it with him was amazing, we got a lot done very quickly. We got to do it in an unconventional way, we recorded with very little separation on the vocals, we just did them standing next to one another. We got it done in 40 minutes with like one element of autotune whereas in every other track that we did with Chris it was like a long day to do vocals and usually there was a lot to correct.

But I think the difference was that with Chris the engineering and production was so much more hi-fi, he really is a scientist of sound. His reputation was built on engineering. Which was partially the reason why we wanted to get him because he would do a good job of recording the songs and would be a pro. Because you're not getting Dave Sitek (TV On The Radio) or something, you're might miss out on some of the more unconventional sounds or contemporary sounds that someone like Sitek would pull but what we wanted was a workhorse. Someone that would be reliable and things wouldn't get out of hand with. And with Chris it was like that, he really pushed us to work. It was difficult at times we didn't always get on, it wasn't always fun. But I think his work ethic shows in the material. And the amount of hours that he spent working on those songs, getting the right sounds and doing huge amounts of editing, like lots of work to get those tunes up. It meant that we have songs like 'Head Of The Hawk' which I'm really proud of, and there are really different thing for us. And we never could have achieved that if we didn't have someone with those engineering skills.

Especially after something like what Dappled went through...

That's what I was scared of. Paying someone to come out that we were going to fight with. Because the songs are so simiple - it's easy to see how it could happen with Dappled because the arrangements are so dense. WIth us they're very straight forward songs, so I thought why don't we just get a very straight forward guy who'd done a bit of pop, a bit of rock, a bit of hip-hop and see what he might be able to do with us. He had good references and lots of funny stories about Bob Dylan and stuff, so...it was hard to dislike the process really.

Was it weird doing it for the first time under the constraints of a record label?

To be perfectly honest - despite the fact that I'm sitting in the publicity office right now - they were remarkably hands off. So much so that I was surprised that we didn't have more A&R during the process. But I think it worked. They seemed to be happy and didn't feel like they needed to say that much. I guess priorites for them were to get the songs that they'd heard that sounded like radio songs, recorded well. And they seemed to feel like that was happening, even when I didn't you know? For one of the tunes 'Ain't Telling The Truth', it was written so long ago that I could no longer confidently say what the arrangement was. But everyone else seemed to feel it was good and they knew what they it was supposed to be so I had to rely on them for that. They were really good about it and continue to be really good about it, it's nice.

Am I right in thinking that this would be the first time you'd have to 'present' a record to a label?

Totally. I mean to get the stems (individual audio tracks) we had to ask for them to be sent down. Pretty weird. But it's good it makes everything easier and I sort've wish we had've had a label since the start of the bands lifespan because it would've consolidated marketing and it would've tied up some of the loose ends that were responsible for having such a blurry kind've character at the start of the bands life.

At the same time you might all by now be in sandals smoking pot and about to put out your fifth dance-metal hybrid.

Yeah we have no idea what that would've been like and really no one would've taken the band on based on the way we started. So it's only logical that it's worked out the way it has.

It must be exciting then to be able to have that behind you and be able to tour the hell out of it now.

Yeah I love those shows! It kills me but I love it. I'm so unsuited to adult life Marcus (laughs).

Playing shows is probably the furthest thing from adult life you could do.

That's why I love it. (Laughs). It's this weird dreamworld, like everything is at the moment. The weirder it is the bettter it gets. Like I reckn I would do anal at the moment just because it would be a crazy experience. (Laughs).

Just because it was on the tour schedule.

Exactly. If I looked down my publicity schedule and it said "three fingers", I'd say 'Hell, go for four'. You know, why not give it a go because everything needs to be tried! But no all that touring is fun. Especially after like two days when we we're driving, you go into this dreamworld. Especially when you're doing regionals, because you're never anywhere that you've been before and there's all these people there who you've never met, who treat you differently than anyone in your life treats you, and they want to have sex with you and it's totally weird. And that's awesome (laughs). I love it, it's amazing.

During the shows we completely encourage all that weirdness and groping. I mean on the surface of it it seems like it should be happening at a gig, but if you take a step to the left and realise that it's happening to us, it's hilarious. And basically just satire. I encourage all of that behaviour - in excess. Because I think it's funny. And it's hard to take seriously. Because if you're not going to be totally rich or like this amazing statesman then you may as well be groped by a bunch of 17 year olds. (Laughs) Please don't put that in. Make make it '19'.

BLUEJUICE - OCTOBER TOUR 2009

3 Oct - ANU Bar, Canberra, ACT
4 Oct - Waves     Wollongong, NSW
9 Oct - The Gov, Adelaide, SA
10 Oct - The Capitol, Perth, WA
15 Oct - Uni Of New England     Armidale, NSW
16 Oct - Plantation Hotel, Coffs Harbour, NSW
17 Oct - Fresh Festival, Gold Coast, QLD
23 Oct - Hi Fi Bar, Brisbane, QLD
24 Oct - Full Noise Festival, Townsville, QLD
25 Oct - Fat As Butter, Newcastle, NSW
30 Oct - Corner Hotel, Melbourne, VIC
31 Oct - Metro Theatre, Sydney, NSW

www.myspace.com/bluejuice