Jebediah
The Zoo, Brisbane
Friday December 11 2010
For established artists returning to the scene after time off, the road to artistic recovery is fraught with danger. Case study: Jebediah, who formed in the West Australian capital in the mid-1990s and etched themselves into the national consciousness with their debut, 1997's
Slightly Odway. It’s been six years since they released new music. Tonight, it's a familiar situation: the band desire progress as artists and songwriters; the crowd wants the songs with which they grew up. A middle ground is hard to find, and even tougher to maintain in the live environment. Things could go wrong very easily.
After recently
debuting a new song which tipped its hat to the energetic Jebediah songwriting style we know and love, the Perth quartet are using this short tour to build anticipation toward their forthcoming fifth album
Kosciuszko, due in April. Their apparent strategy is simple: take to the stage and kick several shades of shit from any lingering doubts about their ongoing aptitude. They've still got it. Strong arguments could be made in defence of their never having lost it - taut, catchy rock music is what Jebediah have always done best. My favourite moment is when they whip out
Odway standout 'Puck Defender' three songs in. It exhibits everything that's great about the band: built around a snaking bassline - courtesy of the ever-enthused Vanessa Thornton - and Chris Daymond's earworm lead guitar phrasing, the band sustain momentum for nearly five minutes of Kevin Mitchell's stacked choruses (
"Nothing to do when you're in this situation / The pilots are drunk, we're all dead" still manages to sound simultaneously melancholic and euphoric). Mitchell's shaggy hair is already dripping with sweat by this point, as his brother/drummer Brett taps out a note-perfect rendition while interjecting occasional back-up vocals. Neither your memory nor your imagination could concoct a Jebediah that looks or sounds better than this.
While ample space is reserved for nostalgic purposes - 'Feet Touch The Ground' from 1999's
Of Someday Shambles has lost none of its emotional impact, and the shifting power chord progression of 'Please Leave' remains a curious proposition amid Mitchell's reserved refrain of
"Screw up your life again" - their tour agenda looks equally to the future. Four or five new songs are aired, including set closer 'Lost My Nerve' (a killer lead single, and a vehicle for one of Mitchell's finest vocal melodies yet) and 'Under Your Bed' (which appears in the encore, and seems a little shaky, owing to the sheer velocity of its two-minute narrative). Based on what we hear tonight, the signs are all positive. These new creations sound at home amid a setlist which borrows equally from their four existing albums; 'Fall Down' from their 2002 self-titled release opens the set, and the title track from their last LP, 2004's
Braxton Hicks, is wedged in among 'Lino' from
Slightly Odway and 'Monument', an excellent b-side to 'Leaving Home'.
They can't overlook the latter, of course; it appears in the encore, though curiously, they opt out of 'Harpoon'. I thought 'Star Machine' was a strange song to end on when the band
last played this room two years ago, but tonight it makes sense. Its ebb and flow - pretty, unassuming verses, which lead into high-gain, yelled choruses - sums up what Jebediah are all about. And then they're gone; this time, at least, it won't be for long.
Andrew McMillen