Jake Stone - Bluejuice (16/09/2014)
The Australian music-loving crowd was recently hit with the news that prolific, hard-working Sydney outfit Bluejuice are calling it a day.
Anyone who knows anything about Bluejuice knows they don't appeal, nor do they pander to the faint-hearted. A phoner with exuberant and frankly hilarious co-frontman Jake Stone is therefore not a walk in the park. In fact, in truth, it was one of the more challenging and confronting interviews I've conducted to date. And honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
What I got after 15 minutes of unflinching real talk with Jake was thoughtful reflections upon a side of 'the scene' we don't often learn about in unedited terms. Indeed, it's a vantage point some can't or choose not to accept. That is, the often ugly side of the business that is the hard-learned reality for musicians and recording artists.
In our brief 15 minute chat, Jake Stone shared some of his musings and own lived experiences on the other side of the curtain, if you will.
Jake Stone is cool in a slightly terrifying way. He confronted me within mere moments of our phoner, accusing me of being under-researched, and then commenced a self-critical examination of his own shortcomings moments later. He is a deep thinker, as well as a guy in a band. I guess he's just a dude.
Perversely, our prickly beginning lead to a rare and brutally honest discussion of where the music industry is at and what it's like behind that illusory veil of performance art.
Bluejuice throughout their 14 year history have been notoriously ballsy, and no strangers to convtroversy. Aware of the irreverent devil-may-care attitude which Bluejuice historically throw at everything they do, I was nonetheless unprepared for how uncompromising and relentlessly introspective Jake Stone would be on this idle Monday afternoon.
He was disarmingly self-deprecating, and astoundingly cynical of the music scene. Having said that, he also shared some of the almighty fun he's had along the way, being part of a community of touring peers including (but not limited to) Kanye West, The Hives and The Strokes.
He remembers with fondness “getting really fucking stoned with Manchester Orchestra.” He also finds it pleasing to see “other bands around us grow – like The Preatures who toured with us”.
Jake admits “the culture of bands” is definitely a lot of fun, and a decent way to make a living. He reflects that Bluejuice have been “lucky enough” to be able to exist independently without resorting to day jobs for the best part of 10 years.
In an industry that is dominated more than ever by cliché, recycled formulas and marketing spin, Bluejuice's frank, unpolished approach to making (and talking) music is refreshing.
If you have followed their illustrious 13 year career, you would have witnessed the release of three fervently ferocious Bluejuice albums and numerous triple j-beloved spins.
Highlights along their trajectory include Vitriol off debut record Problems, voted just outside the top ten (at #11) in the Hottest 100 of 2007, and Broken Leg off sophomore album Head of the Hawk smashed previous best, coming in at numero cinque (#5) in 2009.
Other notable Bluejuice singles include (Ain't) Telling the Truth, also lifted from Head of the Hawk, and Act Yr Age, an infectious ode to eternal youth co-written with Sparkadia's Alex Burnett. You will have watched them successfully produce and pedal their very own brand of unapologetically punchy pop to an adoring mass of Aussies. Their live shows are famously riotous technicoloured stompers (and have at least once involved the arrest of a police-uniformed Jake).
We discussed the unpalatable fact that while the fun of being part of the audience at a festival or live show is as real as anything can be, what we see, hear and experience from our favourite bands is not even close to a reflective mirror image of what's on the other side.
“People need a space to be idealist, and to project their own ideologies onto what bands should be.” While music fans are free to “imagine what it is supposed to be”, Jake suggests music really is just a business like any other that is “governed by [its own] obscure set of rules”.
He also acknowledges that, for some, learning this “takes the fun away – kind of like meeting the guy behind The Wizard of Oz.” He revealed to The 59th Sound that other journalist-types he had spoken to in the very same round of media had not wholeheartedly agreed with these sentiments – perhaps the journo in question thought it was cynicism gone too far?
I was more inclined to agree with this view of music as a business, and certainly eager to hear more from the horse's mouth, as it were. The argument that image creation is a large part of the management and success of a band or musician is not an entirely novel one. Of course, the reality is that the recording artists themselves don't necessarily know how to do this, and Jake proffers that it is “the job of a good manager”.
He also made the sobering point that one lone review or interview penned by one journalist or internet troll was sometimes enough to sway a fickle public always hungry for the next buzzworthy band. So it was, Jake Stone had become worried he may have alienated aforementioned journalist by being too gung-ho.
“It's really hard for a band to continue to be relevant. You have to find the thing in you that's real, and you don't need to lie about it, but it is about creating an image and knowing who you are. People want bands to be natural and free, but in reality, we are at the mercy of management.”
Jake thinks many music critics and lovers postulate from a perspective of ignorance, outside of the business reality. Further, he suggests that these ignorant assumptions are sometime dangerous.
“A loose, dangerous perception of things can impact on the way music is responded to. [The audience] don't need to be responsible for that. The audience is spoilt – they get to make big sweeping statements about the way things are."
“Part of being an artist is [managing] the image that's projected – I made a mistake in my response to [aforementioned AAP journalist]. I was aggressive and I shouldn't have been.”
I told Jake that I would take his honest responses over practiced and polished PR spiel any day of the week. To which he graciously responded, “That's great, but I wish you wrote for AAP...”
Presumably because he believes their influence to be more wide-reaching than an Independent music blog such as this.
The raw and raucous energy behind Bluejuice has always appealed to fans of the old-school misbehaving, boundary-pushing, short, sharp and embarrassingly loud Indie Rock-&-Roll (for lack of a better genre-hole to pigeon them to). One need only attend a live show or hear urban legend of the boys backstage antics to feel their erotic (and sometimes contraband) magnetism.
As Bluejuice, Jake Stone shares the limelight with Stav Yiannoukas. Stav was something of an anchoring point of reference throughout our chat as Jake answered questions on the band's behalf and his own.
Stav is reportedly happily settled with a family and home. Jake, restless as ever, is well and truly ready for a holiday. A break from the tireless but rewarding work of touring Bluejuice up and down and around this brown land, a hard-earned vacation is in order.
A vacation that won't be taken until at least 2015, as Bluejuice are on the line-up to play this year's beloved Falls Music & Arts Festival. The boys will be causing a scene, no doubt, at one of their favourite Aussie festivals – showing off tracks from Retrospectable, a collection of the best of tunes from their three studio albums.
A self-confessed “Lifer” (of the Artistic kind), we're pleased to report Jake Stone will keep on trucking, in some creative capacity. Whether it's co-songwriting with friends such as Burnett, or creating buzzworthy controversy to rival anything The Chaser have ever done on national television, rest assured we haven't seen the last of this eccentric performance boss.
“I will go on to write music for myself and for other people – and based on the AAP article people probably won't like it.” So says the pessimist. As to other members of the band that Was Bluejuice, and what life beyond this rollercoaster journey has in store for them... on another day, when we sit down for another insightful chinwag, perhaps we shall learn!
Rebecca McCann
Anyone who knows anything about Bluejuice knows they don't appeal, nor do they pander to the faint-hearted. A phoner with exuberant and frankly hilarious co-frontman Jake Stone is therefore not a walk in the park. In fact, in truth, it was one of the more challenging and confronting interviews I've conducted to date. And honestly, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
What I got after 15 minutes of unflinching real talk with Jake was thoughtful reflections upon a side of 'the scene' we don't often learn about in unedited terms. Indeed, it's a vantage point some can't or choose not to accept. That is, the often ugly side of the business that is the hard-learned reality for musicians and recording artists.
In our brief 15 minute chat, Jake Stone shared some of his musings and own lived experiences on the other side of the curtain, if you will.
Jake Stone is cool in a slightly terrifying way. He confronted me within mere moments of our phoner, accusing me of being under-researched, and then commenced a self-critical examination of his own shortcomings moments later. He is a deep thinker, as well as a guy in a band. I guess he's just a dude.
Perversely, our prickly beginning lead to a rare and brutally honest discussion of where the music industry is at and what it's like behind that illusory veil of performance art.
Bluejuice throughout their 14 year history have been notoriously ballsy, and no strangers to convtroversy. Aware of the irreverent devil-may-care attitude which Bluejuice historically throw at everything they do, I was nonetheless unprepared for how uncompromising and relentlessly introspective Jake Stone would be on this idle Monday afternoon.
He was disarmingly self-deprecating, and astoundingly cynical of the music scene. Having said that, he also shared some of the almighty fun he's had along the way, being part of a community of touring peers including (but not limited to) Kanye West, The Hives and The Strokes.
He remembers with fondness “getting really fucking stoned with Manchester Orchestra.” He also finds it pleasing to see “other bands around us grow – like The Preatures who toured with us”.
Jake admits “the culture of bands” is definitely a lot of fun, and a decent way to make a living. He reflects that Bluejuice have been “lucky enough” to be able to exist independently without resorting to day jobs for the best part of 10 years.
In an industry that is dominated more than ever by cliché, recycled formulas and marketing spin, Bluejuice's frank, unpolished approach to making (and talking) music is refreshing.
If you have followed their illustrious 13 year career, you would have witnessed the release of three fervently ferocious Bluejuice albums and numerous triple j-beloved spins.
Highlights along their trajectory include Vitriol off debut record Problems, voted just outside the top ten (at #11) in the Hottest 100 of 2007, and Broken Leg off sophomore album Head of the Hawk smashed previous best, coming in at numero cinque (#5) in 2009.
Other notable Bluejuice singles include (Ain't) Telling the Truth, also lifted from Head of the Hawk, and Act Yr Age, an infectious ode to eternal youth co-written with Sparkadia's Alex Burnett. You will have watched them successfully produce and pedal their very own brand of unapologetically punchy pop to an adoring mass of Aussies. Their live shows are famously riotous technicoloured stompers (and have at least once involved the arrest of a police-uniformed Jake).
We discussed the unpalatable fact that while the fun of being part of the audience at a festival or live show is as real as anything can be, what we see, hear and experience from our favourite bands is not even close to a reflective mirror image of what's on the other side.
“People need a space to be idealist, and to project their own ideologies onto what bands should be.” While music fans are free to “imagine what it is supposed to be”, Jake suggests music really is just a business like any other that is “governed by [its own] obscure set of rules”.
He also acknowledges that, for some, learning this “takes the fun away – kind of like meeting the guy behind The Wizard of Oz.” He revealed to The 59th Sound that other journalist-types he had spoken to in the very same round of media had not wholeheartedly agreed with these sentiments – perhaps the journo in question thought it was cynicism gone too far?
I was more inclined to agree with this view of music as a business, and certainly eager to hear more from the horse's mouth, as it were. The argument that image creation is a large part of the management and success of a band or musician is not an entirely novel one. Of course, the reality is that the recording artists themselves don't necessarily know how to do this, and Jake proffers that it is “the job of a good manager”.
He also made the sobering point that one lone review or interview penned by one journalist or internet troll was sometimes enough to sway a fickle public always hungry for the next buzzworthy band. So it was, Jake Stone had become worried he may have alienated aforementioned journalist by being too gung-ho.
“It's really hard for a band to continue to be relevant. You have to find the thing in you that's real, and you don't need to lie about it, but it is about creating an image and knowing who you are. People want bands to be natural and free, but in reality, we are at the mercy of management.”
Jake thinks many music critics and lovers postulate from a perspective of ignorance, outside of the business reality. Further, he suggests that these ignorant assumptions are sometime dangerous.
“A loose, dangerous perception of things can impact on the way music is responded to. [The audience] don't need to be responsible for that. The audience is spoilt – they get to make big sweeping statements about the way things are."
“Part of being an artist is [managing] the image that's projected – I made a mistake in my response to [aforementioned AAP journalist]. I was aggressive and I shouldn't have been.”
I told Jake that I would take his honest responses over practiced and polished PR spiel any day of the week. To which he graciously responded, “That's great, but I wish you wrote for AAP...”
Presumably because he believes their influence to be more wide-reaching than an Independent music blog such as this.
The raw and raucous energy behind Bluejuice has always appealed to fans of the old-school misbehaving, boundary-pushing, short, sharp and embarrassingly loud Indie Rock-&-Roll (for lack of a better genre-hole to pigeon them to). One need only attend a live show or hear urban legend of the boys backstage antics to feel their erotic (and sometimes contraband) magnetism.
As Bluejuice, Jake Stone shares the limelight with Stav Yiannoukas. Stav was something of an anchoring point of reference throughout our chat as Jake answered questions on the band's behalf and his own.
Stav is reportedly happily settled with a family and home. Jake, restless as ever, is well and truly ready for a holiday. A break from the tireless but rewarding work of touring Bluejuice up and down and around this brown land, a hard-earned vacation is in order.
A vacation that won't be taken until at least 2015, as Bluejuice are on the line-up to play this year's beloved Falls Music & Arts Festival. The boys will be causing a scene, no doubt, at one of their favourite Aussie festivals – showing off tracks from Retrospectable, a collection of the best of tunes from their three studio albums.
A self-confessed “Lifer” (of the Artistic kind), we're pleased to report Jake Stone will keep on trucking, in some creative capacity. Whether it's co-songwriting with friends such as Burnett, or creating buzzworthy controversy to rival anything The Chaser have ever done on national television, rest assured we haven't seen the last of this eccentric performance boss.
“I will go on to write music for myself and for other people – and based on the AAP article people probably won't like it.” So says the pessimist. As to other members of the band that Was Bluejuice, and what life beyond this rollercoaster journey has in store for them... on another day, when we sit down for another insightful chinwag, perhaps we shall learn!
Rebecca McCann