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Awoken by
Fame: The Sleepy Jackson
By David Chiu
"Old dirt farmer, varsity
baseball player, a Texas nomad, and a fisherman/I lost my mind
and it was blown in the wind."
From the Sleepy Jackson song
"Old Dirt Farmer" written by Luke Steele
The Sleepy Jackson are not one
of your typical new Australian bands that are crossing over to
our shores. Whereas groups such as the Vines and Jet play straightforward
punkish rock, the Sleepy Jackson's style is rooted in pop, rock,
ambient, folk, and country-kind of like Radiohead melding with
Woody Guthrie. And if you think that's different, frontman and
leader Luke Steele pens lyrics that are as yearning and melancholy
as they are cryptic, just like the one above.
From the Sleepy Jackson's latest
album Lovers (Astralwerks), you can trace the sounds of
distinctive acts in several of the songs: the Beatles, early
Stones, Brian Wilson, the Velvet Underground, and Gram Parsons.
Said 26 year-old drummer, pianist, and sometime songwriting collaborator
Malcolm Clark, "It's like a collection of all those influences,
I guess." But the group is not merely a copycat of those
aforementioned acts; on the whole, the Sleepy Jackson's sound
is unique in itself that does not seem as narcissistic or jaded
like their contemporaries.
Formed a couple of years ago
in Perth Australia, the Sleepy Jackson is the brainchild of Luke
Steele. They had previously released two EPs, Caffeine in
the Morning Sun' and Let Your Love Be Love, before
making the full-length Lovers album. Over time, the band
was a revolving door of different members, with Steele being
the constant. Clark was one of the latter musicians to join and
is now one of the long-standing members. "I knew Luke about
six years ago and kept in touch with him over the years,"
Clark remembered. "Then came a call one day and he's like,
'Got a my band, but got no drummer.' I said, 'I'll come and have
an audition with ya.' He held onto the job ever since.
The album Lovers defy
any musical categorization because the mood and tempo of the
tracks vary so much. Some of the standouts on Lovers include
"Tell The Girls I'm Not Hanging Out," "Good Dances,"
the lovely, ethereal "Old Dirt Farmer" (an Electric
Light Orchestra throwback) and the countryish "Mourning
Rain." They all contain lush arrangements and airy harmonies,
played with rock and roll and gentle fervor, and sung with Steele's
weary vocals. Although Steele is the chief songwriter in the
band, Clark also had a hand in co-writing a few of Lovers's tunes
and cited one favorite. "I probably like "Rain Falls
for Wind," but because I co-wrote it," he said. "So
I'm probably biased toward that one"
One of the interesting tracks
on Lovers is "Morning Bird," a pretty piano ballad
performed by Clark and sung not by Steele, but Gemma Burnside,
the young daughter of Lovers' producer. The child-like
vocals give the song an innocent yet haunting resonance. "We
got some kids in for quite a few songs," said Clark. "Luke
wrote that song and he just decided it would be good to have
a kid singing it, to keep it more real. [Producer] Jonathan [Burnside]
was like. 'Hey I'll get my daughter to come in.' And it was cool-we
kept a lot of it."
Clearly Luke Steele is the architect
of the Sleepy Jackson sound, sort of like what Brian Wilson was
to the Beach Boys and Lindsey Buckingham to Fleetwood Mac. Working
with someone with a temperament for perfection and eccentricity
might prove difficult, but not for drummer/pianist Clark. "We
get along really well" he commented about their chemistry.
"We sort of complement each other. I had some really good
sessions with him."
Live, the group is a totally
different animal as their sound is a little rawer than the studio
craft represented on the record. The live shows have a bit more
balls to it. "We've taken a lot of our sound from the studio
on the road with us," Clark said. "It's the same vibe."
The group has been also been known for bringing a little avant
garde theatrics to their shows, that either thrill or puzzle
the crowd. One British web site called a February performance
a "bizarre display" (the bass player was staring at
a camcorder while the second guitarist's head was shaven onstage).
"It's something you have to experience to know what it is
really like," Clark acknowledged.
The Sleepy Jackson is currently
on tour in the States that also includes a date at the Coachella
Festival. This past spring they played in New York City's Mercury
Lounge to a small but receptive audience compared to Australia
and the United Kingdom. "[The Americans] seem to be a lot
more into it. You always get the people who really love the album,
and know the songs and mouth the words, and they're always in
the front. And you get the people standing in the back and admiring
it. They're seem to be more energy over here." As far as
how they're music will be judged by the rest of America, Clark
said the band hadn't had time to let it all sink in and reflect;
they're just too busy touring. If people dig our music, we'll
play it for them," he simply put it.
One of the tour stops included
playing several dates at this year's South by Southwest Festival
(SXSW) in Austin Texas, an important showcase for young bands.
"It was pretty hectic, getting your gear, play for 30 minutes,
and get out for the next band. It was pretty full on.. We did
like two shows in a day." It was a good moment for the band
although marred by unexpected technical glitches, when the power
went out for one song during an early show. "And when we
went on to play a show with the Thrills, and on the same song,
the power went out again," remembered Clark. "Weird."
Growing up in Perth, Australia,
Clark had played music since he was a child, first on piano and
then later drums. He lived in a household of colliding musical
tastes that included blues, jazz and ragtime. The young musician
sank his teeth into diverse acts like Ray Charles (a fave), Chuck
Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and then later fellow Australian
groups including Angel City, Midnight Oil, and INXS. "Anything
that sounds good, I just like," Clark said. "Put something
on and straight away if it feels good, then yeah that's the kind
of thing I want to get inspired by."
Having played in bands before,
Clark jumped at the chance at joining the Sleepy Jackson because
they were already an established act who had a deal with EMI
Records in Australia (Astralwerks is their American label). He
considered it an important factor in his decision, which he still
relishes. "When I first joined the band that was like an
overwhelming experience. Not many bands are signed to a record
label. If you are in a band, you just play gigs and record your
album."
Aside from touring, Luke Steele
and Malcolm Clark are already working on some new songs for an
upcoming new album. Future plans for Clark include the possibility
of music scoring for films. He and Steele are just brimming with
plans as their group is taking off. "We have so many different
ideas of things that we want to do," he said with laidback
enthusiasm. "It's just finding the time to actually do it."
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