Jinja Safari (11/08/2011)
Having just completed a tour around Australia and an appearance at Splendour In The Grass, The 59th Sound speak with Jinja Safari ahead of their appearance at Big Sound Live.
Some of the members in the band have side projects, (Alister with HANNAH and Pepa with a solo career). What has it been like balancing bands?
Every other project we have worked on has come to a grinding halt, due to the nature of our touring schedule. But I think everyone was ready for a change, and ready to commit to that full time relationship. I think its super important for everyone to have other projects, so they can explore themselves creatively in whatever direction they want. Everyone in our band, come from different musical backgrounds, but the middle ground of comprimise is where we plan to make music from for this project. All of our indiviual tastes in music are so different and contrictoray in some ways, and its important to be heard, and if those ideas are too far removed from the rest of the group, then its important to be able to express that music through another project, rather than harbouring resentment toward other band mates.
You've recently toured the country on your Mermaids and Other Sirens tour. What was it like and what was the difference in crowd and numbers, in comparison to your previous tour?
It was a real shock, in how many people were coming to our shows, and it was totally inconsistent. We would go from playing, almost 2 two sold out corner shows in Melbourne, to playing a really small pub gig in Newcastle. It was really great to keep your head in check- so the moment you start feeling like a rockstar, selling out 800 capacity venues, you play a show, to a few people, where you have to share microphones and wait for the people eating dinner to finish so they could move the tables out of the way for us to perform. I want to always play these kind of shows, so we never get too ahead of ourselves, and never forget that we are just a young shit kicker band, and still have a long way to go before we start wearing sunglasses in interviews.
What has been your favourite music festival so far?
Peats Ridge.
You incorporate the use of 'Jungle Dancing' in most of your shows. Where did this come from?
You got it wrong! its Ugly dancing - and thats an important distinction to make - Ugly Dancing is something everyone can do, especially our band. Its about letting go of the need to look good while havin a boogie. Think of all the dance moves you should never do in public and bring them to our live show.
Your latest film clip hiccups, proved to be a hit, reaching 23,000 hits on Youtube. What has it been like creating your own video clips?
Really? That happened? That's great! Home videos are the best! we keep complaining about how crap they are, but really i think we have discovered a style for ourselves. We actually recorded that video clip, with my flat mate, Sam, and then looked back and realised how much it looked like coldplay's yellow film clip, with me walking in slow motion singing. So we went back to it, and sam andI drew a whole bunch of scribbles and dopey drawings over the top, which made it alot funnier, and less Chris Martin.
The craziness that occurs on stage at your concerts creates an intense vibe. What kind of feelings do you get from performing?
Often sick, sometimes excited, always confused, never settled, briefly happy, briefly sad, quietly concerned, violently disorientated, and comfortably numb. There is no drugs or alcohol behind what we do. I have a strong anti-drug and alcohol stance for myself, and share that with some of the other boys in the band, but therefore feel it's my responsibilty to push myself further than anyone else - through climbing lighting rigs, crowd surfing and running, in an effort to prove that you dont need substance abuse to get loose.
What are your plans for the future, will there be an up and coming album?
Next year. I promise.
Have you noticed an increase of fans from your first opening set at Splendour in the Grass?
Yeah, and an increase in commitmant from these punters. In reference to our Mermaids EP, I searched vinnies for a mermaid outfit to wear live - the closest thing I got was an octopus suit, that belonged to a primary school student, i know that because his name and grade was written on the inside. At Spendour, I put it on after the mermaids song, and told everyone to crowd surf me up the back, and then follow me for a run up the hill of the main stage ampetheatre. I didn't think it would actually work, but after a wild crowd surf, I dodged some security, and then started running. Suddenly a few hundred festival goers, were stampeding behind me. It was such a wide rush of adrenaline, and can only be compared to surfing a wave that is out of your technical ability. I ran faster than I ever have in my life, and still there were people over taking me. I don't know where they thought we were going, but we just ran till we got to a fence, andI jumped over into the backstage area, and laid in the grass. Splendour.
When you're not touring, do you still stay together or get a chance to go home and spend times with friends and family?
To be honest, I spend all my time with Alister (our percussionist), we have been best mates since we were 7, and our relationship hasn't really changed, except now we live together, and it's more like a marriage than ever before.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
The octopus suit!
Jinja Safari went through a phase of Words with Friends (the iPhone app) what's the latest craze of the band?
Sneaking into festivals that we aren't playing with empty guitar cases. Its floorless- stolen apples always taste the sweetest.
What do you do to keep your occupied whilst on tour?
Try to hide the rider from Jacob, and when he finds it, try to comfort him the morning after.
When in different states, do you have time to view the country and sight see?
No! Never! and this is the only downside to touring. I want to travel, and there is so much of Australia that I haven't seen yet. I don't know why tours need to be so tightly jammed together, surely we could spare an afternoon here and there to be tourists. Actually we did stay at Splendour for the whole weekend, and I stole the tour van to go up to the Glass House mountains for a bush walk one afternoon - So it can happen, you've just got to be stealthy.
Hannah Mungovan
Some of the members in the band have side projects, (Alister with HANNAH and Pepa with a solo career). What has it been like balancing bands?
Every other project we have worked on has come to a grinding halt, due to the nature of our touring schedule. But I think everyone was ready for a change, and ready to commit to that full time relationship. I think its super important for everyone to have other projects, so they can explore themselves creatively in whatever direction they want. Everyone in our band, come from different musical backgrounds, but the middle ground of comprimise is where we plan to make music from for this project. All of our indiviual tastes in music are so different and contrictoray in some ways, and its important to be heard, and if those ideas are too far removed from the rest of the group, then its important to be able to express that music through another project, rather than harbouring resentment toward other band mates.
You've recently toured the country on your Mermaids and Other Sirens tour. What was it like and what was the difference in crowd and numbers, in comparison to your previous tour?
It was a real shock, in how many people were coming to our shows, and it was totally inconsistent. We would go from playing, almost 2 two sold out corner shows in Melbourne, to playing a really small pub gig in Newcastle. It was really great to keep your head in check- so the moment you start feeling like a rockstar, selling out 800 capacity venues, you play a show, to a few people, where you have to share microphones and wait for the people eating dinner to finish so they could move the tables out of the way for us to perform. I want to always play these kind of shows, so we never get too ahead of ourselves, and never forget that we are just a young shit kicker band, and still have a long way to go before we start wearing sunglasses in interviews.
What has been your favourite music festival so far?
Peats Ridge.
You incorporate the use of 'Jungle Dancing' in most of your shows. Where did this come from?
You got it wrong! its Ugly dancing - and thats an important distinction to make - Ugly Dancing is something everyone can do, especially our band. Its about letting go of the need to look good while havin a boogie. Think of all the dance moves you should never do in public and bring them to our live show.
Your latest film clip hiccups, proved to be a hit, reaching 23,000 hits on Youtube. What has it been like creating your own video clips?
Really? That happened? That's great! Home videos are the best! we keep complaining about how crap they are, but really i think we have discovered a style for ourselves. We actually recorded that video clip, with my flat mate, Sam, and then looked back and realised how much it looked like coldplay's yellow film clip, with me walking in slow motion singing. So we went back to it, and sam andI drew a whole bunch of scribbles and dopey drawings over the top, which made it alot funnier, and less Chris Martin.
The craziness that occurs on stage at your concerts creates an intense vibe. What kind of feelings do you get from performing?
Often sick, sometimes excited, always confused, never settled, briefly happy, briefly sad, quietly concerned, violently disorientated, and comfortably numb. There is no drugs or alcohol behind what we do. I have a strong anti-drug and alcohol stance for myself, and share that with some of the other boys in the band, but therefore feel it's my responsibilty to push myself further than anyone else - through climbing lighting rigs, crowd surfing and running, in an effort to prove that you dont need substance abuse to get loose.
What are your plans for the future, will there be an up and coming album?
Next year. I promise.
Have you noticed an increase of fans from your first opening set at Splendour in the Grass?
Yeah, and an increase in commitmant from these punters. In reference to our Mermaids EP, I searched vinnies for a mermaid outfit to wear live - the closest thing I got was an octopus suit, that belonged to a primary school student, i know that because his name and grade was written on the inside. At Spendour, I put it on after the mermaids song, and told everyone to crowd surf me up the back, and then follow me for a run up the hill of the main stage ampetheatre. I didn't think it would actually work, but after a wild crowd surf, I dodged some security, and then started running. Suddenly a few hundred festival goers, were stampeding behind me. It was such a wide rush of adrenaline, and can only be compared to surfing a wave that is out of your technical ability. I ran faster than I ever have in my life, and still there were people over taking me. I don't know where they thought we were going, but we just ran till we got to a fence, andI jumped over into the backstage area, and laid in the grass. Splendour.
When you're not touring, do you still stay together or get a chance to go home and spend times with friends and family?
To be honest, I spend all my time with Alister (our percussionist), we have been best mates since we were 7, and our relationship hasn't really changed, except now we live together, and it's more like a marriage than ever before.
What has been the highlight of your career so far?
The octopus suit!
Jinja Safari went through a phase of Words with Friends (the iPhone app) what's the latest craze of the band?
Sneaking into festivals that we aren't playing with empty guitar cases. Its floorless- stolen apples always taste the sweetest.
What do you do to keep your occupied whilst on tour?
Try to hide the rider from Jacob, and when he finds it, try to comfort him the morning after.
When in different states, do you have time to view the country and sight see?
No! Never! and this is the only downside to touring. I want to travel, and there is so much of Australia that I haven't seen yet. I don't know why tours need to be so tightly jammed together, surely we could spare an afternoon here and there to be tourists. Actually we did stay at Splendour for the whole weekend, and I stole the tour van to go up to the Glass House mountains for a bush walk one afternoon - So it can happen, you've just got to be stealthy.
Hannah Mungovan