Australian rock wouldn’t be the same without Newcastle’s Screaming Jets and this year we get to revisit the album where it all began for them back in 1991 with their debut ‘All For One’. 30 years is a long time in music and with the way things are in Australia it’s doubly great that we’ll also get to see them out on the road. So why re-record a classic? We ask Dave that and so much more as we trip back through 30 years of The Screaming Jets…
Dave: Mark!
Mark: Dave how are you mate?
Dave: Oh not too bad mate, I’ve got the lurgy! I don’t think it’s Covid 19, but I’ve got a bit of a cold so if I sound a bit blocked up sorry about that!
Mark: I’m pretty much the same! I must have known!
Dave: Yeah right! (laughs)
Mark: I’ve heard that you’ve got an album and a tour on the way?
Dave: Yes indeed! It’s pretty exciting to be celebrating 30 years since the release of ‘All For One’ the first album. So not being able to find the master tapes and not owning the master tapes we decided we’d go and re-record it with this line-up. So that’s been a bit of fun!
Mark: Oh, so they’ve misplaced them have they?
Dave: Well we signed with rooArt Records – they went through Polygram. then went through Warners, they went through Shock! Then they sold themselves to Sony BMG so Christ knows where any of our master tapes are! (laughs)
Mark: It will be a bit like that Raiders of the Lost Ark last scene, they’ll be in a crate in this huge warehouse somewhere!
Dave: Too right! (laughing)
Mark: Someone will dust them off in 50 years time and wonder how the bloody hell to play them!
Dave: (laughs) Well they were expensive too, back in the day before it was all digital, I reckon it was about 200 bucks per tape and I reckon we probably used, I don’t know, 40 or so?
Mark: Wow there’s a few dollars there!
Dave: It was all a very different process back then, so where these things are stored is anyone’s guess…
Mark: I’ll have look in the garage after we finish up!
Dave: (laughs)
Mark: So re-visiting and re-recording must have been a lot of fun. Was there anything you got to iron out or do differently that you weren’t happy with first time around?
Dave: Yeah definitely – there’s one song on there called ‘The Only One’ that was kind of a little bit throwaway, and I think this time we’ve nailed it more than the first time – so that was a good thing. What I did learn though is that you waste fucking heaps of time in the studio right! (laughs). Because I did all of my vocals in about you know, six or seven hours but it took ages because of all the fucking around that goes on in the studio – hanging out with the boys, having a laugh, watching this, listening to that! So, yeah we found out that we spend a lot of time mucking around!
Mark: Well I’m sure its going to sound fantastic! It’s out on August 13th so not too far off now. And the great news is that the tour is back on – delayed because of Covid of course but now raring to go – starting off in Queensland and then you’re over to see us in the West!
Dave: It’s been really hard to get a tour together, like with The Angels – we had a tour scheduled in for now, but that had to get postponed, so I think in the back half of the year I think there’ll be a lot of bands trying to get their dates locked in so there’ll be so much stuff to see for Aussie music fans – it’ll be unreal!
Mark: I’m checking in with Rick (Brewster) tomorrow so I’ll get to add some more dates to my catch up weekends! I miss live music so much!
Dave: It’s been like having Christmas taken away from us the last few months! We were supposed to go to New Zealand then we weren’t going to do New Zealand, then we were supposed to go to Bluesfest then we weren’t doing Bluesfest! So I kept going “No!” I’ve never held my breath and crossed my fingers so much in me life!
Mark: I know it was crazy! I just caught up with Jon Stevens who was due to play Bluesfest and right after that he had four dates in the West and if he’d actually gone to Bluesfest he’d have had to cancel the WA dates!
Dave: Yeah right, it’s been hard.
Mark: The first time around for ‘All For One’ I remember seeing you in the UK on that very first World Tour and remember after the release you headed off to the UK for a couple of years. You’re not going to do that again are you?
Dave: (laughs) No! No! Come on! The wife wouldn’t let me! I reckon between ’91 and ’93 we just kept following Summer around the world. For the first two albums we were lucky to be able to do international tours. That’s kind of the thing you look back on and think “Wow! What ground to a halt there?” I guess, like I mentioned before we changed record companies – we went round the world the first album and got a great reaction and a huge response from the local record company people and when we came back rooArt had moved from Polygram to Warners so all those relationships that we’d established, I remember vividly going back there, this time on Warners, and I rang up a few people from the previous tour and they were like “What the fuck are you calling me for?” I said “Oh you know just to catch up” but they didn’t give a fuck: “You’re not on our label anymore – go away” (laughs).
Mark: That’s the music business I guess.
Dave: Mmm.
Mark: The thing I most love about that first record was how immediate it was and there was this huge feeling that there was going to be this huge resurgence of Australian Rock, then of course things like Grunge happened and whilst Australia never really chased trends, things changed. I remember moving Downunder in the early 90’s and you were selling out everywhere, it was hard to get a ticket and today that love is still there. I was talking to a couple of young kids the other day who were telling me how much they loved ‘Chrome.’
Dave: Yeah right. That’s the thing in the 30 years or so we’ve been around there’s been some great times and there’s been some times where it’s been pretty tough, but I think with ‘Chrome’ that was a bit of a return to form and we’re really hanging out to record some new stuff. The boys put a few new tracks down when we were doing ‘All For One’ so just knowing that there’s young rock fans out there listening makes it all worth it. I went to a bit of a thing with some youth the other day at a local youth club and they’re all into the old Rock – it’s very heartening to know that not everyone is into Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift! (laughs).
Mark: (laughs) It bloody is! And you’ve got Steve back who produced the original album, how was it to catch up with him again have you kept in touch?
Dave: Yeah, we’ve kept in touch and he of course produced ‘Chrome’ so I don’t know why we moved away from him in the first place, it was that kind of ‘the grass is greener’ type thing, but I think moving away from him for the third album wasn’t our best idea. He brings so much to the production, like a lot of the songs that have extra little bits or quirky little arrangements – he was kind of instrumental in not making the songs sound ‘samey’ or formulaic. He’s always thinking where it be a melody or a drum part – he’s been an integral part about the sound that we love about The Screaming Jets that’s for sure.
Mark: And when you actually get to play have you thought about the set – is it going to be a show where you play the whole album all the way through?
Dave: Yeah, because we never did that. We kind of just interspersed the songs into the set back in the day. It’s been really successful for The Angels to do that – we’ve (The Angels have) done that with a few albums over the last few years and I think it really adds to the experience. The fans are going “I know what song’s next” – that little thing that clicks in your head – “Here’s comes ‘Better’!” you know the thing. So I really am looking forward to doing that. Then we’ll obviously play a bunch of other songs after that. We might make it two sets or just play the album and just move on.
Mark: Yeah, play the album, have a couple of beers at the bar to freshen up then get up again! (laughs)
Dave: That’s right! Oh a couple of beers! (laughs)
Mark: I saw when you had the original dates announced over here you had a WA band ‘Electric State’ in support – they’ve just picked up a couple of West Australian Music Awards including ‘Best Live Band’
Dave: Oh excellent! That’s the other heartening thing – people are still starting bands and despite the fact that there’s probably not much support, or hasn’t been support in the last 5 or 10 years for local Australian Rock Bands, it feels like it’s coming back. All I’ve been saying to young people is “Use this Covid time to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse”, and probably I’ll make a rod for me own back and they’ll come out and be awesome!
Mark: (laughs)
Dave: For young bands it’s the perfect time to really hone your craft and as I say the gates are going to open eventually and there’ll be a real demand for Aussie bands.
Mark: It’s a strange time indeed, you always seem so busy when we catch up – its like you never stop – with The Screaming Jets, The Angels not to mention all the other stuff you get up to and then Covid just pulls the rug! There’s live dates on the horizon now and things should kick back into gear – but it looks like there’s no thought of putting your feet up for a few more weeks!
Dave: (laughs) Well I must admit the last 12 months has been really, really difficult because like you were saying for the five years before that I was just going between The Jets and The Angels – The Jets would go off the road and The Angels would go on the road! But the last 12 months I’ve tried to keep my hand in – done a bit of streaming and stuff, but it’s been very, very difficult. Basically I’d have between 5 and 7 weekends home a year and that would be about it over those 5 years leading up to now. Anyway that’s the way it goes – I’ve had to find other things to do! (laughs)
Mark: And it’s been wonderful to watch and listen to those things, so thank you for keeping us entertained! Getting back to the tour – its a fairly long one – a couple of dates in July in Queensland and then you’re out for a lot of August and September.
Dave: Yeah the wife can’t wait! (laughs)
Mark: (laughs) She’ll have a bit of a rest! Then back to Adelaide for the final show and if the borders are all good I’d love to get over for that one so it would be good to catch up.
Dave: Awesome!
Mark: Last time we spoke as well, and I always bring this up, we jokingly talked about your Blues album! Any progress on that to report?
Dave: Well I’ve got heaps of songs for it. I’ve actually been keeping busy, in lockdown I caught up with a guy called Gwyn Ashton who is a brilliant guitar-player.
Mark: Indeed he is, we interviewed him last year on The Rockpit.
Dave: You’ll know then. Well we wrote like 15 songs in a very short amount of time. But now he’s filthy at me because I’m like “Well what are we going to do with them? I don’t know where we can fit them in?” you know management’s all about scheduling stuff. So I want to get them done, I want to get them up to a certain level and I don’t want to leave Gwyn hanging by asking “What are we going to do now?” So the Blues-Country album is still in the works! I’ve got all the songs, I just need the time and the place to do it.
Mark: Cool! So are there plans for any singles in the lead up to the release of ‘All For One’?
Dave: I think we’re going to do a few – I think we’re going to led off with ‘C’Mon’ just like we did on the album all those years ago!
Mark: Not a bad way to start – first track from the album and a live classic! It will be wonderful to see national tours back and The Screaming Jets, I know will be top of many lists. It’s been too long!
Dave: It has!
Mark: Congratulations on the album, I’m champing at the bit to hear it fired up and reworked! Nothing like putting a new breath of life into those classic tunes!
Dave: Thanks very much Mark.
Mark: Take care and see you very soon!
Dave: Cheers mate Rock on! Cheers for that!
Pre-order your copy now! Out August 13th!
