Perth, Western Australia has had it’s fair share of great musical acts over the years, home to Bon Scott, birthplace of INXS and Baby Animals and a host of big hitting bands in the alt rock and Metal scenes, you could even argue that it’s punched over its weight. But its Hard Rock scene has had its ups and downs over the years. Not that long ago the local Hard Rock scene was spoiled for choice with bands like Stone Circle, Diamond Eye, Ragdoll, Baby Jane and The Sure Fire Midnights pulling big crowds. There are still gems out there but the scene recently has been a little disjointed with everyone seemingly pulling in their own different directions. there are still some great bands though and over the next few months we’ll be highlighting some of the best that are still making noise – like Amberdown, Legs Electric, Ivory Lies, Sister Switchblade, Dichotomy, and first up Jackson Koke, the band with surely the coolest name of them all…
Mark: I was talking to someone in the US the other day about the band and telling them to check you out and they just completely missed the name, they couldn’t work it out. (laughs)
Kalifornia: (laughs) It seems to happen a lot.
Mark: (laughs) Surely when you just read it out loud you get Jacks and Coke?
Kalifornia: Well my friend Dan, after about ten months he messaged me and said “Oh I just got your band name! Like when you go to the bar and order a Jack and coke!” (laughs)
Mark: My mate thought you were named after some sort of obscure historical figure! Probably civil war era!
Kalifornia: People always come up to me and say “Hi Jackson how you going” (laughs)
Mark: I think you go down that route though, historical figure, maybe from the 19th Century?
Kalifornia: Yeah that first person who put Jack Daniels and Coca Cola together.
Mark: I think that was Lemmy, I feel a band name change coming on already… So let’s take it all the way back before we start talking about things that are just around the corner – what music do you love and where does that love come from?
Kalifornia: Well for me I suppose my love of music comes from my sister’s Cd collection when I was growing up. I didn’t have any CD’s at the time so I raided her collection. She had a lot of Grunge in it to be honest – Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but also some Def Leppard. And my dad had introduced me to Scorpions when I was quite young and so I suppose that ‘Wind of Change’ was the first big song that made me fall in love with Rock music. And that made me learn how to whistle so that’s how much an influence that song had on me over the years. But yeah, I always blame my sister for creating this monster I suppose.
Mark: So is it the 80’s Rock now that inspires you most?
Kalifornia: Yeah I heard ‘Live Wire’ by Motley, I don’t know what year it was, maybe 2010, and as soon as I heard that song, I’d never heard it before, it changed everything. Immediately it was like a switch had been flicked. This was all I cared about, I got back into Guns ‘n’ Roses and then I just started exploring and delving into the 80’s LA Rock scene – Ratt, Poison, you know I just loved it all.
Mark: And so many other lesser known bands from that era I’ll bet that never quite made it. So let’s get more topical, it’s only just out, what do you make of ‘The Dirt’?
Kalifornia: You know what, I had really low expectations because sometimes with Netflix I feel like they don’t hit the mark with their original stuff. So I was worrying it was going to be a PG type thing and wasn’t going to show all the gritty stuff, so I was pleasantly surprised that one of the first things we saw was squirting. So OK we’re off to a good start here and then I was quite happy. I know some people aren’t because they feel they rushed through their career but that was always going to happen because there was so much you could never fit it all in.
Mark: Yeah maybe a six part mini series, but then obviously money comes into it.
Kalifornia: I thought that too. There’s a lot of stuff that could be in there but that’s maybe nit-picking.
Mark: As a piece of entertainment it was good.
Kalifornia: Yeah, true.
Mark: Motley Crue, great band, Jackson Koke great band too, you mentioned to me a while ago you were in the process of recording. How’s that going?
Kalifornia: Well to cut a long story short we had been recording, but it seemed like it was Chinese Democracy 2.0 – we started recording about three years ago and I don’t want to comment too much on that but let’s just say in the end it didn’t sound right, and now we have two new members of the band. So we’re going to start from scratch, which is fine, so the songs sound slightly different than they did before but I assure you there will be something released this year.
Mark: This year, cool.
Kalifornia: Whether it’s a single or an EP we’re not sure but we’re going to try and play catch upon lost time.
Mark: Sounds good. Sadly you were part of the bill for our Hillaries show before we had to pull it when the headliner became unavailable but you’re also promoting something – how would you describe it? A Hard Rock Festival?
Kalifornia: Yeah I’d call it that, a Hard Rock Festival, ‘Perth Rock.’ July 27th Civic Hotel in Inglewood and I’m really excited, it’s something that was always a dream of mine – we need to have a showcase for all the Hard Rock bands on the same bill together because all the other shows that take place in Perth, whether City Limits or WAM Fest, a lot of the Hard Rock bands don’t get a look in. Hard Rock isn’t a past age genre, as far as I’m concerned it’s an ongoing entity that evolves and gets better and better and I want to remind everyone out there of that. It’s still alive and well, you just need to come out of your house and see it.
Mark: Bring everyone together – it’s Chinese Democracy! And exactly what we want to do too – kick-start the Hard Rock scene again.
Kalifornia: We need momentum, we need people to come together like they do for Metal. I remember what it was like when I first became a patron, going to see these bands back in the day, there’d be 2-300 people all having a great time.
Mark: With people they’d see at every show.
Kalifornia: Exactly. I don’t know why that went away. A wise man once said if you book them they will come.
Mark: I hope it’s not just the bands that turn up.
Kalifornia: Well if I book the right bands hopefully we’ll have a great night where we all come together.
Mark: Sound good. Tell us a bit bout the headliners – who was the first band you approached?
Kalifornia: The first band was Ragdoll, you can’t do this without them. Then Legs Electric and Hailmary bands that were there when the scene was thriving. Once I had those three on board I knew it was going to get people interested.
Mark: Sounds great, and a good opportunity to see the cream of Perth’s Hard Rock bands on one bill. Thanks so much and make sure you send the Jackson Koke songs our way first.
Kalifornia: thanks mate.
https://www.facebook.com/events/2273446646229854
https://www.facebook.com/PerthRocksFestival
