Red Jezebel
Red Jezebel |
|---|
Red Jezebel is a four piece indie rock band from Perth, Western Australia.
Early years
Details assembled by Dr Michael Downing
(care of Red Jezebel)
Cigarettes.
The drinking water in Toms River, New Jersey.
Red Jezebel.
Thinking bad thoughts.
Three of these things will give you cancer. One of them just might make you a better person...
Red Jezebel began their career as the house band for Tickles McNally's Seeing Impaired Circus in the late 1960's. Although they enjoyed rave reviews and their fair share of groupies in each town they visited, they soon tired of being landed on mid-song by trapeze artists. After drummer Alex Hyman suffered third degree burns from a myopic flame-eater, the band decided it was time to pack up their moustache wax and head West towards the golden horizon.
Perth offered more than just world-class beaches and a chance for guitarist/vocalist Paul Wood to seek anonymous medical help for his "headaches". It was an oppurtunity for bassist Mark Cruickshank and guitarist Dave Parkin to continue their research on Particle Disflabulation, a process to concentrate pure Rock n' Roll into matter.
The history books tells us how these experiments turned out. Had Mark and Dave been able to anticipate later discoveries in Evolutionary Solar Boogification the world might have been spared the accidental release of the Discotium molecule at Red Jez Labs on December 17, 1974. The unintended result of the bands' exposure to chemicals unleashed in the explosion was that the bands DNA was altered forever. As most are already aware, Red Jezebel cannot age, they do not require sleep, and they can control the minds of those who stare directly into their belt buckles.
Redemption is a cruel mistress and it burns when she pees. If Red Jezebel had laurels to rest on, they might never have taken another shot at entering rock Valhalla. Their laurels were confiscated by WA police in a city-wide sting in 1999. Although they were acquitted of laurel-trafficking, the stigma took years to overcome.
Just to note: The band's name comes from an emergency evacuation codeword used by an Australian supermarket chain a number of the members worked for in the group's early years.
Recordings
Between 1998 and 2000 the band released three critically acclaimed EPs Joyful Possibilities, In Transit and Intermezzo which were lapped up by the band's following of all-ages and mature fans alike. Within this time, the band received a Kiss My WAMi award for "Most Promising Band" in 1998, completed two national tours (with the likes of Jebediah and Bodyjar), plus live slots on Triple J, ABC's "Recovery" TV program and The Big Day Out.
2002 saw Red Jezebel release the EP Home Coming, the band's most accomplished release at that point, which signalled a new level of song-writing maturity for the four-piece. This maturity carried over to the release of the single, "Wide Open Spaces" in October 2003. The received widespread airplay and was a hit with music critics across the country, giving the country a taste of what to expect from Red Jezebel’s finest moment to date – Revelations.
Revelations was the band's debut album and released nationally on Perth-based label Sunday Ride Records via MGM distribution. It was recorded by Dave Parkin at Blackbird Studios in Western Australia, the album features the "Wide Open Spaces", "Ocean Blue Eyes", "Devil’s Advocate", "You’re Making Me Nervous" and "See Through Dress", all of which received heavy rotation on Triple J.
The album represents Red Jezebel’s versatility in the way that the previous four EPs never were able to, despite all receiving critical acclaim and high sales. Revelations ranges from pure guitar-based rock ("Trust In Us") to psycho-county ("Dale") to softer, acoustic based ballads ("New Revelations" and "See Through Dress" – both featuring vocals from The Hampdens’ Susannah Legge). ”Revelations” also signals yet another level of maturity and depth for the four-piece (with the aforementioned Dave Parkin now also on second guitar duties replacing founding member Chris Hayes).
In 2006 Red Jezebel spent the whole of July in Blackbird Studios putting the finishing touches to their latest EP which was due for release in July 2007. The EP will be the band's first major label release, having recently signed to the Mushroom Records label (through Warner Music) following EPs and the acclaimed Revelations album.
They have just finished recording a new 13 track LP titled "How I Learnt to Stop Worrying", due out October 2007
Touring
Fiercely captivating live shows that combined with melodic but left of centre rock tunes have made Red Jezebel one of Perth's favourite bands since their formation in 1997. Many of these show were supporting some of pop and rock’s biggest names, including Art of Fighting, Bluebottle Kiss, Blueline Medic, Brad (USA), Deadstar, Even, Gerling, The Living End, Mach Pelican, The Mavis', Motorace, Pollyanna, Powderfinger, Sekiden, Sidewinder, Skulker, Something for Kate, The Superjesus, Tumbleweed and many more.
2005 was one of the best years in Red Jezebel's career, seeing the band complete three interstate tours, and back at home support Perth comrades Jebediah, Eskimo Joe, Little Birdy, The Sleepy Jackson and Gyroscope, in addition to having a corker at the recent 'South Bound' festival in Busselton, . With plaudits from press such as Blunt Magazine ('8/10'), Zerba Magazine ('..world class..)' and Sunday Times Magazine ('Touted as the local release of the year..') along with having tracks on compilations such as Triple J's Homed and Hosed Vol. 2: Freshly Plucked, EMI's Coastal Chill 05 and the upcoming WAMi CD has meant more exposure for Red Jezebel than ever before.
2006 saw the band tour as main support for Eskimo Joe, and for Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males during their first Western Australian headline tour.
Band members
- Current Members
Paul Wood
Dave Parkin
Mark Cruickshank
Alex Hyman
- Former Members
Chris Hayes
Discography
Albums
EPs
Compilations
- Home & Hosed - Freshly Plucked (2004) - "Devil's Advocate"
- Fuse Festival 2004 (2004) - "Devil's Advocate"
- Coastal Chill 05 (2005) - "Ocean Blue Eyes"
- Kiss My WAMi 2005 (2005) - "The World Was On A Plate"