The Jungle Giants: Experiencing Feelings of joy

Five years on from their last record, The Jungle Giants’ Sam Hales has been through it and lived to write the album of his career. The Note catches up with the Brisbane frontman to talk heartbreak, The Artist’s Way, and experiencing feelings of joy.

Interview Millah Hansberry // Image Meg Siejka

It is always a pleasure to chat to Sam Hales of Australian indie-pop heavyweights The Jungle Giants. Whether it be on a friendly phone call for The Note’s second ever cover back in 2023, under a tent at Harvest Rock during torrential rain with margs in hand, or now via Zoom on a Monday morning. The chat is always set to leave you with a giddy grin on your face and a soothed sense of satisfaction like you've spoken to an old friend. Hales, the frontman, writer and producer of the decorated act is truly an open book, which is what makes their latest release so undeniably special.

Experiencing Feelings of Joy, The Jungle Giants’ first full-length since 2021’s Love Signs, didn’t come easy. The five years between records saw Hales navigate the breakdown of a decade-long relationship with a longtime collaborator and partner, a crippling bout of writer’s block, and a fundamental reckoning with his relationship to music. It took therapy, time away, a tighter bond with his bandmates, and a book by Julia Cameron to get him back to the page. The result is something Hales calls a “self-help book in album form”; 10 tracks charting a course through heartbreak, selfabandonment, hope and grief, to lead to the ultimate emotion of joy.

Congratulations on the release of Experiencing Feelings Of Joy! Back at the end of 2022, we spoke to you for our second ever cover and you stated that you hoped the songs on this record would “really fuck people up”. Would you say mission accomplished?

You know what, that’s actually such a great thing that I said that. Since 2022 to where I am now, there was one really massive hurdle that I had to jump over, which was allowing myself to be more vulnerable. There were a lot of things going on in my life and it was hard to be open and honest about them, but if I wasn’t completely honest, the songs weren’t good. So, I just launched into being real, being honest and being myself. Lyric writing became a lot easier then because I didn’t have to worry about metaphors and burying the truth. I kind of just told my story as it was and as I felt.

In terms of “fucking people up”, I actually had a friend who when she heard the album, broke up with her boyfriend. She said it really inspired her because she’d been thinking about defining what love is to her, and she said the album kind of just inspired her to really take a stance for her own love. So, I think the mission was accomplished!

Your album art dives into this narrative of the album being a major part of your postbreakup self-help journey, with the tracks being 10 steps on a ladder back to feeling good. Could you talk us through this?

There were a bunch of different things that happened since the Love Signs record. I was a member of Confidence Man and was in a 10-year relationship with one of the members. I fell out of love with my partner and also reached a point that being in two bands was not manageable anymore. There were a couple of years there where I was doing more shows than there were days in a year. What I found when I was writing, was that I did not feel good about the music I was writing. I needed to take a break from writing in order to process the real-life factor of it.

Then I found the book The Artist’s Way, written by Julia Cameron, which is a beautiful book that speaks to your humanity. The book really helped me loosen up and talk about how I felt, and then the songs started coming. There’s a lot of themes that I touch on; hope, sadness, self-abandonment, all these different things. The songs essentially were me helping myself get out of these moments. Some people would say, “is the album sad?” And I say, “well, it’s sad at step three. Then at step four, I’m touching on hope because I’m feeling hope.” At step 10, the last song on the album is actually very sad, but the fact that it exists is happy because I let that song go.

Once I started making all the songs, I got back to joy. And that’s what the whole key message of the album is; sometimes you need to get through these moments to get back to those happy feelings.

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You’ve shared that when you create music, it can be largely influenced by what you’re listening to at the time. What was on rotation when you were making this record?

I actually listened to a lot less music in this time and focussed on my life, friendships, therapy and dating again. Music is my favourite thing; it’s my outlet but it’s also a compulsion of mine. I took a break, which was really hard for me because I never have done that before. I just took some time to actually go on some trips and live some life and fuel what the album would be about.

Once I’d taken a break, then I started listening back to music. I only wanted to listen to instrumental stuff because I didn’t really want to listen to other words; I was still trying to figure out the messaging in my music. I listened to a lot of classical, funnily enough, a lot of ambient music. And then I found myself singing over the top of this while I’d go for a drive or jog. That was kind of the key that built this record.

The record took a good five years. When were you able to take a step back and call it a day?

I decided I was close when I felt like I’d nailed what I needed to nail. At the 11th hour, I showed Cesira ‘Tell Me How It Feels’, which wasn’t on the record yet, and she loved it. She actually helped me with some lyrics, which was the final little hurdle for me. It was really awesome because her and I had never made a song before together. I recorded that and finished writing it in the last 24 hours of the recording block. I’m definitely in my more collaborative stage now. I think that’s how music should be made.

You’re about to step on your biggest tour yet, which is set to be quite elaborate and theatrical. There’s something interesting about pairing your most spectacular tour around your most intimate record. What was the thought behind this?

I think it’s all about confidence. This record cost the most in terms of life. I feel very proud and I feel very confident about it, because I didn’t really hold back. I feel like that’s now given me a lot more confidence on stage.

I co-produced with Michael Belsar for the second half of the record. He’s an old friend of mine and also happens to be a musical director. We built this show that feels very adjacent to the album because this album was about exploration, a little bit of turmoil, but then self-belief and selfacceptance.There will be a bit of live stream element to it, elements of the band moving around the stage. It feels interactive, there’s a lot of movement, and it really helps the songs shine.

You’ve got SA’s own The Tullamarines on tour with you. Why were they the right choice?

I’ve been softly obsessed with The Tullamarines for a little while. When I heard they accepted our pitch, I was stoked. Every now and again, I’ll be at a party and I’ll just grab the Aux cord and put on ‘Running On Empty’. There’s just beautiful songwriting going on there. I’d really love to hang out with them and just talk about music. So, part of it is like, I want to see them live but I also just want to meet them because I’m a fanboy.

With the album being called Experiencing Feelings of Joy, is joy what you’re feeling right now?

Definitely. This album was a reflection of a really hard time. But then it coming out was the product of some really hard work on myself, as an artist and as a person. I’ve actually met someone since then and in a beautiful relationship now; I feel like this album got me there. I’m feeling proud. I’m feeling inspired. I am experiencing joy.

Catch The Jungle Giants performing at Hindley Street Music Hall on Saturday 20 June. Tickets on sale now via moshtix.com.au.

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