The Screaming Jets: Mates and Misconduct
For the last 35 years, The Screaming Jets have been known as the last great pub rock outfit. They’re born entertainers and Australian icons. But the band’s world was rocked when their bassist Paul Woseen passed away last year. Here, frontman Dave Gleeson talks about the Jets’ new album, how their current Aussie tour champions the legacy of their musical brother and the professional misconduct they got up to along the way.
Words by Zara Richards | Image by Kane Hibberd
Professional Misconduct is your tenth studio album For a band that’s been around for 35 years, what changes when you enter the studio for the tenth time?
When you first enter the studio as a young band you think that you’re all going to be in there together and that the producer is going to be smiling and doing thumbs-up through the glass. But you soon find out it’s a different kind of process. By the time you’re in there on the tenth album, you feel much more at home – and you’re a bit more conscious of the money you’re spending while you’re doing it! You guys say you’ve been making ‘misconduct your profession’. Does misconduct influence your music?
We’re like a footy team. We get on very, very well. We celebrate victories, we celebrate losses. Before going on stage we sit in the van for hours on end, telling stories and making each other laugh – and I think that all comes across in the music. Bassist Paul Woseen passed away in September last year. He played a huge role not only in the band but on this album, writing nine songs. What kind of musician was he?
His bass playing is second to none. I mean, he drove the Jets. He’s a monster bass player, but also a fantastic acoustic player. He always had an acoustic guitar with him on the road – and books. Books that he was writing in, journals, and books by the great authors. With his songwriting, he was always trying to get better and better – I don’t think he ever thought, ‘Oh, I know how to do it.’ As I said at his memorial, if you want to know part of the autobiography of Paul, it’s in the songs that he’s written across the ten albums we’ve done. It tells the story of a man who lived like a rocker to his bootstraps. There’s not a night on stage when all of us don’t think very deeply about Paully.Your live shows have always been celebrated for being ‘exciting’...
That was how we were brought up as young fans of music. We loved bands like The Angels, AC/DC, Cold Chisel – they were all renowned for their live shows and the energy that came from the stage. That energy, that’s what makes me want to do it. If I just stood there, people would think I look like some kind of a dork. I’m not one to yell out [in a faux California accent] ‘Are you guys having a great time? Pump your fists in the air, man!’ What should we expect from The Gov gig in March?
We absolutely love The Gov. It’s one of the best stages in the country. We’re going to be playing all the songs people know and love, and a few deeper tracks. We’re doing four off the new album – that’s nearly half of it. I’d prefer to do more but people said [in a mopey voice], ‘Oh, you can’t do the whole album...’ I read a great thing about Red Hot Chili Peppers when everyone was complaining that they played too many new songs; they were like, ‘Yeah, well we just spent $50,000 recording them, we’d like to be able to play them...’ You’re heralded as one of the last great Aussie pub rock bands. What makes a song an Australian classic?
If only I could tell you! There’s no formula for it. It’s all the ducks in a row and lightning striking. Bernard Fanning said it to me best. He said you start with, literally, nothing – there’s nothing there. And from nothing, you put some chords together and some words and then you record it, you release and then people connect with it. And it’s the most magical thing ever. We were very lucky to come out with ‘Better’, but these things are in the hands of the gods. And that’s that. Finally, what would you say to Dave in ’89 when the band was first starting out? And in turn, what would you tell him now?
He’d say, ‘Jeez you got fat – look at your guts!’ I think, now, I’d tell my younger self, ‘It’s a marathon, not a sprint.’ But I think my younger self would say, ‘Yeah mate, that’s what all old people say.’ Catch The Screaming Jets play at The Gov on March 22. Tickets are on sale now.
