Project Description
Interview with
DAVE GLEESON
from
THE SCREAMING JETS
by Tamara Schilling
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The Screaming Jets are:
Dave Gleeson – Lead Vocals
Paul Woseen – Bass Guitar
Scott Kingman – Guitar
Jimi ‘The Human’ Hocking – Guitar
Mark Macleod – Drums
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Screaming Jets is by far the most hard-working Australian band in the industry. Recently bringing out an all Australian covers album titled “Gotcha Covered” they are about to embark on the Gotcha Covered tour which kicks off in NSW on 7thDecember. Front man Dave Gleeson is a busy man, but he took some time out of his day to have a chat to a diehard fan.
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You are a busy man touring with The Angels and The Screaming Jets all year round, do you ever get tired of touring?
Playing the gigs is always fun, that’s why we all do it, the travel can be a bit of a pest. I reckon I fly about 60 times a year and that gets a little bit of a pain in the bum. As much as I love being in the lounge at the airports, if you want a ham and cheese toasty, that’s the place to go. The free beer is a bonus, however I don’t get to take advantage of it as much as I would like as I’m either here flying to a gig and its early in the morning or I’m flying home from a gig and I have to drive home from the airport (boooooooo) at the other end. Occasionally I get to enjoy it though, if I fly up a day early, I generally punch a couple before I get on the plane.
So, you love touring in other words?
Yeah, it’s great fun. I mean everyone out there is doing it with the right reasons, egos have become in check over all the years and getting to hang out with your mates, what could you possible want?
You seem to be the busiest Australian man touring, fronting two bands, The Angels and The Screaming Jets.
(laughs) Yeah, it’s fantastic. I’ve been singing with The Angels now for seven years and that has kind of flown past! To be able to have both bands and to be able to piggy back one off the other, it’s a great thing to be able to do.
Well we love seeing you all the time.
Yeah, well you are always there. I was talking to someone recently about fans all around the country, how we have five shows up there in Queensland and we’ll see the same group of people at every gig and the same goes for every other state. It’s a great thing that has been built up.
At the last gig (The Angels – Alexandra Hills Hotel) you embarrassed me so much because I wouldn’t shake it to you!
(laughs) I do that mainly so I can show people that I can shake it, but sometimes I want to see other people shake it.
One of my friends was very jealous that you came down and hugged me at that gig and not her.
(laughs) Oh yeah, I always make sure to try and come down to hug all of you guys down the front.
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Who’s idea was it to do an album of Australian covers and how did it come about?
Next year is Screaming Jets 30thAnniversary so I thought maybe we could do a release that just got us out on the road. I said to Pauly “what about if we collect all the covers that we’ve done over the last 29 years and put them on a record and he said that sounded very half arsed to him”. Pauly came up with the idea that we pick a bunch of Australian covers and have a crack at them. When Steve James our long-time producer found out he really wanted to be involved so it made it into a little more than it was going to be. It was going to be a silly little stop gap for me and then Pauly came up with a great idea. The crowds love it and we’ve sold a heap of them, we even got a number one chart position on the iTunes Australian Rock Albums, number one, bang, I’ll take it! It’s great fun to play those songs, but it’s also great to know our fans are out there waiting to hear new material.
I work at a JB Hi Fi and I play “Gotcha Covered” at least three times a week.
Well thank you very much for that, it all helps. Every time I go in there, I make sure I go to The Screaming Jets section and I make sure I put them at the front of the letter S. (laughs)
The Screaming Jets played three exclusive gigs in Sydney earlier this year where you played “Gotcha Covered” in its entirety, is there any plans to do this again?
No, we made that a one-off thing as it was something to promote the fact that we had done something different. It’s a bit of a pity as it’s just great fun to do that, it’s like being seventeen again. I reckon I was playing Rain in my first cover band, we were definitely playing Gimme Head in my first cover band and a few other songs on there that just takes me back. You can really let yourself go when you are doing cover songs because they aren’t your songs. That’s why we didn’t stuff around with them too much when we recordered them because they are hits for a reason. They are hits because of the arrangements and the melodies and stuff like that so we tried to be pretty true to the originals.
You put your own spin on them, but they are still like the originals.
Yeah well that’s right, I mean there’s a few elements there especially over the last few albums. We have Scotty & Jimi’s guitars which are fairly distinctive and then of course Pauly & I singing together which is kind of synonymous with The Jets, so there is always going to be that Jets sound.
Are you guys working on a new album of originals at all?
We are! I was in Melbourne with Pauly a couple of weeks ago to start getting the ball rolling to hopefully start recording early next year. It’ll be the greatest The Screaming Jets album ever made. Also, because it’s our Dirty Thirty anniversary we are going to bring out a compilation of thirty of our greatest The Screaming Jets songs.
So we’ll get a compilation plus a new album in the same year?
Yeah! My ultimate dream is to put out a boxset, but because we have been through so many different record label companies it gets a bit tricky to do. We’ve released eight studio albums, four EP’s & two live albums, so it would be a good size boxset it wouldn’t be like a boxset of four albums. IT would be nice to have something nice and chunky. I think we have enough loyal fans out there that would want to own something like this so it makes them feel like they own a piece of the band.
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This next question is from a long time The Screaming Jets Fan, Karen – Will we ever see a DVD release of footage from the old days, especially the Darling Harbor gig in 1992?
Yes, we will actually. We are just compiling a bunch of stuff for that now. We have people from over the years who have filmed huge chunks of The Screaming Jets on the road and on stage. We are just tracking down a couple of guys who filmed a lot of the early days including the Darling Harbour gig and some great backstage footage. So definitely yes, we are working on that now.
And obviously we wanted to do a book, but not a very wordy book, but a kind of an anthology of The Screaming Jets from the beginning to now. I think thirty years is quite a substantial amount of time to be able to keep something on track for.
On the book topic, are you going to do a biography?
Well I was looking at doing a biography. I turned 50 and I thought that maybe I should do a biography. I wrote a couple of chapters and then remembered that my kids are only ten and fourteen and they are probably too young to be reading some of the stuff their dad did. So, when I’m 60 the kids will be twenty and twenty-four and they will just have to deal with some of the stories that they read about their Dad at that stage, but I think at this young age I might need to protect them just a bit longer from the stories that they will hear about their Dad.
What can The Screaming Jets’ fans expect on the upcoming tour starting in December?
Well, we will be playing a good eight or ten out of the 15 songs off the new album along with a bunch of classic The Screaming Jets songs as well. We try to do about 22 – 25 songs a night. Playing that many songs a night gives us a great chance to play all these great Aussie tracks!
I first saw you fronting the Screaming Jets at the Racehorse Hotel in Ipswich five years ago, I have seen you many times since in different states, you are the reason I fell in love with Australian music. The Screaming Jets have got quite the fan club, people who travel far and wide just to see you guys play! Do you have any words for your fan club?
Thank you very much, that is some very kind words to say. I absolutely love our fan club and the people who give up so much time and energy to come and see the band. I see your faces down there in the front and it just gives me pure joy, it obviously goes both ways because that means we are obviously touching the chord that we want to touch with our fans, we love them all. We are still out there attracting new fans, it’s not like we are out there preaching to the choir every night, we are playing to fathers and mothers who are bringing their sons and daughters along and dare I say this, but there are probably some grandparents out there who are bringing their grandkids along these days. It’s unreal, the fact that we are still being supported so well by all our fans after all these years, through ups and downs and all the hard times, it’s a testament to their love of the band and we love them all.
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If you haven’t witnessed the Screaming Jets live, I suggest you get yourself along to one of their upcoming gigs, you will not regret it! They truly are a great classic Australian Pub Rock band, not to mention witnessing the many faces of Dave Gleeson in real life, it will sure give you a great night out!
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Tour Dates
THE SCREAMING JETS
GOTCHA COVERED – THE TOUR
With Special Guests Palace Of The King
Tickets on sale now
DECEMBER 2018 – JANUARY 2019
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FRI 7 DEC
O’DONOGHUES, EMU PLAINS, NSW
Tickets
SAT 8 DEC
CENTRAL HOTEL, SHELLHARBOUR, NSW
Tickets
FRI 14 DEC
THE FACTORY THEATRE, MARRICKVILLE, NSW
With special guests THE POOR
Tickets
SAT 15 DEC
THE CAMBRIDGE HOTEL, NEWCASTLE, NSW
Tickets
FRI 21 DEC
THE GOVERNOR HINDMARSH, ADELAIDE, SA
Tickets
SAT 22 DEC
CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE, VIC
Tickets
FRI 28 DEC
KINGSCLIFF BEACH HOTEL, KINGSCLIFF, NSW
With special guests THE POOR & Clam Sandwich
Tickets
SAT 29 DEC
AUSSIE WORLD, SUNSHINE COAST, QLD
With special guests THE POOR & Clam Sandwich
Tickets
FRI 4 JAN
WYONG LEAGUES, WYONG, NSW
Tickets: 02-43922799
SAT 5 JAN
LAURIETON UNITED SERVICES, LAURIETON, NSW
Tickets: 02-65599110
FRI 11 JAN
MATTHEW FLINDERS HOTEL,CHADSTONE, VIC
Tickets
SAT 12 JAN
YORK ON LILYDALE, MT EVELYN, VIC
Tickets
THU 17 JAN
SHOALBAY COUNTRY CLUB, SHOALBAY, NSW
Tickets
FRI 18 JAN
THE BRIDGE HOTEL, ROZELLE, VIC
Tickets Tickets Tickets
SAT 19 JAN
PITTWATER RSL, PITTWATER, NSW
Tickets
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