Project Description

Interview with
JACK DAVIES
from
JACK DAVIES & THE BUSH CHOOKS

(October 2020)

Interviewer – Dave Bruce

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Praise for JACK DAVIES and THE BUSH CHOOKS

“Every so often a voice captures a moment in time. Slow, melodic and deliberate song writing that evokes quintessential West Australian imagery, Jack Davies is the voice of a new generation of Perth storytellers.” – RTRFM 92.1

“Jack is a special one. He and his coop spin a web of verbiage that you don’t mind getting tangled up in.” – Triple J Unearthed, Dave Ruby Howe

“I was thinking to myself today, wondering who of the modern Australian songwriters writing gentle, folk inspired songs have what it takes to be remembered in the long term, and I reckon Jack might be one of them. His songs cut straight to the core and put you in a time and place you didn’t know you were missing.” – Triple J Unearthed, Tommy Faith

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Have you always wanted to be a musician? When did you get the song writing bug?
I’ve always loved guitar, I started when I was four as mum’s boyfriend was a guitarist. But he was also a bit of an ass, so I didn’t take it seriously till my teenage years. I think I got into songwriting after getting interested in spoken word poetry as a teen, it was very therapeutic and I quickly became obsessed. Busking at a local cafe gave me the push to play and work on my songs.

How did you all find each other and decide to share your musical talents as a group?
I was already playing on my own a fair bit, but it was my friend Sam who encouraged me to try it out with a band. We met through YMCA (an all ages venue), and after chatting at a friend’s 18th we decided to put something together. I knew George and Hector from school, and our past drummer Jack Seah was a friend from gigs. Sam played bass, but after he left to focus on sound engineering, we had a couple things shift around and we got our lovely bass player Jack Annear, as well as Noah on mandolin for a while. I met Elise at a songwriting workshop, and shortly after we started busking together around Freo. It was still really early days of the band so I asked her to come along (completely unrehearsed) to a gig during which she jammed with the band for the first time and absolutely smashed it. Our drummer Chet played in some of my friends’ bands and was just a very good drummer, and a good person to be around. By the time our past drummer Jack S became too busy, Chet had already been filling in with us for months and we were stoked to have him jump in. Everyone brings something unique to the table, but their light hearted nature and love for music seems to bring it all together! I’m very lucky to have this bunch.

How would you describe your sound? Why do you think people resonate with your music?
I would describe our sound as a sorta vegetable soup. Lots of different flavours n textures all hanging out and having a good time together. Most of our songs are based in the acoustic and folk realm, but we love pushing that genre into more psych and rock and indie pop sounds. I think that comes across most strongly in our live show.

Which artist’s music and/or performance, past or present, inspires you today? 
Pretty much all of them, seeing anyone play, regardless of how great they are still gives me ideas and an itch to be better. However, I think the two most inspiring things I’ve seen recently would have to be Nika Mo playing a set on a grand piano at a 20-30 person house concert in Freo. With Jacob Wylde on guitar / harmonies it was possibly one of the best sets I’ve seen, fully acoustic in a small room. Soul wrenching stuff. Also, George who plays in our band, every time I hear him playing his new songs in-between rehearsals my heart jumps, he writes the sorta chords I could only dream of, that inspires me to write more.

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Your new single ‘Loving You’s Like a Mouldy Cup of Tea’ has just been released and your EP ‘Song’s For a Long Walk’ is also on its way. Describe its origin and evolution. 
Originally it was actually “your love is the palest shade of green, prettiest colour I’ve ever seen”. But I never finished it, and one day decided to re write it with some funner lyrics. I was living in quite a “mouldy” share house at the time (I’m sure we all have at some point), and that was kinda the inspiration for the song. I remember countless times finding mouldy cups of tea around the house, I also remember slowly fallin’ in love in that house. That’s kinda the premise of the song. The weird rhythm of the song made it difficult to imagine a full band sound on, so we decided to keep it as a folk tune. I just kept adding acoustics to it until it was this jangly folk track, and I loved that sound. The birds and everything were recorded on my porch. The sound I wake up to each morning.

What are the signature pieces on the album, and which is your favorite track?
Lyrically, I think my favourite track is “Some Things Don’t Last a Very Long Time”, it’s just one that feels very honest and comforting to sing. The ending of “Michael” is also probably my favourite musical part, I think George’s electric guitar sounds massive, it was heaps of fun to create.

Any tours or events coming up soon? What are you looking forward to, and what can the fans expect?
We have a few shows around WA in the works, but with no idea when we can get over east it’s all up in the air still. We had to cancel two Aus trips this year for the band so everyone is dying to get out and play shows again! I’m mainly looking forward to releasing a run of vinyl in the next few months!

If you could perform with any music artist, Alive or Dead, who would you choose? And why? 
John Lee Hooker has been my favourite blues singer since I was young. I feel like I would learn so much just sitting by and jamming along to a twelve bar next with him, I’d choose that.

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What are your long-term aspirations as a music artist? 
Write lots of nice songs, play gigs around the world, spread positive messages, and have enough money left to pay rego and buy spinach ricotta rolls.

What is the best thing about performing to a live audience? What’s been the career highlight so far?
Ah the rush! The feeling of connection, being understood, it’s a huge privilege. It’s also just heaps of fun. I think my highlight so far was either playing two packed out Bigsound shows, or supporting The Waifs and singing on stage with them, or playing Falls festival in Freo. Those were all pretty huge moments for us!

Finally, a few questions for some quick answers –
FAVOURITE:
Album –  Maybe “Songs From a Room” Leonard Cohen
Artist – Agh that changes so regularly! I’d say Courtney Barnett overall , she’s been a huge influence since I was a teen.
Movie – The Blues Brothers
Place to visit – The fridge
Venue to play – Perth Stadium (haven’t played there yet, but my fingers are crossed)
Food –  Mushrooms and goats cheese
Drink – Red Ales
Person in History –  My dad
Tattoo – (If you don’t have one, what would you get?) snake bite on me ankle

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Follow
JACK DAVIES
and THE BUSH CHOOKS
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram 
YouTube – Triple J Unearthed 

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AMNPLIFY – DB