Project Description

Interview with

DAVE GLEESON

from

THE SCREAMING JETS

Interviewer – Simone Tyrrell

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Simone: Thank you, Dave, for chatting to me today really appreciate your time to talk to us at AMNplify about your Dirty Thirty tour, it’s fantastic. I do have to say I am a fan from way back! I have actually been coming to your shows since I was in my early 20’s and that was 25 years ago!!
Dave: Awesome Awesome.

Simone: So if someone said to me when I was 20, in 25 years’ time you’ll be interviewing Dave Gleeson and photographing Screaming Jets shows, I would never have believed them!
Dave: Hahaha that’s unreal. Thank you for sticking around.

Simone: Oh no it’s just an incredible feat. But now thirty years on for you from your first shows, if someone said to you back then, you would still be touring and producing albums in 30 years and be a household Australian name, what would you have said?
Dave: Ahhh look I was fairly fatalistic back in the day, like all the other rockers that had gone before me. I think there’s footage of me in one video and they say what do you think you will be doing when you’re 30 and I said I’ll be dead when I’m 30!!

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Simone: (laughs) Rock n Roll life!!
Dave: Yeah yeah so thankfully that didn’t transpire. I don’t think anyone looks ahead that far, especially being in a band and being in the entertainment industry I mean stuff can happen at the drop of a hat, before you know it, you’re kind of over. But we’ve been very lucky we cultivated a great following early on, did a lot of gigs, played with all the right bands The Angels, The Choir Boys, and The Radiators and The Divinyls and kind of got in on that pub rock ethos that those guys had created throughout the 70’s and 80’s. Just very lucky to have weathered the storm. Obviously, we’ve lost a few members on the way; I mean they’re not dead, but they’re just dead to us!! (laughs).

Simone: (laughs) Again, rock n roll! Rock n roll industry.

Simone and Dave laughs

Simone: But what I find really amazing like as you said, just the pub scene and the amount of touring you have done. So now with Dirty 30 about to kick off and then straight off the back of The Red Hot Summer Tour and your Angels gigs, and your Radio Riot Tour – are you actually a firm believer in I’ll sleep when I’m dead?
Dave: Ahhh I just think it is a use it or lose it type of thing. I’ve been singing with the Angels for the last 8 years and then the Jets probably got back on the road about 6 years ago. So between the two bands I’ve just been juggling stuff, did a bit of radio as well down in my home town of Adelaide where I live, it’s just one of those things it rains hails or sunshine’s; you’ll never know when they’ll forget about you. I’m just very lucky that the two bands, between The Angels and The Jets it’s the music I love doing and to get out there with the people you enjoy spending time with and doing something you love is a blessing to be sure.

Simone: Yeah I read somewhere that you said it’s basically just hanging out with your mates and getting to have a couple of beers and have some fun.
Dave: That’s right that’s right I’m very lucky in that sense. I told my son the other day, he’s 10 and I was just talking about it, and I said there’s nothing else I can do this is it. If I got thrown out in the big bad world and had to find myself a job I would be in all sorts of trouble.

Simone: Well it’s very lucky that you’re good at what you do.

Simone and Dave laughs

Simone: And you do it very well. So recently you were a part of The Red Hot Summer Tour, and I feel that it’s been fantastic to see touring promoters getting behind the staying power of our Aussie rock scene and realizing that there is still a fan base out there for bands that have been around for 20 or 30 years. So for you what is it like playing at these shows and being a part of the lineup and of all the Aussie greats?
Dave: It’s fantastic. We’ve done a bunch of the Day on the Greens and Red Hot Summers over the years. Obviously the one that’s just gone we were contemporaries of The Baby Animals and we spent a lot of time hanging out with those guys when we were younger, and we were arch rivals of the Chocolate Starfish; we’ve become very good friends and they’re a great bunch of guys. Russell Morris says that I’m his favourite Aussie rock singer and stuff like that. All this stuff that happens back stage, and sometimes you pinch yourself when you’re sitting there. You know Richard Clapton is across the table, Barnsey’s screaming in the back ground Jon Stevens is patting you on the back, it’s very surreal sometimes.

Simone: And then to have them turn around and say you’re my favourite Aussie rocker that must be really surreal.
Dave: Yeah absolutely, it’s great. I keep thinking at some stage someone is going to come tap me on the shoulder and say mate you shouldn’t be here.

Simone: (laughs) Where’s your pass?

Simone and Dave laughs

Simone: With the Dirty 30 tour coming up the fans are in for an absolute treat because you guys are bringing out some of the classics that fans may not have heard live for years. How difficult was it choosing the set list for this tour and will you change it up each show or keep it the same?
Dave: It’s not that difficult but you realise as you’re going through the songs, you go oh gee I don’t know why we stopped playing that song. Usually it’s because you bring out a new album and you think we’ve been playing that song lots over the last 18 months or 2 years or whatever and let’s give it a rest and before you know it 20 years have passed and you haven’t played that song. That’s particularly for things like “Sister Tease” off the first album, “Think” off the second album, “Here I Go”, songs that we loved, and the fans loved, and not all of them became hit singles but they certainly became crowd and fan favourites. It’s not that hard to come up with a set list that is great fun to do. As far as changing it up,  like anything you don’t want to be rehearsing in front of a crowd that’s paid good money to be there. We generally over the first couple of gigs we’ll tinker around with the set if something falls a bit flat or whatever but then we try and make that set really work. When you know what’s coming up and you feel confident about the next song that you’re going to do, it gives you much more energy and much more ability to bring across a great show. Once we have a great set, we kind of stick to it.

Simone: Excellent that’s awesome. You mentioned like the old classics like “Sister Tease”, “Stop the World”, “Blue Sashes” and “Think”; what’s it like re-visiting those songs and playing them again with the band and to a crowd 30 years on?
Dave: Well it’s great because you get a renewed energy when you do them because you haven’t been trotting them out all the time. I guess that’s one of the joys of having so many songs we’ve recorded and songs we’ve enjoyed doing. I don’t think there’s really any album that I look back on and go I wish we didn’t do record that; they all kind of sit perfectly in the spot they were designated all those years ago. I think it’s a renewed kind of energy you hit it with. Sometimes you get a bit cringy and go “ooo that’s not the best lyric is it”, but mostly we are on top of that. Back in the day when we were recording them Steve James our producer, longtime producer, you’d know if he didn’t like something cause his head would tilt to the side a bit and go “errr not so much” so we kind of looked to him for a lot of our cues in the early days.

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Simone: You’ve been actually very vocal over the span of the Screaming Jets years of how important your fans are to you and to your longevity in the music industry. 30 years ago when the crowds you performed to were a bit known for rough antics and behaviour, (Dave laughs) what’s it like looking out over that crowd while you were performing that behaved that way; but now you’re looking at that same crowd and were all 30 years older and a little bit more mellow. So how do you find looking out over the crowd seeing it’s basically the same crowd, but our behavior has mellowed a little bit.
Dave: I guess that was modified by norms that were expected. When we first came up and I remembered I shared a room with my two older brothers, they would come home from concerts and I would be pretending to be asleep listening to them. They would be talking about fighting and about girls flashing their boobies and all that kind of stuff right. (Simone laughs)So when I grew up that was the way it was. It’s wasn’t like we incited violence but the excitement in the music and that the power and tenacity in which we played gave people a lot of energy. Obviously, you’re not allowed to crowd surf anymore and not allowed to stage dive anymore everyone has to be respectful when they’re moshing. I don’t know what that means!! (Simone and Dave laughs)It’s not just the crowds that have self-regulated, but it was regulation that was forced upon people for better or worse. I still think without that kind of quasi violence that went on in the shows the energy you still see in people’s eyes, I guess people are more weary of those around them now days and are more respectful of people around them. It’s certainly different to what it used to be. I used to refer to us as ring side rock. We’d be playing and they’d be fights going on all over the place and I wasn’t one of those guys to stop. I kind of get lost in the moment when I’m up on stage so that stuff that was happening on the periphery, I didn’t really worry about. But now if there’s a fight in the crowd I’ll definitely stop. Even I’ve mellowed a bit and changed my attitude.

(Simone and Dave laugh)

Simone: I remember back in the day when I came to one of your shows, I think I was about 22 years old, I was up the front against the barrier and there was a big mosh pit and I was pushed so hard against the barrier during “Helping Hand” and I was screaming help help!!
Dave: oh no!

Simone: And I ended up with a cracked rib and that was like YAH!! (Simone laughs).
Dave: Oh bugger!

Simone: My Screaming Jets claim to fame.
Dave: Awesome. Battle scars.

Simone: Exactly but definitely as you said, definitely worth it. Speaking of longevity in the music industry, 30 years is quite a feat and not something that many artists or bands have claim to. I believe that we’re very blessed in Australia with our Aussie rock with many an artist having this claim, such as yourselves, The Angels, Boom Crash Opera, Jimmy Barnes, Superjesus, Icehouse and so many more. What do you think is the secret to this success? Why is Aussie rock such a staying power do you think?
Dave: I think especially for the stuff that came from that era we were obviously tacked on a bit to the end of that era. Just meant so much to people. Say not being a massive country you can get lost even if you’re a big band in the states where there is 300 million people. You can get mentioned to people and they will just blank you and go I don’t even know what you’re talking about whereas even bands that people aren’t really into. They’d be opera fans out there who would know who Noe Chisel was. I guess with Australia being a little bit smaller and that social aspect of the people going out to pubs to see bands back in the day was so strong. At least Wednesday was when the weekend started, and you started going seeing bands. Local bands at the pubs. Fortunately for us we were on the stage side of things and we didn’t have to wake up on Thursday morning and go to work but we were quite happy to provide the entertainment. I think it was such a golden time in Australian music and every pub and club had stuff going on. We had countdown which was a relentless supporter of Australian content and radio. Radio stations were just sitting there hanging out for, as you say, Icehouse to release a new single or album or INXS or Dragon or Chisel or The Angles or The Divinyls there was just so much stuff going on. It came from a golden time and thank God we were able to have some of that rub off on us when we played with the big bands of the day.

Simone: And as you said with the pub scene it was such a phenomenal experience back in the day and as you said with all the greats. With touring for 30 years you have probably seen and been to some pretty amazing places and venues. Do you have a favourite place you like to go on tour to and re-visit, and do you have a favourite venue? And does it still exist?
Dave: There’s been some great venues that have come and gone. The original Newcastle Workers Club we played there a lot and supported some big bands there in the early days. That was a room that was absolutely amazing. But it fell down in the earthquake in 89, that’s one that we miss. Selena’s was a very iconic pub, but I didn’t really like it too much there. I didn’t like the set up. It was a strange place to play, a lot of cement and wasn’t much of a vibe on stage. But everyone talks of Selena’s as a kind of legendary venue, which it was but it wasn’t much fun to play at. I think The Gov and The Hindmarsh; the gov in Adelaide, it’s still there and it has been supporting live music for a long time. Any of those pubs and clubs that have said “look we’re not getting pokies and we’re just going to keep the live thing going” they all get a tick in my book.

Simone: Yeah exactly, it’s fantastic. I just want to ask you about the song writing as well. So even coming up with original songs for 30 years is quite an achievement. In regards to song writing, and co-writing material, where do you find your inspiration from these days for new material and is your approach to writing songs now different to 30 years ago?
Dave: Nah for me it’s pretty much the same. I write lyrics with a thought for a tune or melody in my head. I’m not very good on the old guitar. Well I can bang out the folk cords and country cords but when it comes to riffing and stuff like that, I leave that up to the boys. And I find that probably about 60% of songs that I write aren’t suitable for the Jets, they’re more blusey country kind of stuff.

Simone: Yeah wow.
Dave: Which is my other love. I think obviously the only thing that really changes with your song writing is you probably get a little bit mature in your turn of phrase and you kind of express yourself in different ways, but I still find my inspirations in the same places. Just observing the passing parade.

Simone: I love the sound that you say that your normal style is a bit bluesy and doesn’t suit the Jets. Do you think you’ll actually ever do anything with that or produce or write or release a song with someone doing it?
Dave: Definitely. I did a solo album in 2002 when the Jets went off the road for a while. And that was all blusey country rootsy stuff. I was able to play at the Gympie Muster and Tamworth Music Festival and did a short tour with Lee Kernaghan which was fantastic. As I say I’m a mad country fan.

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Simone: That’s awesome.
Dave: It’s just a matter of finding the time (Simone laughs)I mean between the two bands, doing a bit of radio, trying to help my wife bring up our kids (Dave & Simone laughs)time gets away. I was actually in the process of recording my second solo album when the Jets got back together in 2004, but it’s pretty well been relentless since then.

Simone: Maybe something to look forward to in the next 30 years as retirement or something.
Dave – (Laughs) Yeah the retired package.

Simone: Speaking of music though you actually did an interview with Tam from AMNplify a little while back and you spoke to her about that you guys were working on releasing a heap of different type of merch for fans like a box set collection maybe, or a DVD of footage over past 30 years and possibly a book like an anthology. Is this something that is still on the cards or is there any other projects in the works to celebrate the 30 years of the Jets that fans can look forward to?
Dave: We got a double album coming out which will have 30 tracks from all over the years that we’ve hand selected. And doing a book – I mean we’re looking at that. We’ve got a lot of stuff and footage and photos and things like that. We’ve just started looking at them as we’re going to use it for projections on the tour, on the dirty 30 tour.

Simone: Oh fantastic! that’s amazing.
Dave: That will be the first time we’ve ever kind of started to put this stuff together, so I imagine that’s what will lead to an anthology and a DVD. We’ve put together like a documentary that we were shooting, that we shot around Newcastle towards the end of last year and early this year of some of the iconic spots that mean a lot to the Jets in their growth and development. That will be coming out. We filmed a live show in Newcastle as well. So that will definitely be coming out this year as well. It’s just a matter of timing (says in an American accent) Timing – you gotta get your timing right.

Simone: (mimics Dave with the accent) Timing right. Timing right (laughs) That’s amazing.
Dave: It’s all on the cards. I was looking at doing a biography, but my kids are too young.

Simone: Yes, I did remember reading that (Dave laughs) when you said you don’t quite want them to know quite yet what you got up to but maybe in another 10 years.
Dave: (Dave laughs) Another 10 years when they’re old enough. One will be 24 and one will be 20 at that stage and they can process it themselves.

Simone: Yes, that’s right and then have a lot of questions.
Dave: (laughs) yeah that’s right.

Simone: So just to finish off what would you like to say to the fans about the Dirty 30 tour?
Dave: Firstly, thanks for sticking around. It’s just been so much fun to do. We’ve had our ups and down obviously and there’s been stuff that fans have loved and stuff that they haven’t. The fact that they’re still coming to see us, still buying tickets is a fantastic testament to their commitment to us guys and to Australian rock in general. We couldn’t be more thankful to have fans like we’ve got that follow us around and have been there even in the down times. But to now be out on stage and going on tours and selling stuff out it’s an absolute joy to be a part of. So, thanks for that.

Simone: It’s fantastic and not just a testament to the fans but obviously a testament to yourselves to continue performing well, producing great music; and as you said performing with the greats and all of you cementing that longevity in our Australian rock history is, I don’t think, is something that will be forgotten for a very long time.
Dave: Awesome Awesome

Simone: So I hope you guys will definitely be around for at least another 30 years and we can all come to shows on our Zimmer frames (laughs).
Dave: (laughs) No worries no worries. I take a lot of heart from John and Rick Brewster who are in their late 60’s now and they don’t show any signs of stopping.

Simone: Yeah That’s right.
Dave: I’ll keep riding on their coattails.

Simone: That’s fantastic. Well thank you so much for your time today Dave, I really really appreciate it. It’s been an absolute honor and privilege for me to speak to you.
Dave: Thanks Simone. Thanks very much.

Simone: And I will be at the show in Melbourne photographing you guys, so I really look forward to seeing the show.
Dave: Awesome and I’ll see you there then.

Simone: Fantastic. Thank you Dave.
Dave: Ok see ya.

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AMNPLIFY – DB