Animal
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Release Type: SP
Launch Date: 00-08-1999
Launch Details: Australian tour
Release Date: 09-08-1999
Recorded Date: April-June 1999
Studio: Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne
Total Length: 00:12:40
Producer: Mark Trombino
Mastering: Brian Gardner @ Bernie Grundman Mastering
Artwork: Andrew Christie & Ben Steele - Photography: Carla Steele
Press Release:
"There were so many things that we learnt during recording and after releasing
Slightly Odway," Jebediah vocalist, co-songwriter and guitarist Kevin Mitchell
recalls. "We all had grown up so much. We just wanted to make a record that was
just better than Odway in every way - sounds, songwriting, structures of songs.
A record that's more grown up, without losing the things that are inherently
Jebs."
Two years is a while between drinks for a young band on the make.
And although Jebediah (completed by Chris Daymond - guitar/vocals; Vanessa
Thornton - ass; Brett Mitchell - drums/vocals) let Slightly Odway quietly and
consistently sell (it's now just shy of double platinum) while they toured
relentlessly, they also had a chance to do some growing of their
own.
Don't be alarmed, "Animal", the first single from their second
album, Of Someday Shambles, reminds you that there's a thrill here that cannot
be repressed. While the band is right that "Animal" is a big leap forward, we
can rest assured this song comes inedibly stamped 'Jebs'.
By the time the
crazy, layered backing vocals pick the chorus up a notch, you can tell there's a
new level of thought and momentum behind this song. A marked differences that
this time out Kevin isn't singing about growing pains. Vanessa has her own
theories. "It reminds me of a train..." she says. "it's got this rolling chugga
chugga chugga sound. It doesn't stop at any stations, it just keeps chugging
along."
"I think it's about going out and partying," she adds, "but I
couldn't be sure."
Kevin hates giving explanations as to what songs are
about. "But since you ask, Vanessa is right," he says, "It's about picking up,
basically. It's not so much speaking about myself... it's more of a scene. After
we finished Odway I broke up with my girlfriend at the time. So I spent the last
two years of touring and then going in to record it basically single. That's had
an influence on a lot of the songs."
The pure-pop vocal harmony behind
the lines" I know everything I do tonight/Means nothing if I don't succeed"
belies the lean, dark energy behind the lyric. "I'm insufferable when I'm in
heat," Kevin concludes. "It's my animal instinct."
Not only has the ante
been upped in terms of song-writing and honesty, but those who were blown away
by the nasty edge of the rough diamond "Trapdoor" (from the "No Boundaries"
album) will be pleased to know that the producer behind that tune, Mark Trombino
(Knapsack, Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World), has offered Of Someday Shambles a sound
to match their new aspirations.
"We chose him because he'd done the last
two records by Knapsack..." says Kevin. "They're kinda like a discordant punk
band, this weird indie rock pop punk crossover. We mainly made the decision
because of the direction we could see the songs going... They were still pop
songs like Odway but they were getting more complicated, not as straightforward,
they had a bit more depth to them."
Even the b-sides here, "Supposed to
Say" and live staple "The Less Trusted Pain Remover", have sound that leaves the
debut album sounding dry by comparison. "I didn't wanna put out a record unless
it was heaps better," Kevin concludes. "If we couldn't put out a record that's
heaps better than Odway I'd just quit."
His job seems safe for the
moment.
