{"id":23654,"date":"2014-11-08T11:45:35","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T00:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/?p=23654"},"modified":"2014-11-08T11:50:35","modified_gmt":"2014-11-08T00:50:35","slug":"dave-gleeson-of-the-screaming-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maytherockbewithyou.com\/mtrbwy\/2014\/11\/dave-gleeson-of-the-screaming-jets\/","title":{"rendered":"Dave Gleeson of The Screaming Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n<\/a>\u201c\u2026it\u2019s unreal, we kind of pin it on the fact that we spent probably the first at least ten years of the band constantly on the road and releasing stuff and building up a loyal legion of fans that have come to gigs and supported the band come hell or high water.\u201d<\/p>\n

The upcoming national tour for The Screaming Jets is going to be something very special, for fans and the band alike. The iconic rock band, originally from Newcastle, will be celebrating 25 years \u2013 yes, a quarter of a century \u2013 of great Aussie rock. 25 years seems like a hell of a long time to stick at one job, but when your job is to rock out as much as you can – it can feel like it\u2019s flying by in the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n

With 6 studio albums under their belt, and literally thousands of gigs throughout the world from one horse towns to global meccas, the Jets have been there and done that\u2026.when it comes to this crazy rock n roll circus. To celebrate this massive milestone The Screaming Jets are heading back on the road to celebrate with all their fans and friends round this big brown rocking land.<\/p>\n

We chatted to Dave of The Screaming Jets about the band\u2019s 25th<\/sup> anniversary and the run of shows to celebrate it, as well as new music and much more\u2026 *tink*<\/p>\n

First thing\u2019s first, twenty five years, congratulations, Happy Birthday, all that stuff\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Thanks mate, it\u2019s a long way from calling ourselves the Love Bombs at the Mark Hotel in Newcastle, that was the very first gig we did, I think it was on a weekend. We called ourselves the Love Bombs because we just wanted to kind of have a crack and see how it went and that was the beginning of twenty five years of rock and roll mayhem\u2026 *laughs*<\/p>\n

How does it feel to know that The Screaming Jets are still kicking after a quarter of a century?<\/strong>
\nLook, it\u2019s unreal, we kind of pin it on the fact that we spent probably the first at least ten years of the band constantly on the road and releasing stuff and building up a loyal legion of fans that have come to gigs and supported the band come hell or high water.<\/p>\n

To celebrate you\u2019re hitting the road for a huge run of shows, have you figured out how these shows will come together set wise yet?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019re probably most of the way through it, all the boys have been trailing through the set but it\u2019s a fine line between what the band want to play and what the fans want to hear.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a while since we had new Jets material, and there is talk of something new very soon, can you shed some light on when we may hear that?<\/strong>
\nProbably not until next year\u2026 we\u2019ll have some tracks available for the tour but we decided not to rush it. I\u2019ve been off having an affair with The Angels, as our bass player says *laughs* and there\u2019s bee different commitments that\u2019s held us back from doing an album, because we worked out some timeframes that were just going to be too tight. So the new stuff that we\u2019ve got out for the tour is a live DVD from last year\u2019s \u2018Real Deal Tour\u2019 and about four tracks that we\u2019re going to release so people can hear what\u2019s upcoming for The Jets.<\/p>\n

How if in any way has the way you write songs changed over this past twenty five years?<\/strong>
\nWell I guess it\u2019s kind of a confidence thing, when you\u2019re a young band and you\u2019ll all living together and you get to bounce ideas off each other kind of instantaneously, or catch them mid coitus and say \u2018mate you\u2019ve got to hear this thing I wrote\u2019 and there\u2019s kind of that instant energy with song writing that goes on. Obviously as you get older and have more commitments, you\u2019ve got to make time to do it, you spend a lot of time writing on your own and then kind of bringing more fully formed ideas to the table and stuff like that. So I guess we\u2019ve never had a formula in the past, it\u2019s just an ever evolving process.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look back, so has there been a favourite moment The Jets has lived over the last 25 years?<\/strong>
\nOhhh\u2026 there\u2019s been so many *laughs* obviously starting off in 1989 to I guess to 1996 was when we were just dead set constantly on the road. I think we had some time off in 1992 when I had a family tragedy and Grant Walmsley got married in that year, so we had a little bit of time off there. But pretty much until 2001 we\u2019re just kind of constantly on the road so the great moments come thick and fast, I\u2019ve been on tour in Europe and not only seeing the sites and stuff but playing with some of the biggest bands in the world at the time, Faith No More and INXS and Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and standing on the side of stage and seeing Leonard Cohen and Michael Hutchence will always be a pretty big one, and playing at the Hollywood palladium\u2026 look there\u2019s heaps. One day I\u2019ll write a book but it\u2019ll have no true information about anyone\u2019s personal life in it *laughs* I\u2019ll stay right away from that minefield.<\/p>\n

Now, \u2018Better\u2019 has been one of my favourite songs since 1991, when you released it then did you have any idea of the staying power it would end up having?<\/strong>
\nNo look, it\u2019s overwhelming as you say that twenty three years on, if you go to a place that has a DJ anywhere in Australia, you\u2019re probably going to hear it sometime through the night, and yeah it\u2019s one of those things that obviously struck a chord and we always knew, that was the song that when we played it to our producer he just went \u201c*excited noise* let\u2019s go with that\u201d and the record company obviously very excited, but you never know if you\u2019re going to have a song be so enduring or not, so yeah, it\u2019s pretty amazing. I\u2019ve seen everything from soloists to bands play it, some have killed it, some have butchered it *laughs* but yeah it\u2019s amazing to know that we\u2019ve got what was called a standard back in the old days.<\/p>\n

Not forgetting the amazing \u2018tink\u2019 bit in it\u2026<\/strong>
\n*laughs* Yeah *laughs* that was the genius of Brad Heaney, he had this little German helmet cymbal that he used to love, it was a brass thing. That was Brad Heaney, he was a genius of a drummer and sadly had personal problems that made him have to leave the band early on.<\/p>\n

This\u2019ll be hard to do, but is there one song from your entire catalogue that is your favourite?<\/strong>
\n*thinks* I guess \u2018Helping Hand\u2019 always sticks out because the record company said \u2018you\u2019re mad, you can never release that single\u2019 and it was kind of something that we did on the fly. The first two singles from the second album didn\u2019t do anything, they just came and went very quickly, the third single was \u2018Shivers\u2019 and that kind of kicked things back up again and by that stage we were over in Europe touring and they said we needed another single and we talked about it and talked about it and said \u2018Helping Hand\u2019 is what we have and they said \u2018What are you talking about? It sounds like reggae jazz and it\u2019s got a trumpet in it\u2026\u2019 and we said well that\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do and there was big toing and froing between London and Australia offices and finally they let us do it. We got ten thousand pounds, went and made a video, blew heaps of stuff up and boom the album went on to sell 120,000 copies in the next six or eight months. So that\u2019ll always be a special song where we stood and fought for what we wanted.\u00a0 Then of course \u2018F.R.C.\u2019 which we fought to have on the first album and I to this day say I don\u2019t think that a band prior to us releasing that particular song on a mainstream record had been done. To have not only us singing it but the guys out of Mortal Sin, The Choirboys, a couple of guys from The Angels and all of the Baby Animals screaming it at the top of their lungs, you can imagine it was a great time had by all. *laughs*<\/p>\n

So Dave, after twenty five years, what do you know Better now than you did back then?<\/strong>
\nEngage your brain before you put your mouth into gear\u2026 I probably cost us a few opportunities overseas with my brazen views at times, so that would probably be\u2026 don\u2019t be a fence sitter, say what you say and what you believe in but make sure you have a well formed opinion before you start telling two thousand people or however many people how to live and what to do. There\u2019s ways to get your message across without spitting venom or hellfire like some type of mad television evangelist *laughs*.<\/p>\n

What do you still enjoy about being part of The Screaming Jets?<\/strong>
\nJust the fact that we get to go on tour, record music and I guess one of the great things from it is that there\u2019s still expectations from not only us but our fans that want to see us go to the next level I guess where bands like Powderfinger and Cold Chisel and Midnight Oil and bands like that occupy and look, that\u2019s something that still drives me and still drives the rest of the band is that we wanna make an account of ourselves that make people go \u2018Ahh this is why those guys have been around so long\u2019 and that\u2019s just a side bar, the main thing is getting out there after twenty five years and pulling crowds and rockin\u2019 them, that\u2019s just as good as it gets.<\/p>\n

OK, so you guys kicked off twenty five years ago, are there any bands out there now you\u2019re hearing that you could see sticking around for twenty five years?<\/strong>
\nOh look there\u2019s bands that make the music that would definitely make them enduring, Tracer who are touring with us around the country, they\u2019re a great rock and roll band, fortunately the opportunities in Australia are very limited now to play lots and lots of gigs, it\u2019s like anything, the more cricket you play the better you get, the more houses you build the better you get, the more gigs you play the better you get, that\u2019s all there is to it. To not have those gigs under your belt, nowadays because there\u2019s fewer live venues, to not have those gigs under your belt yet at your disposal have the opportunity to go viral and have ten million people see you around the world but you can\u2019t even really pull off a whole gig, that\u2019s the hard part, the dichotomy if you will of young bands today.<\/p>\n

Lastly, normally I\u2019d have people predict the remainder of the year, but for you let\u2019s jump ahead, so finish this sentence for me\u2026 in 2015, The Screaming Jets will\u2026<\/strong>
\nRelease their eighth studio album to massive critical and mainstream applause and praise and go on a tour that will see them do bigger gigs than they\u2019re ever done.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catch The Screaming Jets on tour at these dates:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday 8th November 2014<\/strong>
\nAirlie Beach Music Festival, AIRLIE BEACH QLD
\nwww.airliebeachmusicfestival.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday 14th November 2014<\/strong>
\nNorths Leagues Club, KALLANGUR QLD
\nwww.northsleagues.com<\/a> \u00a0| (07) 3285 2733<\/p>\n

Saturday 15th November 2014<\/strong>
\nTwin Towns, TWEED HEADS NSW
\nwww.twintowns.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| 1800 014 014<\/p>\n

Friday 21st November 2014<\/strong>
\nPenrith Panthers, Evan Theatre, PENRITH NSW
\nwww.penrith.panthers.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| 1800 061 991<\/p>\n

Saturday 22nd November 2014<\/strong>
\nThe Factory Theatre, MARRICKVILLE NSW
\nwww.factorytheatre.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

Friday 28th November 2014<\/strong>
\nHallam Hotel, HALLAM VIC
\nwww.ticketmaster.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| (03) 8786 0200<\/p>\n

Saturday 29th November 2014<\/strong>
\nCommercial Hotel, SOUTH MORANG VIC
\nwww.ticketmaster.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| (03) 9437 8444<\/p>\n

Friday 5th December 2014<\/strong>
\nRevesby Workers Club, Whitlam Theatre, REVESBY NSW
\nwww.rwc.org.au<\/a> \u00a0| (02) 9772 2100<\/p>\n

Friday 12th December 2014<\/strong>
\nWyong Leagues Club, WYONG NSW
\nwww.wrlc.wyongleagues.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| (02) 4392 2799<\/p>\n

Saturday 13th December 2014<\/strong>
\nBurwood Colliery Bowling Club, NEWCASTLE NSW
\nwww.bigtix.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| Rockshop (02) 4929 1856 | Venue (02) 4944 7146<\/p>\n

Friday 19th December 2014<\/strong>
\nEttamogah Hotel, ROUSE HILL NSW
\nwww.ettamogahhotel.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| (02) 9629 1130<\/p>\n

Saturday 20th December 2014<\/strong>
\nMounties, MT PRITCHARD NSW
\nwww.mounties.com.au<\/a> \u00a0| (02) 9822 3566<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Essential information<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From: <\/strong>Newcastle, NSW, Australia<\/p>\n

Band members:<\/strong>\u00a0 Dave Gleeson \u2013 Vocals, Scotty Kingman \u2013 Guitar, Jimi Hocking – Guitar\/Backing Vocals, Paul Woseen – Bass\/Backing Vocals, Mickl Sayers – Drums<\/p>\n

Website:<\/strong> \u00a0http:\/\/www.thescreamingjets.com.au<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

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