GET BORN AGAIN

MISSING FAMILY, THE SOUTH MELBOURNE MARKETS AND LOCAL BEER: NIC CESTER OF JET LETS PAUL DONOUGHUE IN ON THE UPS AND DOWNS OF CONQUERING THE WORLD.

For bankers and insurance brokers, the rewards of success include the corner office with the river view. The same can be true in rock’n’roll. Melbourne expats Jet have found the ascent to the top of the rock’n’roll beanstalk has certainly yielded some sweeter real estate. The rehearsal environment, for one, has improved; the paint-chipped garage walls in the outer suburbs of Melbourne have given way to the unspoiled white surrounds of Atlantic Sound studios, overlooking the Manhattan skyline. It’s there they have spent the better part of 2008 writing their third album.
Albums one and two by the band – four scruffy Victorian twentysomethings who grew up on a diet of AC/DC and The White Album – made memorable impacts on the Australian musical landscape. The full-throttled Get Born blew them into the musical stratosphere, it’s darker brother Shine On keeping them there. The scrutiny and the intense demand meant a life lived audience-to-audience, continent-to-continent, for much of 2006 and 2007.
Now, says vocalist and guitarist Nic Cester, the quartet couldn’t be more excited to be back in Australia ahead a few special shows, including the Odyssey festival to see in the new year.
“This is the first time that all four of us have been here for ages,” he says of Melbourne, the boys’ hometown, “and have had a little bit of time off to see family and stuff.”
Sometimes, too, he says, it’s just the small pleasures that you miss.
“Just little things like, I know this sounds stupid, but everyone’s been excited to be so close to South Melbourne markets, and getting Dim Sims and drinking ‘big Ms’.”
There’s also a feeling, says Cester, of coming full circle; the band only recently vacated the pristine views of Atlantic Sound to be back in the rehearsal room where they started years ago.
“And [we’re] playing in a pub not too dissimilar to what we did six years ago,” he muses. “It feels like starting again from scratch again, which is exciting.”
Albums one and two kept Jet away from home for a long time; their presence on the Australian music scene was slight, returning only for brief, albeit mammoth in stature, national tours and the major festivals. Towards the end of last year, however, the band took some time off before leaving for New York. Cester says the downtime allowed the four old friends to just “hang”, outside of the day job.
“We all separated like normal but then found ourselves calling each other up. Chris and Cam went and hung out and bit and then Cam came over to my place and hung out a bit just as friends, which we have not done in, like, six years. It was really cool. I was living on my own at the time and just to have your mate over hanging at your house; watching movies, talking, just like we did when we were 16 years old, it was fun.”
The time off was important personally, too. The tours in promotion of Shine On had been particularly tough on Cester and his brother, drummer Chris, whose father’s death from cancer informed much of the album’s lyrical content.
“The whole writing and touring of that album, it was all spawned from a dark place. Playing those songs for that long afterwards limited the healing process a bit. I think at the end of it all, only, did the healing really begin.”
So from their downtime the band headed to New York to write album number three. If the debut is a band’s introduction, Jet arrived with sirens and flashing lights. If the follow-up is a demonstration of their staying power, Shine On – though it didn’t achieve the critical or commercial success of its forerunner – proved Jet could come through again to deliver a batch of solid songs with a heavy classic rock influence. But surely album number three comes with its own daunting expectations. How did the pressure affect Jet?
“We were way more relaxed than we ever have been,” says Cester of the writing process, admitting they were confident going to into the sessions. “I guess the biggest difference was just everyone was really excited and relaxed to be working together again and writing music together. There’s an excitement that exists amongst us right now that hasn’t really been a part of what we do for a few years. It’s just fun again.”
Though Cester admits elements of his recent personal loss permeate the album, it’s not the same as the dark light it cast on their last album.
“When things that big happen in your life, there’s still a bit of a carry-on. It’s a bit of an accumulative thing – even when things are going well, there are still things that piss you off. That applies even to frustrations during the period where we did Get Born. Just the fact that there’s not an emphasis on one thing [on the new album] I guess is the key. Shine On was all about a dark place, whereas normal life has all facets of emotion.”
Another aspect of being at the top is the inherent criticisms; there are always those jealous colleagues eying off that corner office view. Jet have accepted that their success brings extra attention, and that wearing your influences on your sleeve as proudly as they do can attract attention that isn’t so positive. But compliments and condemnations alike have taught Cester the art of dealing with the reactions of others to his work.
“I guess the key to any opinion or compliment, or negativity, is that you just become savvy. You’ve got to take the compliments with a grain of salt as well as the negative ones. We’ve just learned to only really be concerned with people whose opinion we really respect or care about. Everyone’s got something to say. Or,” Cester offers as advice, “just write a song about it.”
It’s easy to understand Cester’s contentment in being back in his hometown, and back on Australian soil. Family and trusted local produce aside, Australia is ground already covered – crowds already won over before the band have even taken the stage. It’s a welcome change of pace from the tiresome demands of world-conquering. Plus, there’s nothing like sharing the stage with some old friends. 
“One of the fun things about being in a band is that you kind of form strong bonds with other musicians because you’re all in the exact same situation,” says Cester, whose excitement about the Odyssey festival stems from sharing stage again with other Australian stalwarts like Grinspoon and Eskimo Joe. “Then you go your different ways and you meet up again and you haven’t seen each other in ages and it’s always fun because everyone’s shared similar experiences. Most musicians are pretty like-minded people so you end up having a pretty good time.”
Album number three will come out in early 2009. Jet will again depart to do battle with the foreign markets. But Cester is comforted by his time in Melbourne – the calm before what will likely be another storm of hype and increased expectation.
“No matter what you do during your life, there is always home,” he says.

WHO: Jet
WHAT: Shine On (Capitol/EMI)
WHERE & WHEN: Odyssey Festival at Carrarra Sports Complex Wednesday Dec 31