The Jezabels
The Jezabels | |
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![]() The Jezabels (left to right): Hayley Mary, Nik Kaloper, Sam Lockwood.
Heather Shannon is out of shot. Falls Festival, January 2012 in Marion Bay |
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Background information | |
Origin | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Genres | Indie rock, alternative rock |
Years active | 2007 | –present
Labels | PIAS, MGM Distribution, Waterfront, Mom + Pop Music |
Website | thejezabels |
Members | Nik Kaloper Sam Lockwood Hayley Mary Heather Shannon |
The Jezabels are an Australian indie rock band formed in Sydney in 2007. They consist of Nik Kaloper on drums, Samuel Lockwood on lead guitar, Hayley Mary (also known as Hayley Frances McGlone) on lead vocals, and Heather Shannon on piano and keyboard. They have described their genre as "intensindie" but later said that this was just a joke that they put up on a social networking site, though people took them seriously.
From 2009 to 2010 the group issued a trilogy of extended play (EP) recordings, The Man Is Dead, She's So Hard and Dark Storm—all produced and engineered by Lachlan Mitchell. Two of their releases have reached the ARIA Singles Chart Top 40: the Dark Storm EP (October 2010) and their single "Endless Summer" (August 2011).
They released their debut studio album, Prisoner on 16 September 2011. It peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Albums Chart and won Best Independent Release at the ARIA Music Awards of 2012. They released their second album The Brink on 31 January 2014.
Contents
History
The Jezabels formed in 2007 after the four members met as students at the University of Sydney.[1][2][3] Their music was described by national youth radio station, Triple J, as a blend of alternative rock, indie rock,[4][5] and disco pop.[3][6][7] The Jezabels' Facebook page describes their genre as "intensindie".[8] Hayley Mary (born Hayley Frances McGlone) and Heather Shannon had performed together in Byron Bay.[9][10] Samuel Lockwood also grew up in Byron Bay.[11] The band's name is based on the biblical character, Jezebel, who Mary perceived as being "misunderstood or misrepresented" and described her as "an example of how women are really wrongly presented".[1][5] Lockwood recognised Mary and Shannon when he saw them at university and invited them to join a band for a competition.[2] The group are Nik Kaloper on drums, Lockwood on lead guitar, Mary on lead vocals, and Shannon on piano and keyboard.[1] Mary recalled "It was a combination of four individual desires to play music and taking whatever opportunities we could find — which happened to be each other ... From there the process has pretty much been one of reconciling musical differences. But we’re getting closer".[2]
On 3 February 2009 The Jezabels' debut extended play, The Man Is Dead, was released independently via MGM Distribution.[12][13][14] It was recorded at Megaphon & Production Ave Studios and produced by The Jezabels and Lachlan Mitchell.[15] The lead track, "Disco Biscuit Love", is credited to Shannon, McGlone, Lockwood and Kaloper.[16] On 6 November that year they followed with a second EP, She's So Hard, which included the tracks "Easy to Love" and "Hurt Me".[17][18][19] Both received significant radio airplay,[3] including on Sydney's FBi Radio[20] and Triple J.[7] They also received airplay in the US, where in August, they debuted at No. 114 on the CMJ top 200 and reached No. 96 for the track "Disco Biscuit Love".[15] On 22 December, they were the Triple J Unearthed featured artist and described them as "[d]ramatic, energetic, uplfiting, indie rock with a commanding lead singer. We've picked them to play Field Day – a great way to start the new year!".[4] Their She's So Hard EP was the No. 3 most added on US college radio for 2009.[21]
On 1 October 2010 The Jezabels released the third EP of their trilogy, Dark Storm,[22] which peaked in the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart.[23] The Age's Peter Vincent felt "[t]heirs is a timeless sound that is radio-friendly: moody female vocals soaring over strong percussion and slow-building guitar and piano/ keyboard lines".[24] One of the tracks, "Mace Spray", has lyrics containing "an element of satire. It's hilarious that someone would carry mace spray ... but it's also very sad".[24]
![](/w/images/thumb/c/cd/JezWiki2.jpg/300px-JezWiki2.jpg)
In August 2011, their single "Endless Summer" peaked in the top 40 of the ARIA Singles Chart[23] and was credited to Kaloper, Lockwood, McGlone, and Shannon.[25] On 16 September 2011 they released their debut studio album Prisoner and it reached No. 2 on the ARIA Album Chart.[23] It was recorded at Sydney's Attic Studios with Mitchell producing and Peter Katis mixing.[26] Vulture Magazine's Anna Moull described the album in a review: "a dramatic gothic epic, with a twist of 80’s power-house rock. Jezabels singer Haley Mary sums up their sound perfectly as 'Bronte-esque gothic (and) melodramatic'. Channelling Kate Bush, Freddie Mercury and Cyndi Lauper, Mary’s vocals are a force to be reckoned with".[26] By 31 December 2011, the album was certified gold by ARIA for the shipment of 35,000 units.[27] "Endless Summer" was performed ' by both Josh Pyke and Jack Vidgen.[25] In late 2013, the Jezabels released a song titled "The End" as the first single release from their second album The Brink, which was released on 31 January 2014.[28]
Synthia, their third album, will be released on 12 February 2016.
Music videos
The Jezabels have released music videos for seven tracks: "Disco Biscuit Love", "Hurt Me", "Easy to Love", "Mace Spray", "Trycolour", "Endless Summer" and "Rosebud". Two versions were made for "Disco Biscuit Love". The "Hurt Me" clip was aired on Australian national television for a number of weeks in February 2010 by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's music video program, rage.[29] It was also the rage Indie Clip of the Week in March 2010.[30] "Easy to Love" was aired on rage in May 2010.[29] While not an official music video, their song "A Little Piece", is featured in the Danny MacAskill bicycle trials video, "Way Back Home".[31] It is also featured in a video by acclaimed Slovenian dog trainer, Silvia Trkman, whose Pyrenean Shepherd, Le, featured in the video, has gone on to become an international dog agility star.[32] In the opening video on YouTube for Ubisoft's Far Cry 3, the song "Prisoner" is featured in a very short cut version.
Live performances
The Jezabels state that they are predominantly a live act and played the indie circuit around Sydney since 2007.[33] In 2009 they played at the Hopetoun and Annandale hotels, to positive reviews.[33][34] They toured nationally to promote the release of their EPs; in November 2009, they did an east coast tour to launch She's So Hard.[35] In November and December 2010, they undertook a national tour after launching Dark Storm.[36][37]
![](/w/images/thumb/0/04/TheJezabelsNikKaloper.jpg/300px-TheJezabelsNikKaloper.jpg)
The Jezabels have played the Australian festivals Big Day Out, Falls Festival, Pyramid Rock, Festival of the Sun,[5][38] Playground Weekender, Come Together, Peats Ridge Festival, St Jerome's Laneway Festival and Soundwave.[39] In 2011 they played at Groovin' the Moo and Splendour in the Grass.
The Jezabels supported Canada’s Hey Rosetta! and Tegan & Sara[40] on their Australian tours. In June 2010, they toured with Katie Noonan and The Captains,[41] and have also supported Regurgitator, Bluejuice, Dukes of Windsor, Van She, Sparkadia,[38] Josh Pyke,[5][6] Ghostwood, Cassette Kids, and Damn Arms.
In October 2010 they played a 13 date tour of North America and Canada as the supporting act for Two Hours Traffic,[42] and will be returning to America for more shows in February and March 2011.
In March 2012, they toured the US with indie rock group Imagine Dragons. In July 2012, they joined Garbage on their UK tour for four nights, and played at T in the Park on the sixth of that month. In August 2012, they played Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Chicago, US[43] and appeared at Osheaga Music and Arts Festival 2012 in Montreal, Canada.[44]
The band appeared as the special guests of Depeche Mode at the latter's performance as part of Depeche Mode's 'Delta Machine' world tour in the UK and Ireland in November 2013.[45][46]
It is interesting to note that in the TV soap "Home and Away" episodes shown in Sydney on 22 and 23 October 2014, Phoebe Nicholson (played by Isabella Giovinazzo)has to make an agonising decision to leave her lover Kyle Braxton (played by Nic Westaway) behind in Summer Bay so that she can return to Melbourne and begin an Australia-wide tour supporting the Jezabels.
Achievements and awards
"Disco Biscuit Love" was featured as the iTunes (Australia) single of the week in the first week of July 2009.[47] The single "Hurt Me" was featured as the iTunes (Australia) single of the week in the third week of February 2010,[30] and was Traxx Radio's number 1 track of 2009.[48] The Jezabels had two songs featured in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2010. "Easy to Love" came in at number 49, and "Mace Spray" at number 16.[49][50] In December 2011, it was announced that their debut album was voted No. 6 in the Triple J Album Poll for 2011.
ARIA Awards
Year | Recipient/Nominated work | Award | Result |
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2011[51][52] | Dark Storm | Single of the Year | Nominated |
Breakthrough Artist – Single | Nominated | ||
Best Independent Release | Nominated | ||
2012[53][54] | Prisoner | Album of the Year | Nominated |
Best Group | Nominated | ||
Best Independent Release | Won | ||
Best Rock Album | Nominated | ||
The Jezabels | Best Australian Live Act | Nominated | |
Prisoner – Lachlan Mitchell | Producer of the Year | Nominated | |
Engineer of the Year | Nominated | ||
Prisoner – Christopher Doyle | Best Cover Art | Nominated
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Awards and nominations
In 2010, the band's EP, Dark Storm, received the Australian Independent Record (AIR) Award for 'Best Independent Single/EP', with The Jezabels also taking away the 'Best Independent Artist' AIR Award.[55] Furthermore, the band has won the 'Best Independent Artist' award in both 2011 and 2012 (in 2011, the band was the only dual award-winner at the event).[56] They were nominated for Best Breakthrough Artist and Best Single / EP at the 2010 Independent Music Awards.[36]
Year | Recipient/Nominated work | Award | Result |
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2011 | Dark Storm (Nikolas Kaloper, Samuel Lockwood, Hayley McGlone, Heather Shannon) | APRA Music Awards of 2011: Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year[57] | Nominated |
2011 | Prisoner (Nikolas Kaloper, Samuel Lockwood, Hayley McGlone, Heather Shannon) | Australian Music Prize[58] | Won
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Band members
- Nik Kaloper – drums, percussion
- Samuel Lockwood – guitars
- Hayley Mary – lead vocals
- Heather Shannon – keyboards
Popular culture
In November 2011, "A Little Piece" was used for the Under Armour 'Are You From HERE?' commercial that features basketball star Brandon Jennings. Australian pay TV provider Foxtel used "Endless Summer" as background music for their summer (2011–12) television content advertisement. "Nobody Nowhere" was used on the True Blood episode "In the Beginning", while "Easy to Love" appeared on the Grey's Anatomy episode "Hope for the Hopeless" in January 2012.[59] In a 2012 episode of the television show Neighbours, Paul Robinson learns that the grades of his niece Sophie Ramsay are slipping and eventually forbids her from seeing a Jezabels concert in the city.[citation needed]
Easy to Love was used on Dance Academy as the music to a tribute dance to Sammy Leiberman by his friends. The dance was originally performed by Sammy himself but when he died it was Ben's idea to do a tribute dance.
Mary revealed at a March 2012 show in Sheffield, UK—attended by approximately 130 people—that the song "Long Highway" was proposed for one of the Twilight saga films, but was deemed "too mature".[60] Mary later explained in a September 2012 interview:
Do you know how offhand that comment was and how many times I’ve had to face it since? I did say that. It was kind of true, but it was also a bit tongue-in-cheek. We were kind of told that might be the reason. It’s a six-minute song, which requires maturity for listening. What they specifically said, apparently, was that the voice was too mature. I don’t know if that means I sound old or I sound intelligent. I’m going to hope that it’s the latter.[61]
Long Highway was used however in the 2014 Red Bull film Epecuén, set in the Argentinian village of Villa Epecuén. The song Peace of Mind is used as the final song in the last episode of the netflix series, The Killing (season 4).
In the TV soap Home and Away episodes (#6078 - 6080) shown in Sydney on 22 and 23 October 2014, Phoebe Nicholson (played by Isabella Giovinazzo) has to decide whether to leave her lover Kyle Braxton (played by Nic Westaway) behind in Summer Bay so that she can return to Melbourne and begin an Australia-wide tour supporting the Jezabels.
Discography
Albums
- Prisoner (16 September 2011) No. 2 AUS[23]
- The Brink (31 January 2014) No. 2 AUS[23]
- Synthia (12 February 2016)
EPs
- The Man Is Dead[12][13][14] (February 2009)
- She's So Hard (November 2009)
- Dark Storm (October 2010) No. 40 AUS,[23][62] No. 1 AUS iTunes Albums Chart (September 2010),[24] AUS: Gold[63]
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | |
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AUS[23] | AUS Indie[23] | |||
2011 | "Endless Summer" | 39 | – | Prisoner |
"Trycolour" | – | – | ||
2012 | "Rosebud" | – | – | |
"City Girl" | 80 | – | ||
2013 | "The End" | 81 | 5 | The Brink |
2014 | "Look of Love" | – | – | |
"Angels of Fire" | – | – | ||
"Time to Dance" | – | – | ||
"All You Need" | – | – | ||
2015 | "Come Alive" | – | – | "Synthia" |
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 30.0 30.1 The Jezabels Sydney Show & National Support Tour with Tegan & Sara. LifeMusicMedia. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ Danny MacAskill Way Back Home. The Inspiration Room (2010-11-18). Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ Silvia Trkman, A blind passenger, a famous drummer or just a puppy, having fun? Retrieved on 2014-6-2
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 Live Review – The Jezabels, The Annandale, Sydney 2009 – Live Reviews. Thevine.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ The Jezabels @ The Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney (28/02/09) on. Fasterlouder.com.au (2009-03-03). Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ The Jezabels ‘She’s So Hard’ Tour – The Jezabels at Annandale Hotel, Annandale, NSW on 26 Nov 09, 8:00 PM. Liveguide.com.au (2009-11-26). Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 The Jezabels 'Dark Storm' tour on. Fasterlouder.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ The Jezabels To Play In April | Beat Magazine. Beat.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ The Jezabels New EP – She’s So Hard. seenandheard.com.au. 1 October 2009
- ↑ Get Along. Tegan and Sara. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
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- ↑ The Jezabels w/Two Hours Traffic & Galleon @ Ed Castle 27/11/10. Ravereview.com.au. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
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- ↑ The Jezabels – Sydney NSW, Australia – Friday 10 July 2009 – Live Music. Wots-on.info (2009-07-10). Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ traxx | the indie broadcaster. Traxxradio.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Hottest 100 – 2010 | triple j. Abc.net.au. Retrieved on 2011-12-14.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://ausindies.com.au/id-2011-awards.html, Australian Independent Record Labels Association Ltd, (AIR) 2012
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- ↑ The ARIA Report issue 1076
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External links
- Use dmy dates from October 2011
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- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
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- Official website not in Wikidata
- Musical groups established in 2007
- ARIA Award winners
- Australian indie pop groups
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