Thirty years ago, Kevin Mitchell and a few mates got together to make some music. Today, Jebediah remains a much-loved Aussie band. The alternative rockers head to The Baso in Belconnen with special guests Magic Dirt on Saturday 24 August. CD caught up with lead vocalist and guitarist Kevin Mitchell ahead of the show.
What can audiences expect from the show?
We are celebrating the release of OIKS, our 6th album and first in over a decade, so we’ll be playing a bunch of new songs from that record. Of course, we will play a lot of the more well-known songs from the past as well. We have always thought of a Jebs show as being celebratory and have tended towards doing our best to give people what they want and what they’ve paid to see.
Hopefully, with this tour, we are able to strike that balance between old and new, challenging sometimes and accommodating people’s expectations as well. At the end of the night, it’s supposed to be fun.
When did you know you wanted to be a performer?
I’m not sure I ever knew it was what I wanted to be as such, but it was something I was attracted to from the age of five and have been doing it in various guises ever since. When I was a kid, it was channelled through dancing and drama, then high school musicals and then the band after that.
I’m glad that I have the performance thing as something that I can do as it’s become so important as a songwriter to be able to make a living. I love writing and recording just as much as performing these days but if I couldn’t perform, I wouldn’t be able to make a living from music.
Do you have any career highlights?
Playing the mainstage of the Big Day Out two years in a row in ‘99 and 2000 was a highlight for Jebediah as that festival had become so important to the band in terms of its cultural and musical influence. We had gone to the Big Day Out as teenage punters and dreamed that one day we would be up there ourselves.
More general highlights for me personally are the places around the world I’ve been able to travel through playing music and the experiences I’ve been granted. Just this year Jebediah played a show in Central Park in New York which was a wonderful little time.
Tell us about Bob Evans.
He’s a guy whose name came from an old op shop t-shirt I used to own and plays music that I’ve written for myself rather than for Jebediah. Incredibly, he’s gone on to make as many albums as Jebediah. He’s the side project that turned into a full-time gig.
What’s next for you?
The Jebediah tour continues pretty much until the end of 2024. We still have a bunch of places to play all around Australia and then we hit the Hotter Than Hell festival after that playing Slightly Odway in full.
Catch Jebediah with Special Guests Magic Dirt at The Baso on Saturday 24 August 7pm; oztix.com.au
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