Jet jump back on the road

Some bands manifest their success just from the name they give their band.

Jet sits right up the top of that list with their lighting speed impact the moment they started their engine. Take off was quick and fast, there was a bit of shakiness and turbulence as they travelled along, but now they’re back flying high.

Keep connected to your live music scene here.

“A couple months ago in March we went to Chile and played to 100,000 people in the biggest festival we’ve ever done – like the biggest headline, so I’ll be lying to you if I said it wasn’t just brilliant,” explains lead guitarist Cameron Muncey. 

The Festival Rec appearance showed that the love for the Melbourne rockers is still very much alive on the global and large scale. But this month they are taking it right back to their roots – to the more intimate venues on the Rumblin’ Regional Revue Tour, an Australian East Coast performance pilgrimage of pubs and theatres. It follows on from their New Zealand trio of shows, and comes three years after their extensive Get Born 20th anniversary tour, with the band excited to be back on the road.

“We’re ready to bring the best show. These shows are great because we are more free to pick the songs that we want to play and to be creative with the sets, and do songs that we haven’t done, or even present them in different ways,” he says.

Whilst the band certainly has the stadium appeal ready to elevate anthems like ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’, ‘Rollover D.J.’, ‘Look What You’ve Done’, ‘Cold Hard Bitch’, ‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’, and ‘She’s a Genius’, the smaller setting really bring the essence of their rock ‘n’ roll reputation home.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JET (@jet.theband)

“We came up doing sweaty pub gigs, coming off stage dripping; where the line between the band and the crowd was somewhat blurred a little bit. There was the feeling of that animalistic element or this feeling of the community, a communal experience where things were slightly sloppy, things were not as performed. You got through it together – the band and audience as one,” he explains.

“There was one show in Melbourne actually – it was in a room no bigger than a broom closet – people were in your face. That’s taking it to extremes, but yeah we loved it. We came up in that, so it was our breeding ground; our petri dish so to speak.”

Returning to the beginning, the band saw quick success with three celebrated albums across a six year run; Get Born (2003), Shine On (2006), and Shaka Rock (2009). Get Born earned them a whopping six ARIA Awards, and the APRA Awards saw them win Most Performed Australian Work Overseas for three consecutive years; 2005, 2006, and 2007. Their songs soundtracked generations – quite literally appearing on television shows and movies, and there wasn’t a stage that didn’t have Jet on it during those years. Then came the iTunes release Strange Behaviour EP in 2011, followed by the band’s untimely disbandment on 26 March 2012.

In 2016, the band reformed for a run of tour dates, before taking time away again. The 2023 ARIA Hall of Fame induction reunited the boys, kickstarting their touring return yet again. Through this course, new music has been minimal with the last release, single ‘Hurry Hurry’ touching down in 2024. You’ll be pleased to know that new music is part of this united era for the band.

“There are plans to release some new music. There is stuff there, it’s just finding the right time to drop it and organise it. Over the years we’ve gotten together and written together and there’s actually like quite a lot of stuff sitting there but it’s just about organising it to get it released. You’d be surprised how much there is,” confirms Muncey.

“We would record and then we would blow up and have a fight and it would be put on the back-burner and then we’d come back together and those old songs were old so we’d write a whole bunch of new stuff and then we’d have another big fight. That was the shape of things, and then Covid happened and we had solo careers. It’s been a little bit of a labyrinth or twisting journey but there is stuff there we are planning on dusting it off and getting it out there and writing some new stuff too.”

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by JET (@jet.theband)

Fans don’t worry – these new tracks won’t end up in a discarded pile due to disputes.

“We’re all mature now,” laughs Muncey. “I say that because we’re not in the shit but honestly it’s been fantastic and we’ve committed to a lot of touring and shows because it’s enjoyable. I’ve got three kids and a life so I wouldn’t be doing it if it were miserable. It’s supremely good!”

You can catch Jet back at their best at Barwon Heads Hotel on Thursday 14, Friday 15 May, and Pier Bandroom Frankston on Saturday 16 May.

Final tickets can be purchased here.