Philadelphia Grand Jury Talk New Single, Touring & UK Fans (Interview)
Saturday, 04 September 2010
Written by Adam Simpson
Stereoboard.com interviewed Australian group, Philadelphia Grand Jury, prior to their gig at Stereo in York. The brilliant little music venue gave us free use of their upstairs quarters to hold the interview.
The Philly Jay’s, as they are known are Berkfinger and MC Bad Genius, who are currently touring the UK, while recording new single Casino. The group are a fantastic and compelling live viewing, very talented musically and vocally, as well as very energetic on stage. I wanted to know more about why the group were playing such an extensive tour over here and what the differences are between the UK music scene and their native Australia.
Berkfinger tells me that the Philly Jay’s, have so far, been in the UK for about three months, touring all across the Isles. “The furthest was Stornoway, which was on a crazy ferry. People were not very receptive; it was probably the least receptive crowd in the UK.” MC Bad Genius added “The people were so drunk, I don’t think it would have mattered which group had played.”
Obviously frustrating for a group who are used to pleasing crowds, Berkfinger tells me that the group are prepared to do whatever it takes to entertain a crowd. “We even ended up in the crowd playing and even then they were hard to engage with.”
Not too disheartened with UK crowds though, the group have played some memorable gigs also, Berkfinger remembers fondly, playing The Windmill in Brixton and King Tuts. MC Bad Genius adds. “King Tuts was cool and probably the biggest show we played was in KOKO in Camden Town and that was crazy because of the crowd, it was a packed house.”
I wondered if the group felt that they had so far been received well by the UK audiences. Berkfinger explains. “In Australia we spent about two years on the road and you’re kind of playing in front of five people, or ten or twenty. In the UK, there are so many more people and it seems that every little town we go to as crazy public and lots of people who are into music from all over the world. So yeah, we have had a really good reception so far and things are growing a lot quicker than we anticipated. We expected to come over here with no fans and hopefully gain a few, and already it feels like we have already gained lots of support.”
The group explain that they are touring the UK, simply because they wanted a break from Australia and a chance to allow more people to hear their music, they are also recording a track, Casino, whilst over here, but they are not promoting anything in particular.
Australia is obviously a vast place, compared to the UK, so does the distance between towns and cities have any effect on the country having differing music scenes? Such as happens in America, where different areas of the country will have their own music scene. Berkfinger explains. “The different cities definitely have scenes, but they're not the sort of scenes that would be self sufficient, to the point where been part of a scene, would allow you to quit your day job. There is a really strong network of scenes around all the big cities on the coast, because there’s a radio station called Triple J, which is run by the government as a national music station.” MC Bad Genius explains that Triple J is a little like Radio 6 or XFM.
I wondered who had influenced The Philly Jays, particularly when considering their very unique sound. MC Bad Genius explains. “When I was growing up I listened to jazz exclusively for a long, long time and then I went on a school trip away I was with Berkfinger and he played me a couple of CD’s, that were nowhere close to Jazz and they blew my mind and I stopped listening to jazz altogether and the first band was The John Spencer Blues Explosion and I delved further and further into rock 'n roll.” Berkfinger continues “I think I was also influenced a lot from punk and the early eighties music that followed and also music from Detroit, the sort of grungy, garage music.” There are obvious electronic influences in the group’s music too, MC Bad Genius elaborates. “Every new gadget becomes a new toy in the studio, so you get a little synth or something and you play something on it and it gives you a new sound. Whereas if you were just playing a keyboard, you would never even come up with those ideas.” Berkfinger continues “Often you are inspired more in the studio by sounds and gadgets, rather than by a particular artist that you listen to. Like, once you get a keyboard sounding right for example, a song happens, so then once you’ve wrote that song, you only have to work out how to record it.”
Along with playing back home and the UK, the group have also played some gigs in America, in between travelling from Australia to the UK, they have also performed in South Africa, MC Bad Genius explains more. “The last time we played over there, when we came back to Australia, we got offered some shows in South Africa and we played over there at a festival to over 20,000 people and played a few other shows and it was surreal, we went to a game park and patted the lion cubs and South Africa was really responsive.” Berkfinger tells me that they have also played in Germany with some really hard core groups; MC Bad Genius explains further “Germany was really cool; we drank lots of beer and ate lots of food."
I try to find out how far away the group are from a new album, Berkfinger tells me about the amount of material that they have ready and also the gruelling schedule to record the next single, Casino. “There’s about 20 or 30 tracks that we have, that we have to choose from and we are recording a single in a couple of days, we have to play tonight’s show, drive for 2 hours, then sleep for 6 hours, drive 2 hours to London, pick up some sound equipment that we are going to need, go to the studio, record the song, go to bed and then mix it the next morning before we drive up to Nottingham for a show. That will then get sent back to Australia, where it will get mastered again ready for radio in Australia the next day.”
I wanted to find out about the award the group won, in Australia. MC Bad Genius looks back on the event with vague memories. “We won an award at the Independent Records Association. They booked us a little room to stay in and when we got to the hotel, the place had no rooms left, so they upgraded us to the penthouse suite. We had this huge room and when we were at the awards, we invited everyone back, there were about 2,000 people and I can’t even remember the awards, all I remember is being in this penthouse and throwing paper planes off of the sixteenth floor.”
Back home, the group play all over Australia, however because they are based in Sydney and also because they are grateful to the people there for starting their career, the group play mainly in Sydney, however last year they played five gigs in Perth, a city at the other side of the country.
So how does playing in Australia compare with playing in the UK? Berkfinger explains. “I guess everyone’s a bit cooler here and people are more receptive here as well, people in the UK seem to want to check out new bands, if they get word that there is something happening that could be cool, they come and check it out, where as in Australia, because there’s always the beach and a real big night clubbing scene. People in Australia love music, but they plan their weeks around other things.”
The Philadelphia Grand Jury continue their UK tour until October, playing at Brighton’s Prince Albert on the 8th September, Guilford’s Boiler Room on the 9th, The Lexington, in London on the 10th, Derby’s Vault on the 11th, The Academy 2 in Newcastle on the 12th and at Stokes Sugarmill on the 13th, plus a whole host of gigs, up and down the country until their last gig at The Cockpit in Leeds on October the 7th.
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I wondered who had influenced The Philly Jays, particularly when considering their very unique sound. MC Bad Genius explains. “When I was growing up I listened to jazz exclusively for a long, long time and then I went on a school trip away I was with Berkfinger and he played me a couple of CD’s, that were nowhere close to Jazz and they blew my mind and I stopped listening to jazz altogether and the first band was The John Spencer Blues Explosion and I delved further and further into rock 'n roll.” Berkfinger continues “I think I was also influenced a lot from punk and the early eighties music that followed and also music from Detroit, the sort of grungy, garage music.” There are obvious electronic influences in the group’s music too, MC Bad Genius elaborates. “Every new gadget becomes a new toy in the studio, so you get a little synth or something and you play something on it and it gives you a new sound. Whereas if you were just playing a keyboard, you would never even come up with those ideas.” Berkfinger continues “Often you are inspired more in the studio by sounds and gadgets, rather than by a particular artist that you listen to. Like, once you get a keyboard sounding right for example, a song happens, so then once you’ve wrote that song, you only have to work out how to record it.”
