Since 2011, Brisbane outfit Jungle Giants have been roaming around Australia, blessing listeners and festival-goers with their groovy blends of indie rock and pop. Their 2017 album Quiet Ferocity dropped chock full of hits, four of which appeared in triple j’s hottest 100 last year cementing the bands position as one of the bench marks of Australian Independent music.
The band are returning to the Victorian coast, on April 20th as a part of The Drop festival in Torquay, alongside a list of huge Aussie acts including Angus & Julia Stone, Client Liaison, Hockey Dad and Alex the Astronaut. In anticipation, we caught up with Jungle Giants chief riff-master Cesira Aitken to have a chat about the band.
Your group has been killing it since 2011, do you think Quite Ferocity took you to another level?
It definitely pushed us further in the direction we always wanted to go. The hottest 100 result was great and definitely kicked on a longer tour cycle for us, and the album itself was definitely the record that best represents us, so it was good.
The album saw a few funkier basslines and dancier hooks compared to your older records, which had a slightly darker indie rock vibe. What were your intentions going into it, how was the recording and thought process different?
Sam [Hales. Vocals/guitar] really came into it with a strong sense of the production ideas and clearer cut demos. We kind of came into it with the sense that we would economise on good ideas rather than crowd them, so things that we really enjoyed about the songs stood out more.
And the recording process was heaps different to recording Speakerzoid or Learn to Exist… For those ones, we’d go away and do like a big five-week block and just do the record with the demos that Sam had, and then record them together.
This time round we did it at home in Brisbane, so we’d only be going to the studio four days through the weekend and then back home every night and there was no time constraints so it allowed a nicer environment. We had a bit more freedom with the time and the process of Quite Ferocity in comparison to the other records.
Since then you have been smashing gigs, how has the last year been?
Oh. So crazy. We had a really huge April last year, and then a couple of months just chillin’ playing Splendour and a couple of other festivals. But since September, we’ve had maybe three weekends off until the second week of January so time has just flown.
Are you guys working on any new music?
We’re aiming to have something out this year, at least a single. But we’ll see how we go. Sam is always writing and recording; we’ve listened to some new demos all together. We’re just going to keep playing these shows and see how we end up.
You’re playing The Drop festival which is kicking off in March in Newcastle, and then stopping by us in Torquay! Tell us a bit about that…
Oh, yeah! Actually, super keen, gonna get some mad beach time in I assume. We’re close to the beach there, right?
Yeah, right on Bells Beach!
And the Torquay one sold out already, too! Super keen.
Will you be having a crack at surfing at all?
Um…. No. I will boogie board though. I just spent like the last two weekends in a row at the beach, so hopefully I’ll be ripe.
And any of the other acts there that you’re keen to see and hang out with?
Yeah, we’ve toured with Hockey Dad. We had them on our Speakerzoid tour a few years ago, so it’ll be cool to see those guys again, they’re killing it. But I’m keen to see everyone else too. Bunch of friends on the line-up so it’ll be really fun. Get some tan, ya know?
Any plans for the rest of the year?
We’ll do a bunch of shows, we’ve just been announced on a couple of UK things.
Last one, what are three Australian acts you think everyone should be checking out at the moment?
Ooh, okay, who am I loving at the moment? I love Hatchie, Willaris. K as well, he’s awesome. Oh, and even though they’ve been around for ages. Last Dino[saur]’s new album is really cool as well.
The Drop heads to Torquay on Saturday April 20. Tickets are sold out, but you can find tickets through Tixel. This is the only place to buy genuine tickets for this event that guarantee you access on the day
Written by Liam McNally
