Coastal garage-rockers Bones and Jones have been busy bees for the last year. With their debut LP Living Given released back in 2018, the six-piece have performed at a swag of scintillating live shows ever since, earning them a pretty solid reputation in the music industry. Now, they’ve launched into 2020 full steam ahead with the release of their much anticipated second full-length Bees. We sit down with vocalist/guitarist Jasper Jolley.
The second Bones album is finally out and this time around there’s a new addition to the lineup. How did it come about that George Wilson joined the gang?
George first came on board playing with us live for a couple of shows doing some percussion and backings on our new songs. We felt we needed a boost in our live shows so got him on board. I’ve played with George for most of my life so it felt only natural having him alongside us; it was a natural progression from him playing with us to becoming a member. When it came to recording the album, we got him in to do some percussion and he helped out with some backing ideas and now recently he has picked up the lapsteel and saxophone which has been sick! We’re lucky to have him on board because he has such a great ear.
Having been in the Tiny Giants together, was it a natural addition to the recording process?
Yeah! George and I have been playing music together since we were little tackers so it feels really natural and we can read each other quite well no matter what we’re playing or doing. It’s sometimes scary adding another element into a band but because we’ve all been mates for such a long time, whether it’s in the studio or live, we all feel totally comfortable.
I know in the past you have produced/recorded a lot of music including Living Given, the group’s debut album. Was Bees self-produced again and if so, what can you tell us about your home recording setup because the last time I saw it, it was pretty damn special.
Living Given was recorded when I lived in Footscray in my back room that I’d converted into a little studio. I didn’t have lots of gear then but was able to scrape some stuff together. That was pretty DIY, but it was a good reflection of our sound then. We really wanted to change it up for Bees. We tracked it in Paul Maybury’s studio in Fairfield, I’d worked there a bit in the past and it’s a great spot so only felt natural to track there. We did lots of demos for Bees so we knew exactly what we wanted to do at Paul’s. We did some additional stuff at my joint and then took the tracks to Nick Huggins and wrote some strings and horns for it and recorded them in the old Hall in Point Lonsdale. Not a lot was done in the space I’m in now but really lucky to have it!
Living Given featured songs written by all the members of the group with everyone stepping in to share vocal duties or help out in ways other than their primary instrument in the band. Was Bees a similar process, or is Donna a bit of a special track on the album as Finn sings?
We like to keep it pretty split with Finn and I sharing the singing in our sets so we came into tracking with the same idea. More so with the songs I sing, I take a thought-out idea, sometimes a demo, to the band and it gets developed from there. With Finn’s songs, it’s certainly more collaborative and written as a band.
It’ll be the second album released on homegrown label Bonsai Records. How did you first link up with them?
Ella who is Bonsai said she was interested in releasing the record around the same time we were shopping around and trying to figure all that stuff out and it went from there, we were both pretty green on the whole music business side of things so it’s been nice working through it together.
We have all been such great pals already so it felt only Natural, Willem [Kingma, long-time collaborator] also came onboard and has been doing all the videos and artwork for both us and Pollyman. It’s been really great as it all runs out of the same studio and we rehearse there. Having a nice little community of pals who are all pitching in and pushing each other is a really beautiful thing to be apart of and I count myself really lucky to be surrounded by such a great and hard-working group of friends.
The front cover for Bees is absolutely incredible. Who was the talented artist behind it?
So lucky to have Willem do that for us. Will and I became mates in high school and always worked on different projects with my music and his films. He’s always done our videos and artwork, more or less, he’s just an extra member of the band.
Lyrically, where were you coming from for this album and how does your current mindset differ from when you were fresh out of school writing for Living Given?
Each song is different to me. It’s hard to look back sometimes because how I was feeling when I had written the song has slipped my mind and then it takes on a new meaning as I get older, I suppose songwriting is a good timestamp like that sometimes. There’s a couple of older songs of mine such as ‘Bees’ and ‘Bye Bye’, and with Finn’s songs, I’m not too sure.
Bones and Jones will be taking Bees to the stage at The Retreat Hotel in Melbourne on March 18 and The Dart and Marlin in Warrnambool on March 20.
Bees is out now, available on all streaming services.
Written by Alex Callan