Following on from the break up of one of Australia’s most successful export bands, Jet, much guess work has been made about what may have happened to the band that led the way to rock n roll’s revival in the early 2000s here in Australia.
Now drummer Chris Cester has opened up about what was going on internally leading up to the break up, revealing to Mess+Noise it was as much personal tension as apathy.
“I think the band’s been slowly disintegrating and slowly breaking up since the Shine On sessions in 2005 or 2006,” revealed Cester. “We just never really talked about it. I dunno. We never really wanted to drum up any kind of bullshit between us.”
“And we always sort of fell to talking about things in the press, which is ridiculous because we should be able to sort out our own problems. But, god, it was so long ago when all the trouble started. But really, [frontman] Nic [Cester]’s the one who is mainly responsible for pulling the pin officially.”
“I think the rest of us were happy to go on and keep making records in the hope that things would get better between all of us. And like I said things have been strained between us for years now, and we just soldiered on because we didn’t know any better.”
“And we’re all still getting a lot out of the music, at least in the studio. But I think touring just became harder and harder, and eventually just caught up with us. So, yeah, it’s been a long time coming.”
We hadn’t seen much of the boys since 2010, when Nic Cester and Cameron Muncey went off for a break from the band putting it officially on hiatus, whilst Mark Wilson and Chris Cester formed a new band Damndogs, who released their debut EP “Strange Behaviour” on 9 August 2011 via iTunes.
“[It was] more personal tension than anything else,” Cester continued. “But I’d say that if you spoke to Nic, he might have a completely different answer – he might tell you that he wasn’t happy with the way the music was going, and I’d have to leave that for him to answer.”
“But I would say that, predominantly, it was just personal things. And long-standing arguments that never got resolved. Really personal stuff, and between all of us at one point or another.”
“I guess when you’re shouting at each other in airports while your bags are coming around on the carousel, it’s not as much fun as it used to be. You become somewhat of a cliché.”
Jet are only the latest in a string of high profile local break ups overs the last 12 months including Powderfinger, Silverchair, Grinderman, and The Middle East.
