After 13 years of broken bones, broken hearts, sore heads, passive aggression, regular aggression, several arrests, questionable skin infections, and a busload of infuriated tour managers, Bluejuice have announced they are calling it quits at the end of 2014.
The band indicate the decision is down to wanting to “take a peek at what exists on the other side of the velvet curtain, to work on new things,” and in typically humorous Bluejuice fashion, “to hopefully wear their sequined leotards less often.”
To commemorate their career, Bluejuice have issued Retrospectable, a collection of their favourite tracks from their three studio albums – full-length debut Problems (2007), breakout LP Head of the Hawk (2009) and 2011’s Company, as long as a handful of new tracks, including final single ‘I’ll Go Crazy’, an upbeat guitar-driven number co-written by frontman Jake Stone with Sparkadia’s Alex Burnett and produced by Evermore’s Dann Hume (Alpine, Sticky Fingers). The band’s Jamie Cibe (4 strings, Distortion Box, Synth Weirdness) gave us a track by track run down of their retrospective.
The band are encouraging fans to share their favourite Bluejuce stories, they can come in the form of an epic written tale, a photo, a farewell, a video, or even a final piece of Bluejuice hate-mail. The stories will be posted on the band’s Facebook page.
Retrospectable out tomrrow via Dew Process.
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Act Yr Age
“Jake and Alex Burnett dreamed up this catchy little ditty, during Jake’s Everything-Must-Sound-Like-Phoenix-And-I’ll-Fucking-Kill-You-If-It-Doesn’t phase. Later on, I tried to get my dog in the video clip, but they chose the fucking German Shepherd instead, just because it did everything correctly and never pissed on the green screen.”
I’ll Go Crazy
“I really like how this turned out. I think it may be our first and only guitar-based tune. Our old keyboard player Jerry would spin in his grave if he was dead.”
Broken Leg
“The hooks for this song came to Jake as he was lying around in his own filth after breaking his leg in Brisbane, hence the title… er… Broken Leg. The actual breaking of the leg was quite funny for everyone except for Jake, as it happened mid-tour and nobody took him seriously. “Suuuuuure it’s broken, why don’t you shut the fuck up and get in the van”.”
Vitriol
“This was recorded 8 years ago, and it sounds like it. I did listen to the instrumental version recently, and the bass and keys are hilariously loose. Perhaps that’s what gives the song its charm: shit playing. Also, the success of Vitriol kept Bluejuice together, as we were very fight-y and likely to break up immediately before it was released.”
Shock
“This one was torturous to record, and went through a bunch of edits and changes before being whisked off to London to redo altogether. I wonder how much money we owe our record label. Let’s not find out.”
George Costanza
“Is this song good? Is it bad? I think it’s good.”
On My Own
“Stav asked to be called the “Un-Sung Hero” somewhere in this article, so let’s indulge him here. His “oh ohs” are sublime, and every vocal take he did was perfect. Stav is such a cool guy.”
Work
“From memory, Jerry came up with this one and I was immediately filled with loathing. It was so honky and whitebread that I initially refused to play it. What a fool I was. I’m going to slap myself right now.”
Ain’t Telling The Truth
“I get to turn on my scratchiest distortion pedals on this song, and for once Jake can’t give me shit about it. If you like anaemic, tinny bass guitar that sounds like it’s being played through a coffee strainer, then this song is for you. And me.”
The Reductionist
“I can’t recall a single thing about the recording of this song, but no doubt our haircuts in 2006 were quite different to what they are now.”
Aspen, New York
“Jake goes on and on about how the melody to this song came to him in a dream, which apparently makes it more interesting than if it came to him whilst on the toilet. Good song though.”
S.O.S.
“This song was originally written for Jake’s other band, presciently-named The Break Up. We filmed part of the video in a warehouse where they develop military target robot things. The robots got out of control a couple of times, and the robot handler had to hit a killswitch to stop them careening all over the place. I fear that future post-apocalyptic researchers will trace the origins of SkyNet to this particular warehouse.”
Cheap Trix
“This should have been released as a single. Why wasn’t it released as a single? The music industry: how does it work?”
Head Of The Hawk
“This is a band favourite, and was one of the only times that we threw a bunch of genres at something, and it ended up coalescing into a good song. It also features lyrics that sound a lot like, “Deep deep, deep deep, deep in Mahmoud”, which is something we can all enjoy.”
No Time For Tears
“It took 14 years, but we finally wrote a ballad. It’s supposed to finish off the album as a sad goodbye – a slightly overwrought and emotional goodbye. After listening to this song, your natural instinct should be to tousle our hair and say, “Dawwww, you’ll be okay little fella”.”
‘RETROSPECTABLE: The Farewell Tour’ Dates
WED 24 SEPT UNI BAR, ADELAIDE (LIC/ALL AGES – EVENING)
THU 25 SEPT UNI BAR ADELAIDE SA (LIC/ALL AGES) *SOLD OUT*
FRI 26 SEPT CAPITOL PERTH WA
SAT 27 SEPT RED EARTH ARTS FESTIVAL KARRATHA
WA
WED 01 OCT SOL BAR, MAROOCHYDORE
THU 02 OCT HI FI BRISBANE
QLD
FRI O3 OCT COOLANGATTA HOTEL COOLANGATTA
QLD
SAT 04 OCT GREAT NORTHERN HOTEL BYRON BAY NSW
WED 08 OCT FEDERATION UNIVERSITY, GIPPSLAND CAMPUS
FRI 10 OCT HI FI MELBOURNE VIC *SOLD OUT*
SAT 11 OCT HI FI MELBOURNE VIC (Under 18’s only Matinee show 12-3pm)
SAT 11OCT VILLAGE GREEN HOTEL MULGRAVE
VIC
SUN 12 OCT BARWON CLUB GEELONG
VIC
FRI 17 OCT WAVES WOLLONGONG
VIC
SAT 18 OCT ANU BAR CANBERRA
ACT
THU 23 OCT BAR ON THE HILL NEWCASTLE
NSW
FRI 24 OCT METRO THEATRE SYDNEY NSW (LIC/ALL AGES) *SOLD OUT*
SUN 26 OCT – METRO THEATRE, SYDNEY
THU 06 NOV – MOVIDAS, MACKAY
FRI 07 NOV – THE VENUE, TOWNSVILLE
SAT 08 NOV – THE JACK, CAIRNS
For tickets and info visit www.bluejuice.info
