Melbourne boys JET Shine On with their second album

WORDS SABINA-LEAH FERNANDEZ

Chris Cester, Cameron Muncey, Mark Wilson, Nic Cester

Five years ago, JET were just four guys from Geelong and Dingley who were scraping together a living and performing at grungy pubs. The retro-rock quartet of brothers Nic Cester (guitar, vocals) and Chris Cester (drums), Mark Wilson (bass guitar) and Cameron Muncey (guitar) must have been doing something right, though – when a music scout heard them play at Sydney’s Annandale Hotel in 2002, they were quickly signed with Elektra Records. The foursome traded in their day-jobs for the big time.

It doesn’t get much bigger than their first major gig: touring Australia with the Rolling Stones! The retro-rock train had arrived and JET was on board, along with bands like The White Stripes and The Strokes. Soon they were touring the US, stopping only to record their first album with producer Dave Sardy – who’s laid tracks for Supergrass, the Dandy Warhols and Marilyn Manson.

The whirlwind success of their debut album, Get Born, was cemented by “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”, a foot-tapping ditty about a girl in big black boots. The song joined offerings from U2, The Black Eyed Peas and The Fratellis in the seminal iPod commercial, giving its groovy silhouetted dancers something to move to.

Cameron in cruise controlBoosted by the ad’s high rotation, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” went to number one in Australia and made it to the UK top 20 and the US Billboard Top 40; the album went on to sell 3.2 million copies worldwide. To further penetrate the impassable US music market, JET joined The Vines, The Living End and Neon on the ‘Aussie Invasion’, a 25-city tour of the US and Canada, though the exhausting, repetitive schedule of gig after gig and city after city took its toll.

“So many times I’ve gone up to room 2504, and then my hotel key doesn’t work. Then I realise, shit, 2504 was in Madrid, that was four days ago. That’s one reason bands are always getting so f**ked up. Because you just get so bored and exhausted you’ve got to find ways to feel alive again,” says Chris.

Tragedy struck while the band was touring Europe in 2004. Chris and Nic’s father, John Cester, took a turn for the worse in his battle with throat cancer. They cancelled scheduled appearances at the Glastonbury Festival and headed back to Melbourne, only to arrive the day their father died.

The loss hit the entire group hard. “He was very proud of us. He was the kind of guy who’d call you up and say ‘You’ve done a good job’ if he heard us on the radio or saw us on TV. He’d phone me up all the time…” Chris says, trailing off.

Mark continues, “He was just such a well-liked guy… over 1,000 people came to his funeral. I couldn’t even get a seat – I think I wasn’t on the list!”

Nic in a celebratory moodDespite their grief, JET hit the road again straight after the funeral, wowing audiences nationwide at the Big Day Out concerts – except in their hometown. As Nic explained to an Age reporter, “Whenever we come back to Melbourne, it’s a huge smack in the face because he’s not here anymore. To deal with it I would go on these massive benders, which inevitably led to an average performance.”

The boys soon became known for their hard-partying ways: hardly surprising with mentors like the Rolling Stones, The Vines and their heroes Oasis (who they toured with in 2005). The media had a field day. A 2004 Rolling Stones’ headline proclaimed: “JET’s High Times. Rock’s new party boys thrive on seventies’ sounds, champagne and insanity.”

“Touring with Oasis and Kasabian was like three gangs coming together… It was less about music and more about a group of guys who knew how to party. One night Mark claimed to be able to drink Noel Gallagher under the table, but then passed out five minutes later,” Chris says, chortling.

“Well, by that time I’d been drinking for about eight hours,” Mark counters.

After nearly two and a half years on the road, cracks began to appear again – though they’d started work on their follow-up album, the Cester brothers weren’t on speaking terms and JET considered splitting. “It was so strange,” Chris said in 2006. “I remember being on the balcony at the Prince of Wales [pub] having a beer with Cameron. And it was like: ‘What happens if Nic never wants to finish this record with us? What happens next?’”

They found their feet again in a Barbados villa. Recording their second album Shine On was an uphill struggle, but what could have been a dark, sad second offering in the wake of the band’s grief became an inspirational one. Critics are hailing the album – featuring the Curtis Mayfield-influenced “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is”, rock anthem “Rip It Up”, and the Everly Brothers-inspired harmonies of “Eleanor” – as even better than Get Born.

The Shine On tour kicked off in 2006 and has taken them around the world again, but the JET boys claim to have quietened down. “I recently joined the mile-high club,” Chris beams, “with my fiancée. The crew gave us a bottle of champagne and congratulated us. They said no one’s ever managed to achieve that on such a short flight.”

No doubt about it, JET are rock stars these days: on stage they morph from sweet Melbourne boys into seasoned performers dripping charisma like sweat. Describing the difference between the two albums, Mark says that while the first was written for Aussie pubs, Shine On was written for international stadiums.

And the next stadium on the agenda? The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), where they’re the pre-match entertainment for the Australian Football League Grand Final on 29 September. Not bad for four boys from the ’burbs. Not bad at all.

Dream Destinations

“Aside from playing music, the best thing about touring is getting to go out and enjoy the city you’re in,” says Mark. Their favourite? Osaka. Mark and Chris call it the closest you can get to being on another planet and prefer its less- frenetic-than-Tokyo pace. Osaka is also where the band generally finish their tours: “Going anywhere in Japan is a blast, but Osaka always leaves a good taste in your mouth because it’s where the biggest party happens,” Mark says.

Sabina Leah Fernandez says:
I have six degrees of separation with bassist Mark Wilson. The apartment I called home four years ago in South Yarra is minutes from where Mark lives, and we share a favourite restaurant, Sardinian eatery Da Noi (95 Toorak Rd, tel: +61 (3) 9866 5975). It’s brilliant but fabulously unpretentious – just like JET.