JEBEDIAH

Jebediah was formed in Perth in 1994 by Chris Daymond (ex-Hybrid) on lead guitar, Almin Fulurija on drums, Kevin Mitchell on vocals and rhythm guitar, and Vanessa Thornton (ex-Hybrid, lead guitar) on bass guitar. They are named after Jebediah Springfield, the fictional founder of Springfield on the American TV cartoon series, The Simpsons. Daymond and Mitchell had met in a theatre class at Leeming High School in their final year, while Daymond and Thornton knew each other from childhood and had been members of Hybrid. By early 1995, Kevin's older brother, Brett Mitchell, replaced Fulurija because the latter would not turn up to practice sessions, Brett had been a drummer with various groups including The Jerk Offs. In May that year Jebediah performed their first gig, for a Leeming High School formal, at the Perth Sheraton Hotel, where they played cover versions of material by Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam and The Smashing Pumpkins, and one original.

They won the Western Australian semi-finals of the 1995 Australian National Campus Band Competition and in October they won the national final in Lismore. This led to an opening slot on the Summersault Music Festival before high profile bands, Beastie Boys, Foo Fighters and Sonic Youth. Brett explained in a 2011 interview: "In the very early days, everything was just a bit of a shock ... to us; it was like, it was either a shock, if it, if it actually happened, or it was, it seemed kind of absurd if someone was, ah, you know, putting an idea forward about how things would go".

In August 1996 Jebediah issued their debut five-track EP, 'Twitch', which was produced by Chris Dickie (The Pogues, Morrissey, Header). According to Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, Twitch contained "quirky tracks like ''Mister Masonic'' and ''Tracksuit'' and was a strong taster for the band's fuzzy pop".

In April that year they had signed to Murmur, a subsidiary label of Sony Music, on the basis of their live performances. They followed with a national tour alongside Snout, and Automatic. In 2004 Daymon recalled "our very first EP came out through Murmur. Right from the very start we never really self-financed any of our early material ... Thinking about it now, over the years, a lot of being in a band – for us – is touring and playing the shows; that's always done independently anyway". At the West Australian Music Industry Awards of 1996, they won their first WAMi for Best Stage Presence. 'Twitch' debuted at #1 on the local Perth singles chart. It appeared on the ARIA Singles Chart in the top 100.

Jebediah's first single, "Jerks of Attention", was released in December 1996 and appeared on the ARIA Singles Chart top 100 in the following month. It received national airplay on the Triple J radio network. The group's appearances at Homebake and the Big Day Out concerts as well as support slots for Soundgarden, Everclear, The Presidents of the United States of America, Silverchair and You Am I, further raised their public profile. Another single, "Leaving Home", was issued in June and reached the top 50. The group won two WAMi awards in 1997: Most Popular Band and Most Popular Song for "Jerks of Attention".

In September Jebediah issued their first studio album, 'Slightly Odway', with Neill King (The Smiths, Madness, Elvis Costello) producing. The album's title is "a comment on the slightly odd way they feel they approach life as well as music". It peaked at #7 on the ARIA Albums Chart and remained in the top 50 for 54 weeks. Popular tracks included "Leaving Home" and the third single, "Military Strongmen" (November 1997). 'Slightly Odway' also reached #2 on the ARIA alternative charts, and within four months it was certified gold. Jonathan Lewis of Allmusic felt it showed them "as a talented young band, despite the flimsy songwriting and the lack of light and shade on the album". While Greg Lawrence at WHAMMO.com.au noted that it provides "a mature, complete range – from the early-penned punk mayhem of 'Blame' to the delicacy of the 'Twilight=Dusk', from the dark tones of 'Jerks of Attention' to the bright strains of radio hit 'Leaving Home'. The album does a great job of capturing the amazing live dynamic of the band".

"Leaving Home" was rated number 10 in the Triple J Hottest 100 music poll for 1997. 'Slightly Odway' eventually received a double-platinum certificate (140,000 units shipped), with two more top 50 singles, "Teflon" (March 1998) and "Harpoon" (on the EP of the same name, June), adding to the group's chart success. Murmur label mates, Something for Kate, provided a cover version of "Harpoon" on the EP. Murmur also issued a split-EP with both versions of "Harpoon" backed with Something for Kate's "Clint" and Jebediah's cover version of that track.

Jebediah supported United States alternative rockers, The Smashing Pumpkins, on the Australian leg of their 1998 tour in May. Jebediah released their second album, 'Of Someday Shambles', in November 1999, with producer Mark Trombino (Knapsack, Blink 182). McFarlane noted that it "was brimming with youthful exuberance and feisty, melodic, guitar-based fuzzy punk-pop perfectly suited to the post-grunge alternative generation". Lawrence felt it was "sporting tonnes more light and shade than their first effort and stretching out in the studio ... honing its craft, growing up in public in the most enviable of ways".

The album peaked at #2 on the ARIA Albums Chart – their highest peaking release – and remained in the top 50 for 25 weeks. While its lead single, "Animal" (August 1999), #16 and is their highest charting single to date. The band toured Canada and New Zealand and won further WAMi awards with Best Video for "Harpoon", and Thornton winning Best Bass Player. By December 2000, 'Of Someday Shambles' received a platinum certificate from ARIA.

The group started 2000 by playing its second Big Day Out tour. It continued touring internationally playing the US, Canada and New Zealand. Daymon recalled "There have been times, especially after Someday Shambles, when our popularity in Australia had really surprised us and we were playing to huge crowds at the Big Day Out and we'd had two really successful records. We were a little dismayed as to why we couldn't push it further into the overseas area. Unfortunately, it seemed to be the politics of working with a record on a major label that held us back. It's not much of an incentive for a label overseas to make you a priority if a lot of the profit is going back to the company where the band is from". In August, the group issued a six-track split EP with Jimmy Eat World, Jebediah / Jimmy Eat World in the US through independent label, Big Wheel Recreation.

In October 2000 Sony issued a video compilation album, 'Jebediaries', in VHS format for PAL systems, which contained their music videos and concert footage. It was followed in December by the DVD version which added a bonus track, "Animal" (live). Andrew Siers at Michael DVD described it as "mainly a collection of the band's greatest hits in video clip form, but in between songs it is also a documentary. These sections of the feature are quite interesting and kept my attention at all times".

The band recorded their third studio album, 'Jebediah', from June to August 2001, with production by Magoo (Regurgitator, Spiderbait, Midnight Oil). The album was not released until March the following year. Lawrence opined that it "sees a band in their element, brimming with confidence. Led by the tracks ''Fall Down'' and 'Nothing Lasts Forever'". Ed Nimmervoll at Howlspace described their aim "for the third album they resolved to try to have fun again, recorded relatively quickly". Whilst it debuted at #8 on the charts, it did not achieve gold status. Its lead single "Fall Down" had reached #24 in late October 2001.

'Glee Sides and Sparities', a compilation of B-sides and rare tracks, the band's final album with Murmur, was released in January 2003 and the band subsequently left Sony in the following month to continue as an independent act. Lawrence summarised "it combines the best b-sides and covers and adds the extra incentive of two fresh, unreleased tracks. For hungry Jebediah fans it will complete their collections and with 18 tracks there's plenty of fuzzy rock on offer".

In June 2004 Daymond told WHAMMO.com.au "I think Sony Records knew that we were looking to do something a little different. As a company they'd just gone through some major infrastructure changes in the last few years and I think by talking to us and realising that we were maybe not as happy as we were on the label when we signed – that the label had changed a lot and the roster was completely different". In an interview for Rolling Stone in May 2011, Thornton told music journalist, Andrew McMillen, that the band's manager at the time "couldn’t be fucked fighting the label for anything that we wanted, and he'd made the decision that we were just going to go with whatever the label reckoned. Near the end, it was fucking soul-destroying for me".

In July 2004 Jebediah issued their fourth studio album, 'Braxton Hicks', which was produced by the band itself and appeared on their own record label, Redline Records, distributed by Shock Records. Redline Records had been set up in July 2000 with their then-manager, Heath Bradby, of Naked Ape Management. The album is named for the intermittent weak contractions which some pregnant women experience. Daymond reflected on the recording process "Because it was self-produced as well, there was no one in the producer's chair to tie the whole thing together. We've had to do that ourselves. We're a very close band but it was even more of a bonding experience in the recording studio, where we had to motivate each other to do our best and I think it's paid off".

Lawrence praised the group's decision to leave their previous label, "they seem reborn and the subsequent autonomy and enthusiasm have combined to deliver the bestest Jebs album in memory … they have reached that point where every element is under their control – from production to business – and if 'Braxton Hicks' is the end product of that control, every signed band should rip up their major label contracts immediately". It debuted at #26 while its lead single, "First Time", made the top 50. During August and September that year they toured Australia to promote the album. In June 2005 Jebediah launched their 10-year anniversary tour and released the five-track Anniversary EP to coincide. Their shows consisted mainly of B-sides and rarities which fans had requested on the band's official internet forums.

Jebediah returned to the studio in 2010 to rehearse old material and write more music for their fifth studio album, 'Kosciuszko', which appeared on 15 April 2011 on the Dew Process label. Due to Kevin's other musical commitments, recording for the album had occurred sporadically since early 2008. 'Kosciuszko' was produced by the group members, who created it without any time constraints.

The album debuted at #6 and stayed in the top 50 for five weeks. Richard Kingsmill premiered the lead single, "Lost My Nerve", on his Triple J music show on 17 October 2010. The second single, "She's Like a Comet", was released in January 2011, with an accompanying music video, and became the most added single to radio airplay. "She's Like a Comet" peaked at #4 on the ARIA Australian Artists Singles Chart, #47 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and reached #29 on the Australian Music Report Top 100 Airplay Chart.

The group toured nationally to promote the album throughout the remainder of 2011, playing at the Splendour in the Grass festival and then visiting regional locations from Broome to Mount Hotham. They also performed at the National Youth Week 2011 launch event in Melbourne and appeared on morning TV program, Sunrise, to perform "She's Like a Comet". Matt Hogan of X-Press magazine attributed the success of the fifth album to Kevin's solo work as Bob Evans, and as a member of the Basement Birds. On 13 April 2011, the band uploaded a 13-minute documentary film onto YouTube, Welcome to Kosciuszko, which was released in conjunction with Dew Process and filmed by an Australian-based production company, The Grindhouse (directed by Brent Quincy Buchanan and filmed by Harry Joaquin Charnock). It relates the band's history, featuring interviews with all four members.

During January 2014 the band played locations in New South Wales, from Dee Why to Ulladulla. On 23 August 2014, Jebediah is the headline act at the Eaton Hills "FMX Extreme Weekend" in Queensland, Australia. In March 2015 Jebediah announced that they would be undertaking a 20th Anniversary tour in June that year, performing fan favourites and surprises in the first set, then their 1997 debut album 'Slightly Odway' in its entirety. To coincide with the tour, they announced that they would be releasing a new compilation album, 'Twenty', on 29 May.

In September 2023, Jebediah released "Gum Up the Bearings", their first new single in over a decade. That same month, it was announced that the band would be inducted into the WAM Hall of Fame that November. Following a national tour in support of "Gum Up the Bearings", the band announced their sixth studio album 'Oiks'. It is set for release on 12 April 2024 via Dew Process. To coincide with the announcement, the band also shared a new single entitled "Rubberman".

Members

Kevin Mitchell [aka Bob Evans] (vocals, guitar), Chris Daymond (guitar), Vanessa Thornton (bass), Brett Mitchell (drums)

SINGLES

Jerks of Attention

12 JAN '97

#62

Leaving Home

13 JUL '97

#48

Military Strongmen

23 NOV '97

#65

Teflon

30 MAR '98

#41

Harpoon

29 JUN '98

#46

Animal

23 AUG '99

#16

Feet Touch the Ground

29 NOV '99

#73

Please Leave

20 MAR '00

#53

Fall Down

5 NOV '01

#24

NDC

8 JUL '02

#92

First Time

31 MAY '04

#50

Anniversary [EP]

4 JUL '05

#86

She's Like a Comet

21 FEB '11

#47

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jebediah

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/