“WHO IS JACKSON JACKSON"
“Where can we go from here, the end of the world?
Love is the only thing that survives when all else is gone.”
- Harry Angus
TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL is the substantial sophomore album from JACKSON JACKSON. After the groundbreaking explosion of creativity that was their first record (THE FIRE IS ON THE BIRD, 2007), JACKSON JACKSON have taken a step back, refined their sound, and kept the promise they made to us the first time around.
Harry Angus (The Cat Empire) and Jan Skubiszeweski (Hip Hop producer and film composer) met in 2002, when Jan was Assistant Engineer on one of Harry’s records. After four years of individually honing their talents and carving names for themselves in music, they decided to work together, and Jackson Jackson was born.
Their first album (THE FIRE IS ON THE BIRD, 2007) was a musical achievement that tore apart genres, matching Skubiszeweski’s world-class wall of noise production techniques with the lyrical and vocal styling of a mad but funky prophet. Spearheaded by lead single CATS RATS AND PIGEONS, and followed by the turbo-ballad ELIZA, the album was met with critical acclaim and an ARIA NOMINATION, making many critics list of the best albums of 2007.
On stage, Jackson Jackson feature some of the finest musicians in the country. With their rhythm section and a mini-choir known as the JACKSON JACKSON FIVE, Angus and Skubiszeweski have created a formidable live experience. Each member of the JACKSON JACKSON band is an accomplished solo artist in their own right. Together, they carve up dance floors across the country.
When the time came to begin writing for TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL, Jan and Harry decided they needed to take full advantage of what the band could do, which took the music into new and surprising directions. “We wrote with the band in mind, we wrote for the choir, we wrote for a rhythm section that can provide an indomitable wall of sound,” says Jan. The result is an album full of sweeping ethereal harmonies, undermined by dirty electro beats.
In the Studio, the Jackson Jackson boys work fast. "We had a pretty clear idea of what we wanted to achieve," says Jan, "so we didn't waste time with ideas that weren't right." The album was recorded in various locations across Melbourne and beyond. "We only needed a few things," says Angus. "A couple of vintage synthesizers, a guitar, and some friends." These "friends" include sitarist Kumar Shome, Brazilian percussionist Nehda Rahmani, and the usual checklist of highly skilled musicians that make up the Jackson Jackson live experience.
As well as refining the textures, Jan and Harry had a clear agenda about what they wanted to say with this music. Where THE FIRE IS ON THE BIRD shows us the end of the world in all its fiery mayhem, TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL is about something much simpler, and perhaps even scarier – love.
“It’s always been hard for me to write about my own feelings,” explains Angus. “You want a song about a subterranean race of people invading the surface of the earth? No worries. You want a break-up song? Well… that’s a lot more difficult for me.”
And so, from their humble beginnings as social prophets of the apocalypse, JACKSON JACKSON found themselves the accidental prophets of love. TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL is packed with love songs that are dark and bright in turn; love songs with twisted thumping electro beats for heartbroken dance floors, interspersed with slower, more gentle and optimistic songs.
For inspiration, Jan and Harry mined their own lives, their own loves, good and bad. “Harry was learning how to fly as I was learning how to fall,” says Jan.
It’s not all gloom though. The title track TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL is a bold harmonic masterpiece that takes on the future headfirst, and finds that everything is going to be OK. “We wanted to make something heartfelt, and just concentrate on good melodies and good arrangements, and let the music speak for itself,” said Jan.
“You can’t fake songwriting. Wanting to write an album about love, wanting to touch people, it doesn’t have to be a grand process. It’s about talking about your feelings.”
And if this is what feelings sound like, then JACKSON JACKSON can talk about them all day. TOOLS FOR SURVIVAL gets under your skin. It’s an album to make you fall in love for the first time, to lose that love, mourn it and start all over again. The fact that the record is going to fill dance floors over summer doesn’t hurt either.
JACKSON JACKSON are:
Harry Angus (vocals, acoustic guitar and synths)
Jan Skubiszewski (electric/acoustic guitars, synths and beats)
Ollie McGill (keyboards), Ryan Monro (basses and guitar), Will Hull-Brown (drums)
Chantal Mitvalsky, Elana Stone, Rebecca Ari, Karishma Sadhai, Rory Osman (choir)
