BLUE JUICE [22:08:07] HOW JUICY CAN YOU GET Sydney based hip-hop funksters Blue Juice would have to be one of the most un-pretentious bands around. One glance at their album cover, actually you need to look at the back to get the full picture, and you will realise that these guys are all about partying, good times and not giving a shit about what anyone thinks. With their single 'Vitriol' racing up the charts, it seems success is on their party agenda, something that has taken even them by surprise. "We have been surprised by the reaction, but at the same time hopeful, 'Vitriol' was something that we were hoping would do what it has done, but it has definitely exceeded our expectations. I think Triple J has been flogging it incessantly which is nice, it just helps everything when they do that," says vocalist Jamie. Despite the recent airplay 'Vitriol' has given them, it has not been an overnight success for the five boys from Sydney, in fact it has taken them nearly six years of playing gigs and a few E.P's along the way to get where they are today. During this time the band's sound has grown and expanded, combining several different genres into one cohesive whole. "I'm not actually that sure that we are that cohesive at this point," laughs Jamie. "We kind of started out as a slightly horrible, funk instrumental band, and got progressively angrier and weirder as the years progressed to build up to what we are doing now. We're not trying to be all experimental; we're still a slightly shameless pop band I think. I don't know, we have sort of been this hip hop band trying to not actually be a hip hop band, so we have been writing some rockier stuff, I guess our sound is just something that comes naturally," says Jamie. With so many styles in the band the question comes about; who does BlueJuice cater for? Do they gear themselves more to the club / dance scene, four on the floor with all the ravers? Or find themselves sweating it out in the rock scene catering to all the boozed up punters on the pub circuit? "It's definitely worked out to be more of a rock show. There's a lot of yelling and falling over and jumping on things, so it doesn't really go down well in the club scene, we have emptied a lot of clubs though," says Jamie. This cheeky, yet honest response is the exact attitude that makes BlueJuice so refreshing. A band that can come along and claim to be the remaining members of Daryl Braithwaite's band Sherbet, is surely able to give everyone a good kick up the bum, and is exactly what the music industry needs as we drown in a sea full of pretentious posers. "We are still fairly serious about writing the music I guess, but it's not going to end up being looked back on by scholars in fifty years with any sort of interest, I don't think. It's probably not the deepest music you are ever going to hear and that's why we try to make it funny without, I don't know how to describe it, without taking the piss out of ourselves too much," says Jamie. Nathan Dover Bluejuice play @ The Alley Bar September 1 and Miami Tavern September 2. back to top ^

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