Juiced Up!

Bluejuice are the messy house party you want over at your place every weekend. Sure, they'll fight, spit, drink your booze and hit on your partner, but goddamn you'll have a good time when Jake Stone and Stav Yiannoukas come-a-knocking.

“We were just like we are, just going to face fuck you - literally that's all it was about,” kicks off Stav about their early on-stage presence. “That was our mission, with no regard for quality of songs - just relentless. Whereas now, it feels like it builds to a point then we’ll fall away, and then build to a point and then stop for a bit.”

And while for the band this maybe true, on the basis of their last show at The Zoo (a full dick in mouth extravaganza - complete with crowd surfing collisions into the walls of the venue - if ever there was one) it’s hard to tell the difference in their live set. But the guys are nothing if not persistent.

“For the first four or five years of the band (the physical experience) was all it was about because we didn't know about anything else,” Stav says. Adds Jake - the more verbose of the two - “It's like last night, it was great, but we came off completely shattered - we completely monstered it but I think we need to find some middle ground.

“(It) just depends on the gig; after some I just don't want to talk to people. More often than not now we have really good shows - we are trying to relax a little bit more now but for me doing shows is cathartic enough and we create that party atmosphere with the crowd so well now that I don't have to do anything after the show.”

This evolving approach to their live set is indicative of the way the band is growing up and trying to find new ground on its new album, 'Head Like A Hawk', while still not distancing themselves from their shits-and-giggles party boys rep. But what else would you expect from a band who wore its rank amateur status as musicians on their sleeves when they kicked off the band a couple of years back?

“Except for Jerry the keyboard player and James who is a jazz and session drummer, other than those two guys in the band, basically (we) became a whole bunch of people who were doing this for fun even though my sister is a professional musician and we have always been around a lot of professional musicians. It wasn't really about that, it was more about getting up and enjoying ourselves. And as a result other people enjoy themselves - it's infectious.”

Damn straight it's infectious. It's hard enough following Stav and Jake in an interview let alone a live gig; at times the conversation breaks down into quick arguments over whether they fought more during this album or their first, then quickly bucks back into gear, only for Jake to wander off mid-sentence riffing about how the last six months have been the toughest of his life. If you like the roller coaster then strap yourself into the Bluejuice express, but just remember you can't get off between stations.

“We also want to get to the point were there is the crowd reaction, the vibe but having that other side (to the performance) as well. With this record there are melodic songs that are very technical and we really have to get those parts and the melody. My mission is to get them to like us, or not like us.”

So hopefully you get it by know. Sure they can come across as a pair of leg-humping dogs on stage, but no doubt the boys are smart as shit. They get how to deliver 'it' on stage. How to deliver lyrically on songs like 'Broken Leg' as well as their rep for putting out the maddest film clips. Underestimate them at your peril. So how do they sum up the new album then?

“This is really a break-up album for people who like to dance.” Bring it on.

Bluejuice's newbie 'Head Like A Hawk' is out September 19 through Dew Process. Catch the guys when they play the Fresh Festival, on the Gold Coast, October 17 and the Hi-Fi October 23.