Dolce Jeans
Skinny Jean received national success with there debut EP, 'Shiny Disc' in 2007 with a spot as Triple J Unearthed Feature Artist. In 2008 they came in at number two in 4ZzZ's Hot 100 with the single 'Anhedonia'. Since then they have been slowly finding their feet, recording their debut full length album, 'Dolce Doggerel' and getting ready for their first national tour.

Andrew Sydes is sitting in a pub in Sydney as the band get ready for their first ever show outside of Brisbane.

“We're waiting to go and pick up a vibraphone. We couldn't bring it down on the plane so we're hiring one. We're just here for one show at the World Bar in Kings Cross at an indie night called Mum. This is our first show out of state so we're all pretty giddy.”

Triple J Unearthed, once a haven for up and coming artists has grown into such a machine that success in this forum is fleeting. Skinny Jean are still thankful for the experience as feature artist.

“That was a definitive moment in our career. It didn't create the buzz we thought it might but it was at that point we thought 'well, this isn't just some kind of stupid hobby, we could start doing this more seriously'. We still have a long way to go.”

With the group’s members coming from diverse backgrounds of jazz, classical and traditional rock, the result is Skinny Jean's unique combination of avant-pop and post-punk. Despite being a relatively young band, Skinny Jean have been through a number of line-up changes with Andrew being the main songwriter.

“We had a lot of different values and musical direction in the beginning too. I'll usually bring in a song that's scored out with everyone's parts and then we may add extra bits later. Then we jam on it for a long period of time until we finally decide it’s sounding ok.”

Andrew says the band took a hands-on approach to the recording process, co-producing the album, and have high hopes for 'Dolce Doggerel'.

“We co-produced it with our sound engineer. We've got very strong opinions on the sort of sound we wanted. We hope to get a decent amount sold; we want to get some airplay on Triple J so that we can spread our name before the tour.”

Skinny Jean will launch 'Dolce Doggerel' at The Troubadour, Friday March 27 with Mr Maps and surprise, mystery band Clam Slam.