Interview with JINJA SAFARI

Jinja Safari are stirring the pot at the end of the rainbow. This band have been on a magical adventure with bands like  Boy & Bear and Art VS Science as well as playing major festivals across the country. For a band that’s almost brand spankers they have been going bananas and selling out headline shows. They’ll be gracing the shores of Byron for their ‘Locked By Land Tour‘. The show is next Friday the 25th of November at The Great Northern and you can get your golden tickets HERE.

For the Byron show Yes You from Brisbane will be sharing the evening as well as our man Tommy Franklin WILL be there to boogy – up a storm with the guys. 

Triple J seem like massive supporters of Jinja Safari and in particular the Unearthed Program, can you tell us a bit of how this all came about and your thoughts on Unearthed?

 I don’t think we really deserve all the kindness that Triple J have shone our way since we started. When Marcus and I were first writing together in early 2010, we uploaded Peter Pan onto Unearthed but never expected anyone to actually hear it or like it. When we discovered our music was getting played on the radio, we soon realised that we had to turn into a real band and share our forest pop tunes with people other than our proud mothers.

You’ve released a few Eps to date … and now the album. Can you explain a little about the way you’ve put the new album together?

I like to think of ‘Locked by Land‘ as a collection of songs rather than an official album. Earlier this year we leaked a free track each month as apart of our ‘Mermaids and Other Sirens EP’and as little treat to those who had been supportive to us in our first year of being a band. So the album is a mix-up of these songs, some fresh new tracks and remixes as well as the first EP we released.

There is definitely a lot of action happening on stage in the Jinja Safari live show. Who’s the main song writer in the band and how do all the different elements come together to produce the sounds?

The songwriting process usually involves Marcus and I throwing ideas at each other via email or in my home studio until we have something we both like. We try to avoid using an exact formula and don’t care if we make a song impossible to play live because it frees up all limitations and stretches our imaginations when it comes to the live translation. Once we hand the songs over to Joe, Jacob and Alister, the songs become wild and have a rebirth of energy.

Pepa you play the sitar in the band, I’ve seen a few pics on The Jinja Safari Facebook recently trying out a few new sitars in India. Whats the inspiration to use this instrument and your connection with India ?

I have always been so fascinated by the strange instruments you can find around the world. I got my first Sitar imported to Australia about 3 years ago now and ever since I have been craving to travel India and buy all of the instruments I can. I just got back from 6 weeks in this magical country and scored myself a new sitar for this tour as well as a harmonium, flute, bells and a tabla. I also met a guru called Bablu in Udaipur who taught me how to play the sitar. Im still not very good though.

You guys have just SOLD OUT the Metro Theatre in Sydney on the tour recently. This is a massive achievement for a band. How did it feel walking out on stage to a full Metro of screaming fans?

After living in a completely different world for so long and being so detached, it felt really surreal to come back home and play to such a loud, responsive crowd. We were all buzzing from nervous energy and were excited to play our new set for this tour.

Your new clip for the single ‘Sunken House‘ from you new release ‘Locked By Land‘ was shot in Byron Bay and features the one and only Dancing Tommy Franklin !! Can you tell us how this all came about?

We were really lucky to shoot with Tommy and in such a beautiful place like Byron Bay. It was only the day before shooting that I called Tommy and asked him if he could feature in our new film clip. I knew him from growing up on the central coast, north of Sydney, and had been blown away by his dancing Youtube videos. He brought so much joy and enthusiasm on the day of shooting and it is exactly what we are trying to reflect in our music.

I know you guys also love a good dance on stage… Did Tommy give you some tips?

Unfortunately no but if we are lucky maybe we can receive some dancing wisdom off him when we arrive in Byron. Because we are all terrible dancers.