Earlier this month, Jet shared their first new music in 15 years: a slinking, groovy rocker titled Hurry Hurry.
After two reunion tours of playing the classics, hearing something fresh from the band has led their still-dedicated fan base to sing the song’s praises… and bassist Mark Wilson hasn’t seen nor heard any of it, entirely by design. When asked by The Music if he was surprised by the positive reaction the single received, he immediately cuts it off.
“I have paid no attention to it at all,” he says matter-of-factly. “There’s no point. You just put something into the world and just let the world have it. If it connects with people, it connects with people. I got other stuff to worry about. We really liked the song, and we wouldn’t have put something out we didn’t like. If you’re telling me it’s had a good reception, I believe you.”
You can understand where Wilson is coming from. Despite their platinum certifications and ARIA Hall Of Fame membership, Jet’s 2000s heyday was unquestionably impacted by their snarky critical reception. Bring up the band’s unbreakable ties to a video of a monkey pissing into its own mouth at your own peril. “That’s part of it,” he says, “but also – more importantly – who cares? It’s a song! It’s not a big deal.”
Wilson is far more concerned with what’s next for the band, who reunited last year for a run of reunion shows celebrating the 20th anniversary of their beloved debut album Get Born.
First up is the conclusion of that celebration at the end of the month, which includes the band’s first US shows since 2010 and first European shows since 2018. “It’s a pretty decent five-week run we’re on,” says Wilson. “We haven’t done one like this in a while, and they’re getting a band that’s playing well together. We’ve all really been enjoying it – I think the biggest thing for this time around is that none of us have put any pressure on it. We just want to have fun on the job.”
When the band returns to their hometown of Melbourne, it will be for a new live show unlike anything Jet has ever attempted before: An orchestral show with backing from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Such an abstract thought had never so much as crossed the band’s mind before they were contacted out of the blue by Nicholas Buc – one of the MSO’s longstanding arrangers and conductors, having previously crossed over into the contemporary music world thanks to collaborations with Missy Higgins, Birds Of Tokyo and Vera Blue.
“He wanted to work with us on a show, and without thinking too much about it, we responded, ‘Sure, sounds fun,’” says Wilson. “He’s currently writing all the scoring out for all the songs, so we haven’t heard any of the arrangements yet. He has done this a million times before, so we’ve just kind of let him cook. It’s not like any of us know anything about being a composer or a conductor!”
Wilson is particularly intrigued by what Buc’s plans are for some of the band’s more rocking numbers – Rip It Up from Shine On, for example, or any of the big-hitters from Get Born like Rollover DJ, Cold Hard Bitch and of course Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
“Theoretically, it’ll be pretty easy to add the orchestral flourishes to our slower songs and our ballads,” says Wilson. “The rock songs are a little more interesting, though. Everyone who’s in a band wants to hear their songs in a special way, so I think it will be just as exciting for us as it will be for the people who are coming along. There’s a good buzz around all of it, I think.”
Jet will see out 2024 on the festival circuit for this year’s Good Things Festival alongside the strange bedfellows of Korn, Sum 41 and the Violent Femmes, among dozens of others.
They will then see in 2025 as part of the live entertainment for Summernats in Canberra, in tandem with other nostalgic Oz-rock acts like Thirsty Merc and Eskimo Joe. What then, for when the last roadcase is stored away and the lights come down?
As Wilson reveals, there might be a bit more where Hurry Hurry came from – and a fourth Jet album isn’t out of the question.
“We’d like to do an album,” he says. “Obviously, we could just spend our time putting out single after single, but I think people – especially people who like this band – want to hear albums. We’re all just bringing in new ideas now.
“There’ll be elements of our past in there – we are who we are, after all, and it wouldn’t make sense to come out and make a total left turn. At the same time, though, I think you’ll hear some change and some growth in the next music we put out. We’re a few years on now, with plenty more life experience to draw from. So, I guess we’ll see.”
Wilson seems hopeful for Jet’s future, which is absolutely more than can be said for the band that promptly imploded in the early 2010s after flying too close to the sun for its seemingly final years. It begs the question of whether Wilson ever envisioned so much as playing music again, let alone as a member of Jet when it all came to a head in 2012.
“When the band ended, I was sat at home for a couple of months just thinking, ‘what am I gonna do?’” he says. “We all had a lot of life stuff to work out. The years went by, we all grew up a bit and got a bit older, and you start to miss certain things. You miss the creative partnerships. You miss the alchemy. The inspiration took us, and everyone came into this reunion feeling good. We’ve been doing this just as much for us as we have everybody else.”
Catch Jet with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Friday, November 8th. The last remaining tickets are now on sale via Ticketek.
