Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at b.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
How do the wed how be heal? What in the
(00:38):
New Zealand You were? Jack tam Over a decade of
experience under their belts has seen Australian pop dance royalty
the Jungle Giants grow from simple lovers of music to
fully fledged artists on the world stage. They had our
Bananas year last year, a massive year playing shows, headlining
festivals from Hemisphere to Hemisphere, and now they are bringing
their positive energy to New Zealand with shows in Wellington
(01:01):
and Auckland. Jungle Giants frontman Sam Hales as with us
this morning, held.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
A good morning. How are you man?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Yeah, very very good, Thank you man? You knowed the kyoda?
Well done. They've spoken like a man who knows his audience.
But how how do you find that your reception here
in New Zealand? How do you distinguish it from being
at home?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
I mean it's really nice and every time we come
to New Zealand we've just been saying people coming at
every show, which is actually really lovely.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I think.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
I mean, obviously in New Zealand people love music. You
can tell like culture. It's really awesome. I've got a
couple of Manti friends that live for their music, and
you can really tell when you go people like remember
every lyric, everyone's always dancing. It's always a great reception.
So for us, every time we get to New Zealand
is an actual huge pleasure.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, you have had a pretty significant eighteen months or so.
Those fans have been waiting a wee while for new
music and you have just released something which I know
everyone has delighted about. But how are you physically because
you had a pretty rough experience on a jet ski right?
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, well that was like was that
like a year and a bit ago now? But yeah,
I was shooting a film clip with some friends for
a Bank of confidence man, and my job for the
day was to ride a jet ski wearing like a
hat and like overalls and boots, which turned out to
be the dumbest idea of all time. And yeah, all
(02:33):
I had to do for the morning was just circling
yacht at high speed.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
And say that, you say all I had to do?
All I did was circle a yacht at high speed?
Am I an experienced ski rider?
Speaker 3 (02:45):
No?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
What could possibly get wrong?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, yeah, and like it was like it was the
best morning of my It was like sunrise circling yacht
high speed. I also loved to go far as jet
ski is really fun. It was like the second time
I've ever been on a jet ski as well. Anyway,
I came off with like high speed because I was
just loving the speed of this thing. Anyway, boots are
for anyone out there. Boots are the worst idea on
(03:07):
a jet ski. I didn't know that, but it is.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
So Yeah. Ended up having to get.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
A full reconstruction of my my ankle and I was
I was were filming at the Gold Coast, so I
kind of just got Luckily, my mom lives in Brisbane,
so I just got stuck in Brisbane for like three
months after that.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
It was it was hectic, but I did all my rehab.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
I did everything I need to do, and now that
ankle is like better than the other one.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's like titanium leg.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yeah, dude, that's a really full on experience. And I
can imagine that, like talk about going from like not
zero to one hundred, putting it in reverse, like one
hundred to zero your back you're rehabbing and stuff. So
did you like, was that kind of like from a
creative person specificive, Was that a tough thing to go
through to be to be waylaid like that?
Speaker 4 (03:55):
It definitely was like I was about to go on tour,
so that was a that was kind of hard to stomach,
you know what I mean, Like putting everything on hold
creatively pretty stifling, like you know, when kind of bedridden,
it's hard to feel inspired. But I luckily I was
really nice, Like the band are so lovely, and a
couple of them came from Homer.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
They got all my microphones everything that I like to
record with, and they flew up to meet me and.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Just dropped off everything. So I said, I'm kind of
like a cool little bedroom studio while I was there,
and also just I gotta I got an Xbox because.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
At a time like that, it's like all you can do,
you know what I mean. So I ended up playing
a game called Red Dead Redemption.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
Yeah, and I was at my mum's place in a
while and she she loved watching it because it's just
like beautiful horses.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
In the countryside.
Speaker 4 (04:44):
So yeah, it was like a lot of just like
making music as most they could, and they're just gaming,
just to keep myself saying, well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Obviously it worked out. If your ankle now is stronger
than the other one, then the knit result of this
experience is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, to talk to us a little bit about about
the relationship you and your bandmates have, because it seems
to me a pretty real thing to meet so young
and then to endure as you guys have.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, I feel really lucky.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Like we all met at school, I was the great
above all the other guys, and when I left school,
I was going to start a band, but I couldn't
really find anyone in my grade, but was interested in
doing music like that.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
But I can. I met the guys before. They're all
the grad below, and I just I kind of individually
hit them up. And we were fifteen and sixteen at
the time.
Speaker 4 (05:36):
And we realized the other day that we've been in
a band from like half of our lives, which is awesome,
and we're as close as ever, like we're all best friends.
Jasira's like been my best friend for like fifteen years now,
and I feel really lucky because no matter what happens
on tour, we love hanging out together. So, like you know,
it's quite lovely. And no matter what happens, we know
(05:58):
how to support each other. We don't how to press
each other's buttons. It's like a really like, really happy family.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
And I think it really affect the music as well.
Speaker 4 (06:07):
Everyone's so supportive and like we see eye to eye,
which is awesome.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
That's interesting. Tell me how explain to us a bit
more about how it fixed the music.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
Well, I think it's just nice to know that it's
a safe, supported place. Like, for instance, with me making music,
I like to change the sound according to what I'm
into at the time, and when you first start out music,
that could be kind of confronting, do you know what
I mean? Like our first record, a lot of people
would have assumed the second record should be exactly the same.
(06:37):
And what I kind of naturally discovered was it just
makes sense to make the music you really like, even
though it can be risky at times. And the band
was so supportive even though it was spooky and risky.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
They were like, just do what feels good. We got
you back.
Speaker 4 (06:53):
And for me, knowing that support network is there makes
me feel just free to adventure and experiment, which is
like a really lucky place to be.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So that's really interesting because I can imagine that there
are partial upsides and potential downsides creativity from a creative perspective,
because you know, in some respects, having some tension is
good when you can push, when you're pushing back against
each other and saying, oh, actually, I think we need
to tweat that. I need to tweak that. But in another sense,
being so safe with the other people who you're performing
(07:24):
with to be able to just take massive risks and
know that there's not going to be any judgment or
anything like that, that you actually give an absolute total
creative freedom to go off in a completely new direction.
That that's must be liberating.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
It is great and.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Like, and don't get me wrong, like we do, you know,
we do offer insights and constructive criticism to each other.
Like I remember when when I made heavy Hearted, which
is like our first dance song really you know, previously
that it was like more rock based pop stuff. And
I remember Andrew, my bass player, was like, dude, like,
we can't, we can't release this as a dance music
(07:59):
and I was like, no, I think it's fine, Like
I just I really like this. I think it's like
well crafted, it feels like exactly what I want to do.
And we just had this back and forth and in
the end, like I think he more understood, like it
was a bigger part of the record. But I really
did like that conversation because he was like, dude, this
is dance music.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
I know. Like, yeah, I think we're doing dance music now.
But yeah, you know, I.
Speaker 4 (08:20):
Think we're all kind of used to the idea of
making the music that feels good first.
Speaker 3 (08:25):
You know what I mean. I think that's the best
thing you can do for your fans is make music
in love.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, it's honest, which is what people want. It's authentic. Right,
who's changed the most since high school?
Speaker 3 (08:36):
You know?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
It's funny, like none of us have changed. Like it's funny.
I feel like we're all the exact same people. I
will say, maybe Keeling, our drummer. Yeah, he's a very
similar guy. But he's just added like a lot of
elements to his life. Like he's just about to get
his pilot's license. Yeah, he's like he's just like the
(08:58):
bad grillers of the band. He's just got all these
like adventurous things.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
He likes.
Speaker 4 (09:01):
He likes bows and arrows, he loves going on like
like three week camping trips with like no food and
like figuring it out and the hunting and stuff. I
think for him, he's definitely gone a lot that kind
of way. He's become more bad grills as the years ago.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
He should probably have been the one on the jit
Ski one hundred.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
He would have been fine too.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Hey, you guys said that writing residency in LA recently, right, Yeah?
How was that?
Speaker 3 (09:28):
It was great? Yeah? Yeah, I spent like, I think
it was like eight weeks in La.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
It kind of went in with just the plan to
set up some co writes for people and it was
really fun. They spent a lot of time writing with
Chroma Sparks over there What's so not as well, and
it was just really nice.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Like for me, I was.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
And then experimental part of the record was trying to
figure out, you know, maybe there'll be some collabse I'll
figure it out as they go and actually hold my hand.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
The new single was a product of that. Chip. There's
a there's a really amazing artist.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Named Running Touch from Oz and he comes from more
of like a death metal background, yeah, in the work
with it, but the way he produces vocals are amazing.
So that was like one of the first kind of
production collabs I've ever done, and I loved it.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
It's like a successful trip, I think.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
And if you compare that to the safety of creating
music with the band when they all know you so well,
how did they compare.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
It's you know, it can generally feel the same depending
on how you choose your people.
Speaker 3 (10:30):
You want to write with.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
I think for me, it's like it's like a date,
you know what I mean, Like you go on a
date with someone you're interested in, someone you think is cool,
And it's the same thing with some writing, Like if
you get a good vibe from that person and you
could potentially be friends, then more often than not, the
session will go well, you know what I mean. It's
just like that. It's just like a friendship. So I
was kind of like it. I met a lot of
people and made a lot of friends on that trip.
(10:52):
And again, it's just the same thing as like, bully
your gut and if you feel good about that person,
even if they make really different music, you can make
something cool.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Yeah, you can. Still there's no kind of barriers to
the chemistry, right, even even if they come from a
totally different background. Yeah, so good so what can we
expect from the New Zealand shows.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
Oh, well, this is we're just integrating my hand to
the set, which is which is going to be really fun.
And it turns out we've we've we've started dabbling in lasers,
I think.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Yeah. In Wellington and Auckland, Yeah, we.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
Have this lighting guy that is like the best type
of mediac He just loves like everything, he loves like
all the machine in tech and he's just like he's
just found these lasers that apparently not many people have used.
So it turns out like in New Zealand we're going
to be thrown down some lasers.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
So expect that. Bring your Sonnies, I guess.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I like that. There's hands some Sunds
fan tested. Well, we're delighted to have you here. I'm
really pleased that you are back releasing music. I'm really
pleased that you're that your ankle is better, and we
can't wait to have Jungle Giants here very soon.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
Thank you so much. Ben.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
There to Sam Hales from Jungle Giants. They're playing Auckland
and Wellington and shows next month. We have all the
details on the news Talks EDB website.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talk SEDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio