Jet Inspired By Nuggets Compilations For New Album

If you were disappointed about Jet calling off their sold-out show at Toronto's Guvernment nightclub, the band are just as upset as you are.

"Oh man, it's such a bummer," says drummer Chris Cester.

"During the Irving Plaza show in New York, Nic's voice started to give out rapidly towards the end of the concert.

"He went to the doctor the next day and was told that he had laryngitis. You can't keep going because, obviously, we have to think about the next one or two years."

The drummer has some good news, however.

"It wasn't cancelled, though, it was rescheduled. We'll be back in around November to play that show, so the tickets are still valid as well."

If things had gone according to plan, Toronto fans would have been among the first to hear live material from the band's new Shine On album, and would undoubtedly have been surprised at the shift in Jet's new material. According to Cester, it took the band numerous tries in numerous cities to find the direction they were looking for.

"It was up and down. The first part of the process was when we took a holiday as a band that was supposed to be a photo shoot for GQ, but we turned it into the beginning of the making of Shine On by asking them if they'd organize some sort of vintage equipment and recording equipment to be there while we were shooting. The next time we met was in Massachusetts, which we all now affectionately call 'Massive Useless,' because nothing happened.

"After that, we went back to Melbourne, to go, 'Let's go back to the beginning to see if we can find any sort of inspiration from that,' and we did. It was beneficial. We started to get somewhere in Melbourne, then went back home, and the next time we met was in Los Angeles, then another break, then Los Angeles again. After the second time in Los Angeles, we were ready to go into the studio."

When the Aussie quartet finally buckled down and started recording, they drew from a broader source of inspiration, which may help put an end to the AC/DC comparisons.

"We started listening to a lot of Captain Beefheart and Everly Brothers and Phil Spector-produced bands," says Cester. "A lot of what I would call Nuggets-y bands, you know, from the Nuggets compilation?

"I think those Nuggets compilations have some really psychedelic, interesting things. Just some genius stuff in there, man. Chocolate Watchband 'Sweet Young Thing,' all that stuff. A lot of it is punk, man. There's a lot of attitude in a lot of that stuff."

That attitude is showcased most clearly on the album's first single, "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is." The song certainly rocks, but with a keener sense of melody and harmony than the macho bravado of their garage band brethren.

"I really don't like the term 'garage band,'" the drummer interjects. "Who really starts a band in a fuckin' garage? Nobody. It's just a stupid term."

Nomenclature aside, the band are obviously excited to let people hear their new material.

"A lot of my friends who I gave the record to last week [weren't saying anything], and I was like, 'Fuck, does no one like it?'" Cester worries. "Just now they're going, 'I've listened to it four or five times, I fuckin' love it, it's so much better.'

"We had to search a little more deeply and, in the same way, people are going to appreciate this record."

Jet also promise to return to Canada once their fans have become more familiar with the new material.

"For the record, in Australia we say, 'I'm gutted,' and I am because we've spent so long, as we've talked about in this interview, making this album, and to be nine shows in and have something go wrong, it's like, 'Fuck, man! How could this happen?,' says Cester.

"But, whatever, we'll be back in late November. By the time we get back, everyone'll know the songs."