Bodyjar

Bodyjar are an Australian punk rock/pop punk band based in Melbourne. They began performing under the name Bodyjar in 1994; their previous names included Damnation and Helium.^[1] After a three-year hiatus, a new album entitled "Role Model" was released on 18 October 2013, together with corresponding tour dates.

History

Take A Look Inside

As of October 2013, the lineup of Bodyjar consists of vocalist/guitarist Cameron Baines, bassist Grant Relf, guitarist Tom Read and drummer Shane Wakker. Read replaced founding member Ben Petterson, who left before the release of How It Works, and in early 2004, Wakker replaced long-time drummer Ross Hetherington, who had been with the band since original drummer Charles Zerafa left after the recording of Take A Look Inside.

Rimshot and No Touch Red

Bodyjar gained public recognition around 1995, while touring with Pennywise and Blink-182. The band subsequently toured Canada, Japan and the U.S. in the following year, promoting the Rimshot album. Their third album, No Touch Red, was recorded the following year in Montreal over 12 days.

How It Works and Plastic Skies

Peterson left the band following the 1999 Big Day Out festival. Facing an impending breakup, the band added Read, formerly of 180 Discord, to the lineup. That year Bodyjar signed with EMI/Capitol, having completed 33 song demos for their upcoming release. Though independent for the majority of their career, Bodyjar released two studio albums for EMI/Capitol in the early 2000s. The first album for the major label, How It Works, reached the top 20 on the Australian ARIAnet albums chart in 2000 and achieved gold sales (35,000 copies). The album’s first single "Not the Same" was also featured in a Pepsi campaign and the video games Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and MX Superfly.

After their second major label album Plastic Skies and the retrospective Jarchives, featuring new and rare material, failed to build on the success of How It Works, Bodyjar returned to their former label Shock Records.

Bodyjar

They released self-titled album in 2005 after Hetherington left the band in May 2004 while on tour with The Offspring. Hetherington was temporarily replaced for the remainder of the tour by Gordy Forman of Australian punk band Frenzal Rhomb. The role was then filled by Wakker, formerly of the band Channel 3, and he was named the group's permanent drummer later that year.

Despite having their commercial peak seemingly behind them, Bodyjar remained a major attraction on the all-ages circuit in Australia, and continued to tour and play festivals. Selections from their discography have also been repackaged and released for the American and Japanese markets, where they have consolidated live followings.

Despite an announcement on the official Bodyjar website, as of 10 January 2008, a new album "looks to be shaping up for late in the year". However, the band announced on 4 September 2009 they would be calling it quits after a farewell tour.^[2] The band reformed for a one-off gig in April 2011 to celebrate the Royal Artillery Hotel (The Arthouse) venue's last drinks calendar.

Bodyjar reunited in March 2012 to perform No Touch Red in its entirety at Melbourne's Corner Hotel, together with former tour mates One Dollar Short and Antiskeptic. Regarding the show, bassist Relf remarked: "When a good friend of Bodyjar’s says they want to start a label and release one of your old albums on vinyl, you don’t have to think too long or too hard about the response. No Touch Red kicked some arse back in the day and still holds its head up high all these years later, so I say let there be vinyl and a show to boot!"^[3]

Role Model

As of February 2013, Bodyjar has performed as a support act for various touring bands in Australia, such as The Descendents. Read explained in an October 2013 interview that, following the Descendants tour, the band had "a little bit of money in the bank" and decided to write and record for a new album: "we just thought let's write some songs and if they are good enough we can record them and if they're not then we can spend the money on beer I guess. But they turned out really well."^[4]

Satisfied with their new songs, the band announced the release of a new record, "Role Model", which is the first collection of new material in eight years. The first single, "Fairytales", premiered on 12 September 2013.^[5] Prior to the release of Role Model, Read explained the motivation that underpinned the album:

... we had just finished the No Touch Red tour and I had a conversation with Grant about writing a fast kind of album like that, doing what we are good at and stop fucking around with slower songs and big rock riffs. Just do what comes natural and write for ourselves again. There is a lot of emphasis on having fun this time around, I think that has come through on the record. “Stop enjoying yourself and have some fun”.^[6]

Read also explained that Tom Larkin of New Zealand band Shihad produced the album at his own studios in Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia, and that the band referenced the sound production of bands Refused, Foo Fighters and Starmarket for the recording process. Joey Cape from US band Lagwagon and Ahren Stringer from Australian band The Amity Affliction contributed vocals to the album.^[6]

Bodyjar enlisted Australian independent music label UNFD to release Role Model on 18 October 2013, and bundle packages that include a skateboard deck, a t-shirt and a stubby holder were released. Baines enlisted Dutch design company ATTAK to create the artwork for the album.^[6]

Side projects

At the beginning of 2007, Baines and Wakker launched a side project called Cola Wars, a moniker that Baines has used for various projects since 1999—Mark Brunott (Automan/The Volume10/Steelbirds) and Mikey Juler (ex-For Amusement Only) complete the lineup. The band have played under other pseudonyms, such as "Daughters of the Rich" and "William Shatner's Dacks".^{[citation needed]}

Read and Relf's side project is called Burn The City, which also involves a former member of Australian band One Dollar Short on drums.^[4]

Personal lives

Wakker is from the Victorian town of Moe, and Baines's wedding to partner Regan occurred in late April 2012.^[7]

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

• You Can't Hold Me Down, 1993 (as Helium)
• Take a Look Inside, 1994
• Rimshot!, 1996
• No Touch Red, 1998
• How It Works, 2000
• Plastic Skies, 2002
• Bodyjar, 2005
• Role Model, 2013

Live albums

• Is It Alive, 2007
• The End Is Now, 2009 (part of The Hi-Fi Official Bootleg series)

Compilation albums

• Singles and Stuff, 1999
• Short Music For Short People, 1999
• Jarchives: 10 Years of Bodyjar, 2003 DVD release and album
• Time To Grow Up, 2004 (Brazil-only compilation with similar tracklisting to Singles and Stuff)

EPs

• Time to Grow Up, 1994
• Strange Harvest (limited edition), 1997
• You Got Me a Girls Bike You Idiot!, 2001
• You'll Never Kill All The Ants, 2006

References

External links

• Official website