The Superjesus On The Money Tour…

Hot off ‘kickin’ arse’ as special guests of KISS, THE SUPERJESUS are two dates in to the ‘MONEY’ Tour 2023 with DALLAS CRANE. Since bursting out of Adelaide in the mid-’90s, The Superjesus have had nine Top 50 hits, two Top 10 albums, placed five songs in Triple J’s Hottest 100, won three ARIA Awards from eight nominations, and been inducted into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame. It’s been quite a ride and there are many more chapters to be written in The Superjesus story this year with a new single Money (We’re Only In It For Love) out now and more new music to come this year. A rejuvenated Sarah McLeod talks about the tour and the new album with Hi Fi Way.

Great to be talking to you. It sounds like it’s all happening for the Superjesus kicking off 2023?
Yeah, well, it’s time. You know, we’ve, we’ve taken a long time off, it’s time for us to pull our socks off and get serious again.

With a couple of new players in the band in Murray and Cam, what do both of these guys bring to the band that you may or may not have had previously?
It’s lovely having a fresh energy with guys who are really into the music, really into the songs that we’re playing, really easy to work with in the studio. We went in and we pretty much just all sat around in a circle, and we would pull up the demos. Ruddy and I had been writing for the last ten years or so, so we had a lot of songs to choose from. We would pull up a song and we’d all sit around a circle and then we would learn it together. It was like this is what track we want to play. What do you guys think? We’d sit around, we’d learn it, and then everyone would start sort of chiming in ideas and everybody was so lovely and respectful. When someone was talking, even if you had an idea, everyone else would wait for their spot. It’s really beautiful chemistry what we’ve got going on now.

The songs that you had for the album that you have written over the last ten years, will those make the album or do you totally start afresh?
Um, no, we’ve got some, some very good stuff in our arsenal so to speak. So we are definitely using a lot of the songs that we have written before. We’ve got some bangers in there that we are pretty excited about, but we have revamped them with the new band and get everyone’s feel on the new tracks with fresh energy.

Is this more of a Superjesus 2.0 with a harder rocking sound?
It’s not hard rocking, although it’s maybe a little bit more punk. It’s got a lot of quick songs. It’s more energetic, I think is the word I’m looking for.

Was there anything that influenced the direction or is that just the way that you have evolved?
I think it’s just the way we feel at the moment. It’s an excited record. You can hear it. It’s energetic and it’s full of excitement and the songs are full of excitement. It’ll be really good live.

How is work going on the album and what stage are you at with it?
We’ve finished seven tracks so far. Receiving the first mix of the new single in my email box was a pretty exciting day. I’m very happy!

With the ups and downs The Superjesus have experienced is this the most excited you have been in a while?
Yeah, I think so. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs. Our career has been very turbulent, and we’ve had a lot of successes, but they all came into price and there was never, there was never a hell of a lot of joy in any of those years, and we’ve learned a lot from that. We’ve evolved as musicians and as people, we very different people to what we were then. I was excited to be in a band. It was all fresh and new for me back then, and I do remember that excitement, but there was a lot of darkness around what we were doing, like, within us, within the band members and the weight that’s been lifted and the beautiful fresh energy that we have at the moment, and the excitement of it is not something I’ve ever experienced. It’s different to the excitement of your first band because it comes from having been hurt, it comes from pain, and then overcoming it, gaining wisdom, and then finding peace and joy and love and you craft again and having a second shot at the title. It’s a really good feeling.

With the benefit of experience and looking back is there anything you would have done differently?
That’s such a good question. I don’t even know. My first gut instincts, there were so many things that we did wrong that I think if only we had done it this way, if we had taken that direction, you know, we could have done so much better. There were some pretty fundamental decisions that were made, pivotal decisions that were made that changed things greatly when we were young. Maybe, I think there are some things that I would change. I’d like to say no, but I think that there probably are things that would change, but every stepping stone is a learning curve, and I’m grateful for having whatever learning curve I’ve had along the way, albeit a long and drawn out one. It’s brought me to where I am now and I’ve never been happier.

The tour is going to be fantastic, there must be a little bit of pressure going on after Dallas Crane?
They are a very good band, aren’t they? I know they’re going to put the wind in our sails. I think it’ll be great because I love playing with other musicians that I respect that I want to impress. If I’ve got somebody around that I want to impress, I’ll just give it everything and then some, because I know that there’s people watching that I respect their opinion. I think both bands respect each other musically. It will be a cracking tour because everybody’s going to be giving it every single piece of their energies. They’ll keep nothing in the tank.

With a refreshed line up do you start looking at touring overseas and taking it as far as you can?
I think so, yeah. I would never have said that a year ago, people have asked us about overseas touring. We always just go, no, what’s the point? No one’s going to come, who cares? We just didn’t think that it was a vibe. I’m so confident in where we’re at now and the new band that I feel like it’s in our pathway to just keep at it. Just give it everything. This is the time to give it everything. That means going everywhere and playing to as many people as possible.

What the plan beyond the tour and when do you think the album might be out?
I think there will be another single another tour. I think the record’s probably going to be out later in the year. Now that we are just getting so creative, I think we’ll just keep making records now. We’ve got loads of songs, so we’ll just keep going. We’ve found a really good recording dynamic and it’s working and it’s fast, so I think we’ll just continue doing that because everybody’s getting a great deal of musical satisfaction out of it.

In the age of Spotify playlists and the like do you still believe in the concept of an album?
Yeah, well we are very much about the album on this one. We will put it out on vinyl, we have put out some singles, some EP’s since Rock Music was our last full length record twenty years ago. We’ve put out knickknacks since then because everyone was saying there’s no point, no one cares about records. Just put out a song here, a song there just enough to get by, just enough to keep the people coming through the doors so we can tour. Then we were like, nah, I don’t want to do it like that anymore. I know that’s probably what you should do because it’s Spotify and everybody buys albums and whatnot, but who cares? To me, an album is a landmark. It solidifies a piece of history. It’s a place in time. I remember where I was when that album came out, and that album means something to me. Not that song, it’s a whole record, it’s a body of work. It’s like giving birth to a creation. It’s a bit of a big deal. I don’t really care what the new blueprint is these days. I want to put out a really solid record.

Interview By Rob Lyon

Catch The Superjesus and Dallas Crane on the following dates, tickets HERE…