“This whole thing came about in such a funny way,” bassist Mark Wilson observes of Jet’s upcoming, one-off, Australian exclusive Melbourne Symphony Orchestra show featuring classical versions of their songs arranged by conductor Nicholas Buc.
“We were getting inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame [in 2023] and a guy from the orchestra, who was nominated for an ARIA, came over ‘cause he recognised Louis [Macklin], our keyboard player, from their kids’ school – their kids go to school together.
“He just introduced himself and started chatting to all of us, and then a little bit later on in the piece he came up with the idea of getting us to do the big show at Sidney Myer Music Bowl! It was pretty fortuitous, really.
“It’s funny, because as you get a little older you start meeting people in all different kinds of ways, and it’s not necessarily meeting down the pub like when I met these [Jet] guys – you meet people at kinder, and, you know, we’ve met people all over. So this one was definitely by virtue of one of our members having children at the same school – that started the conversation,” he says, laughing incredulously.
Jet and the MSO
- Date: Friday 8 November, 7.30pm. Gates open 5.30pm
- Venue: Sidney Myer Music Bowl
- Tickets on sale now, visit mso.com.au
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Wilson first met his future Jet bandmates – the Cester brothers, frontman Nic and drummer Chris plus lead guitarist Cameron Muncey – at a Melbourne venue: The Duke Of Windsor (now Lucky Coq). “That was kind of our clubhouse,” he points out. “We did all of our original meetings with US labels sitting on kegs in The Duke’s back room, just crowded around an old speakerphone.”
On the recent extended edition of Jet’s rapturously received 20 Years Of Get Born Australian tour – which included many regional dates – Wilson reflects, “We didn’t do a lot of those regional shows back in the day, because we’d always tour the country like we were an international band. Working so much overseas, we’d come and play Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and then leave and go to the UK or to Japan or something rather than doing those regional runs.
“Doing the regional shows is such an important part of Australian music touring and we had a ball! They were all great shows – they were packed, they all sold out – and we just can’t wait to keep playing. Obviously we need to get an album out, but currently we’re still working on that.”
Jet’s first studio album in over 15 years is scheduled for release next year and, back in May, they dropped a brand new 7” single – exclusively on vinyl, for now – titled Hurry Hurry (Australian Tour Edition). “We had a limited amount available online, which were on coloured vinyl, but you could only buy the normal ones at the shows,” Wilson reveals. “We wanted it to feel special, old-school. We used to do that anyway, so we thought it’s a bit of fun and we just wanted our loyal fans to get their hands on them first.”
Un’avventura, Hurry Hurry’s B-side, is a cover of a cover: Wilson Pickett’s version of the song as performed by Lucio Battisti at the 1969 Sanremo Music Festival: “[There’s] one piece of footage from it and Nic loves it. So we actually pulled out that song and recorded it half in Italian, half in English, ‘cause Nic spends half his time over there in Italy and half here in Melbourne.”
So can fans expect to hear an orchestrated version of Hurry Hurry at their upcoming MSO concert? “Yeah, definitely,” Wilson confirms. “I think by then it will be out on all the streaming platforms as well.”
When asked what the plan is for curating their MSO-enhanced setlist, the bassist reckons “it’s about the mix”. “We do have a lot of ballads – Look What You’ve Done, that’s easy to understand; you could throw all types of stuff at that – but leaning into those rock’n’roll songs you would never even imagine orchestrated would be pretty special. Nic [Buc, MSO conductor/arranger] said he loves doing those ones that are a bit more challenging for him, too. I really wanna know what he’s gonna do with Cold Hard Bitch!” Wilson admits, cracking himself up.
“We’ve never played live with an orchestra before so it’s a very different scenario: 80 people behind you playing, it’s pretty amazing… I’m really looking forward to the process of rehearsals just to see how the nuts and bolts work. I think the rehearsal room we rehearse in with the MSO is Hamer Hall, so it’s pretty bougie!”
Kind of the polar opposite of The Duke Of Windsor, then? “Yeah, totally,” he agrees.
“I was chatting to the French horn player when we did this photoshoot – which is funny, ‘cause he was actually French! [laughs] – I was like, ‘So how long do you rehearse for the show?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, sometimes we just do it on the day of the show. Or sometimes just the day before – one run-through.’ It’s all written out for them, so it’s completely different – [they’re] just basically making sure, you know?”
So can Wilson sight-read? “No, no, I can’t even read – I’m dyslexic,” Wilson explains. “So I can’t read music; none of us can.”
Jet and the MSO rock the Sidney Myer Music Bowl on Friday 8 November. For tickets, visit mso.com.au.
This article was made in partnership with the MSO.
