“After our album came out and didn’t perform the way that the record company or managers had hoped, we felt a little burned out by the process,” says co-frontman Marcus Azon. “Not only recording the album, but touring pretty heavily as well. During those summer festivals there were definitely conversations where the thought of another album, of going through that same process all over again, just wasn’t on the cards. It wasn’t interesting or inspiring to us in any way.
“Around then we parted ways with our management, who were wonderful dudes but we just had a creative split. From there we all started to get a bit busy with other things. It didn’t stop the writing, though. We’ve been writing non-stop. But it’s given us 18 months to really focus on what kind of group we want to be and what kind of music we want to be releasing.”
Two years have passed since Jinja Safari last released a single, and it seems fitting that the track to finally break the drought is titled Find My Way. It has been a see-sawing couple of years, with solo projects gaining traction and collaborations with other musicians taking root (in particular, Azon’s own work with troubadour Josh Pyke).
“I’m in a pretty transitory time at the moment,” Azon admits. “I broke up with my long-term partner a little while ago, so I’ve moved out of my place and back to Tasmania. I’m between there and one of our drummers’ couches. But even though this has been an awful experience, writing is possibly the most cathartic process I’ve found in my life, except maybe for performing. You can get out every thought, every phrase that you wouldn’t want to say to someone out loud.”
While you get the impression Azon is still putting the final touches on the artist he is turning into, it’s not hard to believe he’s on the right track. There remains, however, a streak of uncertainty and cynicism that Azon finds himself contending with every day.
“It’s an important part of being in a band. There’s the business side of things and the artistic side. But there’s also just being in a group. You need to take into account their lives, their dreams, the different personalities. You have to breathe and find the positives. See, constantly in my mind – even now, talking to you – I’m thinking, ‘How is this guy going to misinterpret what I’m saying? How is he going to take things out of context? How much should I be saying?’ And that’s a lifelong battle, because I don’t want to be so negative.
“My parents have this saying for me: ‘Kill the cynic.’ It’s not how I want to live. I don’t want to go to bed thinking about all the problems in the world, in my life, how dark and draconian our government is, how messed up and political our music industry can be. I want to keep open eyes and meet new people, experience new situations. And you can’t if you have your head down all the time, focused on the problems that may arise. That’s no way to live.”
BY ADAM NORRIS
