Spread out between Melbourne and Hobart, instrumental jazz group the Julius Schwing Trio aren’t letting geography get in their way.
Spread out between Melbourne and Hobart, instrumental jazz group the Julius Schwing Trio aren’t letting geography get in their way. "Two thirds of us are based here in Melbourne. Hamish (bass player) just moved here in the last six months and Julius is still living in Hobart," confirms drummer Konrad Park on the current locations of the threesome. "I spent a lot of time in Hobart growing up, teaching and really having an eye for musicianship and who’s doing what," he remembers on how the group came together. "I always had my eye on these cats and I think it was purely a matter of timing. I was doing some demo’s for his (Julius) progressive modern rock and I’d go in and do the demos with him and then we just kept getting stronger in terms of the music that he was writing and the opportunities that came up for me to play with him. So the music eventually got good enough that it seemed to make perfect sense that we should play together."
Recruiting bassist Hamish Houston to round out the group, they then quietly started working on creating instrumental compositions that encompassed all of their collective influences. "We’re playing music from all of our favourite influences into our writing, Konrad explains. "So not really speaking so much from a genre-specific angle, but just really trying to be ourselves and just playing a glorious fusion of different influences that we’ve naturally picked up. Between Julius, Hamish and myself there’s a lot of different influences, a lot of music, so it’s really a heady mixture of powerful instrumental playing."
Konrad is adamant that what the trio are doing differs from your standard jazz group and the three musicians are certainly trying to push the boundaries and defy the limitations of the genre. "There are musicians that have a jazz sensibility but were really just bringing all that sensibility to breathe through a lot of very powerful electric influences, almost like a punk-ish element."
Although relative newcomers to the live circuit, the band have already made some notable inroads with the highlight undoubtedly being a set they played atop the rooftop stage at the Mona Foma festival in Hobart for the opening of a mulit-million dollar arts museum. "[That was] the best festival I’ve actually been in. For the trio it was incredible because the rooftop stage looks right out over the Derwent River and in the backdrop was Mount Wellington," he says.
The trio are certainly keen to start making an impression on the Melbourne scene and having been here for the first time last December they are set to make another appearance this month at Spensers. "An important part of this gig for me is actually the connection," ensures Konrad. "Connect to meet new people and new players and really try and support local instrumental music and really develop some kind of community."
And despite the group being separated by the Tasman, Konrad and his band mates don’t see any need to relocate to Melbourne like so many other bands do. "For now we’re just happy to get Julius to come over here when we play gigs in Melbourne." As for organising and finding time to rehearse, that doesn’t seem to be a problem for the trio either. "Yeah we just have one (practice) before the gig usually and then get straight into it!"
The Julius Schwing Trio will be playing with special guests Bill’s Pigsty Furry at Spencers Live on Thursday March 17. Tickets are available from spencerslive.com.
