FOJP’s 5th Birthday

This month, five years ago, Friends of Josh Pyke began. (a quick run down of the past five years is here)

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY FRIENDS OF JOSH PYKE!

To celebrate FOJP’s fifth birthday our website has been given a little make over (thanks Meary!) But we wanted to do something else for you all (because we’re nice people!) and with that we can announce Josh will be writing a tour diary! (pre-tour diary entry & details below)

Now excuse me while I reminisce about the past five years & say my thanks..

It’s kind of funny how much influence music can have on your life, and how much Friends of Josh Pyke has influenced mine. I don’t think 15 year old me had any idea of what lay ahead, or even that this would still be going, five years on.

In a nutshell, I’ve made some great friends (including my best friend!), become even more obsessed with Australian music, been inspired to get involved in the music industry and now have a tonne of amazing memories.

On that note, there’s a few people I’d like to take the time to thank…

Thanks to Mary, although it’s been a few years since her involvement, she played a vital part in starting all this, and I’m lucky enough to call her a friend. Thanks to Robert (Meary) for all his hard work on the website & for the support from day one.

Thanks to those at Josh’s management (past & present – Gregg, Michelle, Matt, Killian and Brodie) for the support & encouragement from the beginning (..and for putting up with all my emails) Thanks to Ivy League for the constant online kudos. Thanks to Pyke’s band, Matt, Russell, Josh (& past members Jason and Bryce) and tour manager Dave. Thanks to the past FOJP reps (Brad, Kate, Sarah, Katie, Siobhan, Jess, Fay, David & Bob) and those in the JP forum. Thanks to my family & friends for the support & for putting up with me constantly talking about FOJP over the years.

And thanks to you. Yes, you reading this. Friends of Josh Pyke was never intended for just one, or two fans but for all of us. So whether you’ve been here since the beginning, or if you’ve only heard of us recently. Thank you. If you’ve looked at the website, interacted with us & other fans on Facebook/Twitter, or if you just admire FOJP from afar. Thank you.

Last but not least, Josh Pyke. There’s a lot to say thanks for, Josh. I owe you a drink sometime and I’ll tell you my thanks in person.

Anyone who knows me will confirm how much I love Australian music. It’s been absolute pleasure supporting my favourite musician over the past five years, and I’m grateful for everything that’s happened.

Here’s to another five years!

-sabi

(Josh Pyke’s Only Sparrows Tour Diary will be exclusive to the Josh Pyke Forum. To access the forum, head here & join the fan club. Any problems please email us.)JOSH PYKE’S PRE-TOUR DIARY: FRIDAY 2ND SEPT.

There is so much that goes on behind the scenes when an album comes out, and when a tour is being organised, so i thought i’d share with you a bit of what’s being going on.Question: If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is there to hear it…does it make a sound? 

Well, it probably does, but no one ever gets the chance to hear the beautiful crushing, crunching, demise of that once straight limbed timber.Releasing an album without doing promo is a lot like that. In that, without telling people about the album you’ve just spent all this time making, far fewer people will have a chance to hear your work. So, i have been hitting that promo trail, and hard!

In the last couple of months, i’ve done well over 100 interviews, for print, radio and TV.

Small community radio stations, to commercial juggernauts. Free street press, to media giants. Late night TV, to Prime Time chat shows. It’s all a bit insane, and frankly I’m fairly sick of the sound of my own voice, BUT, when the album debuted at number 4 on the Aria Charts, it became clear that It was all well worth it.

I’m so proud of this record, and i really want to tell as many people about it as i possibly can.

The flip side of doing all that promo, is that you’re totally opening yourself up to criticism of this work that you’ve just done. It’s part of the job, and nothing to complain about, but pretty bloody scary!
Thankfully the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. The best response i’ve ever had for one of my records in fact.

More importantly to me though is how non-media listeners have responded. Via things like Twitter and FB, i’ve had the most amazing feedback, such positive and generous praise for this record, and that really, truly does make everything worth while. Thank you.

Another part of getting the word out there is film clips. 
I shot the clip for NOWAL a while back in Melbourne, and was really pleased with how it turned out. Simple, classy, and a bit quirky, (like a good meal i reckon!)

I know i’m never going to top that bloody guitar boat, so wanted to deliver something very different.

Monday this week saw me getting up with the birds and driving out to Scheyville National Park, to shoot the clip for World is A Picture. It was a long day, which featured, remote control helicopters with cameras mounted to them, a jumping castle, hand held streamer cannons, and of course me. Can’t wait to see how it turned out.

I already have a great idea for the next clip. I want to do Punch in the Heart as the next single, and i have a clip idea to go with it. I haven’t actually mentioned any of this to my label yet, but I’m sure with a bit of the “old JP sparkle” i can get them to agree

Picture a split screen shot of 4 boxes, each showing 4 band members going about their business. 
One of them is me, and i’m on the phone. The phone rings in the other 3 split screen boxes, and simultaneously, my band mates, Matt, Josh S and Russell, pick up their special hand sets, reserved for this very special call.

3 voices chime nervously: “Hello?”
1 voice answers….my voice: “Boys, It’s time, dust off your duffel bags, It’s time to get the band back together!”
3 voices answer confidently: “Sir, YES SIR!”

That’s how i choose to remember it all going down anyway.

Less than a week to go until I’m back on the road with my trusty band.
We did a media launch in June at the Vanguard in Newtown, (one block away from where i was living in when i wrote Our House Breathing,) but apart from that there has only been one full band show since NYE 2010. And of course before that, it was the Variations Tour. So, to say it’s been a while between drinks is an understatement, and people, i feel like getting drunk!

Rehearsal has been great so far. The new songs are sounds awesome, and the old songs sound fresh. The REALLY old songs are strangely enough sounding like brand new songs, which is always good.

I really felt with these new songs that the album versions are snapshots in time, but don’t need to be recreated perfectly in a live context in order to do them justice. So, we have been mucking around with arrangements, instrumentation and live harmonies, and it’s sounding pretty damn sweet. The guys in the band are without a doubt some of the most talented musicians in the country and i feel very lucky to have them in my band.

Little known fact. Before every show we sing the theme song from the 90′s cartoon, “The Gummy Bears”. I don’t know why, nor do a i question. I simply sing.

Straight after this tour, i’ll be heading back to the UK to do a tour with friend and Pom, Mike Rosenberg, or Pasenger as you may know of him. It’s going to be a lot of fun. I will be jet lagged the entire time, but i’m hoping that will add a “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” element to the tour that can only help the “bad boy of folk” reputation i have over there. I think that all started with the whole colonial convict Australian thing. Anyhoooo….

So that’s it really. An overview of what has been happening since I left the studio, and emerged back into the real world, new album in hand. It’s been super hectic, very exciting and hugely rewarding to get this record out. I feel physically exhausted already, BUT i feel creatively energised, and already have new song ideas starting to float around in my head.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who has bought the record, bought tickets to the shows, sent messages to me about their favourite song, or simply told a friend about the music.

See you from next week on the road.

‘Til then!

JPXX