Jackson Jackson - Idle hands are the Devil’s workshop.

It was a fateful day when Harry met Jan, on a nut farm in New South Wales, all those moons ago. Innocuous enough at the time, neither of them were to know what would come of the union of the insane genius known as Mr Angus, and one Mr Skubiszewski “a renowned producer of hip-hop and other oddities, he’s done a lot of film music and just a general all round nice guy. Great golfer.” The outcome, Jackson Jackson, is a phenomena both terrifying and fascinating, at the inception of what is sure to be a long evolution. “There’s more to come, much more, we just need some spare time, just a little bit of spare time…”

In the short spurts of spare time they’ve had so far, Jackson Jackson has managed to throw together a lot. They started with a backing band, made of Melbourne’s infamous prog-electro powerhouse The Genie. Then came the five piece backing vocals line up know as the Jackson Jackson 5. “People keep telling us that they got nightmares after seeing them, and they keep getting compared to banshees, but they’re actually just four very attractive girls and one strapping young lad in red robes. Oh, and they can sing.” There was also a sell out tour of the east coast. “I think a lot of people were curious to see how we would pull this off live, actually we were curious too… we’ve heard from a few people that they really enjoyed it at the time, and then had nightmares later, so we’ve started describing it as satanic feelgood music.”

Not forgetting the full length album, The Fire is on The Bird. Featuring tracks foretelling the end of the world, sexual relations with lesbian revolutionaries, bad dancing international societies and other social warning messages, you have to wonder about what possesses these young lads. “Some people find the idea of a subterranean civilization of humanoids invading the surface of the planet ominous… personally, I think it’s unlikely to happen. But I can assure you we weren’t all that depressed when we wrote the album, quite the opposite… I mean, we’re not brainlessly feelgood, but we’re not exactly lying in a dark room paralysed by our own sense of impending doom, are we? It’s an apocalypso fiesta.”

All of this is laced with a dry humour directed at both the world and the self. The sound is unique, with most descriptions degenerating into a Batman comic of boing and zwing. “I think the sounds and the lyrics work well together. We’re coming from a surreal sci-fi analogical angle, so the beats, blips and general state of ‘millenium falcon’ disrepair sit quite well with the lyrics” In third person it doesn’t translate, but in person, the power of the music is unbelievable. More than just the usual bass and drum combination to get your arse moving, there’s a white noise connection that comes from Jackson Jackson direct to the level of your subconscious. The devil’s on that level, and it’s a place that they’ve deliberately chosen after seeing another mind blowing artist in the town of saints. “MIA was our big influence.... I see her as making music that will be recognised in the future as being the music of these times… We wanted to do that too. With a bit of bad sci-fi and some 70’s stage musical moments thrown in for good measure.”

The electronic sounds and left of field perspective reminds me a little of the 1980s hit Star Trekkin, but Jackson Jackson have gone so far beyond novelty tracks. They’ve examined the human condition on a new level, and through humorous and stinging diatribes, set to spine penetrating, catalectic sounds. They are intelligent, evolved, but insane.

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