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but getting airplay on Groove FM and Nova and also being asked by
random employers when they’re going to release an album.
“We’ve mainly been [getting gigs] by word of mouth,” says older
brother Jon. “We’re really slowly but surely developing a
following and getting it out there. I went for a job interview the
other day and the last question she asked was ‘when is The Hill CD
coming out?’ It [the job interview] wasn’t about music or anything
like that, so it threw me off guard. I guess people are starting
to know about us, which is strange but surreal at the same time.”
As only families converse, Jon and Jarred discuss where Jarred was
actually born. Jon: “You were born in Queensland weren’t you?”
Jarred: “I was born in Subiaco”. Jon: “Were you?” [Surprised tone]
Jarred: “Yes I was.” Jon: “I can’t believe I didn’t know that.”
Jon explains the dynamics between the two of them. “It’s funny but
I don’t think we’ve ever had an argument in our lives. We often
skirt around a lot issues, I can get quite moody and I really try
to ride him and I can see he gets frustrated. [Both laugh] It’s
probably a good thing we’ve gotten to understand each other a lot
better. Music brings us all together,” says Jon humorously and
they both start laughing.
So how is it different, producing music with your brother over
friends? “There’s a difference,” says Jon. “Musically I started
performing with a group when I was around Jarred’s age or a little
younger, in an acapella group in Queensland. They were just mates
but things didn’t end that well and I don’t think that necessarily
happens with your family. Families are more important than
anything and to be doing this with my brother is awesome. “We’d
perform in the kitchen and Jarred must have been quite young,
eight maybe, and he’d want to perform with us. We’d go ‘come on
little man, come on brother’ and he’d love it. I really think that
planted a seed for him. After that he’d go to school and start
groups with his friends, show ‘n tell things. I think it’s a
beautiful thing, coming full circle. He wanted to sing with all
the big fellas and now we’re doing it together. The strange thing
is, I had a problem with performing for many years for various
reasons after leaving the group, and my brother got me back into
it. I have a lot of respect for Jarred because he has no fear at
all.”
Jarred continues, “We’re a good combination, we’re brothers
obviously, but at the same time we’re best friends.” Jon finishes,
“And musically we work so well. I’m the control freak [laughs] but
generally we work really well together.” There are eight years
difference between Jon and Jarred. They both play a variety of
instruments, piano, guitar and drums. “We’re pretty terrible
drummers but we claim to play,” laughs Jon. When they perform the
rest of the band often joins them, there names all eerily starting
with the letter ‘J’; another John on guitar, Jesse on drums and
Jamie on bass. “We started off writing hip hop and R&B with those
kinds of beats and harmonies but we’ve sort of grown from there.
We’ve kept the harmonies and now it’s everything, blues, rock. For
instance we listen to Stevie Wonder, classic music and bands like
Interpol and White Stripes. You can hear a lot of different
influences in our music. I’d like to say we have matured and
become more than something than what it was. I’d like to say that
[laughs Jon]. There’s a lot of rich harmonies and I guess that’s
the trademark of The Hill. There’s lots of piano and guitar, you
can always hear little riffs, which is typical of our music I
guess.”
Jarred agrees and adds, “Our songs are quite different to what we
entered in last year’s WAM competition.” Jon: “The two of us have
been writing for a fair while. It took us about a year and a half
to actually record our first song, simply because we didn’t have
the means to do it and didn’t have the skills and the
understanding to be honest, that was four years ago. Funnily
enough, well I guess like anything, after two years we’re just now
finding better ways to record. Jarred: “We’re a lot more
productive these days, we’ve realised our priorities.”
The two of them tell me they write the songs together and no one
really takes the lead except for the lyrics, which Jon admits is
something he takes a dictorial stance on. His brother nods in
agreement. “I enjoy the craft of the word play, I listen to a lot
of people with longevity and look at the way they’ve crafted
songs. I can’t necessarily write the same songs but it’s the same
elements, whether it be pain, loss, love, whatever. We write about
all sorts of stuff. Some are more complex lyrically but others
have very simple lyrics. We then catch the emotion through the
melody.”
Everything in life is now geared towards The Hill, music and the
arts in general and both of them feel like nothing else in life
could truly satisfy them. “At first we started to go for what we
thought people wanted [to hear] but now we just write what fits
us. They [the songs] are catchy and likeable,” says Jarred. Jon:
“Luckily”. Jarred: “Maybe we’re wrong, maybe people won’t like
it.” [Laughs] Jon: “Well you can’t guarantee it but we’ve always
had really good receptions to our songs.” And so the enjoyable
banter continues. Jarred: “Both Jon and I are pretty critical of
ourselves but I think each time we have a gig now, we’re much
tighter.” Jon: “You can really feel it, for instance at the last
gig, it just felt, I dunno like we went from one level of
togetherness, we just got rave comments from people saying, ‘you
guys have just improved immeasurably’. And it wasn’t like we
didn’t know. We just knew afterwards, it was really satisfying.”
And so with an album’s worth of songs, the two brothers just want
to record their CD and make a living from their music, not Lenny
Kravitz style or anything, but just enough to live. They tell me
they talk about it constantly and Jon says, “If Jez and I are
going to be doing it together, well it’s just really helpful
knowing we’re both on the same page.” Ah now aren’t they lovely? |
