Get Born: Jet returns for 20th anniversary of iconic album

Australian rock band Jet is coming to Canberra as part of the 20th anniversary tour of their breakthrough album Get Born.

The success of the single ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ off the album Get Born catapulted Jet to international stardom. Before that, they were just a bunch of young Melbourne rockers looking for their big break.

“I remember the first time we played a gig outside of Melbourne. We got a van, drove to Sydney, and stayed at this flea-bitten motel in Glebe. We were just drinking beers and enjoying every moment of it,” Jet lead guitarist Cameron Muncey told Region.

“I think we all slept in the same room!”

But Get Born changed everything. Muncey says it was a fantastic opportunity for the group to travel, meet new people and satisfy their curiosity about the world. The gigs in those days were “intimate, raucous and sweaty”.

“They had this kind of elemental, or primal feeling. It wasn’t fancy, and we didn’t want it to be! We were just trying to channel that energy.”

For this anniversary tour, the band is performing the entirety of the album, as well as their new single, ‘Hurry Hurry’, and a range of their other hits from across their discography. ‘Hurry Hurry’ is the first taste of new music from the group in over a decade, and the band is working on an album for release in 2025. Muncey explained that the time apart has enriched their songwriting.

“We’ve all gone and made a lot of music apart from each other, so we’re more sure of ourselves now … It’s got its own energy when you play in a room together, the fuss leaves and it’s just down to raw creativity.”

Jet’s lead singer, Nic Cester, has been living in Italy for the last 15 years, which inspired him to do a version of the Wilson Pickett cover of Lucio Battisti’s Italian classic ‘Un’avventura’, sung half in English and half in Italian. It’s the B side of the new single release.

Muncey describes their take on the song as a “straight down your neck rock tune” and says they had a lot of fun working on it.

Since the band broke up in 2012, Muncey has been spending time with his family, saying he was fortunate that the early success of Jet allowed him to spend lots of time with his kids who are “the most important things in my life”. He also focused on songwriting during the Melbourne COVID-19 lockdowns and said some of those tunes will likely make it onto the new album.

Although some fans might feel their age when they hear the 20-year-old ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’, Muncey says that the energy at their live gigs is as high as ever.

“There’s young fans and fans from back in the day. Lots of people singing back at us and lots of energy … We wouldn’t have it any other way: it’s almost like we’ve gone back in time to some of those intimate gigs I described earlier. I think we’re delivering the same feeling to people and you feel the same when you do it. It’s kind of an artefact in your mind that comes to life. It’s energising.”

While their fans are the same, Muncey says the music scene has changed considerably for younger bands since they started out. Musicians these days need to work harder on social media, marketing and self-promotion. He says they could see that shift start to happen early on and felt very grateful to have found success.

“When we were starting out, the dream was to get a record deal, make a record and tour … now [record labels] have less money to throw around.

“Sometimes you need a champion because you can’t do everything yourself.”

The Australian leg of the Get Born 20th Anniversary tour is nearly finished, with their second last show in Canberra on 7 June before they head to Europe and the States.

Despite their experiences touring worldwide, Muncey still has fond memories of Canberra.

“After [the last show we played in Canberra], I went to some local bars with a friend, just jumping around all the places that were still open. It struck me that from the outside, Canberra has this image of politics and being highfalutin, but this bar was so real and unpretentious.

“I enjoyed it. I got home pretty late. Lucky I had my own hotel room!”

Catch Jet at UC Refectory on Friday, 7 June. Tickets via UCLIVE.