Extend your summer and stave off winter just a little longer with the Corona SunSets Presents tour series, this year taking pop rebels The Jezabels on a massive national tour.
“We're coming together for the first time in a long time,” guitarist Samuel Lockwood says.
“Hayley [Mary], our singer, has been living in Scotland, so we're back to do Bad Friday [in Sydney] and the Corona SunSets tour, and just see how we go together again.
“We're obviously still really close friends and we hang out, but it's just the whole music thing – we just want to take our time with it, do it well and see how we go, and if the creative juices are flowing we'll do some more work.”
The upcoming March-April tour will be the first live outing for The Jezabels in a number of years. In 2016, the band reluctantly cancelled their tour for third album 'Synthia' when keyboardist Heather Shannon required immediate treatment for ovarian cancer.
In the years between, Sam has spent his time on solo projects as well as reintegrating back into normal, everyday life after having been on the road touring with The Jezabels for such a long time.
“I have done some film scores, I've been doing some production stuff and writing with other artists,” Sam says.
“I've been writing a lot with Al[ister] the singer from Cloud Control, I started studying – it's been good to get back to other stuff. I've been filling up my time with a lot of music and a bit of work and study.
“To have a successful band and a band that's growing and maintaining a career, you literally have to do nothing else. You can't do anything other than be on-call all the time for any opportunity, any tour or any show.
“By the end of our almost ten years spent on the road, we missed having friends outside of our touring party, playing sport with people and even having a casual job or a room in the house. So it's been nice to get back into society.”
After an extended absence from live performance, Sam says he and the rest of the band are relishing the chance to return to the stage and play for their fans again.
“We're pretty stoked to be asked because it's a really good opportunity. The shows are all free, it's just incredible,” he says.
“Getting to regional areas is something we're always keen on doing... it's awesome to get out there and go to these places that are a bit strange for a normal touring route. We're weighing it up and we're probably going to play a mixture of all our recordings, the stuff people want to hear.”
Their appearance at Corona SunSets could be one of the rare few left for The Jezabels as the respective members each continue to pursue their personal aspirations outside of the band. “I'm going to release some solo music hopefully this year in some form,” Sam says.
“I've done some collabs and I'm finalising it, but I've also been producing another artist called Black Tree, which has been really good.
“I've also been co-writing with others artists and working behind the scenes; my favourite part of music has become the studio and writing. I really enjoy pop music and studio work, so I've been getting deeper into that.”
