Bodyjar: In From The Cold.

Bodyjar

Bodyjar play Ozziefest at Aussie World, Ettamogah Pub on Saturday and Livid on October 12.

Bodyjar frontman Cam Baines has a cold. And he’s got about two days to get over it before the band are back on the road. Cause it’s just not going to happen while they’re touring…

“No matter how much orange juice I drink… I’ve been laying off the booze and smoking and everything. I’ve got this theory that if you don’t challenge your immune system, it wont help you. You’ve got to challenge it. Every time I go on tour I try to be healthy – no smoking, lay off the drink, eat healthy – I always get sick. You’ve just got to do what you usually do, I reckon. Go it bit harder.”

Since the release of their new album Plastic Skies, and subsequently rockin’ single One In A Million, the Melbourne based act have spent upwards of six weeks on the road.

“It’s the longest we’ve ever been on the road in Australia,” he asserts. “The show’s have been the best ones we’ve ever had. The first part of this tour was all regional, and you can go to quite a lot of regional places. All these weird places no one goes to. We hit the road about three weeks after the album came out. I think the hardcore fans got into it straight away.”

Do you think that Plastic Skies (which to my ears is arguably right at the top of this year’s pile of melodic punk releases) is the obvious direction Bodyjar were heading when you listen back to the last couple of releases?

“I think it’s not as slick as regimented as How It Works. There’s a bit more of a live feel. It’s a bit heavier, lyrically there’s a bit more substance, and I think better songs. You like to think as an artist you get better with each album, so we wanted to make it more interesting for people that bought How It Works.”

It almost sounds like you’re not to happy with the last record in retrospect…

“Actually, I really dig that album. I really like it, and I think we really needed to do that at the time. It’s melodic and catchy, and that’s what we wanted to do; we wanted to make an album with twelve singles on it. We didn’t want to make a record that takes you on a journey or any of that shit,” he laughs. “We just wanted to put together the best songs we had at the time. This time it’s a bit more of an album.”

Is it hard to sequence an album?

“Fuck yeah. We always have heaps of arguments about what we’re even going to record out of about 40 songs, which is usually just 14 or 15. Then what are we not going to put on the album. There’s a few things that I’m not happy with, but it’s a democracy, so… There was a B side on the last album called Halfway Around The World, which made it as a B side to Not The Same or something, but I reckon it’s heaps better than a couple of songs that made the album. Everyone puts in a list, and we make compromises.”

What happens when you can’t agree.

“We usually arm wrestle,” he laughs. “I think it just comes down to who can argue the best. We’ve never had things come to blows. There’s lots of full on physical fights, but it’s just joking. There’s never been a serious fight. I think if we have to travel in the Channel V bus again I think it will. That was pretty close, cause we were just living in each other’s pockets. That’s why now, at the end of each tour, everyone pretty much does their own thing.”

What else are you involved in outside of Bodyjar?

“I’ve got a thing called The Polar Wars. We’ve done a demo with three tracks. Ross has got this sort of metal thing called Hammer & Anvil. They’ve only got two songs that they’ve demoed, but one of them’s a 14 minute epic with a big storm at the start of it,” he laughs. “You can hear hammers beating away. It’s fully like Iron Maiden or something. The story of Angus McBlack… Grant, our bass player, he’s fully old school metal. He loves it.”