Australian rock legends The Superjesus are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their landmark sophomore album, Jet Age, with a national tour that kicks off in Brisbane tonight, June 5.
Released in October 2000 through EastWest Records, Jet Age marked a massive creative and commercial evolution for the Adelaide-formed band. Following the gritty, raw, grunge-fuelled success of their 1998 debut album Sumo, The Superjesus faced heavy industry pressure and unexpected internal turmoil. This included the departure of founding guitarist and co-writer Chris Tennent.
Rather than collapsing, frontwoman Sarah McLeod and bassist Stuart Rudd recruited new guitarist Tim Henwood. This lineup change completely transformed their musical direction. Moving away from the heavy distortion of the ’90s grunge era, they embraced a more sophisticated, melodic “dark pop” and alternative power-rock aesthetic. The shift paid off brilliantly; Jet Age debuted and peaked at number 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart and officially reached Platinum status.
The album delivered some of the most enduring rock anthems of the turn-of-the-millennium era. The soaring lead single Gravity became a definitive radio staple, landing at number 17 on the Triple J Hottest 100. Other massive tracks like Secret Agent Man and Enough To Know solidified their status as titans of the Australian live music circuit, a position where the band has remained to this day.
HEAVY sat down with bass player Stuart Rudd to talk about the album and the history of The Superjesus, at one point asking about the emotional side of doing an album anniversary tour.
“Just going through the songs is kind of reawakening these tunes that have sat dormant for probably since we… some of them we actually haven’t played live since we recorded them,” he smiled. “So to reawaken some of these songs is fantastic, and it’s sounding great. We’re always keen on doing this sort of thing and touching back on the history. We think it’s a great vibe all around, just connecting with the audiences.”
We reflect back on the pressures on The Superjesus when making Jet Age, particularly after the universal success of their debut album Sumo.
“We’d just come off the back of touring worldwide, so we had been on the road for 18 months,” he recalled. “Maybe more. It was hard. I know touring sounds like a dream – and it is – however, if you’re sleep deprived for 18 months, it can be quite an insane experience. We came off the road, and it was time to write because we hadn’t been writing on the road. We’d just been touring, touring, touring, so yeah, it was difficult. And it was one of those things where we lost a band member through all the touring and the pressures of the road.
It was a real roll up the sleeves effort, and we moved to Melbourne on this one just to get out of the comfort zone and find a new guitarist, then start working the only way we knew how. The only way we knew from the inception of the band was to roll up our sleeves and get the work done, and that’s what we did. We listen to the album now through rehearsals and touching back on it, and we’re super proud it.”
In the full interview, Stuart talks more about Jet Age and the process behind it. We run through the album and his personal favourites, focusing on the live component and bringing the music to life. Stuart spoke about the history of The Superjesus and the pressures on the band following the massive success of Sumo, detailing how Jet Age had to be a step forward for the band and more.
Tickets for the Jet Age 25th Anniversary Tour can be found here: https://www.thesuperjesus.com/
