The Brag

Bodyjar
Not The Same. Still As Good.
By Tom Hoare
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was released in 2002, and it held a special significance for the gaming world: it was the last game released on the N64 in North America. But while it heralded the North American demise of one timeless ‘90s cultural artefact, it signalled the dawn of another: Bodyjar. Previously unheard of in the States, Bodyjar were fast-tracked to new levels of global recognition after being included on the game’s soundtrack (which was incidentally as awesome a soundtrack as any game has ever had; The Nextmen, Rollins Band and Del the Funky Homosapien all made appearances, too.)

In Australia of course, Bodyjar were already widely-revered punk legends. How It Works, the commercial peak of the band’s career which featured Pro Skater 3’s chosen single ‘Not The Same’, had already been out for two years – and although this was the effort which brought the band into the top 20 of the ARIA album charts, devoted punk fans had been aware of the ‘Jar since their ’94 debut proper, Take A Look Inside. These days, the boys live on the fringe of people’s cultural consciousness; far from being some forgotten relic of a decade gone by, but
still a scarcely mentioned piece of Australian cultural lore.

Since their farewell tour in 2009, Bodyjar have snuck under the radar, content to spend time with their wives, their children and their side projects. But following a one-off impromptu gig at the farewell to Melbourne punk mecca The Arthouse, the band are reuniting once again to play a show at The Gaelic Theatre this Saturday night. Calling me from his pad in Melbourne, lead vocalist Cameron Baines jovially explains the band’s decision to play the gig: “We just got an offer to do it, and it sounded like a bit of fun. I rang up all the other guys to see if they were free, and luckily they were. We’re just gonna play what people wanna hear.”
When I mention Tony Hawk, Baines gushes about the heightened recognition the game brought his band. “That was pretty much the only way people knew who we were in America. We didn’t get any radio play there, so that was pretty much the only exposure we got. That’s how we got signed to Nitro in America, and how we ended up doing the Warped Tour in the States – we got heaps of emails about it, referencing the game, it helped a lot. We got paid bugger all for it, but the exposure we got was awesome.”

People forget these days just how big Bodyjar were at their peak; through the late ‘90s and early ‘00s the band toured with Blink 182, Pennywise, The Offspring, Korn and Marilyn Manson. Surely there are some mental stories from the band’s time as the Australian reps to the global punk scene? “Blink 182 were pretty mental when we first toured with them in Australia, and any time we’ve been to Japan it’s always gotten pretty mental. You do your gig so early there, and then when you’re finished you go out, and shit gets out of hand… We were out in Japan with some Canadian band once,” Baines relates, strategically neglecting the specifics, “and we went to this place called The Rock Rock in Osaka, which is like this legendary rock bar – they’ve had people like Freddie Mercury and all the Metallica boys in there. We were smashed and these guys tried to kick off with us; it ended up with one of the guys from the Canadian band shitting his pants at the bar.”

But Cam insists those days are over now. “I think of that as a chapter in my life that’s closed. We’ll probably just do the odd show here and there every now and again, and I think that’s better – just coming together and playing what people want to hear instead of trying to remake what we had. If we tried to come up with a new album now… I mean, we just don’t have the time to put into writing the songs.” So no chance whatsoever of Bodyjar ever putting out another album? “Probably not. I won’t say never ever, but I can’t see it happening.”

As one of Aussie music’s Old Guard, who played at some of the classic Big Day Outs around the turn of the millennium, I ask for Baines’ opinion on the state of Australian music festivals today – but he confesses to no longer being much of an authority on the subject. “I think it’s in a pretty good state – I heard Homebake are doing a kind of ‘classic edition’ thing this year … [But] the older you get the more you start listening to old shit. These days I probably buy one or two new albums every few months.” Still, Baines acknowledges the influence Bodyjar have had on the newer generation of pop-punk outfits. “A few American bands, bands like Good Charlotte, definitely have little bits of Bodyjar in there, and I hear it in Kisschasy as well. It’s rad; it’s the highest form of flattery.”

Although their recording days may be behind them, Bodyjar’s sporadic live appearances (though likely to be few and far between) should still draw a big fuss from old-school punk fans. And if not from them, I’m sure there are some Tony Hawk diehards who’d be more than up for a blast from the past.

With: Skyway and One Vital Word
Where: Nowhere @ The Gaelic Theatre
When: Saturday July 23