Let me down Jungleman

Where is jungleman?

As I sit alone outside a small truckstop, in a strange fishing village watching the cold southerly wind blow up from the southern ocean I began to think the whereabouts of jungleman. For the last three days myself jack and friends have been stranded with a broken car in the archaic horror story town of Port Arthur. Neither of us expected to become so stagnant in this diverse land but we’ve made the most out of a place which is a blatant homage to tourism and it’s need to divert us away from the horrendous events of the not so distant past towards the romantic and ignorant. Over the last three days we’ve paused, given time to consideration and reflected on what’s been done in the past 12 months. After 11 000 kilometers, 4 east coast tours, numerous trips to Melbourne and many a broken mornings I feel as if we’ve pushed a stave into the beginnings of something that will just hopefully keep on rolling on..
In a months or so time we’ll be releasing a years worth of work….. Six songs!
Alas, how many more could be done. Two days isolated between morbity and paradise, undercided towns, silent locals, a thousand songs but hell maybe we’ll get two out of em.’ The point is while jungleman has been on hiatus we’ve realized that while these six songs are the most effort we could do at the time, there are too many songs out there to stay restless for any longer. So with a bottle of jamesons and a holiday without cares the fated year of 2012 could not be welcomed with any less sense of excitement that brings about a new year.

As I finish off this grand vision, were escaping away from a desolate coast, racing the dunnalley spit saying goodbye to the dark past ushering in some sought of hopeful future. All in all if theres anything I’ve learnt from the last few days is don’t ever get yourself stuck in Port Arthur cause hell! You might just never leave….

Tathra Hall 9nd of July

‘Tathra Hall boss-hogged by Eagle’s, Unicorn’s, Devil’s and Junglemen. All in a chilled manner’

So the kids were getting restless. School was out. Like the sound of paradise ringing in their ears, the bell had sung and finally the holidays had fallen upon their weary souls.. but what to do? Maybe a swim at the beach or even a mainy in the pulsar…No!!! The word was Tathra Hall was going to be subject to a rock show donned, ‘chillfest’, with six bands! Four of which were trekking down from Sydney led  by original coasties, ‘Let me down Jungleman’, awaiting their delightful homecoming. The kids went crazy.  They rocked up like a Trojan cavalry,  in they went under the guise of chillers but inside the hall they exploded! Hells own, ’Uphills, always’ commenced the proceedings with a rap rock style reminiscent of Cypress Hill. They were followed by local legends, ‘I Soar the Eagle’, who were clearly feeling the love from the hungry hungry crowd.  By this time Tathra Hall was rocking in full swing. 200 feel good kids were grooving like they had never grooved before. The late Micheal Jackson would have been smiling from the funky heavens.
Sydney bands Between the Devil and the Deep, Grand Fatal and Wollongong kings Totally Unicorn were met with great appraise, they left the limelight shocked themselves with how much fun the kids were having. Local legend Dave Sparks, front of stage on the mix, was having a rocking good time also, all the while maintaining a killer sound despite his precious ears experiencing a serious workout. To cap-off the eventful evening, ’Let me down Jungleman’, graced the stage and brought the house down.  Jungleman played to the people and the people truely played to them.  To stand there and watch it was impossible to not embrace the infectious vibrations presented by the young showmen, and not tap at least one dancing foot. All in all it was an amazing show. When the bell rings in a new term, uniforms replace radical hawaiin shirts, cruddy lunches are packed again, and school is back at least if nothing else, something this special has given the kids of the Valley something to talk about. If you believe in rumours or myth, than that doesn’t matter because I know for a fact that by the time next holidays comes round the kids of the far south coast will yet again enjoy no school and another rocking show.

 - Horacio Hernandez

A Diary of a Jungleman 2/7/91

One day I walked down a street full of beats. They called it a long road, they told me it was loud, that if i should walk it then i best put my best dancing shoes on..but i thought nothing of their silly advice. And boy how i was wrong. Once i started on my fantastic journey i felt my foot step in time to the jazzy grooves spilling through the cafe windows, as i passed more windows strong funk beats suddenly changed my rythm to a smooth strut I could not stop moving my feet and shaking my hips. I was exploding, boys and girls challenged me to dance offs and i beat every one of them, pop here shuffle there, I was doing backflips for an entire block. I found refuge as i came to a funny smelling alley full of disc jockeys playing murmering dubstep. Finally I could relax and dance slowly. I stayed in that smokey ally the night halfway up Beat Street, knowing too well the Tech-House district was one block up and I needed rest. I had a long day of fist pumping ahead of me..

And For the Spanish… 

Un día caminaba por una calle llena de ritmos. Lo llamaron un largo camino, me dijeron que era fuerte, que si debo caminar entonces yo mejor poner mi mejor esfuerzo zapatos de baile .. pero pensé nada de su consejo tonto. Y el muchacho como me fue mal. Una vez que empecé en mi i fantástico viaje sentí que mi pie en el tiempo a las ranuras de jazz se derrame a través de las ventanas de café, como me pasó más ventanas funk fuertes latidos de repente cambió mi ritmo a un puntal suave que no podía dejar de mover mis pies y sacudiendo las caderas. Yo estaba explotando, niños y niñas me retó a bailar offs y me golpearon cada uno de ellos, el pop aquí shuffle allí, yo estaba haciendo saltos mortales para toda una manzana. He encontrado refugio en que llegué a un callejón lleno de olor divertido disc jockeys jugando dubstep murmering. Finalmente pude relajarme y bailar lentamente. Yo me quedé en ese aliado ahumado hasta la mitad de la noche hasta Beat Street, sabiendo muy bien el distrito de Tech-House fue una manzana y yo necesitaba descansar. Tuve un largo día de puño de bombeo por delante de mí ..

A diary of a Jungleman. 9/11/10

Tonight was a strange night, our lease came to a close and we have two days before we have no homes.  The last time I was in this situation I felt the world revealed, its as if the very idea of home makes up our simplest of routines, from everyday work, struggle and love to the idea of being content with the direction of our lives.  Its as if without our homes comes the void of direction or movement, it contains us within a circle rather than a hopeful linear.  Its not that I feel lonely or empty its more the problem that these questions arise.  It seems some go through there whole lives, passing their dull years by without ever asking the damn simplest of why?

I see it in the people of my world.  School and its institutions set us up for the naked reality.  All these years of build up and pressure come tumbling down to a point below those that were promised.  It creates a viod, a reality, a dark vacuum.  It turns these hopefuls into a skeletal frame of what they are going to be like for the rest of their lives.  With each passing year and promotion, divorce and failure comes another muscle and tense sinew that pulls the frame into what it was always going to be.

So dont be a Donald Trump be a Jungleman!

Pleased. On the Road

  So, in just short of a months time we will be putting the hours of finger crunching, eye watering procrastinated organisational nightmares of booking tours behind us.  Not to give away the punch, there is soon going be an East coast tour stretching from the dark reaches of the Far south coast to the warm waters of Rockhampton and everywhere else in between.  We believe that the road needs to feel our tyres, we need to be warm.  We believe that we will want to party everynight that we will see you.  We believe that there aint no better times than playing sweet kicks everynight of the week with your mates, feeling the sand, swimming all the way.