It’s indisputeable that music is a wonderful art form which can bring together people who otherwise never would have been friends. This is exactly the scenario that happened for the four members of the band Jody.
“We all went to the same high school but were separated by two years. Luckily for us it seemed like there wasn’t that many people there who wanted to play music, so the four of us found each other out of necessity,” explained Dom O’Connor (vocals and guitar).
Since those days the band has gone from strength to strength, particularly this year when the first two singles from their new EP, What Is Wrong With You Today, hit it off with music fans around the country.
To capitalise on this momentum, Dom says the band decided to finally “stop slacking off on the music video front” because they felt “more people will get to hear the music that way”. The result is the video for single ‘One of Me’.
However since this was their very first music video, they had to learn from their mistakes as they went.
“The video is essentially set at a party, so our idea was that we were just going to throw a real party, which worked in terms of it being a fun shoot with a great vibe, but it didn’t really work at the same time because it took a long time to film. By the end of it you can see that it looks like we’ve been partying for a long time, we look really tired and a little bit drunk,” reflected Dom. “I don’t even remember filming the second half, it was so draining. So it’s nice to watch back and I think it turned out really well.”
Another aspect which Jody have had to learn on the fly is how to blend the distinctly unique styles and influences of the two main songwriters, Dom and Matt.
“We’re both into pretty different things so that comes through, for example on my side it’s more of an indie-rock, college rock sound; whereas on Matt’s side it’s a little bit more punk influenced,” said Dom. “It’s always a little bit of a hassle at first because the styles sound so different, but we’ve found that the middle ground is where the most Jody sounding songs sit.”
For the Sydney show this weekend Dom says fans can expect “partial nudity, fluffily played songs and to hopefully have a good time”. (JA)
Dec 17, 8pm. Brighton Up Bar, 77 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. $10. Tickets & info: www.brightonupbar.com.au
