Nic Cester of Jet is somewhere in America touring with fellow Aussie rock revivalists the Vines, and he is just waking up. He's not sure what time it is and he's not sure exactly where he is, either. "I have no idea. This has been a big party. We hang out every night. Patrick [Matthews, Vines bassist] is on our bus right now, actually. Last night was pretty crazy. After the show, us and a few Vines went to a bar with as many people we could fit in a bus. We were drinking until the next afternoon."
For Cester, this is just another day on tour, and it makes him philosophical. "The best party stories you tend not to remember," he says. As for being on the road: "It is a labor of love."
Cester's band has been on the road since releasing Get Born late last year. Thanks to the hit, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?", Jet became an overnight success and critical favorite. This was no surprise to Cester: "We knew if any of the songs we wrote was gonna hit, it was going to be that one. It was immediate and fun."
But Get Born has less frisky moments, too, like the soaring ballad "Radio Song." According to Cester: "It was quite literal at the time. We just realized that there was no chance in hell that song was going to make it on the radio."
"Radio Song" aside, in general, Cester says Jet doesn't worry about the commercial pressures of the industry, not because the band doesn't care, but because they know it is out of their hands. "It is the one part you can never control. There is so much crap that is part of it that we have no experience in. There is the marketing element and then all the bullshit to get radio to play your songs. The one thing that never changes is that people love music."
Though Jet has risen to the forefront of the garage-rock revival which also includes bands like the Strokes and White Stripes, Cester doesn't hear any connection between Jet and those American bands. "I think they are pretty different. It is kind of weird now that we do this for a living. You sort of analyze every band a lot more and put them under a microscope. They are not as similar (to us) as anyone thinks." Driving about on the tour bus, Cester points to Wilco and Beck as the American artists Jet is most likely to be listening to. "We all like Beck," he says.
This is Jet's first trip to Las Vegas and Cester is ready. "I've always thought I would love Las Vegas or really hate it," he says. Since being on the road with Jet has been Cester's only experience of America, he admits that the rock 'n' roll lifestyle has meant that he has not had much time to be a tourist. "You don't get to delve too deep. It is pretty much towns and crowds."
And parties.