The Jury's out

I did this hilarious interview with Berkfinger from the Phily Jay's back in May. Enjoy the hilarity below.

Philadelphia Grand Jury, or the Phily Jay’s as they are informally known have landed in the UK to grace the Brits with their poise, talent and most of all, their music. Songs like ‘Going to the Casino’ and ‘I’m going to kill you’ have been blasting from every stereo back home for almost a year now and it’s time the UK got a taste of the action. It has been an interesting ride so far for the boys from Sydney, who have a new drummer, a new album and now, a new place to live for a while. I caught up with Berkfinger, singer and guitarist in the band to find just what they plan to do here and how long they are going to honour the UK with their presence.
About six months ago, the band’s rather handsome drummer Dan Sweat decided to depart and work with his ‘other’ band Art vs Science. Berkfinger assures me that there are no hard feelings. “Absolutely not. Dan is my friend and flat mate and I just finished producing Art vs Science’s debut record, plus that was about 100 shows ago. We have Calvin on drums now and if you haven't seen Calvin, you haven't lived!” Current drummer Calvin Welch from Michigan, USA is no stranger to fame, playing previously with the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire and has acted in the second Underbelly series as a cab driver. “He's also been on a KFC ad and is apparently a character on a computer game, although we are yet to see it. Funny guy,” said Berkfinger.
The band are now looking to stay in the UK for at least seven months and Berkfinger is excited to crack out the tunes in front of a new audience. “What I'm really looking forward to is testing the old songs in front of a fresh crowd and really soaking up the culture here. We also have the new record to do, so that's exciting. There are no burritos in London.” he said.
Berkfinger, who is also known for his producing prowess with an array of Aussie bands is looking forward to setting up shop in London. “We are building a studio in a Railway Arch here in London near a pub that's owned by the singer from The Pogues, so I guess making that a good space and then a killer second record is our next set of challenges,” he revealed. “I have already brought over all the bits and pieces of my mixing desk, which was actually used by Elvis Presley, Neil Diamond and Dusty Springfield and I have a bunch of microphones and a sparkly drumset so i'm all like, "What could possibly go wrong?"
The band kicked off their UK shows at Camden Crawl and have a flurry of dates across London throughout May so there’s no excuse not to see them. The response so far has been “ridiculous” says Berkfinger. “We came off a sold out Australian tour and were not looking forward to awkward silences between songs in the set but thank God there hasn't been any. Last night we had a whole crowd chanting "One more tune!" for a good five minutes. Of course we didn't have an encore prepared because we didn't expect such a response. So yes it seems that they like it.”

Read this article and more of my work at http://www.australiantimes.co.uk/