They say keeping friends after high school is rare. Luckily for The Jungle Giants, this hasn’t been an issue.
The indie rock band’s four members first met as students at Mansfield State High School in Brisbane. But, it wasn’t until singer Sam Hales started recruiting for a band afterwards that they really connected.
“I’m a grade above the guys, and when I was leaving school, I decided to start a band. I couldn’t find anyone in my band that I thought was good enough to be in the band, but I’d slowly started meeting the other guys at parties,” he said.
“I left school and wrote the first EP, and when they left school during the summer holidays, we recorded it.”
In the 13 years since then, the band has gone from strength to strength, topping the ARIA charts with their most recent album ‘Love Signs’ in 2021, and touring all over the world, from Europe to the USA and Mexico.
For Hales, hitting these milestones with the people he considers to be his best friends has been ‘mind blowing’.
“Our first time playing a festival in Mexico, we walked on stage and there was around 22,000 people there, and I thought they had the wrong band, and were confused with who we were,” he said.
“I said, ‘Hey, who’s ready to see The Jungle Giants?’ and the whole crowd screamed. I remember we all just looked at each other in shock and excitement. That was a special day.”
Now, the band is well on its way to releasing its next studio album, having dropped singles, ‘Trippin Up’ and ‘Rakata (feat. RENEE)’ in 2023.
Though he’s keeping details close to his chest, Hales said the album is set to look back on some of their earliest work, whilst also acting as the next natural progression to their sound.
“I always just do what feels right, and this one, when I showed it to the guys, they were interested and excited because I’m using guitars in a way that I haven’t in a long time,” he said.
“I moved away from guitar on the last record and was getting into a synth-y dance thing, and now I’m working with a dance-y guitar thing, which I think is a nice mix.
“For me, instantly one of the things that I’m interested in is that I know it’ll work well live… The new stuff sounds like it’s ready for stage, which is really cool, and a new feeling for me!”
Release dates are still under wraps, however Hales noted that the next single is already done and dusted, with discussions in the works around teasing the project in their upcoming regional tour – which includes a stop in Penrith.
In and amongst both local and international stops, Hales said the band has never really done a regional tour.
“We’ve been doing more regional stuff lately because so many festivals have been on pause this year, and we’ve just noticed that there are so many places that we want to reach but just haven’t been able to get to,” he said.
With western Sydney being one of the places the band has never played at before, Hales said he’s excited to bring out a wide range of music for new and long-time fans alike.
“We’re conscious that there’ll be people who haven’t seen us before and they might have been fans for a long time,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we show them some of the songs that they fell in love with originally.”
The Jungle Giants will be on at Panthers on Saturday, November 2 at 7.30pm. Tickets are $80.60. For more information or to book, visit http://www.penrith.panthers.com.au.
Cassidy Pearce
Cassidy Pearce is a news and entertainment journalist with The Western Weekender. A graduate of the University of Technology Sydney, she has previously worked with Good Morning Macarthur and joined the Weekender in 2022.