Jack Frost (Australian band)

Jack Frost were a short-term Australian rock band, a side project for Grant McLennan (of the Go-Betweens) and Steve Kilbey (of the Church). They released two albums, Jack Frost (1991) and Snow Job (1996). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, determined their material, "ranged from romantic ballads to tough rock, with the two singers' voices fitting together well."

Jack Frost
OriginSydney, New South Wales, Australia
GenresRock
Years active
  • 1990 (1990)–1991 (1991)
  • 1995 (1995)–1996 (1996)
Labels
Associated acts
Past members

History

In July 1990 Steve Kilbey (of the Church) contacted Grant McLennan (of the Go-Betweens), "he's interested in the idea of them writing a song together. Grant says 'Come over and bring your 12-string' and offers to bake some cookies."[1] Kilbey on lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and drums and McLennan on lead vocals, guitar, keyboards and bass guitar formed Jack Frost in Sydney in 1990.[2][3]

The pair wrote enough tracks for a self-titled album, which appeared in 1991, via Red Eye Records/Polydor Records.[2][3] The album was recorded in three weeks,[1][4] with Bryce Surplice on drums, synthesiser and as co-producer;[2][3] plus "special guests" including Karin Jansson on backing vocals. Lisa Waller of The Canberra Times reported in November 1990 that, "[the duo] are doing a couple of live acoustic performances in Sydney and Brisbane but will wait to see how the album is received before making more commitments to their new found partnership."[1]

Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described Jack Frost, "[the songs] ranged from romantic ballads to tough rock, with the two singers' voices fitting together well."[2] The album provided two singles, "Every Hour God Sends" (November 1990) and "Thought That I was Over You" (April 1991) before the members resumed their solo careers and main band projects.[2][3] Waller's colleague compared their styles, "Kilbey writes with a lush opulence. The ambience of the songs is as important as the lyrics. McLcnnan writes with a more subtle sound, where the lyrics are as demanding as the arrangements."[5] The album was re-released and remastered on Kilbey's label, Karmic Hit, with three bonus tracks:[3] "Persuasion", "Bad for You" and "Jack's Dream", after McLennan died in May 2006.

"Jack's Dream" was the B-side of "Every Hour God Sends", and was also on the three-track, Thought That I Was Over You extended play, along with the title track and "Dub Threshold (Nightmare Mix)".[6] It is closer to The Church (in mellow mode) than The Go-Betweens in sound and style. Kilbey thought highly enough of one song, "Providence", to include it on his 2000 Acoustic and Intimate solo album.

Kilbey and McLennan resumed the Jack Frost project in late 1995.[2] They had recorded new material back in 1993 and were joined in the studio by Kilbey's brother Russell on backing vocal, organ and blues harp, Tim Powles (from the Church) on drums and percussion and Jamie Pattugalan on drums (on the track, "Pony Express").[7][8] McFarlane noticed, "The resultant album, Snow Job, came out to little fanfare and duly sank without a trace."[2] It was co-produced by the Kilbey brothers and McLennan.[2][3] Woroni's Brett Leigh Dicks described how "[it] is a reflection of a unique teaming. But whereas Jack Frost's first endeavour relied heavily on programming, the mechanics of this recording is based upon a very different texture."[8] By 1996 the pair resumed their separate musical careers.[2][3]

Grant McLennan died in May 2006 of a heart attack.

Discography

Tracks on Jack Frost (1st album) (Red Eye Records/Polydor CD; RED CD 18 - 847 548-2)

  • 1. "Every Hour God Sends"
  • 2. "Birdowner (as Seen on TV)"
  • 3. "Civil War Lament"
  • 4. "Geneva 4 a.m."
  • 5. "Trapeze Boy"
  • 6. "Providence"
  • 7. "Thought That I Was Over You"
  • 8. "Threshold"
  • 9. "Number Eleven"
  • 10. "Didn't Know Where I Was"
  • 11. "Even as We Speak"
  • 12. "Ramble"
  • 13. "Everything Takes Forever"


Tracks on Snow Job (2nd album) (Karmic Hit/Beggars Banquet/Rough Trade)

  • 1. Jack Frost Blues
  • 2. Aviatrix
  • 3. Running From The Body
  • 4. Shakedown
  • 5. You Don't Know
  • 6. Weightless And Wild
  • 7. Pony Express
  • 8. Cousin / Angel
  • 9. Little Song
  • 10. Empire
  • 11. Angela Carter
  • 12. Haze
  • 13. Dry Dock

References
  1. Waller, Lisa (29 November 1990). "Music: Cooking up Some Fun". The Canberra Times. 65 (20, 320). p. 26. Retrieved 2 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Jack Frost'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 7 August 2004.
  3. Holmgren, Magnus; Warnqvist, Stefan. "Jack Frost". hem2.passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  4. Nichols, David (2011). The Go-Betweens. Verse Chorus Press. p. 180.
  5. "Good Times. Two Distinctive Styles of Seasoned Writers". The Canberra Times. 65 (20, 347). 27 December 1990. p. 37. Retrieved 2 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. Jack Frost (1991), Thought That I Was Over You, Red Eye Records, retrieved 2 September 2019, Recorded at S.S.R. Balmain, mixed at Rich Studios City. Produced by Steve Kilbey, co-produced by Bryce Surplice & Grant McLennan. Cover by Grant McLennan & Jim Paton, Photography by Francine McDougall. Performer: Jack Frost was an Australian rock band, a side project of The Go-Betweens' Grant McLennan and The Church's Steve Kilbey.
  7. Jack Frost (1996), Snow Job, Karmic Hit Records [England]: Licensed to Beggars Banquet Records, retrieved 2 September 2019
  8. Dicks, Brett Leigh (8 May 1996). "Steve Kilbey—Inside the Church". Woroni. 48 (4). p. 32. Retrieved 2 September 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
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