Joel Sarakula has been obsessed with music for as long as he can remember. Classically trained on the piano, self-taught on guitar, he fronted his first band at 15, before pursuing a solo career with debut album ‘Mystery Morning.’ Over the next few years he built a name for himself on the international piano bar circuit.
A prolific chap, he found time to record two more Australian-only albums – ‘Souvenirs’ released in 2008 and ‘City Heart’ in 2009, the latter which received airplay on Australian national broadcaster Triple J, and internationally. Since ‘City Heart’, however, Joel has put everything into crafting ‘Bohemian’ and its forthcoming parent album and releasing them in the UK. “The music I’m making now is the most natural fit for me”, he says. “I’ve kind of let go a little, and stripped back all the production. With ‘Bohemian’ there’s no pretence, and I really like that.”.
HTF: Hi Joel, thank you for taking some time out to talk to Hit The Floor… let’s try to get to know you a bit better! For those that have yet to hear about Joel Sarakula, how would you describe your music, and who would you compare yourself to, or who have you been compared to?
Joel: My voice has been compared to Beck, Bowie and Elvis Costello which is great cause they are three of my biggest influences. You can hear a lot of the piano in my tracks, so I inevitably get compared to Ben Folds, Billy Joel or Rufus Wainwright, but I don’t think I sound like either of those artists as much as I love them. I ocassionally get ABBA, Fleetwood Mac and Elliot Smith which is pretty spot on and someone once wrote in a review that I sounded like a scaled-back Flaming Lips which is cool. A friend recently said the beginning of ‘Bohemian’ reminded them of Lou Reed which made me smile, cause that’s someone I deeply respect as an artist.
One day someone’s going to come up to me and say that I am a wonderful combination of the vocals (and hairstyling) of Nickelback, the understated emotion of Celine Dion and the authenticity of Milli Vanilli. Maybe that’s closer.
Ultimately, I’m influenced by a lot of things, not just musical references. I love art of all kinds and I am a very visual person. I read a lot as well, currently William Burroughs’ ‘The Soft Machine’. And I’m currently listening to Kurt Vile, also Kate Bush’s new one a lot.
HTF: Where are you originally from?
Joel: I am from Sydney, Australia. I grew up around the corner from a football field… that’s Australian football – Rugby League. I loved watching this game as a child, but now I am probably the most un-football person you could ever meet! I really grew up through music. My dad and my grandma played the piano a lot when I was a child, so they probably inspired me to take it up. I had piano lessons as a kid, and taught myself how to sing and play the guitar, and I was in bands since I was a teenager. Initially jazz and blues bands, moving on to poppier and more original projects. I was writing as early as I was playing and was writing film scores for imaginary horror films from the age of 12. Wasted youth, should have stuck with football… Kidding.
HTF: When and why did you move to London?
Joel: I moved to London initially in 2004 to find a wider audience for my music. It was meant to be a permanent move, but I ended up staying here for not even a year and went out on the road for years. With no fixed address I then toured the great dive bars and clubs of Germany, Norway and The Netherlands. I was carving out an existance as a human jukebox of pop while simultaneously putting out a couple of Lp’s in Australia. That all got a little tiring eventually and I felt I needed to be based more permanently in the one town, any town! I needed to plug into networks, showcase my art, grow longer-term relationships with people. So I moved back to the UK in 2010, and I’ve been based in London since then.
HTF: Has 2012 been good to you so far?
Joel: 2012 has been a very good year so far. I was playing some gigs in the Netherlands earlier this month when the canals froze over for the first time in a genearation, it was that cold. People were skating on the canals, wild. I heard my ‘Bohemian’ song played on BBC 6 which is the first time I’ve actually heard myself ‘live’ on the radio even though I’ve been played a fair few times over the years. I always seem to miss my tracks. So that was a thrill, I felt very plugged into the planet at that moment.
HTF: Sounds great – What else is going on in the life of Joel Sarakula at the moment?
Joel: I am currently promoting my new single ‘Bohemian’. I am playing a whole bunch of dates UK-wide and also have a few things planned internationally for the US and Australia.
HTF: Tell us, what makes someone a ‘Bohemian’? – Are you a Bohemian?
Joel: Well, to call yourself a ‘Bohemian’ is a cliche really. So to answer you, yes, I am a ‘Bohemian!’ Historically, it means all of these little cultural nods like wearing a stripey shirt and a beret, being an artist, being lazy/chilled out, living an unconventional life. But these days, who doesn’t own a mac, drink an espresso cafe and is involved with something artistic in their life? It’s almost like you are a rarity if you don’t do those things! So I started the song out as a slight parody of this ‘Bohemian’ lifestyle which has become very mainstream, but the song grew to actually embrace the lifestyle. I then got a bunch of my friends around to the studio to sing the chorus with me and it became quite anthemic. It’s a strange song in that way because my perception of ‘Bohemianism’ changes
through the course of the song. And it’s only two minutes fifty seconds which is a very short time to change your opinion about
something!
HTF: The video is awesome, what’s the story behind it?
Joel: Two things inspired me to make the video: I was watching every series of ‘Tim and Eric’s Awesome Show. Great Job’ after missing out on them the first time around and being introduced to them by friends. It’s completely absurd, sometimes confronting humour and there’s lots of visuals of people being sick constantly. So I was in a strange mental state at the time. Also awkward family photos had a role in there somewhere. We wanted to make these kind of still-life portraits or vignettes of really odd, awkward and absurd people singing the song. It’s got no more thought behind it than that, there’s no overarching moral point behind it.
So whether the reactions were laughter, disgust or confusion, then that’s great, they are all valid reactions: the ‘Bohemian’ clip exists from your reaction to it. Hopefully we got close to achieving that. It may look like a cheap budget job, but it was actually recorded in three different cities: Sydney, London and Manchester with a very expensive camera. Haha! We then ran it through a VHS Video cassette deck to give it that dodgy 80s look.
HTF: So, what does the future hold for Joel Sarakula?
JoeI have a tour of the UK coming up including dates in Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and London. I am also touring the US, Australia and The Netherlands.
This is all to promote the ‘Bohemian’ single. I’ve got my single launch coming up as well. I’m playing Cafe 1001 on March 13th. You should come down! It’s free entry!
HTF: Sounds exciting! We’ll be there!
Joel Sarakula – ‘Bohemian’
