Bluejuice

Bluejuice concocted an outlandish origin tale to match their eccentric style, since their actual history of meeting at school and starting a group sounded too ordinary. The fabricated account claimed that half the members had once played in the rock band Sherbet while the rest were lady boys from Thailand, a fabrication that Sherbet's tour manager found amusing upon learning of it. The band's founding roster featured vocalists Jake Stone and Stavros Yiannoukas, drummer Ned Molesworth, keyboardist and guitarist Jerry Craib, and bass guitarist Jamie Cibej. Stone and Yiannoukas traded off between high-energy rock vocals and rapping, occasionally adopting the MC aliases Velocity and Kinetic. When the group came together in Sydney's underground scene in 2001, their punk-infused mischief and comedy set them apart from the prevailing seriousness of local indie rock or the tough posturing common in hip-hop. Zebraaazz and The Good Luck Pig served as their initial two EPs, issued in 2003 and 2005. Problems arrived as their debut full-length in 2007, sending all three of its singles into heavy rotation on JJJ Radio. Acclaim also followed their inventive videos, including one filmed during a skydiving session and another that documented a spontaneous mall performance. The intensity of their concerts generated the strongest attention, as Jake Stone faced arrest for donning part of a police uniform while performing (with charges later dismissed) and suffered a broken hand plus a broken leg in separate 2008 mishaps. That same year, the E.L.F., better known as Darren Cross formerly of Gerling, delivered a remix of their well-known single "Vitriol," and the departure of Molesworth for the United States left the group without a drummer.