When Jay Whalley enters a room he no longer tells people what he does for a living.
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After more than two decades fronting Australian punk-rock band, Frenzal Rhomb, the 45-year-old has found people have two responses when he mentions his band.
“They say ‘who? Friends of Ron?’ or they tell me we’ve changed their life,” he said.
“I spend half my life being an icon and the other half being kicked out of the IGA because they think I’m going to steal something. It keeps me grounded.”
Whalley recalled one his favourite fan encounters happened while he was stopped in a car at a pedestrian crossing at Sydney’s Taylor Square.
“A window washer came up to do the windows and he saw me and was like, ‘Dude, you changed my life,’ and I just sat there and thought ‘Oh no. What were you before?’,” he said.
“I keep imagining him as a lawyer on a yacht sipping champagne and then we turned him into this.”
On Saturday, January 6 the Sydney four-piece will play at Ulladulla’s Marlin Hotel as they tour their ninth full-length punk rock record, Hi-Vis High Tea, nationally.
“It’s an equally beautiful and terrifying place,” Whalley said of the venue.
“We’ve played there before and it’s going to be a hoot.”
The new album, which features 20 songs and clocks in at just over 30 minutes, is an evolution of the band’s “more economical” song writing Whalley said.
“At least if you don’t like a song, it’s over pretty fast.”
We inhabit a space where if you like us, you like us. If you don’t, then you definitely don’t.
- Jay Whalley
“We inhabit a space where if you like us, you like us. If you don’t, then you definitely don’t.”
The band’s 25-year career has seen their fans age and share life experiences alongside the musicians. Song themes have grown from teen-parent arguments into anti-school reunion anthems.
“It's nice that our music has resonated with people over the years and they attach certain parts of their lives to it,” Whalley said.
“There is a song on there called “F--k my school reunion” and it surprises me how emotionally charged it makes me and the audience.
“It was a relief putting out this record because we always run the risk of becoming a nostalgia band, it's important for us to make new records and continue touring.”
While speaking with The Times the proud dad would pause to offer words of encouragement to his eight-year-old son Oscar as he tried to beat his personal best of one-footed soccer ball bouncing. Sadly, the record of 19 held out over the day's 12.
