A Chat with JONATHAN BOULET at Brown Paper Bag - Ding Dong Lounge, Melbourne 16/07/2010

Written by Sean Sebastian

Photos by Shaun Rawlins

                                                

The atmosphere in the Ding Dong Lounge was quite relaxed, and one could see the stars of the night wandering around the crowd, seemingly unnoticed by their chatty, awaiting fans. One by one the bands showed up and took a seat to enjoy the experimental sounds of their fellow acts. The lineup would be Northeast Party House, East Brunswick All Girls Choir, The Parking Lot Experiments, Rat VS Possum. However, my focus would be on the headlining act, Jonathan Boulet. 

In a chat with him briefly before the Parking Lot Experiments took the stage, he told me tantalizingly that he was working on a follow up to his self-titled debut album.

“I’ve demoed 8 new tracks and I’ve already got a name for the new album. I’m hoping to release it before the end of the year.”

Unfortunately, this is all he would tell me, as a coy smile spread across his face.

“I’m not telling anybody the name though! Not even a hint."

The 20 year old Triple-J featured hero of local music arrived nonchalantly with his band and pottered around the back of the bar. His name was plastered all over the venue and the bar had even named a shot after him, the ‘parlez vous boulet?’, but was able to glide seamlessly through the now bustling crowd. This show was to be his last in Melbourne for the time being, as he was headed off to Sydney the following day to play on FBI radio with the likes of Kyű.

Publicized by his label as a “jack of all trades”, Boulet’s solo work has only been a recent endeavour. Prior to September 2009, Boulet had been playing with Parades, the Triple J Big Sounds winner of early 2009. His solo work had snowballed in success and his first single “A Community Service Announcement”, was a runaway hit, receiving the recommendation from Kanye West: “PLEASE WATCH THIS IT’S FUCKING AMAZING”.

This praise and acclaim seemed to have reached everyone but Boulet himself. As he stood in front of the hundred or so fans with his band, he exclaimed: “Did you guys see the other bands? Holy crap! We should be opening for them!”