Bluejuice was an Australian band based in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, active between 2000 and 2014. The group's final line-up consisted of co-lead vocalists Jake Stone and Stavros Yiannoukas, bassist Jamie Cibej, and drummer James Hauptmann. The band released three studio albums ''Problems'', '' Head of the Hawk,'' and ''Company,'' as well as a greatest hits album in 2014.

History

2000–2006: Career beginning and EPs

In 2003, the band released their debut extended play ''Zebraaazz''. In 2003, the band won the Musicoz Australian Independent Music Award, which aims to promote and encourage artists from the independent music community. In 2005, a second extended play titled, ''The Good Luck Pig'' was released.

2007–2008: ''Problems''

Bluejuice released their debut studio album ''Problems'' in 2007. ''Problems'' was well received by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine in Australia, which awarded the album a four out of five rating. The band's first single, "Vitriol", enjoyed airplay on the Australian national radio network

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

, being the second most popular track in 2007 and ultimately reaching No. 11 in the annual

Triple J Hottest 100 The Triple J Hottest 100 is an annual music poll presented by the publicly-funded Australian youth radio station Triple J. Members of the public are invited to vote for their favourite Music of Australia, Australian and alternative music of th ...

countdown in 2007. "Vitriol" ranked number 67 in the Australian Rolling Stone Magazine's 100 Best songs of 2007. The video clip for "Vitriol" won best clip at Sunscreen Video Awards in 2007. The album spawned two further singles; "The Reductionist" and "Phantom Boogie".

2009–2010: ''Head of the Hawk''

In 2009, Bluejuice signed to the Australian record label

Dew Process Dew Process is an Australian independent record label, based in Brisbane, Queensland, founded and owned by Australian music industry figure Paul Piticco. Operational The label operates in two primary areas: traditional development of Australi ...

and recorded their second studio album at Big Jesus Burger in Sydney with producer/mixer Chris Shaw (

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

, Super Furry Animals,

Weezer Weezer is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1992. Since 2001, the band has consisted of Rivers Cuomo (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards), Patrick Wilson (drums, backing vocals), Brian Bell (guitar, keyboards, backing ...

). The album's lead single "

Broken Leg "Broken Leg" is a song written and recorded by Australian indie rock band Bluejuice. The song was released in July 2009 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, '' Head of the Hawk''. The song peaked at number 27 on the ARIA Charts ...

" debuted on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

at number 47 on 23 August 2009. They released the album ''Head of the Hawk'' on 18 September 2009, and it debuted at No. 37 on the Australian Albums Chart. "Broken Leg" eventually peaked at No. 27 on the Australian Singles Chart and was certified gold. "Broken Leg" polled at No. 5 in the

Triple J Hottest 100, 2009 The 2009 Triple J's Hottest 100 Volume 17, was announced on January 26, 2010. It is the seventeenth countdown of the most popular songs of the year, as chosen by the listeners of Australian radio station Triple J. Voting commenced on Boxing ...

. The band promoted the album by performing the song on Channel Seven's ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon. Terminology Although the S ...

'' and Channel Nine's '' Wide World of Sports''. AT the ARIA Music Awards of 2009, "Broken Leg" was nominated for Breakthrough Artist and Best Video. The album's second single was "(Ain't) Telling the Truth", was released in February 2010 and "Head of the Hawk" followed later in the year. In September 2010,

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

players Ben Stratton, Jarryd Morton, Matt Suckling and Liam Shiels re-enacted the "Broken Leg" video clip live as part of the 2010 Player Review on the AFL Footy Show.

2011–2012: ''Company''

In October 2011, Bluejuice released " Act Yr Age" as the lead single from their third studio album. In November 2011, Bluejuice released their third studio album ''

Company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of legal people, whether Natural person, natural, Juridical person, juridical or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members ...

''. The album spawned two further singles in 2012, "On My Own" and "The Recession".

2013–2014: Break up and ''Retrospectable''

In March 2013, the band's keyboard player, bassist, guitarist and drummer, Jerry Craib, announced his resignation from the band. The public became aware of the decision due to an announcement on the Bluejuice Facebook fan page. The phrase "formidable musical talents" was also used to describe Craib in the Facebook post and information on Craib's future was not provided; however, the band stated that it wished for Craib to return to Bluejuice at another time. In August 2013, Australian hip hop trio

Bliss N Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. The group consists of emcees Bliss and Eso, and DJ Izm, and they are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are manag ...

released the song " Act Your Age", which sampled Bluejuice's 2011 song " Act Yr Age". At the APRA Music Awards of 2014, the song won Urban Work of the Year. On 3 August 2014, Stone announced the dissolution of Bluejuice during an interview on

. A "eulogy" was published on the Australian music website ''Faster Louder'' later in the month. As part of the dissolution process, Bluejuice released a new single "I'll Go Crazy" as part of a "greatest hits" record, '' Retrospectable'', released in September 2014. The group announced a farewell Australian tour which ran over September and October 2014, and included shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, as well as a North Queensland leg and some regional dates. The tour saw a number of sold-out shows, including both gigs at Sydney's Metro Theatre.

2015–present: Solo careers

On 28 November 2016, Stone released his first single under his own name, "Trick of the Light", through Australian music websit
Happy Mag
alongside an interview. The song was produced by and co-written with longtime Bluejuice collaborator Alex Gooden, features guitar contributions from Bluejuice touring guitarist Dan Farrugia, and additional vocals and production from Dan Williams from Art vs. Science. Since that time, the former band members have pursued careers outside of performance. Of note, Stone has produced multiple music industry events, and Yiannoukas works as a

voiceover artist Voice acting is the art of performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animated, off-stage, off-scr ...

2022: reformation and ''Jelly''

In October 2022, Bluejuice announced two November 2022 releases; an EP titled ''Jelly'', featuring previously unreleased tracks and a re-released of their 2011 studio album ''Company'' on vinyl for the first time.

Musical style

The musical style of Bluejuice has variously been described as "punk-hop", "downtempo hip hop, ska-tinged pop and pounding disco" and "too straight for funk, too groovy for indie rock and too sweaty for pop".

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

Awards and nominations

APRA Awards

The APRA Awards are presented annually from 1982 by the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA), "honouring composers and songwriters". They commenced in 1982. ! , - ,

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, "Broken Leg" (Jeremy Craib, Jamie Cibej, James Hauptmann, Edmund Molesworth, Jacob Stone, Stavros Yiannoukas) , Song of the Year , , , - ,

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, " Act Your Age" –

Bliss n Eso Bliss n Eso (formerly known as Bliss n' Esoterikizm) are an Australian hip hop trio based in Sydney. The group consists of emcees Bliss and Eso, and DJ Izm, and they are currently signed to Melbourne record label Illusive Sounds, and are manag ...

featuring Bluejuice ( Alexander Burnett, Jeremy Craib, James Cibej, Jacob Stone, Stavros Yiannoukas, James Hauptmann) , Song of the Year , , , - ,

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, " Act Your Age" – Bliss n Eso featuring Bluejuice , Urban Work of the Year , , , -

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

are annual awards, which recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. Bluejuice received sixnominations. , - , rowspan="2",

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, , rowspan="2", "Broken Leg" , , Best Video , , , - , Breakthrough Artist , , , - , rowspan="2",

, , rowspan="2", ''Head of the Hawk'', , Best Pop Release , , , - , Best Cover Art , , , - , ,

, , Sam Bennetts for Bluejuice "Act Yr Age" , , Best Video , , , - , ,

, , Christian J Henrich & Nicholas Rabone for Bluejuice "SOS" , , Best Video , , , -

Australian Music Prize

The Australian Music Prize is an annual award of $30,000 given to an Australian band or solo artist in recognition of the merit of an album released during the year of award. , - , rowspan="2",

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, , ''Problems'' , , Australian Music Prize , , , - , Bluejuice , , Outstanding Potential , , , -

J Award

The

J Awards The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards, established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J, and which also extend to sister stations, Triple J Unearthed and Double J. The awar ...

are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

's youth-focused radio station

. They commenced in 2005. , - ,

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, "Act Yr Age" , Australian Video of the Year , , - ,

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, "SOS" , Australian Video of the Year ,

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bluejuice Australian indie rock groups Australian indie pop groups Musical groups from Sydney Dew Process artists Australian musical quintets Musical groups established in 2001 Musical groups disestablished in 2014