The Jackson Code are an Australian rock band, formed in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker ru ...

Biography

1989-1991: Formation

The Jackson Code were formed in 1989, following the breakup of Mark Snarksi's earlier band,

Chad's Tree Chad's Tree are an Australian rock band, formed in Perth in 1983. The band's brittle, off-kilter sound evoked the sense of distance, desolation, harshness and loneliness of the Nullarbor Plain (but also its fragile nature), much in the same fash ...

. For the band's debut album, Snarski utilised the services of Amanda Pearson (vocals, percussion), Barry Turnbull (bass) and Mark Dawson (drums). The album, ''Del Musical Del Mismo Nombre'' was released in August 1989 on the Waterfront label (available only on vinyl) to critical acclaim, although it was re-released on CD in 1993. The main influence on the album was songwriter Snarski's trip to Spain, thus the title which when translated means "From the Musical of the Same Name". The band recorded the album in four days on a budget of $1000. The lush romanticism of the songs had critics searching for superlatives. Writing in

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. It was first known for its co ...

, reviewer Jon Casimir called the album one of the minor masterpieces of 1989. As Casimir put it, the band took inspiration for its 'self-styled urban Romantic Cabaret' from German writers such as

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...

and Weill, as well as

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

. To promote the record they toured nationally twice, playing successful shows in Sydney and Melbourne. Rather than capitalise on such acclaim however, Snarski chose to take a break, spending two years travelling in Spain and the USA.

1992-1998: Ra Records

Snarski revived The Jackson Code in 1992 and recorded a new album, ''Strange Cargo''. Snarski was joined in the recording studio by Pearson, Turnbull and Dawson, together with string, brass and 'hand-clap' sections. ''Strange Cargo'' was released on the Citadel label in August 1992. 1993 also saw the band sign to

RooArt rooArt was an Australian independent record label, founded in 1988 by INXS's then-manager, Chris Murphy. The label's roster included several well-known Australian bands and artists such as Crow, Ratcat, Screaming Jets, You Am I, Wendy Matthew ...

and produce one of that years (sic) finest, ''Draggin' the River''. The album was released in December 1993. The band's last studio album was ''The Things You Need'', which was released in September 1995. After touring with American crime writer

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, s ...

in 1996, Snarski left Australia for Europe finally settling in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

'There was this one afternoon where I'd dropped everyone off and I was carting this amp up the stairs of - what's that theatre we played in St Kilda? I just put it down and decided, I've had enough of this.'

The Jackson Code's drummer Mark Dawson plays with the Blackeyed Susans (he also worked with

Ed Kuepper Edmund "Ed" Kuepper (born 20 December 1955) is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (1973–78), the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (1979–85) and the grunge-like ...

). Kenny Davis Jr and Kathryn Wemyss also played, albeit briefly, with the Blackeyed Susans. Wemyss later performing with

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

at the opening ceremony of the

Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in 2000, since then she has formed her own band called Wemo. Davis went on to join

Decoder Ring Decoder Ring is an experimental electronic- rock crossover group from Australia. History Decoder Ring was formed in 2001, in Sydney, Australia. The original line-up consisted of Tom Schutzinger (Keyboards, drums), Geoff Towner (bass, El Mop ...

. Barry Turnbull and Mandy Pearson went on to form their own band, Love Me. The Jackson Code's retrospective album of 1998, ''The Second Greatest Story Ever Told'', a two disc compilation album (the first disc consists of tracks from the four studio albums and the second disc is full of rarities) was released in September 1998. In 2003 ''Del Musical Del Mismo Nombre'' was re-issued on a CD format by Citadel Records. In June 2006 Snarski travelled to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

to sing with a specially reformed Triffids lineup for 'An Evening with the Triffids' – an exhibition and show in remembrance of lead singer

David McComb David Richard McComb (17 February 19622 February 1999) was an Australian musician. He was the singer-songwriter and guitarist of the Australian bands, The Triffids (1976–89) and The Blackeyed Susans (1989–93). He also had a solo career incl ...

Trivia

* The Jackson Code's "Everybody's Got Something To Lose" was included in the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal ...

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

series ''

Heartbreak High ''Heartbreak High'' is an Australian television program created by Michael Jenkins and Ben Gannon that ran from 1994 to 1996 on Network Ten and 1997 to 1999 on the ABC, for seven series. It was also partially funded from 1996 by BBC2, with s ...

(Episode 9 - Series 1)''.Heartbreak High music listing
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Members

* Mark Snarski - vocals, electric & acoustic guitar * Kathryn Wemyss - vocals, trumpet, castanets * Mark Dawson (aka Bongo Fury) - drums * Jason Kain - electric & acoustic guitar * Kenny Davis Jr - piano, hammond organ, accordion * Barry Turnbull - electric & acoustic bass * Mandy Pearson - vocals, percussion

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

* "Who's Watching Who?" - Ra (September 1993) * "Poison Berries" - Ra (January 1993) * "Bring Yourself Home to Me" - Ra (January 1994) * "The Things You Need" - Ra (July 1995)

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards are a set of annual ceremonies presented by

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...

(ARIA), which recognise excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of the

music of Australia 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 of ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

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, ''Strange Cargo'' , rowspan="2",

ARIA Award for Best Independent Release The ARIA Music Award for Best Independent Release, is an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards, which recognises "the many achievements of Aussie artists across all music genres", since 1987. It is handed out by the Australian Recording ...

, , rowspan="2", , - ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson Ma ...

, ''Dragging the River'' , , -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson Code, The Australian indie rock groups Western Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1996