Jebediah is





Chris, Vanessa, Kevin and

Brett play guitars, bass; sing

and play drums

Jebediah formed, originally as a garage band in Leeming. They met in high school (drama class), although they didn't begin playing together until their final year. Previously the Mitchell brothers had been holding jam sessions and Vanessa had been in a band called Hybrid. Only a year later they have managed to take out the State Final of the National Campus Band competition and then claim the national title in Lismore. Since then reviewers have had nothing but praise for the band. And in the short time they have been together, have managed to captivate not only the local audience, but the interest of some very big international acts as well. They have had successful tour campaigns both individually and as support for big name acts such as Everclear, silverchair, You Am I and The Presidents of the United Sates of America - who, might I add were so impressed with the band, not only went on stage wearing Jebediah t-shirts, but also turned up at their "Twitch" EP concert launch the next day. High recommendations also come from Everclear and I quote (at an interview for Recovery at the 1996 Brisbane Livid Festival, when asked what they thought of the upcoming Australian talent): "We played with a great band in Perth called Jebediah, they have a lot of potential...."
They signed a record deal with Sony music's record label murmur (the same label as silverchair and Ammonia) in 1996.
Their musical style is based firmly in the riffy pop-rock area and lies on par with the best of US and British rock.

Jebediah formed with another drummer Almin Fulurija, now in Mother Star, but he only made it to one practice so he was quickly replaced with Kevin's brother, Brett.
Jebediah's first gig was Leeming Senior high school ball on May 5th at the Sheraton Hotel. They played covers such as Green Day, Pearl Jam and Nirvana, as well as an original.
Kevin and Chris met in theatre class, but not Vanessa. Kevin and Chris finished school 1994.
In year 12 they performed one song together at their ball - Pearl Jam's 'Elderly Woman Behind the Counter' - this was an accoustic performance.
They also performed at their last school assembly, Nov 94, Smashing Pumpkins 'Today' and this was with two others, not those in Jebediah, though two people from their school year. They also performed a song in their original theatre show. Incidentally, Chris and Kevin's theatre original show won the quest of excellence for best theatre original show in WA.

Jebediah have spawned a huge following, not least of which the tribute Internet sites. See some of these over at the links section on this site, with reviews. The band has become popular, especially with teenagers aged 13-19, these making up a majority of concert-goers. The band are touring more and more, and are gaining praise with every release. Since their debut EP Twitch in 1996, they have gained respect from fans and critics alike. They have followed up with singles Jerks of Attention, Leaving Home, Military Strongmen, Teflon, and recently Harpoon, where they swapped tracks with fellow Aussie band Something For Kate. Their debut album in 1997, Slightly Odway, went double platinum (over 200,000 copies sold) after being out for just one year. This slbum, highly acclaimed not just by fans, was a great mixture of pop, rock, rap and ska. The singles Jerks of Attention, Leaving Home, Military Strongmen, Teflon and Harpoon all came from the album, which just goes to show their popularity. Jebediah were finally receiving the attention they deserved.

Most of Jebediah's time these days is spent touring, promoting Slightly Odway, but the band enjoys performing. Says Kevin on the band's success, "...I feel like a lot of our success has been from constant touring and being in people's faces all around the country and putting on a good live show - and that's the way I like it. I don't want to have the audience buying our record 'cause they saw us on TV or because we were doing a signing session at their local supermarket or something. Doing it that way, we could sell a million records and I still wouldn't feel really successful."
While the band isn't touring they are writing or readying material for their upcoming new album, which is planned for release the second quarter of 1999. When asked about their next album, Kevin replied, "We're starting to get an idea of what the new stuff is going to be like, but we don't have any special intentions for the next record. I think it's just going to be heaps more diverse and just heaps stronger in terms of the songs having more depth and not being so one-dimensional."



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