Twenty years on from their platinum selling album Sumo hitting number two on the ARIA Chart, The Superjesus are back with an anniversary edition of their 1998 debut, released on August 17.
Adelaide’s top 1990s alternative rock group has hit the road with a stack of gig dates in the second half of 2018.
The group will bring its hit songs and fond memories to the Prince of Wales Hotel for one show on Thursday, November 1.
Initially known as Hell’s Kitchen, The Superjesus received national radio play with their debut 1996 EP Eight Step Rail and became a festival favourite at Big Day Out throughout the 90s.
The group was inducted into the South Australian Music Hall of Fame in 2017
Frontwoman Sarah McLeod has looked back on the band’s life-changing record.
“Everything went big time. It was terrifying and exciting all at once,” she said.
“We worked so hard on that album. Talking about it 20 years later, knowing that it was an important part of Australian music history and affected so many people along the way, feels like an incredible achievement.
“We had no blueprint of how we wanted to sound - of course we had our influences, but it was the combination of those influences that made us become The Superjesus.”
Since the 90s we have not toured like this, we want to embark on this tour with no fear like we did then.
- Sarah McLeod, Superjesus
As well as seeing the original album reissued on vinyl, the CD edition of Sumo – 20th Anniversary features bonus material sourced from Triple J’s Live At The Wireless archive as well as a never before heard studio recording, a Superjesus cover of Kylie Minogue’s Confide In Me.
The track was number one on the ARIA Singles Chart the month in which The Superjesus first formed in 1994.
I have always been a Kylie fan,” McLeod said.
“Back in 1996, we recorded a really heavy version of Confide In Me, just for our own amusement.
“No one ever heard it, I can’t even find it to hear it now. I went to the guys and reminded them of the recording, and went straight home to work up a demo of it.
“Within a week we were playing it live on the festival stage and it seemed like the perfect addition to the Sumo – 20th Anniversary edition.”
With a couple of festival slots under their belt for this year already, the group is stoked to be back in touring mode.
“Touring is all about stamina and momentum. In the 90s we used to tour non-stop, we would play five to six nights a week for months to years at a time,” McLeod said.
“This kind of momentum makes the band so incredibly tight – nothing else on earth can make a band better than by playing every night in front of a crowd.
“Since the 90s we have not toured like this, we want to embark on this tour with no fear like we did then.”
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