Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
Still Rockin' It - Cheryl Lee
What has Bob Evans aka Jebediah's Kevin Mitchell been up to lately? OR Come as you are to the 27 Club!!
Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
Embark on a musical odyssey with me, Cheryl Lee, as I welcome Kevin Mitchell to the microphone. From his early days as an eager music enthusiast to fronting the iconic Aussie band Jebediah and captivating audiences with the 27 Club at the Adelaide Fringe, Kevin's tale is one of passion, artistry and evolution. We traverse the landscape of his career, drawing on his Perth roots, Victoria's music scene, while unearthing the depth of talent brimming in Adelaide, where local maestros join him in celebrating rock's revered figures.
With Kevin—also known to many as Bob Evans, we unravel the yarn of a journalism student turned full-time troubadour, whose journey encapsulates the transformative power of passion. He shares the unforeseen detours and silver linings of a pandemic-era world, from academia to DIY home projects, and the birth of the 27 Club show.
Together, we pay tribute to the legends who've inspired us, sharing how Kevin rekindled his teenage romance with Nirvana's anthems, and how these songs continue to echo through the hearts of fans.
What has Kevin Edward Mitchell been up to lately ... lets's find out!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
That Radio Chick, cheryl Lee here. Welcome to the Still Rocking at podcast, where we'll have music news, reviews and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians and artists. Kevin Mitchell formed Jebediah with his older brother, Brett Mitchell, on drums back in 1994. They released five studio albums between 1997 and 2011, four of which entered the top ten on the Aria albums charts. Kevin is in Adelaide performing at the Adelaide Fringe for the 27 Club. I hope you enjoy the chat with Kevin Mitchell as much as I did. To catch up on podcasts from other favourite artists, simply go to that radiochickcomau. You're with Cheryl Lee, I'd like to welcome into the studio today one of the members of the infamous, the famous 27 Club, the winner of the Best Music Award at our fringe in 2021, declared a masterclass in rock and roll. Welcome, Kevin Edward Mitchell. Oh.
Kevin Mitchell:I get the full name, very official.
Cheryl Lee:It's like your mum telling you off isn't it. Thank you for coming in today. We've got some great news about the 27 Club and people are probably a little bit sick of me rabbiting on about it, because we've been to every one and we're coming to this one as well. It's a great show with some great Adelaide people and we'll talk about that in a minute. But, Kevin, if you don't mind, can we just go backwards a little bit? You started out with Jebediah brother was in it.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah.
Cheryl Lee:Are you from a musical family, originally mum and dad.
Kevin Mitchell:Not really. No, I wouldn't describe my upbringing as being particularly musical, although you know it's funny when you become, you know, quite proficient at something, in this case music. Then all of a sudden your family starts saying things oh well, you know, I was a bit of a muso back in the day. You know they like to kind of claim a little bit of. So you know, in fairness to my mum, she did play viola when she was a kid and we had an upright piano in the house the whole time. We're growing up but I never took lessons or anything.
Kevin Mitchell:It wasn't like music was always being played in the background. Mum and dad had a pretty humble vinyl collection which I kind of raided, and my brother, my older brother Brett, and I we just discovered it and just loved it. And you know he started playing the drums, I started playing guitar. You know we were sort of, you know, very early teens and and, yeah, just developed that deep kind of love for music.
Kevin Mitchell:And you know, for me, to a big sort of influence for me was also going to all ages gigs in Perth when I was about sort of 15, 16, 17, so too young to go to pubs or whatever. But every now and then, you know, a band would on tour, would play an underage show, and so I would go with my friends and I just loved that, I loved, I really fell in love with that. You know, it was the live atmosphere. Going to see live rock and roll bands that's what I really was drawn to. I don't know, I guess I just had that thing of like I was watching the gigs just thinking I reckon I, I reckon I could do that.
Cheryl Lee:You're originally a Perth boy. I think Adelaide's adopted you to a certain extent a little bit. Where do you call home now?
Kevin Mitchell:Now I live in a place called Ocean Grove, which is about an hour and a half drive west of Melbourne. So I moved there a while ago, now 2000 and well, I moved to Victoria in 2008,. But I grew up in in Western Australia and I suppose you know, when you've grown up somewhere and you've lived there for the first 30 years of your life, as I did, you're always I mean, I feel like a West Australian. Still, I probably will always feel like a West Australian. But yeah, I've got sort of an adopted hometown now with Victoria and for the last four years I've spent, you know, almost a month of those four years each in here in Adelaide.
Kevin Mitchell:Which has been really great. It's given me a whole new appreciation for the city. I've been going in and out of Adelaide for on tour since 1996. So I'm not a stranger by any means. But up until doing the Fringe Festival four years ago for the first time, my experience with Adelaide was in and out. You rarely spend more than a couple of days here, do shows and head off to the next city. So it was this Fringe experience that's given me the opportunity to really bed down and live in the place for weeks or almost a month.
Cheryl Lee:And this is your favorite right.
Kevin Mitchell:This is my favorite town. There's a lot to love about it. I gotta say there is a lot to love about Adelaide and South Australia and you know, doing the show with a cast of people who grew up in Adelaide and most of them still live here has also been a real pleasure. Because you know I've said this before you know people who come to this show the 27 Club. I think that they should walk away feeling pretty proud of the talent that Adelaide you know Dusty Lee and Sarah and Carla and the band Wanderers. You know they're all Adelaide born and bred and they're all sensational musicians and artists.
Cheryl Lee:Oh, definitely. I always say that. You know, we Adelaideans punch well above our way. All the best bands come from Adelaide.
Kevin Mitchell:Well, no, I mean, there's something to be said. I mean I sort of felt the same way about Perth. You know, a lot of great musicians and artists have come from Western Australia. Probably the biggest Australian band in the world right now is Tame Impala and they're, you know, from Freo. But then if you look back, you know in the 90s, you know, when band like Silverchair and they were from Newcastle, Powderfinger from Brisbane.
Kevin Mitchell:I do think there is something to be said about the music that comes from outside of those big cities of Sydney and Melbourne.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, it just, I think, from from my experience in Perth and I guess I would be similar in Adelaide, it's a great breeding ground for you as an artist to discover who you are and to refine that outside of the glare of the spotlight, the big city In Sydney and Melbourne. If you've got even a whiff of of excitement or talent about you, even if you have no idea what you're doing, the the full glare of the industry, the corporate side of the industry, will jump onto it straight away. And I think that there is something to be said for being able to be free for at least a couple of years to kind of find your feet and develop your identity. Before that happens, it just I think it creates more of a, more of a unique artist, and I think that's why artists from outside of those two cities are often, you know. When they do kind of come to light, they're doing something that is very unique.
Cheryl Lee:We are chatting to Kevin Mitchell, singer and guitarist and founding member of Jebediah Shall w e have a Jebediah song Leaving Home and we'll be back to speak some more to Kev after this.
Kevin Mitchell:Kevin Edward Mitchell.
Cheryl Lee:Kevin Edward, you're not in trouble yet.
Kevin Mitchell:Oh, it won't be long.
Cheryl Lee:Now, Jebediah released five studio albums, three of which entered the top 10 on the Aria charts Four actually that needs to be updated. Congratulations, by the way.
Kevin Mitchell:That's awesome.
Cheryl Lee:Some people may not know this, you also perform under the pseudonym Bob Evans and been very, very successful with some albums under that name, as well, yeah, well, I've put out as Bob Evans I've put out about.
Kevin Mitchell:I think I've done six records now, something that I've been doing almost as long as Jebediah really. But you know they inhabit very different worlds. Musically, Jebediah is very much a representation of what I fell in love with as a teenager going to those all ages gigs that I was talking about before and falling in love with Australian kind of indie, alternative rock and roll bands. And the Bob Evans solo thing is more of a sort of throwback to the kind of when I first started to learn guitar and learn to write songs. It was on an acoustic guitar and playing sort of more kind of folk based kind of music. So Bob Evans is more sort of in that world. So they inhabit very different worlds.
Cheryl Lee:Seven Bob Evans studio albums
Kevin Mitchell:I think, no, I think it's six studio and I think greatest kids might make it seven, but six studio records.
Cheryl Lee:Also, I didn't know this Do you still do this? Good Evans, it's a podcast?
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, yeah, I did a podcast. I started in 2016 and I did it sort of on and off right through during all the lockdowns and all that sort of stuff, but once the lockdowns finished I kind of took a bit of a break from it. There were other things in my life that kind of took over, took a lot of my attention. I have some other hobbies, so my podcast hobby took a backseat, but you know it's still up there. Anybody who wants to listen, you can find it and all your favorite.
Cheryl Lee:All the usual suspects. That's right. Yeah, one more thing before we move on to the 27 Club. So you did commence uni undergraduate at Western Australian uni didn't really finish that. Was there ever a plan B? Did you consider doing anything else, or was this really your passion and this was it forever?
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, absolutely. I mean I the music thing. When I was at uni I was studying journalism and you know, obviously I was obsessed with music and playing in the band and that's what I loved. But I'd never, up until I was sort of 18, you know, it still kind of just seemed like, um, yeah, just a passion project. I suppose I never really had ambitions to be in the biggest band in the world and you know some musicians, you know they have these sort of ambitions, you know To be famous, to be famous and to be in the biggest band in the world or whatever. I didn't really ever feel any of that sort of stuff For me. I just wanted to, um, for me it was just about playing gigs and hanging out with my best friends. And an opportunity started to come along, you know, and so we grabbed them, and then, you know, another one comes along and before you know it, it's your job.
Cheryl Lee:And the rest is history.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, and and. And it's a strange thing because, you know, in my 30s it wasn't until I've been doing this as a you know, a Jebediah started when I was 17, and by the time I was 18 we were doing it full time it wasn't until I was in my 30s that I kind of stopped I guess this is my job now, you know like, because for so long I've just been doing it and doing it and without really ever kind of thinking of myself as a career artist. I used to really balk it, even describing myself as an artist, even, and or thinking about this as a career. It took a long time before I go.
Kevin Mitchell:well, I guess I better start sort of embracing and accepting this idea right, this is kind of this is what I do, but you know, during the pandemic and didn't have any touring to do for a couple of years or whatever, I started studying again. I'm back at uni, but halfway through an arts degree, so I have sort of gone back and trying to finish a little bit of an unfinished business from back when I quit university to do this, to join the circus, as I call it, the rock and roll circus.
Cheryl Lee:Yeah, I don't think you would have been the only one either during the pandemic.
Kevin Mitchell:Right, yeah, I started a degree and I also did started a lot of dodgy home renovation projects Did you finish any of them. Eventually, but I tell you that one of them was the laundry and it took me over a year. You know a job that a professional would have knocked off in a week.
Cheryl Lee:Well, you did it though.
Kevin Mitchell:We got there eventually.
Cheryl Lee:I have a treat for you now a live version of the Beatles, two of us Bob Evans featuring Josh Pike from the then and now Australia Salutes the Beatles album Back to speak some more with Bob, aka Kevin, shortly. So the 27 Club is made up of a bunch of fabulous South Australian artists, as we mentioned. So how did you get caught up with these bunch of likely leads? Well, I'd known Sarah from the Super Jesus.
Kevin Mitchell:I'd known for a long, long time because Jebediah and Super Jesus sort of came about at the same time in the mid 90s and you know we'd shared many stages and festivals and stuff, knew each other well but everybody else I hadn't met before but I was just. I was just called up and invited to join. I'm not even quite sure like how my name kind of came up or which people had turned it down before they got to me. I don't know. I suppose you know, for people who haven't seen the show, you know the four of sort of singers. We're all quite quite sort of different types of singers, you know, and I think that's part of what makes it work, and I suppose for me that there was a niche or, you know, the Nirvana kind of side of the show was probably where they felt that I could fit in.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, and we all sing songs from across the whole range and we sing a lot of songs together, obviously, and you know you do a bit of everything and you know you've got someone like Carla Lippus, who's just this, you know incredible singer, who comes from like a background of you know, like Cabaret stuff. She's incredible. You know, sarah, you know now's a bunch of the Janice Joplin stuff. She's got that sort of old school rock and roll voice. Dusty's just a whiz on the guitar and a brilliant singer as well and you know. So the doors and the Hendricks stuff is he can kind of cover and so yeah, I guess like I can kind of do the Kurt Cobain theme because you know I connected that music deeply and Nirvana was like one of the most important bands to me as a teenager, as I was kind of learning guitar and learning to write songs and perform so pretty big influence.
Kevin Mitchell:Nirvana was massive, you know. Massive for me so. But you know, the great thing about this show too was like when it came along, and part of the reason why I said yes was I hadn't played Nirvana songs since the very first Jeopardy gig. We played covers because we didn't have enough originals right, and we used to play Nirvana songs, and that stopped when I was a teenager and all of a sudden this opportunity came along, where it's like I could sing Nirvana songs again, and so a big part of it was just the joy of being able to be invited and paid to do that, to do your thing.
Cheryl Lee:It was a great opportunity. For those that might not be aware, the 27 Club is a bit of an infamous club in that there seems to be a large amount of music artists that we lost early on in their careers, at age 27, hence the name. So this fringe show celebrates the music of those artists, like you said Joplin, amy Winehouse, kurt Cobain, morrison, hendricks there's a pretty big list.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, I mean, those are the sort of main ones. I mean, look at Sustange, coincidence, I guess, and like we sort of talk about in the show, that sort of idea of the club really sort of started to gain notoriety when Kurt Cobain died in the 90s. We know his mum referred to him going and joining that stupid club. I think, and also, as we say in the show, maybe when something like this happened, when great artists and also very young people die, there's a certain element of tragedy about that and perhaps it's part of our human nature to want to try and make sense of something that just doesn't make sense. Yes, yes, it's a way to heal, I think. I think that's part of the reason why that sort of 27 Club idea kind of came about. But you know, even though the premise of the show is dark and it is tragic, the show itself is actually quite joyous.
Cheryl Lee:Yes, it is a celebration, it's the music and the artists.
Kevin Mitchell:We try to sort of respectfully honour those songs, that music and the memories of those artists. It's important for us not to be a cheesy kind of you know, we don't dress up like the artists are doing that kind of stuff, and some of the songs are really quite wild reinterpretations of the original.
Kevin Mitchell:Yeah, carla's version of lithium by Nirvana is completely out of the box. I mean, it's really quite. You know, for one of my personal highlights of the show and a great example of how you know to try and sort of respectfully do justice to these artists, it's not so much about learning the songs and playing them perfectly, it's more about like the spirit and the attitude that exists underneath.
Cheryl Lee:Yes, and putting your heart and soul into that.
Kevin Mitchell:That's what we're trying to really kind of get to the heart of and represent. You are listening to Still Rocking it, the podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Cheryl Lee:We'll play Lithium now. I think Carla does an outstanding version of this in the show. It's Nirvana's original version, and we'll be back to speak to Kevin Edward Mitchell of Jebediah very shortly. So there's a few artists in that club, so there's, unfortunately, quite a large pool of songs and artists to choose from. So not only is that a moving target, but also there's a little bit of coming and going and changes in line up as well. So each time you see the show it's different songs and different artists playing. For instance, we've got our gorgeous Zkye for Sarah.
Cheryl Lee:A couple of times and Rachel Vadone is filling in for Carla and a couple of shows. So even if you've seen it before, I'll see you down the front, because it's different every time. You get something different from the show each time. As I say, we've been every time and we'll continue to do so. This is a pretty big bite. You're taking this time a whole month, so you've got plenty of time to see these guys. There's no excuse.
Kevin Mitchell:And the show gets tweaked every year. Every year we try and dismiss the producer, but also Dusty, who's kind of the musical director of the show, you know, always kind of looking for ways to build on the show from the year before and add new twists, and this year, for the first time, the most beautiful original animated visuals that are going to be in the background, and we've added some different songs into the set as well. So even for those who have seen the show multiple times before, you will see something a bit different this year.
Kevin Mitchell:That's right. So I think you know. Hopefully, the idea is just to keep building on it and keep trying to make something better each time.
Cheryl Lee:We are going to have a song. Thank you very much. I'm going to ask you one more question before we ask you to play for us. I'm just wondering what's on your playlist. Like, if you're alone in your car and you're driving all by yourself, what do you like to listen to?
Kevin Mitchell:Oh, ok, Well, I mean, if I'm driving and I want driving music, you know I'm a big fan of, you know, sort of alternative country music, americana music, like I'm a big listen to Williams fan she's great to listen to on long drives what else you know I'm fond of. I'm a sucker for a lot of pop music as well. Possibly because of the influence of my two. I've got a ten and twelve year old daughter, so I'm getting a pretty healthy whack of Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa and all that sort of stuff.
Cheryl Lee:My two daughters are off to Melbourne.
Kevin Mitchell:Are they? Yeah, we did try to get tickets good and get them Probably a blessing in disguise.
Cheryl Lee:Yeah.
Kevin Mitchell:You saved us a thousand dollars. But yeah, that would have loved to have gone and saved us a bit. I took my youngest daughter to the the year at the cinema, to the cinema concert, which is fantastic, I gotta say it was really really good. So yeah, I mean I I'll just do a bit of everything, I guess so what are you?
Kevin Mitchell:gonna sing for us. I'm gonna sing some nirvana. Um, I guess it's the, the, the mellow acoustic version it's. You know, in the in the 27 club it's a little bit more raucous than this, but you're getting the unplugged version to that.
Cheryl Lee:Alright, shall we go Yep.
Cheryl Lee:Not bad for a journalist. Well done, thank you, Kevin. Thank you so much for coming in and having a chat with us today. I know you're on an extremely busy schedule, so really appreciate your time. Today I've interviewed Carl. In fact, carl's episode is about to go to air on our Channel 44 here. And we interviewed Sarah and her band in series two. I think.
Cheryl Lee:We probably haven't had time to organise it this time, but maybe next year, when you're here to the fringe, I can interview you for our TV show as well. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure, that'll be great We'll let you get on with your day. Thank you. You're with Cheryl Lee that radio chick. Thank you so much for joining me on the Still Rocking it podcast. Hope to catch you again next time when you can support Aussie music and I'll see you down the front.