Photo credit: Jesper Hede
With ten years of making magic together and over 1.8 million monthly listeners, Australian dance-pop quartet The Jungle Giants are no stranger to musical success. The Aussie four-piece boasts multiple ARIA-certified gold and platinum singles, sold-out headline tours, and thousands of dedicated fans, all without the help of a major label.
After the release of their latest album, Love Signs, The Jungle Giants show no signs of slowing down any time soon. The record includes bouncy, effervescent dancefloor bops like “Heavy Hearted” and “Sending Me Ur Loving” that are sure to keep us all twirling through summer.
BTS had the pleasure of chatting with lead singer Sam Hales on the heels of the album’s release about all things creativity, musical evolution, and, of course, tubulums.
Get to Know The Jungle Giants:
BTS: How do you describe your sound to someone who hasn’t heard your music yet?
Kinda like futuristic acoustic dance-pop. Lol
BTS: What’s the story of The Jungle Giants? How did you all find each other?
We all met in school. I was in the grade above the guys, and I’d been recording and writing acoustic music for a couple of years. I had just left school and went up to each member and asked them to join. I went and got two jobs, one and Mcdonald’s and the other at a convenience store next door. I worked about 60 hours per week saving money to pay for the first EP, and at night was finishing off the tracks. When the guys were on holidays I’d finally got enough money and we hit the studio. Rest is pretty much history.
BTS: You just released your latest album, Love Signs, last month. How does it feel to have the project out in the world?
It’s the best feeling ever!! I’m so proud of this record. I love every single track so much to finally have it out feels so crazy, I’ve been slamming the tracks at parties before it came out just because I love it so much ha. The response has been overwhelming and I’m really feeling like people are totally connecting with it.
BTS: You wrote and produced Love Signs in the midst of lockdown last year. How do you think those circumstances influenced the album itself?
The lockdown made it harder than it needed to be, since in the midst of it, it can be hard to tap into the usual motivation. But I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience. I learnt so much about myself, and I’m so proud. I really pushed through, and I even made up some little mind games and routines to keep me focused. These tracks have been our biggest yet, and that’s given me a really exciting feeling about the future of my production. Feel like I could take the music anywhere, and make it anywhere I want.
BTS: You posted a video of the custom-built tubulum you used for the bass sounds on Heavy Hearted. For our readers who aren’t familiar with the tubulum, can you explain the instrument?
It’s essentially a marimba-style percussion instrument, but instead of keys, you hit PVC pipes. They make this amazing short and fat sound. I fell in love with the sound when I heard a busker playing one on the street one day.
HERE SHE IS. For all those wondering about the Heavy Hearted bass sounds… here’s the custom built tubulum I built it with. Pic on insta x pic.twitter.com/oIpGkQ0pA0
— The Jungle Giants (@thejunglegiants) July 16, 2019
BTS: The tubulum is an incredible complement to the dance vibes of Heavy Hearted. How did you land on the instrument when writing and producing the song?
I’d been working on bass sounds at the time, and was playing around with a bunch of different things, and when I heard that, I was like THAT’S IT. The fatness but shortness of the notes and the attack was exactly what I was looking for in Heavy Hearted.
BTS: Describe your creative process. Do you find yourself writing songs all at once or forming them bit by bit? Where do you draw your creative inspiration from?
It’s a little different with every track. More often than not though I’ll chip away at tracks over a period of time. Some are done in 45 mins though. I love to work in a little creative routine, it’s one I learnt and adapted from something Hemmingway used to do. I start every day with a new idea, then I break for lunch. Then I pick up on an idea from the previous day. Once things slow down and I’m not sure exactly where to take the track, I stop and move onto another one. This way I never overcook a track, and I have a million little ideas on the boil at the same time. Makes me feel good.
BTS: Your first EP was released 10 years ago. How do you think your sound has matured in the years since? Where do you see it moving in the future?
It’s changed so much that some people wouldn’t even recognize it anymore haha. As I grow and change, it feels really natural for my music to change too. I’ve been really lucky in the sense that a lot of our fans have changed with me, and that we’ve picked up new fans along the way. As for the future, I’m gonna do what I’ve always done. Throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.
BTS: The last year and a half has been difficult for everyone. How did you all cope with the changes and maintain your creativity through it all?
While I was in lockdown making the record, I’d get a little overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I had left to do, and it’d be really hard to stay creative and focused while I was in that midframe. It would really also affect my sleep. So I made a little mental routine that would help me.
I’d visualize that each morning I was a polar mountain climber, and each day I would climb until sunset, and then I’d have to set up camp. The next day repeat. All in order to get to the top. The visualization seems silly but it helped remind me that if I just focused on each day’s work, I was eventually going to finish the record. It was about maintaining focus for the prolonged period.
BTS: You’ll be going back on the road in Australia in September and internationally in February 2022 for an 8-stop tour in Canada and the US. How excited are you to be back on stage performing? What’s it like hearing your songs sung back to you in venues literally across the world?
We are SO excited to play this new record. We’ve been lucky enough to play a bunch of one-off festivals here and there around the country in recent months and the crowd response has been bigger and better than ever. It’s the best feeling ever hearing people singing along, and dancing along, and it’ll be even more turbo with these new songs. So excited.
BTS: What songs, new and old, are you most looking forward to performing live?
Fave new one at the moment is Something Got Between Us. Fave old one at the moment is Quiet Ferocity.
BTS: What should we look out for from The Jungle Giants in the coming year?
We’ve been working on a massive remix release…Something very cool coming.
Follow The Jungle Giants on social media: Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
Follow Beyond The Stage for more updates on all of your favorite artists.
- PHOTOS: Yves Tumor – San Francisco, CA – 5/23/23 - June 13, 2023
- PHOTOS: Shea Coulee – San Francisco – 3/31/23 - April 17, 2023
- PHOTOS: Maggie Rogers – San Francisco – 3/5/23 - March 21, 2023
