Julia Jacklin and her band are pulling in for dinner somewhere in the US midwest when our call is connected. Catching up with the Sydney songwriter in a rare moment of offstage time is an opportunity I wasn’t going to pass up, given how much of a whirlwind this year has been for her so far. Jacklin’s debut album Don’t Let The Kids Win, out this Friday, is a culmination of not only an obvious amount of hard work on her part, but also the quickly built up positive momentum that has surrounded her since “Pool Party” dropped earlier this year.
Currently on tour through the US with Marlon Williams, Jacklin comes home for a quick break this month before embarking on another huge round of dates with Whitney in Europe. To cap it all off, she’s bringing the record home to live crowds in Australia this November before hitting up festivals through the summer.
This girl’s dance card is most definitely full.
“It’s hard to know how people perceive your success, I guess.” she says, thinking about the pace her shows have been growing over the past year. “It’s a little nervewracking when your booking agent is like, ‘We’ve locked you in an 800 capacity room in London for next year,’ and you’re like, ‘What? That’s not a good idea!’ – you get worried about things like that! It’s definitely pretty amazing for me and my friends and my family to go through this with me; going from watching me play open mic nights in Glebe at The Little Guy every Tuesday night to now, playing my own shows with my own record at the Oxford Art Factory. It’s pretty crazy when you look at the whole picture.”
Having first seen the effect Jacklin was beginning to have on international audiences while at SXSW this year, I was wondering how long it would take for more markets to twig onto the music she’s been making. In Don’t Let The Kids Win, we have a record that is exemplary of Jacklin’s unique brand of storytelling and her captivating musical charm.
“I didn’t think about it for a while until this tour,” she admits, as we chat about the album’s impending release. “I made it a year ago and I’ve been playing it for a few years now so I feel like I’m settled with it, but now it’s about to go out there for judgement and enjoyment! It does make you feel a little nervous, but I’m also at the stage right now where I’m just resigned to the fact that it’s going to go out and I’ve just got to embrace it and I’ve got to cop whatever happens. It’s kind of what you set out for.”
Reflecting on the last year of touring and what is still lined up for her before 2016 is out, Jacklin admits that the rate at which everything has been travelling has been a little rattling. It’s a lifestyle change, but one she’s excited to face head on.
“I have a lot to do surrounding the album release but I’m also on the road,” she laughs. “It’s a bit of a struggle to fit everything in at the same time without feeling like an emotional wreck at the moment! It’s concentrated bursts of intensity and then I’ll have a few days to just reflect on it and relax; right now, I’m in the emotional section, but it’ll only be for a couple more weeks and then I’ll have some breathing time before the Whitney tour. It’s definitely gotten bigger in a pretty short amount of time, so it is something to adjust to.”
“It’s one of those things, you never really know what is normal and what my emotional response should be to these things; it’s not something I’ve ever experienced before. I’m slowly getting in touch with other people who have gone through the same thing – it’s like, ‘Did you feel like this when this happened?’ or just trying to gauge those types of things. It’s definitely something that I’m just trying to take on a day to day basis, otherwise it feels a little too overwhelming.”
We don’t have long to wait now until Don’t Let The Kids Win finally sees release, but the November homecoming tour for Julia is one we’re particularly looking forward to. Not only will she be touring with Gabriella Cohen (“I love her record,” Jacklin praises), but the shows we’ll be seeing from the headliner will be in some of the largest rooms she’s played yet. While for many it’s going to be a bit of a proud moment to see Jacklin return with a full album behind her, no doubt a lot of newcomers will be coming out to see her play for the first time – something she’s stoked for.
“You get it into your head that everybody’s already thinking about it,” she mentions. “You’re playing it every night and you’re already thinking about it all the time. I’ve been realising in the last couple of days that there are going to be people who haven’t ever heard of me before who might see this album crop up on Spotify or see it in a record store. They might go, ‘Who’s that?’ and discover it in a totally fresh, new way. I’m excited to see how that plays out.”
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Don’t Let The Kids Win is out this Friday!
JULIA JACKLIN AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
Tickets through Oztix
November 17th | The Foundry, BRISBANE
November 23rd | Jive, ADELAIDE
November 24th | Howler, MELBOURNE
December 1st | Transit Bar, CANBERRA*
December 2nd | The Small Bandroom, NEWCASTLE*
December 9th | Oxford Art Factory, SYDNEY
December 10th | FourFiveNine, PERTH*
December 16th | The Carrington Hotel, KATOOMBA*
*Gabriella Cohen not appearing
Julia is also appearing at the following Australian summer festival dates:
November 18th – 19th | Mullumbimby Music Festival
November 25th | Paradise Music Festival
November 26th -27th | Queenscliff Music Festival
December 2nd – 3rd | Fairgrounds Festival
Image: Nick McKinlay.
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