Jet are an Australian rock band, formed in 2001 in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded by brothers Nic (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano) and Chris Cester (drums, vocals) together with Cameron Muncey (lead guitar, vocals), they were joined the following year by Mark Wilson on bass guitar. The quartet released three studio albums – Get Born (2003), Shine On (2006) and Shaka Rock (2009) – before disbanding in 2012. They reformed in 2016 for a series of shows and reunion tours. They reunited for a second time in 2023, and were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in November that year.
The band is best known for the success of Get Born and its lead single, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". Get Born peaked at number one in Australia, as well as the top 20 in the United Kingdom and top 30 in the United States. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2004, the band won in six categories: Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album, Breakthrough Artist – Album and both Single of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". The song reached the top 20 in Australia and UK and top 30 in the US. At the APRA Awards, it won Most Performed Australian Work Overseas for three consecutive years: 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Shine On and Shaka Rock were Australian top five albums, while their other top 20 singles were "Look What You've Done" (2004), "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" (2006) and "She's a Genius" (2009).
History Formation and Dirty Sweet (2001–2003)
The Cester brothers, Nic and Chris, grew up in Dingley Village and attended St Bede's College, Mentone, Melbourne. They listened to their father John's classic rock records from the 1960s and 1970s. While still at school Nic formed a group by 1995, which Cameron Muncey joined. Jet's influences include the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Faces, AC/DC and T. Rex. According to Nic, Australian power pop band You Am I had the biggest influence on their developing musical tastes:
Nic, on lead vocals and guitar, decided to form a garage rock band, in 2001, with Muncey on lead guitar and vocals, before Chris joined on drums and vocals. Bass guitarist Doug Armstrong, who completed the line-up, had met the Cesters while working at their father's spice factory. The quartet trialled various band names, Mojo Filter, Hi-Fidelity and Duosonic, before settling for Jet in 2002 – from the song of the same name (originally by Paul McCartney and Wings). Their early repertoire was cover versions of You Am I songs and "whatever else was going 'round." "Radio Song" from their debut album Get Born was written about difficulties they had obtaining recognition at that time.
Jet supported Melbourne punk rock band the Specimens as an opening act at The Duke of Windsor hotel, Windsor. Talent manager and booking agent Dave Powell was filling-in for the venue's sound engineer, "I realised the singer could actually sing. I was blown away. They had a lot of potential and I didn't have a lot of bands coming through who were like that." Powell signed the then-unnamed group to his management firm. Nic recalled, "Duke of Windsor became our headquarters. [Powell] would be taking calls from you know, executives in Los Angeles from the keg room you know, that was his office." The members had met Mark Wilson in 2002 during his performance at that same venue and asked him to replace Armstrong on bass guitar. Wilson had been in a Geelong-based band, the Ca$inos.
Late in 2002 Jet independently issued a four-track debut extended play Dirty Sweet, with distribution by Rubber Records. Its initial pressing of 1000 copies was sold out. An NME writer had obtained a copy of the group's single "Take It or Leave It" from Dirty Sweet and described it as a mixture of the Rolling Stones and AC/DC. Elektra Records executives signed the band for a recording contract and re-released Dirty Sweet in May 2003.
Get Born (2003–2005)
Jet entered the Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles with Dave Sardy producing their debut album Get Born (September 2003). Sardy had produced work for Marilyn Manson and the Dandy Warhols. The Australian quartet used Billy Preston on keyboards for two tracks. Get Borns title references a lyric from Bob Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (1965) "Ah get born, keep warm." It reached number one in Australia and was accredited 8× platinum by Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). It peaked in the top 20 in the UK and top 30 in the US, and was certified platinum in both countries by British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), respectively.
The Rolling Stones offered Jet a support slot on the Australian leg of their 2003 tour. Including their own headlining tours, the Australian group played more than 200 shows during that 2003. Get Borns singles "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" and "Rollover DJ" were listed at number one and number nineteen, respectively, on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2003. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" appeared on the soundtracks for the video games Madden NFL 2004, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Rock Band, and Strictly Come Dancing; the 2006 animated film Flushed Away; the live-action films Eurotrip and What Happens in Vegas; and as part of two major worldwide advertising campaigns for Vodafone and Apple's iPod and iMac.
"Rollover DJ" is used on the soundtrack of PlayStation 2 game Gran Turismo 4. Get Born also includes the song "Timothy", dedicated to Muncey's deceased brother – due to its sensitive nature the quartet rarely play the track live. In early 2004, Jet teamed up with the Vines and the Living End on The Aussie Invasion tour of US. A new Jet song, "Hold On", not included on Get Born, was used on the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack that year. TV and film producer J. J. Abrams contacted them to record a song for the Season 4 of Alias. "Cold Hard Bitch" from Get Born was used, and used during a frenetic scene of two CIA agents sprinting down a Hong Kong street, giving the band further US exposure.
Later in 2004 Jet received nominations for the annual US Radio Music Awards, including Artist of the Year: Rock Radio, Artist of the Year: Rock Alternative Radio, and Song of the Year: Rock Radio (for "Cold Hard Bitch"). They also received the 32nd Annual American Music Awards nomination as Favorite Artist – Alternative Music, as well as three nominations at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, held in Miami in August. "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" was nominated for Best Rock Video, Best New Artist and Best Editing in a video. Jet performed "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" live at the ceremony and picked up the award for Best Rock Video, dedicating it to the Cesters' late father.
Following their success in the US, back home the group headed the leader board at the ARIA Music Awards of 2004 by winning six categories: Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album and Breakthrough Artist – Album for Get Born as well as Single of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Single for "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". They were also nominated for Highest-Selling Album. At the ceremony in October the quartet performed "Are You Gonna Be My Girl"; while Nic provided lead vocals on a cover version of Stevie Wright's "Evie (part 1)" as a member of an Australian super-group the Wrights, with Spiderbait's Kram (drums), the Living End's Chris Cheney (guitar), Dallas Crane's Pat Bourke (bass guitar) and You Am I's Davey Lane (guitar). Get Borns "Look What You've Done" (No. 24) and "Get What You Need" (No. 89) were listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2004.
During a show at the MCG in October 2005, Nic declared that he considered his group to be "up there with the greatests, with fucking Lennon and the Stones." This caused controversy but was settled when Australian music magazines began publishing articles comparing Jet's albums with those of famous 1960s and 1970s bands. Get Born is listed at No. 89 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010). The authors described it as "free of the neurotic self-examination that passes for meaningful songwriting in the post-Nirvana era."
Shine On (2006–2008)
"Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" was released to radio as a single in August 2006 ahead of their second album, Shine On. It followed on 30 September (2 October in the UK, 3 October in the US) with a physical listing of 15 tracks. An extra track, "Coming Home Soon", was available only from the ITunes Store. Shine On debuted at No. 3 on the Australian charts and was accredited platinum by ARIA in 2006. Critical reaction to the album was mixed, with British music magazine NMEs Paul McNamee calling it "another joyfully old-fashioned rock'n'roll album immersed in the classics." Pitchfork reviewed the album with nothing but a video of a chimpanzee urinating in its own mouth, credited to the pseudonym Ray Suzuki. Later, when review scores were added to all previous reviews on the site, it was given a score of 0.0 out of 10. "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" appeared on the "Chuck" TV series pilot episode, "Chuck Versus the Intersect". It also was added to a compilation CD, NME: The Essential Bands – Festival Edition.
Jet played at the MTV Europe Awards in Copenhagen in early November 2006. It was their first live performance since Nic's laryngitis halted their World Tour early in the previous month. In mid-November Jet returned to Australia and performed at the Make Poverty History Concert at Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne. They also held a show on a barge floating on the Yarra River. The performance was broadcast via Triple J's radio programme Live at the Wireless.
The next singles from Shine On, "Bring It On Back" (in the UK) and "Rip It Up" (in Australia) appeared in late 2006. The album provided a five-track EP, also titled Shine On, which was issued in December. The title track, "Shine On", was released on various dates in March 2007 as a single. It is a tribute to the Cesters' father, who had died of cancer in 2004. The track was written by Nic from the perspective of his father encouraging those who outlived him to "shine on". Other songs on the album ("Come On Come On", "Bring It On Back", "Stand Up", "Holiday", "All You Have to Do") deal with overcoming adversity and challenge. Shine Ons "Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is" (No. 72) and "Rip It Up" (No. 76) were listed on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.
Jet co-headlined the 2007 Big Day Out festivals in Australia and New Zealand, alongside fellow headliners Tool, Muse, the Killers, and My Chemical Romance. Also in that year, they released "Falling Star" for the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack, while "Rip It Up" appeared on the TMNT soundtrack, which also was the official theme for the wrestling show WWEs 2010 SummerSlam. In June and August, they supported the Rolling Stones on the European leg of their A Bigger Bang World Tour in Lisbon, Madrid and London (O2 Arena).
In October 2007 the band returned to Australia to perform at the AFL Grand Final and to finish the rest of their world tour. In November the members announced they would take "some time off" as they needed "down time". On 24 October Chris and Wilson produced a song "I Spy I Spy", under the moniker the Vice Lords, for the Japanese former duo Superfly. They collaborated with Iggy Pop to release a joint rendition of Johnny O'Keefe's single "Wild One" as "The Wild One – A Tribute to Johnny O'Keefe" on its 50th anniversary in July 2008. It also appeared on the compilation and tribute album of the same name later that year.
Shaka Rock and disbandment (2009–2012)