Jake Stone: "It Wasn't My Decision" To Break Up Bluejuice

Despite previously stating that Bluejuice‘s dissolution was spurred by a desire to go out “on a high note”, frontman Jake Stone has insisted he doesn’t want the band to end. Speaking in a recent interview, the irreverent frontman revealed that it was the decision of fellow vocalist Stav Yiannoukas to end the group.

“It wasn’t really my decision, as such,” Stone told The Maitland Mercury of the band’s recently announced breakup. “I don’t think Stav was sick of being in the band, but I think he had his life sorted out in other areas. He had kids and a partner and a house, so he’s probably comfortable now,” he added.

Stone implied that he has hard feelings over the decision to split after 13 years, but acknowledged that it comes at the best time possible. “[Stav] would never say it but I feel like he thinks he has himself sorted out and just doesn’t need to [be in Bluejuice] anymore, which I think is quite selfish,” said Stone.

“But it has coincided with an appropriate moment for us in the sense that, career-wise, it isn’t necessarily going to get easier to shop singles and [push] this band, until a point at which people think this band is relevant again.” However, the energetic frontman insisted, “I doubt that I will be at peace with it at all.”

“In my mind, this is the start of a major downswing in my life,” he said. According to Stone, the concurrent dissolution of a personal relationship left him feeling as though “everything in my life was going to be fucked”, adding, “I’m working really hard so that it isn’t, but that may not make any difference. That’s what I’m scared of.”

According to Stone, the rapidly changing tastes of the Australian listening public, which he attributes to the country’s small population, make it hard to be viable as a band. “In America it’s different, in the UK it’s different,” he explained. “You can have a big audience there because there’s so many people.”

“If we were the type of band we are over there, then there would be no talk of breaking up because we would be making a lot of money. And that would keep Stav in the band, I know it,” said the frontman. “Here [in Australia], it’s not like that. You can have a Platinum record and still not be rich.”

With the band embarking on their farewell tour this month, Stone is now focusing on Bluejuice’s legacy as a serious band in the Australian music arena. “I think we have to be perceived as one of the best local acts that Australia fielded in the early 2000s, because we are,” he said.

“It would be a great shame if people looked back on us and thought we were a novelty band. I think the novelty thing is how we sold ourselves,” he added. Stone continued by comparing Bluejuice to fellow Aussies Mental As Anything both in career trajectory and in their consistent output of quality pop rock.

“I don’t think we’re behind the times, I just think that we’ve been around for so long that, as is the usual with bands, people want to see us killed off,” said Stone. “That’s the nature of being in a band in Australia, [people] actually do want to see you killed off a little bit once they’ve loved you for a while.”

Read the full interview over at The Maitland Mercury.