Ex-Jam Tart Jody Bell’s heroic homecoming with BOOF

Former Jam Tarts singer Jody Bell is making a long-awaited return to Western Australia this month with the weird and wonderful BOOF. The Jam Tarts were a popular all-girl band from Fremantle that toured Australia and Europe through the ’80s into the ’90s. After Jody Bell moved to Amsterdam in 1994, she met up with Melbourne musician Steve Purcell (Swinging Sidewalks), and they started writing songs together and busking their way around Holland, eventually forming the band BOOF with three other Dutch musicians. After releasing their first album Cheap Dinner For Two in 1996, BOOF toured back and forth to Melbourne before reforming in the early 2000s with an all Aussie line up.

Now thirty years since she graced our stages in The Jam Tarts, Jody Bell is returning to WA this month with BOOF, hitting Clancy’s Fish Pub, Fremantle, on Friday, March 22; Melville’s Summer Music Series on Saturday, March 23; Ellington Jazz Club on Sunday, March 24; Settler’s Tavern, Margaret River, on Thursday, March 28; and Denmark Hotel on Friday, March 29. BRAYDEN EDWARDS caught up with Jody Bell to find out the story behind BOOF and why she can’t wait to bring their music to WA stages.

It’s great to have you returning to WA for some live shows this month! How long have you been hoping to pay us a visit?

BOOF is so excited about this trip back to the west. I have never toured back here with one of my bands, so this will be a lot of fun. BOOF was born 30 years ago in Amsterdam, so I’d say we’ve been wanting to play to Perth/Freo audiences for just under 30 years (laughs).

It will be something of a homecoming for you, given that you started out playing in the ’80s and ’90s with The Jam Tarts. What’s one thing that has changed about you since then and one thing that hasn’t?

Well, my waistline has changed (laughs), but my love of performing, writing songs, and recording hasn’t changed. I’m pretty sure I’m a better musician and a much better singer now that I’m in my 50s.

How about the music style itself? Did you feel BOOF was a natural progression for you musically? Or was it a real change in direction?

BOOF was a complete natural transition from The Jam Tarts. Like the Jam Tarts, BOOF is a harmony band. We have four-part harmonies going through most of our songs. BOOF have written hundreds of songs in our 30-year life span—some stick, some slide—but they are all mostly melodic and joyful, with a backbeat you just can’t lose. We don’t do wafty navel gaze depression music… Is that even a genre?

And for those not familiar, how did the band BOOF form?

BOOF formed as a busking band in Amsterdam in 1994. I was living in Amsterdam and playing with some Dutch country music musicians when Stevie Purcell showed up from Melbourne with his double bass. We knew each other from our Jam Tart and Swinging Sidewalks touring days. I was living in an old, squatted (well-organised) hospital, and I got Stevie a room there. From then on, we sat around, playing and writing songs. Then we’d hit the streets and parks to make some money for food and beer. We ended up recording 10 new original songs and sold them while busking.

It was cassette tapes back then. Somehow a tape got into the hands of a great bloke from a little record label called Banana Records. He took us into his studio, and we recorded a whole album called Cheap Dinner for Two. Then we just started getting lots of cream of the crop-type gigs. Long story short, we ended up signing a record deal with Sony Holland and recording and touring more. We went on tour back to Melbourne a couple of times with the Dutch musicians from BOOF. Epic, when you think about it being before mobile phones and the internet. It was a whole lot of fun.

After some time spent on other things, BOOF returned in recent years, even bringing out a new album called Being Good Makes Me Sad.

How was this record different from what you had released before?

Being Good Makes Me Sad is much the same as the other albums: feel-good, melodic, toe tappers with a weird twist. We have recorded all our albums ourselves in various kitchens and lounge rooms, but this one we recorded at Stevie’s studio from Belmar Records. That is, except for our EP Circles, which we recorded at David Briggs’s studio here in Melbourne. David being the ‘lonesome loser’ from The Little River Band. What a great bloke he is. We now refer to him as Sir David. Lots of respect.

There are five WA shows lined up, including gigs in Margs and Denmark. What made you want to venture out of the city for these regional shows on this visit?

We are very happy to be playing down south; it’s just somewhere we all wanted to play and go. When I approached the venues, they all said yes, so boom, off we go to one of the most beautiful parts of Australia. We have a 12-seat bus for our road trip, and we are pumped!!

What is next for you and the band? Any more plans in the pipeline after this WA visit?

Next up is another recording, of course, as the songs keep coming, and it’s always good to record after a tour because the band is tight. We have a regular once-a-month Friday night gig at a venue called The Ragtime Tavern. That is our favourite gig, one because all our friends come, and two because it has a baby grand piano built into the bar that spins around, along with a smoke machine and laser light show. It really is a unique venue, and I highly recommend it to any Perth people coming to Melbourne for a visit. We play the first Friday of the month. The gig goes off and everyone has a great time, including BOOF.