INTERVIEW: Cosmo Jarvis

We've kind of been frothing over COSMO JARVIS recently. The ridiculously talented dude always seems to be keeping himself busy with some sort of artistic project.

He's released his third LP Think Bigger, followed by a couple of singles and clips that feature on the new album. He's also very recently premiered his feature film The Naughty Room. Not only did he write it, he acts in it too.

Before he kicks off his first Australian show in Byron Bay on Boxing Day, we were very lucky to have a quick chat with Cosmo. When Cosmo was younger, he heard the song 'Blackbird' by the Beatles and pretty much found himself in awe of it's superb composition.

“When I was growing up it was kind of one of the first songs I heard, along with 'Barbara Ann' by the Beach Boys which is also pretty damn good. It was kind of just really profound, the melody was just pretty much perfect. It had integrity that a lot of acoustic stuff that I now note to be acoustic stuff often lacks. And then I went years not knowing what the song was about. Then I saw Paul McCartney one time, and he said what it was about and I didn't even know that, but that made it kind of even better. It's just a fucking great song. It would be great to make something that artistically necessary I guess. It was a necessary work for some reason.”

Not only is Cosmo a music man, he's very heavily into the world of film as well. First finding interest in this medium at around the age of twelve, I asked Cosmo if something sparked this interest.

“Not really. My dad used to borrow this camera from where he worked at with like university. He had like a educational camera. He used to bring it home, I used to screw around with that.

My mum – she's a good artist. I mean she's not like an artist now, but she has made a lot of good visual art, like drawing and stuff. And it's kind of like a bunch of those things. I got webcam one day, kind of screwed around with making animations and kind of started there."

As he's spent many years on creating short films and just basically toying around with cameras, he's found himself directing and producing the film clips to his own songs. I asked him what his favourite is thus far.

“Probably the most fun was the 'My Day' one, where we're in a field on the back of a trailer. That was pretty good. The most difficult one was 'Tell Me Who To Be' which I think is a pretty crappy video now looking back at it. I dunno, it was good when we finished 'Gay Pirates' but, definitely it was good to have it in the can.”

Cosmo also used to film him and his friends doing stupid shit after being influenced by Jackass. What was his favourite Cosmo Jarvis stunt?

“Oh man, my stunts weren't even that great, my stunts were pretty lame, like embarrassing. But ah, one time I drove a bicycle into the back of a parked Ford Escort. The bike hit the back and I thought I'd kind of get thrown with the bike over and land on the roof but I didn't, I just came off and went straight through the back windscreen. I had to get stitches in my arm. That video still exists on the Internet, I don't know why though, but it's on there.”

Now really curious to see it, I can't actually find the vid anywhere on the net. If you do happen to have the URL, feel free to post it in our comments section! In the meantime, enjoy Cosmo battle a wheelie bin, as well as light his shirt on fire. That squeal.

Cosmo's released three studio albums so far, all featuring fantastic songs built with strong lyrics and catchy rhythms. What's his favourite?

“Probably Think Bigger only because it's the most recent. Every album I did I became less anal about the way that I wanted to sound because I realised that the way I wanted to sound is irrelevant. The audience don't care how it's produced, but anyway, yeah I've kind of loosened up with the album. I think it was the most concise and least stressful to make.. I dunno, fuck it.”

Probably one of the best answers I've had from this question, I asked Cosmo the weirdest thing that's happened to him on tour.

“I glued my testicles to my stomach with spray adhesive”

After having a good laugh, I asked why he did such a thing.

“I dunno, I was bored.”

Fair enough!

In between Cosmo's Australian shows, he'll be playing both Falls Festival and Southbound. With such a quality lineup promised, I asked who he's most excited to be sharing the bill with.

“I haven't even really looked. I know that Bombay Bicycle Club are on there. And that's cool because I like that song that they did with that cool riff. That's cool. But other than that I haven't really looked. It's good that I'm playing a festival, cause I never really play stages as big. It'll be the first time I'll probably play the stage this big.”

In regards to his headline tour, does he have a particular place he's excited to visit the most?

“There's one that I can't pronounce that sounded pretty cool which was this “Woolowong” place. I've heard cool things. But other than that, not really. I'm just looking forward to seeing what they're like.”

Well hello Wollongong*, make sure you teach Cosmo how to pronounce yo hometown!

As he does always have something going on, I was curious to know what was planned for 2013.

“I'm trying to make another feature film next year called Abandoned Hope. Hopefully that's going to be the same guys that were in this other one I made called The Naughty Room. They're going to be acting in it and I'm going to be acting in it. I'm just trying to get that done. But the final draft and the screenplay is done which is good. And another album I guess. I mean it's ready to go, I just need to, you know, do the whole thing.”

Words by Hannah Galvin.

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