Anyone reading this article from the United Kingdom will probably be thinking: The Superjesus?! Who?! However , if you're from America or Australia, your reaction will be very different indeed, for The Superjesus are becoming huge in both these countries, and they are set to get even bigger.

Fronted by lead singer Sarah McLeod, the four piece rock band from Adelaide first became apparent to me about a month ago, when an old friend walked into my local pub with a CD. "You've gotta hear this," he remarked, "some of their stuff sounds similar to the new stuff you guys are doing, and I thought you'd be interested." After swiftly scooping the last half of my pint, we headed along to Richey's house and put the CD on.

Although I would dispute that The Superjesus sound like my own band, Lung, I did interpret similarities: female vocals; heavy guitars; solid, dark, hard-hitting riffs. From the moment the first track Down Again got underway I was hooked on their unique, yet distinctive sound. The Superjesus have been dubbed a cross between the Baby Animals and the Smashing Pumpkins, a comparison which the band utterly refute - I would certainly concur with them in the sense that their music is far more cleverly structured and their sound a great deal crisper than either of these two bands put together. In short, The Superjesus make Garbage seem appropriatly named, and it both surprises and worries me that this Aussie band with two ARIA awards under their belts are still virtually unknown in the U.K.

Apart from Sarah McLeod on guitars/vocals, The Superjesus comprise of bassist Stuart Rudd, drummer Paul Berryman, and guitarist Chris Tennant. Recent news has been released however that Chris has now left the band being replaced by Melbourne guitarist Tim Henwood from Plastecinel. This may prove to be the only possible stumbling block for the band since it is so evident that their previous chemistry worked exceptionally well. I only hope that it wasn't Chris Tennant who was responsible for writing most of the band's guitar riffs, for the structure, timing and punchy/doomy ambience almost rates alongside that of the riff master Toni Iommi himself (there, I said it. What a blasphemy). This style conjoined with the melodic pop vocals and the solid rhythm section make The Superjesus a force to be reckoned with. Nothing makes this more evident than the ridiculously catchy vocal melody lines that are present during the chorus of Saturation. Last year their single Down Again was rated No. 15 in the list of "Greatest Australian Songs of the 90s", and it is well deserved.

The rise to fame for The Superjesus has been a rather rapid affair. Their debut EP, Eight Step Rail, received regular prime-time airplay on the Australian radio station JJJ, and from there they quickly secured an international recording contract with Warner. They were also awarded "Most Outstanding Group" at the SAMI awards and have released a double album entitled Sumo II. From what I am lead to believe, Sumo II comprises of both live and studio recorded material as well as a CD ROM of a live performance (a clever market considering the rising popularity of computers within the average household). Why then are a band of this calibre virtually unknown in the U.K.? Well, I reckon there are at least two main reasons:

1. In a country that has more instrumentless boy and girl bands than one has chunks of diced carrot to vomit, the U.K. record industry would rather take candy money from pre-pubescent adolescents who obviously have about as much taste as a particular make of hamburger I could mention - honestly, something has got to be done about this dreadful situation where these soulless cabbage-cloned halfwits are parodied everyday as real musicians.
2. Many parts of the U.K. almost remain as technologically in the dark ages as its National Health Service, for after I enquired in a number of well established record shops for some Superjesus material, I was told on every occasion that I would have to find the albums' serial number myself, and then supply it to them. Exactly why these record shops were still resorting to an out-of-date catalogue as opposed to an up-to-date internet is quite worrying in the 21st century.

The Superjesus, however, are too talented to remain unknown in the U.K. Whether the pop industry likes it or not, rock music is being resurrected, and this time it is more clever and mind-blowing than ever before. I confidently predict that before 2000 is out, The Superjesus will have helped to roll away the stone that has for so long suffocated the British music scene.