LES JOBSON, frontman of JOBSON’S DREAMKILLERS tells TOM HERSEY war stories from the seedy side of the music business and his battle to reclaim the rights to the Dreamkillers music.

Even though Les modestly denies it during our chat, the band that he has fronted since their inception in 1990, the Dreamkillers (in its many formations and guises) have become something of a legend within the Brisbane metal and punk scenes. Gaining a cult following worldwide that even saw them reach the top ten in Somalia’s music charts (apparently American troops in the African country were big Dreamkillers fans) and be courted by some of the biggest and best alternative record labels.

However the band’s dreamy career turned nightmarish during the mid-‘90s. Their involvement with certain record labels saw the band eventually stripped of its publishing and recording rights. While Les didn’t describe all the gory details of the situation, he painted a pretty vivid outline. “We had Alternative Tentacles, Roadrunner, Sony and BMG to deal with. It was a nightmare. It’s been a disgusting battle to try and get the rights to the Dreamkillers’ music back. It’s been a 12-year fight that’s seen me lose my home. My advice to any young band is to be very careful of what you sign.”

Despite the fact record labels were withholding the publishing rights to the material the Dreamkillers recorded during the ‘90s, the albums were not kept in production. After the original Dreamkillers line-up dissolved, many of the albums became out of print collectors items, which meant punters had to go to eBay and fork out megabucks for the Dreamkillers material. “All my friends and associates are paying ridiculous amounts for the old Dreamkillers stuff. Like $150 for albums without covers… I just wanted to throw a spanner in the works,” Les explains.

That spanner came in the form of Scratching At The Windows, a 13-track compilation of the old Dreamkillers material that will only be available from the upcoming Jobson’s Dreamkillers shows. Not content to simply re-release the material, Les has overseen the re-mastering of the material. “These songs are re-mastered and are better than they ever sounded because they were never mastered in the first place and you’ll be able to pick it up for 15 bucks. Because no one in the band ever wanted for a situation where our stuff was becoming like collector’s items to come about.”

While the history of the Dreamkillers has held some monumental hard times that would turn your average person into a blues musician, Les is stoic about the past and optimistic about the future.

“The new band has developed slowly. We were kind of suspicious at first if people would come along to check out the band. Slowly audiences have grown and I’m happy with that, but it didn’t happen overnight. Dreamkillers were 20 years in the making. It wasn’t something that came out of space; it was really planned. And that’s what we intend to build on. The new Jobson’s Dreamkillers will record new material and it won’t be too far removed from the old Dreamkillers stuff because you can’t change your voice or your amplification of choice.”

JOBSON’S DREAMKILLERS play Lockdown at the Jubilee on Saturday July 26. SCRATCHING AT THE WINDOWS will be available from the show.

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