By CHERIE DONNELLAN
Singer-songwriter, film-maker, actor and all-around troublemaker Cosmo Jarvis is on his way to Geelong.
The English bad boy told the Independent his sarcastic, cynical and controversial songs and ever-changing musical style were due to his “anti-establishment” ideology.
He said some of his latest work included music video Collaborating with Rihanna, which took aim at “generic-sounding” pop tracks that plundered older songs.
Jarvis has built an Australian fan base through dedicated Triple J listeners tuning into songs like Gay Pirates and Love This.
Jarvis plays The Barwon Club next week after releasing his latest EP They Don’t Build Hearts Like They Used To at the end of September.
The new tunes would be “unexpected-sounding”, he said.
“It’s better to listen to something that keeps jumping and biting people in the a**e.”
Jarvis confessed his song-writing had become less autobiographical as he grew his musical following.
“I wrote a lot of songs that really literally were about me but I don’t do it so much anymore.”
Jarvis confessed his former style made for awkward moments playing venues close to home.
“I’m singing with someone in the room who’s related to someone I’m singing about.”
Jarvis promised to refrain from “telling jokes or any of that claps-your-hands bollocks” during his Geelong gig.
But the show might include “limited head-banging – maybe”, he warned.
Jarvis said he was touring Australia to promote his new music but had plans for a movie premiere.
His feature-length film The Naughty Room, which had Jarvis as writer, director and actor, was shown at Sydney Fringe Film Festival last week.
He hoped festival patrons enjoyed the film’s “black comedy”.
The coming-of-age film was about two boys learning more from “people you met on the street” than parents or educators, he said.
Jarvis hoped the film would help audience members learn to assess their relationships with parents “objectively and do the right thing in spite of them”.
“It’s not complex though,” he giggled.
““You can have a laugh”.
