Jo beth Jo - Crazier Than Thou?

Jo Beth Jo – Crazier than thou?

By Walter Neff

Originally appeared in "You Weekly" October 1999

She’s been called the ‘girl who broke up Underlife’ and ‘the crazy one’, but no matter what you call her Jo Beth Jo is really quite a character. Her charm and appeal are something that instantly wins you over, and her looks are always quite stunning. Walter Neff caught up with Jo Beth in a ‘strange’ moment.

She strides into her suite at LA's Four Seasons Hotel, bundled away in a long dark trench coat and jeans. Underneath are a white shirt and a green scarf. Her hair is tightly - no, make that painfully - pulled back in a bun and her face is full of make-up, and dark fifties glasses, drawing attention to her bee-stung lips.

The effect is of a woman who is A) dressed from the laundry basket after a hard night on the town; B) failed to pay her gas bill and just been cut off; or C) doesn't give a damn because she knows she has Hollywood at her feet. Guess which Jo Beth Jo is...

Jo’s position has been cemented with the B-movie Santo Frente A La Muerte which sees her swiping blows with Mexican Legend Santos and (as she puts it) her “new found squeeze” Johnny Vanguard.

"I've been very fortunate to find roles that I fit in at this time," Jo says, settling down. "If I hadn't found Santos, I don't think I would have worked at all... I can't even think about it.

"After that whole Underlife thing, I was pretty much at my wits end and a bit shell-shocked and so I was going to take time off. But then I read this thing called Santos and I had to smile. The character was just a clean, blue-collar girl under a mask fighting off a bunch of guys. Thank God. For me it was like this little part in this light film. It's certainly bigger than any of my work."

Undeniably sexy at any time, today the 24-year-old actress presents an odd combination of candor and reticence.

Throughout our conversation, sentences and thoughts not only collide and meander, but also take the bus downtown and return again (picking up a few additional passengers along the way), never quite arriving at their final stop. Suppose you were to ask Jo about - oh I don't know - Johnny Vanguard?

"I've not seen Johnny in so long," she laughs. Hang on. Isn’t Vanguard your ‘current squeeze’? I skip this for a minute as she continues.

"There was this thing the other day on TV. Some weird psychic was matching people up according to their signs or something: `And this person will match this person." And I'm watching going: "Yeah, that's me." And there I was sitting there in my own little world covered in food in my room..."

The world she wandered into in the mid 1990's, Underlife, Spencer Lees and Johnny Vanguard, is something she strangely keeps silent on. Ask her about the Underlife split, and her responsibility in the whole event and she just says "I was looking at the classifieds today and I was thinking about truck driving. I honestly was! Just for the hell of it! They were teaching it and would actually pay you to learn. So I don't know why I stick with acting," she laughs, but Jo's got no plans to throw in the acting game just yet.

"For now I just... I guess acting is everything to me. I mean, I probably wouldn't stick with it if I was doing the same character for years. But I was just clinging on as “part” of a band only a few years ago, and now I'm going to get in a corset and a mask and go to Cuba and find my squeeze. Thank God I haven't lost my mind yet."

Push her about Johnny Vanguard and she's all coy and smiling, "Yeah, I mean I think it'll be an amazing day when we get to a point in our lives when we both have the same story to tell. I don't know if it'll ever happen. I really want him to do something more in film and to play something crazy, some character with a moustache or something, I desperately want him to do that, I want to do that with him..."

Johnny and Spencer - The Fight is On!

Johnny and Spencer - The Fight is On!

Sunday Morning Herald

12th June 1992, Walter Neff

If there's one thing the music public loves it's the sound of tinkling glass, crunching bone and mangled expletives as rock star mates have a go at each other. This week it was rakishly degenerate Johnny Vanguard’s turn to headbutt the boundaries of his beautiful friendship with that equally crazy Spencer “Davis” Lees gentleman.

Apparently, the pair and an army of like-minded individuals recently descended on Sydney's hyper-exclusive Atlantic Bar to celebrate their win after this years ARIA awards.

It all started very innocently, and was going well (mainly in liquid form down the throat) until Spencer suddenly decided that he was hungry. An unusual occurrence in itself, but Spencer proved adept at remembering what tickled his gastronomic fancy and ordered a tasty sounding salmon and two vegetable dish.

As luck would have it, when the meal arrived, Lees was away from the table answering the call of nature. In a sudden frenzy, Vanguard wolfed down a huge hunk of salmon (in one go!) and was seen feeding portions of the salmon to Spencer’s long time girlfriend, Jo Beth Jo. Both were still munching discreetly when Lees returned. Vanguard, then pointed to the vegetable strewn plate and pretended that the fish had failed to arrive in the first place. "They didn't bring your salmon, man," he quavered in his customary, almost Elvis-like fashion. "Compla-aaain! COMPLA-AAAIN!"

Lees rather violently proceeded to do just that, allegedly stressing his point by attempting to throttle the establishment's astounded manager. Jo Beth Jo was seen egging on the star. Meanwhile, Johnny reached over with a fork and necked the lonely vegetables. When Lees returned to find an empty plate, Vanguard looked him straight in the eye and sniggered: "Look, they didn't even bring your vegetables, man ... Compla-aaain! COMPLA-AAAIN!"

The crisis then escalated when Spencer yelled back at the top of his voice “Complain! I’ll complain about you… You’re a pig Vanguard!!” Vanguard looked quite shocked at this moment, and replied, “Maybe but at least I treat my women properly!” The place erupted, glasses and punches were thrown and words not usually heard in the back streets of Kings Cross were roared at top volume, and a classic rock star fight was in full swing.

In the middle of it all, just as Spencer was about to throw a punch at Johnny’s face, Jo Beth screamed “Don’t hurt him!” Both men turned around and looked at her. It was a poignant moment in the proceedings. The fighting then continued. It felt like it lasted for hours, but in reality only lasted a number of minutes, and was stopped when bad mates intervened. All is not well in the Underlife camp.

Constant Speck - Review

Rolling Stain Magazine

19th December 1990

Album: Constant Speck

Band: Underlife

Reviewed by: Walter Neff

Rating: Two Stars

Don’t get me wrong, I was once a real fan of Underlife. Their last album was built around the dreamy, semi-mysterious single "Spaceyou," a slick slice of country-pop that sold a bunch of units and excused the band's shortcomings. Lyrically they were no threat to Dylan, but that didn't matter much when all the pings and pongs echoed gracefully and harmonicas conjured up beautifully detached, nocturnal landscapes. Now they've returned with the heartfelt album “Constant Speck”, which is filled with guitars and oh so serious lyrics, delivered by band members who are much better musicians than they are storytellers. Johnny Vanguard in particular appears to have lost his way here, and other band members including Davis (“Spencer”) Lees appear to be just going through the motions. There are hints of late-period New Order and Johnny Cash on “Constant Speck”, but none of the excitement with each wistful and maudlin track blending into the next. "Couldn't tie me down," "I can't stop this tractor," "Nothing ever lasts," and "The only thing worth living for is mud" are just some of the numerous clichés used for the lyrics, and while some tracks are entirely built from them, Underlife could have just barely pulled it off if they had pulled out the old drum machine. As a guitar-based band, they have no style, and there's no evidence of inspiration guiding the beat combo switchover. “Constant Speck” fulfils all of the "faceless" criticisms thrown at them in the past, while alienating whatever fan base they had before.

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An Interview with Spencer “Davis” Lees

An Interview with Spencer “Davis” Lees

by Sally Steele

Originally Appeared in 'Rolling Stain' Magazine 14th December 1992

I’ve been tracking Spencer Lees now for 10 days. He’s an elusive character who I have found very hard to find. That’s surprising as his band, Underlife have been on tour now for 16 weeks. It’s supposed to be a happy time, a band on the verge of international success. 1990's Constant Speck album, a defining moment in Aussie rock, still rings in most of our ears. The band has been reported as in the writing phase of a new release, hesitantly titled 'misgivings'. Something, though, has gone wrong. For weeks “The hottest band in the country” have suddenly stopped touring and have refused all press coverage. Thousands of fans are disappointed. Many have demanded money back for concerts. The now infamous public brawl that Spencer Lees had with Johnny Vanguard at the ARIAS this year still bites into the record buying public’s psyche. It appears that Underlife is now a shadowy element of its former self. The band, and Lees along with them, are now holed up in a small backwater town in Tasmania, stuck in a tour with no place to go. The town is called Ulverstone, and just outside Ulverstone is a little pub where I finally track Spencer down. He invites me for a chat after I have phoned and faxed his publicity people umpteen times. Finally I get a call late Friday night saying “Come to Ulverstone”. I quickly hop on the first plane from Melbourne and after a day of driving I try to call the number of the hotel. No answer. I arrive in Ulverstone and book into a hotel. Three days later Spencer calls me and invites me “for a drink at the local”. I drive 15 minutes out of town to the “Lighthouse Hotel”. True to its name it’s a rugged, rough place on the water, overlooking rocks and a windswept beach. I find Spencer curled up with a Guinness in the corner. He calls me over and we have what I can only describe as the most incredible chat of my life. It starts out quite easily, but quickly degenerates when Lees explains to me that Johnny Vanguard has left Underlife. I am quite literally shocked. Quite apart from being a massive Underlife fan I’m unsure as to the motives. I’ve reprinted most of my interview here verbatim so that you can understand why Underlife was such an incredible entity, and why, it appears, the departure of Johnny Vanguard has left them in such an anarchistic state.

Steele: Spencer, Underlife had an amazing first few years, didn’t they?

Lees: With Underlife, our ambitions were always way out of kilter with our talent. We had a kind of chemistry between us that was much more interesting than the music we first made.

Steele: And the proposed new album, ;Misgivings'  how would you describe it?

Lees: It's a very visceral album. The songs are very direct. They're big songs, big melodies and really, some full-on guitar playing by a very frustrated man.... Johnny Vanguard is so gifted. If this is a great record … and I really think it will be, it will have a lot to do with him … however, with what’s just happened…

Steele: You mean the recording of the new work?

Spencer: No, with what’s happened….

Steele: What’s happened, Spencer? What’s happened?

Lees: Its Vanguard … Vanguard has left the band.

Steele: Johnny Vanguard, has left Underlife?

Lees: Yep, he up and went three days ago. He’s gone…

Steele: What’s the reason, do you feel, Spencer?

Lees: …. It’s hard to say, you remember that ARIA thing?

Steele: Well, it’s really hard for any of us to forget that, isn’t it?

Lees: Well, after that, Johnny was really just a shell. He couldn’t believe I’d say those things about him. We had another argument that night, it’d been on and off with us, especially over Jo Beth.

Steele: You mean Jo Beth Jo, your girlfriend?

Lees: Not any more, man. Johnny’s up and taken her.

Steele: Taken her? You mean kidnapped her?

Lees: Just about. Johnny’s played her some of that old snake charmer music that he loves to and spirited her away.

Steele: How does that make you feel, Spencer?

Lees: It’s a double loss, Jo Beth was such a rock for myself and the band. Our years together were very important. I will miss her. She tells me she’s made a decision and I respect that. But with Vanguard? That’s just…

Steele: I understand … but the loss of Johnny Vanguard must impact upon the group could you talk about it?

Lees: It’s unbelievable, man. I just can’t understand it. We were on the verge of making it big, not just here, but all around the world, and this happens … this happens.

Steele: And will the band go on now?

Lees: The band always goes on, Sally. The band always goes on. We were so young and foolish…

Spencer was nearly in tears at this point so I ended our interview. We shook hands, I snapped a quick photo and I left the hotel. Outside the light was strong and the world seemed oh so different...