Doug Jerebine has contributed much to New Zealand's music scene. Photo: supplied
If you have heard the episode in this series on the Human Instinct album Stoned Guitar, then some of this record may sound familiar.
A highlight of Stoned Guitar was 'The Jug-A-Jug-Song', a showcase for the fiery guitar of Billy TK, a.k.a. Billy Te Kahika, Snr. On this album you'll hear it by its original title, 'Ain't So Hard To Do', and the singer and guitarist is the song's writer Doug Jerebine - though on the Instinct album it would come to be credited to someone called Jesse Harper.
It's one of several songs the New Zealand-born Jerebine wrote and recorded in the late 1960s, which would become a crucial source of material for the Instinct and in many ways a template for their sound.
Doug Jerebine grew up in the rural community of Tangowahine, on the northern Kaipara Harbour. By the age of 12 he had fallen in love with the guitar and was making weekly bus trips in to Dargaville to take lessons.
Jerebine began playing gigs around Dargaville, but before long had moved to Auckland in search of more professional opportunities. He wound up playing in The Embers, resident band at the The Shiralee nightclub. The repertoire was geared for dancing and consisted of current pop tunes, revamped standards and Shadows-style instrumentals.
By 1965 The Embers had died out, but there was plenty of work for Doug as both a touring and session musician. During this time he played on dozens of pop records and travelled the country with the likes of Howard Morrison, Dinah Lee, Tommy Adderley and The Chicks. But his love of jazz, along with his discovery of Indian music began to lead him into more experimental territory.
It wasn't just Indian music he was attracted to; a growing interest in Indian spiritual beliefs was drawing him to India. In late '68 he left for London, though he only intended this to be a brief stopover.
In London he connected with fellow New Zealander Dave Hartstone, a policeman turned rhythm guitarist who had led Auckland club band The Four Fours back in the Embers days. The Four Fours had relocated to Britain in 1966 where they evolved into The Human Instinct. But by the time Jerebine arrived, their drummer Maurice Greer had returned to New Zealand, where he put together a new Human Instinct lineup, while Hartstone stayed on in London. Hartstone furnished Jerebine with musical gear and encouraged him - or rather prevailed upon him - to write some songs.
Though Jerebine had few ambitions beyond getting to India, once he got started the songs started to come, drawing on the blues, jazz, Indian music, and perhaps his greatest influence as a guitar player: Jimi Hendrix.
You can hear in a track like 'Fall Down' some of that same clean, beautifully articulated fretwork which Jerebine had been noted for as far back as the Embers. But he had also discovered the joys of noise, and the big sustained sounds that could be coaxed from a guitar played through an overdriven amp.
Hartstone shopped Jerebine's recordings around and at one point had the ear of Atlantic Records' founder Ahmet Ertegun, who was keen to sign him. But Jerebine was already living the life of a renunciate and by 1973 he had finally left for India, where he would remain for the next three decades, living in a Krishna temple and translating Sanskrit texts.
It was John Baker, New Zealand-based music collector / researcher, who eventually tracked down not just Doug Jerebine but one of the three original copies made of these recordings. Baker made a deal with Chicago-based indie Drag City and in 2012, with Doug Jerebine's blessing, Doug Jerebine Is Jesse Harper was finally released. The album garnered good reviews in Europe and US, as well as here. And the consensus seemed to be that this was an essential New Zealand album.
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