Background
Jed Danyel Kurzel was born in 1976 and, with his older brother Justin Kurzel (born 1974), grew up in Gawler, South Australia.
Jed Danyel Kurzel was born in 1976 and, with his older brother Justin Kurzel (born 1974), grew up in Gawler, South Australia.
Their father, Zdzislaw Kurzel (1946–2006), was from Poland and had migrated to Australia in 1960 where he became a taxi driver. In the 1990s Kurzel moved to Sydney, where Justin was studying at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (National Institute on Drug Abuse). In 2001 Kurzel on lead vocals and guitar, Anthony Johnsen on drums and a bass guitarist formed a blues-rock group, the Mess Hall in Sydney – the bass guitarist soon left but was not replaced, they continued as a duo.
Kurzel recalled "When the clubs asked us where our bass player was, we used to lie and say he was sick." Their debut album The Mess Hall was released in June 2003.
In early 2004 Johnsen was replaced by Cec Condon on drums and vocals. In 2000 Kurzel composed the film score for the short subject, Sammy Blue, at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, with Kim Farrant directing.
He worked for Farrant again: providing the score for Naked on the Inside (2006), a feature film documentary on body image. In 2009 he composed music for Castor & Pollux, a short film, directed by Ben Briand.
In 2011 Kurzel provided the music score for the directorial debut feature film by Justin, Snowtown.
lieutenant was nominated for Australian Film Institute Award for Best Original Music Score. The related soundtrack album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album in that same year. Kurzel also wrote the scores for Son of a Gun and the documentary All This Mayhem.
He is a founding member of the Mess Hall (from 2001), a blues rock duo.
