"Peter Gabriel meets David Gray in one-man popster Nicholas Roy. His beautiful voice is full of weariness and drama; his instruments stretched and warped to create a whole dynamic world"
Beat Magazine "I like a guy bold enough to list Elton John as an influence.." Richard Kingsmill, Triple J When Nicholas Roy started playing the Melbourne live circuit, he felt a bit out of place in venues like The Espy.
1) Formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1988, after 20 years, The Fauves, continue to be one of Australia's most unique bands. Although sonically nondescript, Fauves' song are typically wry, ironic, hyper-literate, biopsies of the broadest range of topics. Comprised of four school friends: Andrew Dyer, Adam Newey, Andrew Cox and Phil Leonard, the Fauves emerged from one of Melbourne's grittier suburbs, Frankston only to find major label support early in their career.
You Am I is a four-piece Australian power pop/alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums consecutively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts and are renowned for their energetic live shows.
Tim Rogers formed the first version of the band in Sydney, Australia, with his school friend Nick Tischler and his older brother Jaimme in December 1989. This initial line-up was short lived and by the end of 1990 both Nick and Jaimme had left the band. They were replaced by the group's one-time sound mixer Andy Kent on bass and Mark Tunaley on drums.
The band released several EPs and singles in the early 90s, though the real breakthrough came when Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth caught the band performing at 1993's Big Day Out festival and was impressed enough to produce their fourth EP, Coprolalia, and later the debut album, Sound as Ever, which went on to win the 1993 ARIA Award for Best Alternative Release.
After the release of their first album, Mark and the band parted company. He was replaced by the charismatic Russell Hopkinson (formerly of Nursery Crimes) creating the core line-up to this day. Since then, the band has been augmented by Davey Lane of The Pictures on guitar.
You Am I had toured the US extensively during the mid 90s, including playing with Soundgarden on the Lollapalooza festival, Red Kross, The Strokes and Smoking Popes to name a few. Despite little success overseas, the band became well known throughout Australia for their Pete Townshend-esque guitar windmills and their upbeat "ponce and thuggery" take on Rock 'n' Roll.
Further success came with the albums Hi Fi Way and Hourly Daily, with both picking up ARIA Awards. Hourly Daily was the first album released on the Shock label to go to number one in the ARIA charts upon launch. For many, the suburban inspired, 60s bop and folky 12 string melodies were a welcome departure from ever pervasive 70s rock sounds, or even grunge rock.
Subtle country influences became apparent on their 1998 Number 4 Record, which included the poignant Heavy Heart. A heart wrenching, almost karaoke inspired ballad about being 'dropped' by your girlfriend. Evidently each subsequent album has had a few countryish twang which have polarised some fans, who idolise the band's earlier warts and all rock beginnings.
1999 saw frontman Tim Rogers release his first solo album What Rhymes With Cars And Girls, followed up in 2004 by the record Spit Polish. In 2005 he released the critically acclaimed double-LP 'Ghost Songs' and 'Dirty Ron'.
After an album absence prolonged by touring and record label interference, Dress Me Slowly was released April 2001. Arguably containing some of the bands' best work including Damage and Kick a Hole in the Sky there were also some stellar b-Sides on the commercial singles that accompanied the album. These include a song called Older Guys which is track 2 on the Get Up single. Older Guys was one of the stand out songs on Gram Parsons' group The Flying Burrito Brothers album Burrito Deluxe and although the You Am I b-side is an original, Rogers is recognised as a keen student of music history and some connection can be assumed.
Dress Me Slowly was second guitarist, Davey Lane's first bona fide appearance on a studio record. Lane had come to the band's attention from his own work with The Pictures and transcribing, with almost scary accuracy, the band's guitar tabs on the You Am I web site. The band's last collective studio effort was Deliverance in 2002.
The likes of Nic Cester of Jet have mentioned that You Am I, at the very least, reminded them that you don't have to be American to be a successful rock band. Iconic references to Australian everyday suburban life remain a constant theme of Roger's material. The Vines also credit You Am I as a major influence and Silverchair take their name, in part, from You Am I's song Berlin Chair.
Their seventh album "Convicts" was released in May 2006. An about face on the previous two albums, Convicts rocks hard all of the way through with much more straight forward production and higher energy that makes you jump.
Their eighth album "Dilettantes" was released in September 2008. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Tijuana Cartel is a Gold Coast band playing mexican and latin inspired music combined with house and electronic influences. It consists of Paul George and Carey O'sullivan as co-producers, guitarists and keyboard players. Regan Hoskins as MC & Daniel Gonzalez on latin percussion and a growing list of guests as live feature artists featuring DJ Freddie FlyFingaz, trumpet player Shannon Van Horn and Adam Dann on djembe & darabukka.
Grim Demise are a thrash metal band based in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. The band was formed by two ex-members of the now defunct band Seventh Eve, Richard and Luke (Pendo). They decided to leave because as the band's main songwriters they had begun to write material that, according to the other members, did not fit in with the band's melodic sound. Shortly after their departure, they began the search for a bassist.
The Waifs (originally styled as The WAiFS) are an Australian folk rock band formed in 1992 in Albany, Western Australia, by Josh Cunningham (guitar, vocals), and sistersVikki Thorn (née Simpson) (harmonica, guitar, vocals) and Donna Simpson (guitar, vocals). Their tour band includes Ben Franz (bass) and David Ross Macdonald (drums).
The band's 2003 album Up All Night reached the top five of the Australian Albums Chart, it achieved double platinum status and won four ARIA Awards in October. Two further top five albums were issued, Sun Dirt Water in 2007 and Temptation in 2011. The Waifs have three top fifty singles, "London Still" (2002), "Bridal Train" (2004) and "Sun Dirt Water". The band supported Bob Dylan on his 2003 Australian tour and then his 2003 North American tour, including a gig at the Newport Folk Festival.
The Waifs founded the independent label Jarrah Records in July 2002, co-owned with fellow musician John Butler, and their common manager Phil Stevens, which handles their Australian releases. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
The Killgirls are a 5 piece dance/rock band from Adelaide, SA consisting of Tony Irish (drums/percussion), Adam Hood (synthesizers), Nick O'Connor (bass/backing vocals), Rusty Hutchinson (guitars/backing vocals) and Mario Spate (vocals/synthesizers). The band formed in 2007 and after a few line up changes, they have been molding their sound and building a loyal fan base.
They have played all of Adelaide’s indie haunts, supported UK International’s...
The Dingoes were an Australian rock band from 1973 to 1979.
New Single 'Lo-Fi' due out October 2011 Whilst Sophie Koh’s one-time wish to be a Playschool presenter never actually eventuated, she did manage to land herself on the set of Neighbours in 2010 for a musical cameo role. This opportunity led to a chance meeting with Australia’s indie-pop king, Ben Lee. A mutual desire to collaborate resulted in Sophie working with producer Brad Wood (Liz Phair/Pete Yorn/Smashing Pumpkins) at his leafy Seagrass studios in Los Angeles.
Felicity Groom hails from Perth, Australia and is the kind of singer songwriter who effortlessly exudes songs full of dark melodic folk music. She has been writing songs since she was 11 years old, and she is now backed by local all-star band Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke.