Dappled Cities (formerly Dappled Cities Fly) are a five-piece indie rock band from Sydney, Australia. Their music has been described as art rock or experimental pop. Their guitar-based songs typically combine melodies with the complex time signatures and tempo changes associated with post rock. Occasional falsetto vocals and the use of effects pedals (delay in particular) are also characteristic of their sound.
The Kills are an alternative rock duo formed by American vocalist Alison "VV" Mosshart and British guitarist Jamie "Hotel" Hince that rose to public recognition at the dawn of the hype surrounding the genre explosion of the early 2000s. Mosshart had been in the Florida punk band Discount and Hince in British rock band Scarfo. When these groups disbanded, the duo, who first met when Mosshart heard Hince practicing in the hotel room above hers, struck up a songwriting partnership.
"Jet" is the name used by five groups. Jet (1) is a rock band from Melbourne, Australia, whose debut album Get Born, released in 2003, has so far sold over 1 million copies throughout the world.
The band claims to draw influence from groups such as The Beatles, The Sex Pistols, The Kinks, AC/DC, Oasis and The Rolling Stones.
Their tunes Are You Gonna Be My Girl and Cold Hard Bitch became worldwide hits; the former became popular largely due to featuring in an ad for the Apple iPod. The track Look What You've Done was used in the film A Lot Like Love.
Cut Off Your Hands is: Nick Johnston (vocals), Jonathan Lee (guitar), Philip Hadfield (bass), and Elroy Finn (drums). The Auckland based band include Gang of Four, The Cure, Death From Above 1979, Whirlwind Heat, Joy Division, Split Enz, and James Chance and the Contortions among the chief influences on their skittering brand of proto-punk styled indie rock. Their self produced debut EP "Shaky Hands" was released in August 2006 on Speak N Spell, and includes the singles "You and I" and "Expectations".
There are two bands which go by the name 'The Universal' #1. The Universal is a psychedelic space-rock band from Boise, ID. Formed in 2004. Currently promoting their 2009 full length "Everything Is Everywhere" for sale at http://www.universalgalaxies.com #2. The Universal is a new band, rising from the musical ashes of Geelong psychedelic rock group Mystery Machine and playing music of a different variety.
The Like were formed in September 2001 by Elizabeth "Z" Berg (vocals/guitar), Charlotte Froom (bass/vocals) and Tennessee Thomas (drums) at the ages of 15, 15 and 16, respectively. All three are daughters of music industry veterans; Berg's father is former Geffen Records A&R exec/record producer Tony Berg, Froom's father is producer Mitchell Froom and Thomas' father is Pete Thomas, longtime drummer for Elvis Costello. From childhood, Froom, Berg and Thomas were immersed in classic rock, and all three took piano lessons before teaching themselves their current instruments.
There is more than one group named The Drums. 1) Jonathan Pierce and Jacob Graham met at summer camp when they were children and have been best friends ever since. Soon after their initial meeting, they formed Goat Explosion and toured extensively in North America during their teenage years. Around 2003, Jonathan and Adam Kessler formed Elkland. In the meantime, Jacob formed a band called HORSE SHOES (Shelflife Records). Jonathan ultimately decided to take a few years off from writing music after becoming disillusioned with the music business and parted ways with Elkland in 2005.
Built to Spill is an indie rock band based in Boise, Idaho, United States. The band is best known for its catchy guitar hooks and the unique voice of frontman Doug Martsch. Former Treepeople frontman Doug Martsch formed Built to Spill in 1992 with Brett Netson and Ralf Youtz as the band's original members. In an interview with Spin magazine, Martsch stated that he intended to change the band's lineup for every album, with Martsch being the only permanent member.
This Providence (previously known as Sunday Best), is a four piece pop rock band from Seattle, Washington US. The members of This Providence came together in the summer of 2001 and soon after recorded a 4 song demo CD, under the short lived name of "T minus 1." In 2003 they recorded the better known The Sunday Best EP, co-produced, and self-released (now out of print). While still in high school, they gathered a strong local following as well as some label attention. After graduating, the band released their debut full-length record, Our Worlds Divorce, produced by Casey Bates.
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.