The Brisbane-born Shane Nicholson is an accomplished singer-songwriter with two critically acclaimed, yet commercially unsuccesful albums under his name - 'It's A Movie' and 'Faith & Science' - and a best-selling duet album with wife Kasey Chambers under the name Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson 'Rattlin Bones'. He also released 2 EPs and an album with his band Pretty Violet Stain, who broke up in 2001.
The Shiny Brights are an indie rock band from Adelaide, Australia. The five members have varied tastes in music that all influence their songs, ranging from epic rock with soaring layers of guitars to sing-along pop, to straight out garage rock/post-punk, held together by lead singer Wolfgang’s distinctive voice and the bands four-part gang vocals. They rehearse in a warehouse full of washing machines which inspired the band name, deriven from a laundromat franchise in Adelaide called Shiny Brights.
Soaring, beat-afflicted Post-Gaze New Wave, inducing moments of hair-raising and hip-thrusting? Yes please.
Some have described PAPA vs PRETTY as certain to “rock your face”. Others have urged you “catch them before they explode into a fireball of fame that is too bright for your puny mortal eyes to look at”.
Drum Media put it a little more simply when they said “…may god, strike me down if it isn’t the greatest thing I’ve heard all year…the arrival of what should soon be a formidable talent.”
Jon Stevens (1962- ) is a New Zealand-born singer, now an Australian citizen. Stevens moved to Australia after success as a pop star in New Zealand in the 1970's (his best-known songs from this era are Jezebel and a cover of Montego Bay). He is most recognised for his work as the lead singer of Sydney band Noiseworks, who had major hits in the 1980's with "Take Me Back" and "Touch". Once Noiseworks disbanded, Stevens was part of two Australian productions of Jesus Christ Superstar - playing Judas on both occasions, to high acclaim.
Tim Hart (9 January 1948 - 24 December 2009) was an English folk singer and multi-instrumentalist, best known as a founding member of electric folk band Steeleye Span. Tim Hart was born in Lincoln. His father, Rev. Canon Dennis Hart, was the vicar of St Saviour's in St Albans. Hart began his life as a musician performing with the Rattfinks, St Albans School's second band, the first being The Zombies. In 1966, he began performing with the Blackpool born Maddy Prior, touring English folk clubs. In 1968 and 1969 the duo recorded two albums: Folk Songs of Olde England, (Volumes One and Two).
Chocolate Starfish were an Australian rock music group based in Melbourne, Australia, releasing a number of hits in the early 1990s, before disbanding in 1998. The original line up featured Craig Harnath ( Kids in the Kitchen) , Brett Kingman ( James Rayne), John Justin (Himself) and Bruce Pawsey (Kate Ceberano) and was born from the desparate cover band scene of the early 1990s. Scottish frontman Adam Hootsman emigrated to Melbourne from the scottish village of Shepparton, in the outter hebrides. He remained as the only original member until the bands demise.
Fergus Brown is a musician from Sydney, Australia. www.myspace.com/fergusbrown
“With roots in pop, r&b and atmospheric electronica (think Stereolab and Prefuse 73), Danimals are as fun as they are interesting.” Online Guru
Danimals send reverb-soaked, summery vocals, layered and looped over and over, with strong groove rhythms and playful accents of quirky R&B pop. Initially they hold your attention because of their charm, but the longer you listen, the more the nuanced, developed production shines through.
Guineafowl is an unsigned six-piece band from Sydney, Australia. The music video for their single, Botanist, was featured in Rage's Top Fifty Clips of '09.