For information about the Ween song, see Little Birdy (song). Little Birdy is a four piece rock band from Perth, Western Australia.

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Early history

The band formed in 2002 when songwriter, singer and guitarist Katy Steele left her former band 'the Plastik Scene'. Simon Leach began as the drummer with Katy Steele as vocalist and guitarist. Leach is a friend of Katy's brother, Luke Steele, and it was at Luke's 21st birthday party that he first heard Steele's distinctive vocals.

"Katy was always there," Leach says of his friendship with the other Steele. "She was around 15 when I saw her sing. Three years later, Katy and I were playing together." ^[1]

After several gigs the duo, Leach on drums and Steele handling vocals and guitars, were approached by Scott ('Barney') O'Donoghue, who offered to play bass guitar. Leach soon tired of percussion, began playing guitar and hired Matt Chequer on drums. ^[2] Originally named after the Ween song of the same name, Little Birdy was born.

A demo was leaked to radio and was played on alternative stations. Then a friend of the band dropped a copy at prominent manager Phil Stevens' home (manager of The Waifs, John Butler Trio and The Flairz). On the same day, the band received a phone call from Stevens, who offered them his services. ^[3]

The band soon worked a strong live reputation supporting Placebo, Morcheeba and the Superjesus in Perth concerts. Soon after they formed, a home recording of one of their songs won a WAMi Award for 'Indie/Alternative Song of the Year'. Triple J started playing an early version of "Relapse" and Perth Radio Station Nova 93.7 started playing a demo of "Baby Blue".

As a result of good press from the Australian independent media and their demos receiving radio play, a bidding war took place as local labels sought to sign the band. The band decided to sign with independent label Eleven with distribution through Virgin Records/EMI. Eleven Records, is home of Silverchair and Missy Higgins. Steele, along with Leach, who was a well-paid graphic designer at the time, quit their jobs and became full-time musicians following their signing.

Recording career

The self-titled debut EP Little Birdy was released on October 6, 2003 and reached a peak of number 27 on the ARIA Singles Charts. "Relapse" reached 16 on the Triple J Hottest 100 while "Baby Blue " reached number 25. The follow up EP This Is a Love Song was released on March 1 and debuted at number 22 on the ARIA Singles Charts on March 8.

Steele stated in an interview with Whammo.com.au that much of the first album had already been written.

"I think we've already written a lot of the first album already. A lot of songs we play live would be awesome if they were recorded."

The band played gigs in London and New York in late 2003 due to interest from international record companies.

Steele won the inaugural Jessica Michalik Contemporary Music Award, presented by The Big Day Out on 8 March, 2004.

In 2004 the band was also nominated for an ARIA Award, 'Breakthrough Artist - Single', for "Relapse ". On 1 October, 2004 the band released their highly anticipated debut album, BigBigLove , which includes new versions of "Beautiful" (now renamed "Beautiful to Me ") and "Relapse". It also includes "I Should've Known" with its original title of "Andy Warhol". It met with generally good critical reaction. Two tracks from the album reached the Triple J Hottest 100 for 2004, being "Beautiful to Me " at number 8 and "Tonight's the Night " at number 78, together with the song, "This Is a Love Song", taken from the EP This Is a Love Song which reached number 40.

In 2005 Steele was nominated for 'Best Female Vocalist' and Leach for 'Best Guitarist', with the band nominated for 'Best Popular Act', 'Most Popular Commercial Pop Act' and 'Best Indie/Pop Act', BigBigLove as "Most Popular Album, and "Beautiful to Me " as 'Most Popular Music Video" at the WAMi Awards. Steele won 'Best Female Vocalist' and the band won 'Most Popular Music Video'.

At the 2005 ARIA Awards, BigBigLove was nominated for four awards: 'Breakthrough Artist - Album', 'Best Rock Album', 'Producer of the Year" (Paul McKercher) and 'Engineer of the Year' (Paul McKercher).

In 2005 Little Birdy's version of "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" from the compilation album, She Will Have Her Way , of Neil and Tim Finn songs performed by female Australian and New Zealand musicians reached number 96 on Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2005

During 2006 the band wrote and recorded songs for their new album, Hollywood . The first single released was "Come on Come on", on September 16, 2006. "Come on Come on " is Little Birdy's highest ARIA singles chart entry to date, debuting at #18, also netting 11th on the Triple J Hottest 100, 2006.

In 2008, Steele and the band announced they were recording a new album. A mini-site was created for previews of new recordings and videos of studio sessions. The album, titled Confetti , was scheduled to be released in May 2009. Although the album is self-produced, the band worked extensively with engineer/mixer Steven Schram. In February the band released the music video for the first song, "Brother". The song features Paul Kelly on backing vocals and harmonica.

The experience of working with Paul just reminded me of why he’s such a legend. It wasn’t like he just rocked up to the studio to do a session – he really poured everything into it. We kinda felt like he joined our band for that day and that was a pretty great feeling.

—Katy Steele

The first official single, "Summarize", was released on April 10, 2009.

Touring

Little Birdy supported R.E.M. during the Australian leg of their world tour in 2005. They have also performed several of their own concerts throughout Australia in 2004 and 2005. Little Birdy have performed at a number of national festivals in 2007, including the Falls Festival, the Big Day Out concerts in early 2007, the Sonic Bloom Festival, Southbound in Busselton, Western Australia, the Great Escape Festival in Sydney. Little Birdy also performed at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne and were the support act for Eskimo Joe's national tour in May 2007. They played but were unlisted at the 18th East Coast Blues & Roots Music Festival.

Little Birdy performed at the Sound Relief concert at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 14 March 2009. ^[4] Sound Relief is a benefit concert for victims of the Victorian Bushfire Crisis and the Queensland Floods. ^[5] Also performing at the Sydney concert were, Coldplay featuring John Farnham, Eskimo Joe, Hoodoo Gurus, Icehouse, Jet, Josh Pyke, The Presets, Wolfmother, You Am I, Architecture in Helsinki, Marcia Hines, Taylor Swift, and Barry Gibb with Olivia Newton-John. ^[6]

Members

• Katy Steele - vocals, guitar
• Simon Leach - guitar, synthesiser, steel guitar
• Scott 'Barney' O'Donoghue - bass guitar, vocals, melodica, harmonica
• Matt Chequer - drums, percussion
• Fergus Deasy - keyboards, vocals, synthesiser, guitar

Discography

Albums

• BigBigLove (October 4, 2004) Virgin/EMI #5 Australia
• Hollywood (October 13, 2006) Eleven/EMI Records #9 Australia
• Confetti (May 8, 2009) Eleven/Universal Records Records #6 Australia

EPs

• Little Birdy (October 6, 2003) Eleven/EMI Records #27 Australia
• This Is a Love Song (March 1, 2004) Eleven/EMI Records #22 Australia

Singles

From BigBigLove:

• "Beautiful to Me" (2004) #27 Australia
• "Tonight's the Night" (2004)
• "Excited" (2005) #44 Australia

From Hollywood:

• "Come on Come on" (2006) #18 Australia
• "Bodies" (2007) #68 Australia
• "After Dark" (2007)

From Confetti:

• "Brother" (2009) #90 Australia
• "Summarize" (2009) #54 Australia
• "Hairdo" (2009)

Collaborations

• "Where Did I Go Wrong? " (2009) - Rosie Catalano feat. Little Birdy

Compilation Albums

• Home And Hosed - The First Harvest - "Relapse" (2003)
• Kiss My WAMi 2003 - "Relapse" (2003)
• Noise: Future Of Music - "Relapse" (2003)
• Triple J's Hottest 100 - Volume 11 - "Baby Blue" (2004)
• Home And Hosed - Freshly Plucked - "Beautiful to Me" (2004)
• Now - Volume 7 - "Beautiful to Me" (2004)
• Triple J's Hottest 100 - Volume 12 - "Beautiful to Me" (2005)
• Greenpeace - Friends of the Rainbow Warrior - "Beautiful to Me" (2005)
• Pepsi More Music - Volume 5 - "Beautiful to Me" (2005)
• Triple J's Like A Version - "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" (2005)
• Kiss My WAMi 2006 - "Excited" (2006)
• She Will Have Her Way - "Six Months In a Leaky Boat" (2006)
• Coastal Chill - "Baby Blue" (2006)
• Suburban Mayhem (Original Soundtrack) - "This Is A Love Song" (2006)
• Lord of the Boards - "Beautiful to Me" (2006)
• Vibe - Sounds to Relive and Renew - "Beautiful to Me" (2007)
• Triple J's Hottest 100 - Volume 14 - "Come On Come On" (2007)
• SBS' The World Game - The Soundtrack of World Football 2007 - "Come On Come On" (2007)
• Vodafone Live at the Chapel - Series 2 - "Come On Come On" (2007)
• Pepsi More Music - Volume 9 - "Come On Come On" (2007)
• Pepsi More Music - Volume 10 - "Bodies" (2007)
• Pink Tie - "Come On Come On" (2008)
• My Year Without Sex (Original Soundtrack) - "Beautiful to Me" (2009)
• City Homicide (Original Soundtrack) - "On And On" (2009)
• Naked In the Woods - "Brother" (2009)

References

1. Little Birdy learns to fly
3. Chirpy songbird seeks high times
4. Coldplay, Kings of Leon to headline bushfire relief concerts
5. Artists Unite For 'Sound Relief' Bushfire Benefit - Premier of Victoria, Australia
6. Latest News