The Drones
are an Australian rock group who rose to prominence during the early 2000s. They were influenced by an eclectic bunch of bands and soloists including Neil Young, The Velvet Underground, Bad Brains, Suicide, Green on Red, The Birthday Party, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Nina Simone.
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THE DRONES TICKETS
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The Sound
Musically the band does not fit easily into conventional rock music categories. While some of their material is based on conventional rock sounds and song structures, they also venture into the noisy, atonal, blues-based music that
Tom Waits brought to a wider audience. The Drones also explore the music of the Australia bush made popular in
Australia by
Weddings Parties Anything. Like other Australian bands such as
The Triffids,
The Go-Betweens,
Nick Cave and
The Dirty Three, The Drones left Australia in
2005 to concentrate on the European market, where a larger market would make it easier to support their unconventional sound. However they eventually returned to Australia to find a ground swell of interest in them - generated by acclaim and publicity both at home and abroad. Lead singer Gareth is known for his thick Australian accent and politically driven lyrics.
Early history
The first incarnation of The Drones formed in
Perth in
1998 and included a varied line up over the next few years. The mainstays of the band, Rui Pereira and Gareth Liddiard, had previously played together in the 'Gutterville Splendour Six', with musicians in the original Perth incarnations including Warren Hall (Moth, Gutterville Splendour Six) on drums and guitarist James McCann (Harpoon, Nunchukka Superfly,
Lowdorados, Gutterville Six).
[1] Steve Joines (
The Kill Devil Hills, Gutterville) replaced McCann when McCann relocated to
Sydney. In early
2000, Liddiard and Pereira headed to the east coast to accelerate their progress. Initially they met with little success and endured tough conditions including an extended stay in a decrepit Victorian
caravan park [2], and sleeping on an old mattress found on the roadside. Guitarist Brendan Humphries (Sweeney Todd and His Elephant Men, Gutterville Splendour Six,
The Kill Devil Hills) was included among the first of the Melbourne lineups, and later Fiona Kitschin (also from Perth) was recruited on bass. Christian Strybosch (Stunt Car Drivers) replaced Hall on drums, Humphries returned to Perth, and the lineup of Liddiard, Pereira, Kitschin and Strybosch went on to record in one day an
EP. The ‘self-titled' EP was released in mid 2001 and instantly found The Drones receiving air-play on public radio, and a considerable amount of coverage in the street press.
Voted as the “best new local talent” in 2001 by Patrick Donovan, music editor for the
The Age newspaper. Sophie Best, a respected freelance journo for Beat Magazine, The Age and her own webzine Back Porch by the end of that year was talking up “The Drones” and they made her top ten as well.
[3]
The band then signed to Spooky Records, releasing their debut album,
Here Come The Lies
in August, 2002.
[4] Two further 7" singles, "The Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands" and "Bird in a Church", were released in 2002.
Wait Long by the River...
Sessions for what would become their second album
Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
were undertaken during
2004. But once the album was completed, the band had legal problems that stalled the release for over a year. Influential
Melbourne indie music figure
Bruce Milne's
In-Fidelity label eventually released it in early 2005
, to enthusiastic reviews from the underground music press. The album was also nominated for
Triple J's inaugural
J Award prize in
2005 (which was eventually won by
Wolfmother), and topped many Australian critics' end-of-year Top 10 lists. Furthermore,
Triple J put the album tracks "Shark Fin Blues" and "Baby²" on medium rotation. During an extensive six month tour encompassing Europe and the US,
All Tomorrow's Parties issued
Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
outside of
Australia towards the end of
2005. Strybosch left around this time to join
Dan Kelly and the Alpha Males, and Mike Noga took his place.
In
2006, a record of outtakes from
Here Come the Lies
and
Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
called
The Miller's Daughter
was released by Bang! Records (a Spanish label which has many other underground Australian bands on its roster). Later that April, up against other notable bands such as
Wolfmother,
The Go-Betweens,
TZU,
The Devastations,
The Mess Hall,
Tex, Don & Charlie and
Ben Lee,
Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
won the inaugural
Australian Music Prize. The Drones continued to tour throughout the year, including a support slot on
You Am I's Australian tour in July.
In September 2009
Wait Long...
will be performed live in its entirety as part of the
All Tomorrow's Parties-curated
Don't Look Back series.
Gala Mill
The Drones third studio album
Gala Mill
was recorded in an old mill at Gala Farm in
Cranbrook,
Tasmania. It was released in September,
2006. The album was also nominated for the
2006 Australian Music Prize. The Drones were also nominated as 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the 2006 inaugural AIR (Australian Independent Record Labels Association) Chart Awards.
[5]
In late
2006, Liddiard announced that Rui Pereira had left the band, to be replaced by Dan Luscombe.
[6] Luscombe debuted for The Drones at the 2006
Meredith Music Festival.
Live in Spaceland
On
November 15 2006 The Drones, through the American label, Spaceland Recordings, released a live album recorded at
Spaceland an
alternative rock/
indie rock nightclub in the
Silver Lake neighborhood of
Los Angeles, California.
In 2007 The Drones toured with the
Big Day Out before undertaking a four month tour around Europe (with shows in Norway, France and Italy), commencing in April with a performance at the
All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival in the UK, curated by
The Dirty Three. The band's European tour was followed by a national tour of Australia, with
Snowman. 2007 also saw the release of the band's first
DVD,
Live in Madrid
, a live performance by the band at the Gruta 77 club in
Madrid.
The Minotaur (EP) and Havilah
In July, 2008 The Drones released a digital/12"
EP featuring new songs "The Minotaur" and "Nail It Down", the first songs from their next album,
Havilah
.
Havilah
was released September 20, 2008 in Australia, with a worldwide release following in February 2009. The band undertook a national tour to promote the album in November, performed at the
Falls Festival in December and toured Australia in February, 2009 as part of the
St Jerome's Laneway Festival.
More European and American dates are confirmed for 2009 including a performance at the
All Tomorrow's Parties New York Festival in September.
Members
- Gareth Liddiard - vocals, guitar
- Fiona Kitschin - bass
- Dan Luscombe - guitar
- Michael Noga - drums
Discography
Albums
- Here Come the Lies
- Spooky Records (August, 2002)
- Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
- In-Fidelity/ATP Recordings (April, 2005)
- The Miller's Daughter
- Bang! Records (2005)
- Gala Mill
- ATP Recordings (September, 2006) (No.66 AUS)
- Live in Spaceland
- Spaceland Recordings (February, 2007)
- Live at the Annandale Hotel 18th, 19th October 2007
(2008)
- Havilah
- ATP Recordings (September, 2008)
Miscellaneous
- Self-titled Demo
- Independent (limited run of 500) (2001)
- "Cockeyed Lowlife of the Highlands"/"Mean Streak" - Sonico Records 7" Single (2002)
- "Bird in a Church"/"Slamming on the Brakes" - In-Fidelity Records 7" Single (2002)
- "Shark Fin Blues"/"You Really Don't Care" - ATP Recordings/In-Fidelity Records 7" Single (2005)
- Custom Made
- ATP Recordings 7" single (four songs) (October 28, 2007)
- Live in Madrid
- Munster Records DVD (2007)
- The Minotaur
EP - ATP Recordings 12"/Digital (six songs) (July, 2008)
References
- James McCann
- The Drones: Doing Things The Hard Way
- The Drones
- The Drones releases
- Faster Louder news - 'The inaugural AIR indie music awards kick off this November' (November 3, 2006)
- Mess & Noise news - 'The Drones Confirm New Guitarist' (December 12, 2006)