Charlotte's Web (band)
Encyclopedia
Charlotte's Web were an Australian Indie pop
band, formed in Perth
, Western Australia
, briefly as Catherine Wheels, in 1986 with mainstay
Jeffery Lowe on vocals and guitar
. The band released Flies in the Face of... on cassette
in January 1988 and Short Time Strait as an EP
in February 1991 before disbanding later that year.
) and Tim Underwood (guitar) in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia. Lowe and Underwood had played in The Russians (1984–1986), with Darryl Edwards (drums
) and Richard Galli (bass guitar
, keyboards
). Catherine Wheels performed as a drummerless two piece, before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section (bass guitar and drums respectively), under the name Catherine Wheels, in 1986. The band performed infrequently around Perth for about a year, releasing a single, "Big Letdown" in February 1987, before they relocated to Sydney where Underwood, Little and Hedley left to form a new band, Northern Lights. Lowe returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers (The Triffids
) on bass guitar and Felicity 'Flick' Dear (Holy Rollers) on drums and Craig Chisholm (Holy Rollers) on lead
/rhythm guitar
to form a new version of Charlotte's Web in February 1987. This lineup lasted until Akers felt that he could no longer physically cope with playing in the band and was replaced by Mandy Haines. The band toured the northwest of the state at the end of 1987 and earned enough money to record Flies in the Face of..., at Poon's Head studios in Perth, which was released in January 1988 as a cassette
.
In September 1988 Haines joined The Pallisades and moved to Sydney, at the same time Chisholm decided to travel to Europe. As a result Michal Zampogna (Circle of Confusion) took over on bass guitar, and Laurie Mansell (I Hear an Army), who originally auditioned as a bass player, replaced Chisolm on lead/rhythm duties. The band then expanded with the addition of John Bannister on trumpet
and Kym Skipworth on cello
. The band released a second single, "Heart Trouble", on local independent label, Mighty Boy, in 1989. The single receiving airplay on Triple J
. In August 1990 Mark Rettig joined the band and with the line-up of Lowe, Mansell, Zampogna, Skipworth and Dear released an EP
, Short Time Strait. The EP was produced by Dom Mariani (The Stems
, DM3).
Dear went on to play drums with Wooden Fische, Box and Butternut. As from 2006, Dear was the principal of Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School in Bunbury
and played in a Noongar
band called Warangka.
Lowe, Skipworth together with drummer Nathan Jarvis (ex-Bob's Lovechild) formed The Indian Givers, following the disbanding of Charlotte's Web. Skipworth stopped performing after she and Lowe were involved in a car accident in May, 1982. She went on to work for ABC Television
as a designer and is now a Registered Vet Nurse.
Zampogna worked at RTRFM
, Community Television and as the President of Animal Liberation (WA) Inc.
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band, formed in Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, Western Australia
Western Australia
Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
, briefly as Catherine Wheels, in 1986 with mainstay
Mainstay
Mainstay is a Christian rock band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band was formed in 2003 and is signed to BEC Recordings. While a lot of the band's music has decidedly Christian lyrics and messages, their music appeals to a large secular fanbase as well. Their music style has been compared to...
Jeffery Lowe on vocals and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
. The band released Flies in the Face of... on cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
in January 1988 and Short Time Strait as an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
in February 1991 before disbanding later that year.
Biography
Catherine Wheels was originally formed by Jeff Lowe (vocals, guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
) and Tim Underwood (guitar) in 1986 in Perth, Western Australia. Lowe and Underwood had played in The Russians (1984–1986), with Darryl Edwards (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
) and Richard Galli (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
). Catherine Wheels performed as a drummerless two piece, before adding Greta Little and Chad Hedley as their rhythm section (bass guitar and drums respectively), under the name Catherine Wheels, in 1986. The band performed infrequently around Perth for about a year, releasing a single, "Big Letdown" in February 1987, before they relocated to Sydney where Underwood, Little and Hedley left to form a new band, Northern Lights. Lowe returned to Perth and conscripted Will Akers (The Triffids
The Triffids
The Triffids were a seminal Australian alternative rock and pop band formed in Perth, Western Australia, in May 1978 with charismatic, David McComb as singer-songwriter, guitarist, bass guitarist and keyboardist. They achieved negligible success in Australia, but greater success in the U.K...
) on bass guitar and Felicity 'Flick' Dear (Holy Rollers) on drums and Craig Chisholm (Holy Rollers) on lead
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
/rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
to form a new version of Charlotte's Web in February 1987. This lineup lasted until Akers felt that he could no longer physically cope with playing in the band and was replaced by Mandy Haines. The band toured the northwest of the state at the end of 1987 and earned enough money to record Flies in the Face of..., at Poon's Head studios in Perth, which was released in January 1988 as a cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
.
In September 1988 Haines joined The Pallisades and moved to Sydney, at the same time Chisholm decided to travel to Europe. As a result Michal Zampogna (Circle of Confusion) took over on bass guitar, and Laurie Mansell (I Hear an Army), who originally auditioned as a bass player, replaced Chisolm on lead/rhythm duties. The band then expanded with the addition of John Bannister on trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and Kym Skipworth on cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. The band released a second single, "Heart Trouble", on local independent label, Mighty Boy, in 1989. The single receiving airplay on Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
. In August 1990 Mark Rettig joined the band and with the line-up of Lowe, Mansell, Zampogna, Skipworth and Dear released an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Short Time Strait. The EP was produced by Dom Mariani (The Stems
The Stems
The Stems were an alternative rock band formed in Perth, Western Australia in 1983 and were heavily influenced by 1960s garage rock and 1970s power pop. They broke up in 1987, reformed in 2003 and released a new album in 2007.-Formation:...
, DM3).
Post Charlotte
After the Northern Lights, Underwood went on to form The Rosemary Beads, with Little (bass) and Cam Munachen (drums).Dear went on to play drums with Wooden Fische, Box and Butternut. As from 2006, Dear was the principal of Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School in Bunbury
Bunbury, Western Australia
The port city of Bunbury is the third largest city in Western Australia after the State Capital Perth and Mandurah. It is situated south of Perth's central business district...
and played in a Noongar
Noongar
The Noongar are an indigenous Australian people who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast...
band called Warangka.
Lowe, Skipworth together with drummer Nathan Jarvis (ex-Bob's Lovechild) formed The Indian Givers, following the disbanding of Charlotte's Web. Skipworth stopped performing after she and Lowe were involved in a car accident in May, 1982. She went on to work for ABC Television
ABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
as a designer and is now a Registered Vet Nurse.
Zampogna worked at RTRFM
RTRFM
RTRFM is a not-for-profit, community radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. It is self-funded, largely through listener subscription and fund-raising events, however it does carry some "advertising material" at a maximum of 5 mins per hour. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, on 92.1 in the...
, Community Television and as the President of Animal Liberation (WA) Inc.
Members
- Will Akers – bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals (1987) - John Bannister – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(1987–1990) - Craig Chisolm – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, backing vocals (1987–1988) - Felicity 'Flick' Dear – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, vocals, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
(1987–1991) - Mandy Haines – bass guitar (1987–1988)
- Chad Hedley – drums (1986–1987)
- Greta Little – bass guitar (1986–1987)
- Jeffery Lowe – vocals, guitar (1986–1991)
- Laurie Mansell – guitar, backing vocals (1988–1991)
- Mark Rettig – trumpet (1990–1991)
- Kym 'Krazy Kym' Skipworth – celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, tambourineTambourineThe tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
(1989–1990) - Cathi Smith – violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
(1991) - Tim Underwood – guitar (1986–1987)
- Michael Wilenski – bass guitar (1988)
- Michael Zampogna – bass guitar (1988–1991)
Albums/EPs
- Flies in the Face of... – CW (independent label) (January 1988, cassetteCompact CassetteThe Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
) - Short Time Strait – MDS / Dada Records (CW001) (February 1991, EPExtended playAn EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
)
Singles
- "Big Letdown"/"Dance of the Chimney Sweeps"/"Delicious Pain" – Easter Records (MR-7030) (February 1987)
- "Heart Trouble"/"Alice's Wings" – Mighty Boy Records (February 1990)
Compilations
- Hometown Farewell Kiss – 6UVS (1990) ("Servant of Your Lair")
- Like Flies in the Face of – ("Big Letdown")
- Something's Burning in Paradise Again – Subtle Records (C-86) (November 1989) ("The Train for June")
External links
- Charlotte's Web @ MusicBrainzMusicBrainzMusicBrainz is a project that aims to create an open content music database. Similar to the freedb project, it was founded in response to the restrictions placed on the CDDB...
- Jeffery Lowe Interview @ National Library of AustraliaNational Library of AustraliaThe National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...