Sounds Like Sunset are a band based in Sydney, Australia. The group formed in 1997 and as of 2008 have released 2 albums, 'Saturdays' in 2001 and 'Invisible' in 2005 as well as various other releases on cassettes, 7" and compilations.

Early days

The band formed initially as a side-project with David Challinor (guitar), David Hobson (bass) and Rohan Geddes (drums) in Pennant Hills in Sydney's north west in August 1997. Early tape recordings and gigs showed the band in similar sonic territory as Flying Saucer Attack

Flying Saucer Attack

Flying Saucer Attack was an experimental space rock band that formed in Bristol, England in 1992. David Pearce was the core member of the group, and Rachel Brook was a member for most of the band's lifetime....

 and other drone

Drone music

Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...

/noise

Noise music

Noise music is a term used to describe varieties of avant-garde music and sound art that may use elements such as cacophony, dissonance, atonality, noise, indeterminacy, and repetition in their realization. Noise music can feature distortion, various types of acoustically or electronically...

/post-rock

Post-rock

Post-rock is a subgenre of rock music characterized by the influence and use of instruments commonly associated with rock, but using rhythms and "guitars as facilitators of timbre and textures" not traditionally found in rock...

 bands, something the band soon grew away from in the hope of melding all the noise & feedback into more concise pop arrangements.

Music

The band are often filed under shoegazer

Shoegazing

Shoegazing is a subgenre of alternative rock that emerged from the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It lasted there until the mid 1990s, with a critical zenith reached in 1990 and 1991...

 and noise-pop

Noise pop

Noise pop is a subgenre of alternative rock developed in the mid 1980s in the UK and US, that mixes atonal noise or feedback, or both, with the melodic instrumentation and production elements more often found in pop music, making it more melodic and angst-free than noise rock.-History:Noise pop has...

 music. The group's influences range from the Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Velvet Underground and Love, through to more recent artists Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Spacemen3, Flying Saucer Attack, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain.

The members' teenage/formative years share a collective love of punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 & Death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

- which occasionally resurfaces, some might say at odds with the delicate melodic nature of the band's current output. Live shows are generally loud, densely layered and orchestrated guitar assaults.

PRL

Until recently the band regularly fielded a team "The Söunds Like Sunset Singletönes" in Chief Robby Cranny's PRL (Pretend Rugby League. The team's PRL career began in 2003 at the Zetland Hotel, and its career highlight was coming Div 1 runners-up in the 2006 season, followed by a Div1 3rd place in the 2007 season with a team selected entirely by Travis Baird of cult band Founder. Travis was recruited to select a squad when everyone in Sounds Like Sunset forgot to attend the player auction.

In 2008 the band shocked the PRL community by again failing to attend the 2008 PRL player auction, a move that did not go unnoticed by the PRL hierarchy and the band were forced to relinquish their coveted spot in Div1 of the PRL altogether. The band hope to be eligible to re-register with PRL in 2009 and start climbing their way back through the lower leagues until again finding glory in Div1.

Recent Activity

The band are currently recording and mixing an as yet untitled 3rd album across various home studio setups.

Andrew Fevre (guitar) recently spent a year overseas, and in his absence the band played on with various friends dropping into the lineup for a number of shows, including:

• Scott Meikle (guitar) of the band Beautiful World
• Pete Farley (guitar) of the bands Gelbison and Toni Collette & The Finish, and
• Travis Baird (guitar, keys) of the bands Founder, El Mopa and The Woods Themselves.

Band members now live in an area spread between Canterbury, Bondi and the NSW Central Coast suburb of Wyoming.

Band members

Current lineup (since early 2002)

• David Challinor - vocals, guitar
• David Hobson - bass
• Andrew Fevre - guitar
• Tobey Doctor - drums

Past Members

• David Virgilio - drums
• Matthew Bonson - drums
• Rohan Geddes - drums
• Josh Thompson - guitar

Discography

• Invisible LP 2005 Architecture Label
• Saturdays LP 2001 Modular Recordings
• Before it Blows/Promise Ring split 7" 2000 (Quietly Suburban Recordings) - a split release with The Lassie Foundation (Los Angeles)